The Breaking

by Imogen Keeper

  The vegetation on Araa-Ara was largely pale purple, with a wide, silvery sea that covered half the planet. A single colossal landmass dominated the rest. Mountains covered a majority of the continent, but a wide open plain offered them an ideal landing location, near a long, sparkling river, and more importantly for their uses, the ruins of the old, abandoned hotel Reyback had mentioned, nestled on a hillside. A good, defensible spot should they need it.

  Feola pointed out landmarks. Mountains and lakes. “It’s so pretty. I’ve never been on an alien planet.”

  “Well, get ready.” He shifted the thrusters and set the trajectory toward a landing spot that was nice and flat, near a shaded area about two miles south of the old hotel that had provided the past touristic allure of the planet.

  “Wait.” She put a hand on his arm. “Ay-shocks, I want you to leave me there. Give me a rezal and some rations, help me find some place safe where I can wait for Tam and Nissa. I’ll be okay. But you need to go back. Reclaim your position. Your job. Help your family. I can’t let you give up your whole life for me.”

  He pushed off from his seat and crossed to hers.

  She looked up at him through dark lashes, eyes clear and determined.

  “You aren’t letting me do anything.” He tugged on a lock of her hair. “Don’t worry about my life. I didn’t like it all that much anyway. Do you have any idea how bad a ship full of warriors smells?”

  A small smile broke through, but she shook her head. “You’ll be arrested.”

  “By your side. I’m not leaving you alone, Feola. I’m in this with you. ‘Til the end.”

  She looked like she might argue, so he squatted down to check the straps on her seat.

  She traced a finger along the strap. “They’re done correctly. I know how to strap in.”

  “I know you do. But I’ll still always check.” He held her gaze for a long moment, studying those beautiful eyes. Her full lips. She grew more beautiful by the day. That perfect face. Words wouldn’t explain it. Her eyes widened as if maybe she understood what he wanted her to know. The way he felt.

  Her lips parted. Her smile was a little timorous, a little scared, but it was there. She knew. And so did he.

  It was enough for now. He turned away to land the ship.

  * * * * *

  The dirt on the surface of Araa-Ara was white, soft, and shiny. Mineral powder. It billowed out from beneath the hulking behemoth of their shitty ship like iridescent steam.

  Ajax glared at it, resting his weight on one foot, hand on his hips. He wanted to curse, or maybe punch the piece of crap, but he was wary of venting his temper in front of Feola. He didn’t want to scare her. She’d seen enough violence in her life that he didn’t need to compound it with useless fits of temper.

  Her brows were raised high over smooth skin. She cupped her palm over her forehead, blocking the harsh, silver sunlight from her eyes, and sucked in her lower lip.

  “Just give me a minute,” he said and walked around the ship, out of her sight, where he kicked the dirt and punched the air a few times to release some of the pent-up energy.

  Life on Pilan suddenly looked pretty cozy.

  Squatting down into the dirt, over a clump of plants with tiny white leaves and blue flowers, he let his face screw up and his hands clench. His gaze fell on the rise of lavender mountains in the distance, the gleaming white cupolas of the hotel ruins, the thin shimmering line of a river trailing down through violet woods. Fuck.

  He scrubbed his hands through his hair. Fuck.

  No thrusters. Which meant no lift-off. Which meant no escape. Which meant they were stuck here on the fringes of the galaxy with no ability to contact anyone, and who-the-hell-knew after them.

  He pulled out his comm and stared at the last message Tam had sent, only partially downloaded. Don’t go to AA. Planet abandoned after major fuck up with the population of b…

  That was it. What the hell was the rest of the sentence? Buffalo? Boys? Bacteria.

  He didn’t even want to think about the types of pathogens that going exist on alien planets. His fingers itched for the types of machines he’d have at his disposal if they were still on his own ship.

  Shepherd’s ship was well stocked, but it dind’t have medical instruments and machines.

  Whatever the fuck up was, it must have been brutal to make them abandon a resort planet. Normally, they’d have just eradicated the problem.

  Beyond that, they’d fried their circuits landing, and the ship’s power was cut off. It was hot as shit here, and the beating sun would turn the ship into an oven in a few hours.

  So they couldn’t stay in it, not until the sun set and the temperature cooled.

  At least the air was breathable.

  A plan. He needed a proper course of action. And he would not let her be afraid about the fuck up. She had enough going on in her head.

  He stood, plastered a smile on his face, and rounded the ship, back to Feola.

  She faced away from him, looking into the distance, the dark black of her clothes a stark contrast to this hot, pale, sunny planet. Her hair was the brightest thing on the horizon.

  “Can we fix it?” she asked.

  He shook his head. If only. “We may be here awhile.”

  “I gathered as much.” She turned to face him. “Did he do it on purpose? Shepherd?”

  “Give us a ship with bad thrusters? I doubt it.”

  She pursed her lips. “I was going to make you leave me. When we got here.” She looked away from him, out into the distance. “But now you’re stuck with me.”

  He laughed. She was clearly insane. No other explanation. “I’d never have left you. Not in a zillion years. Not for anything.”

  Her jaw tightened. “This is my fault. You shouldn’t be involved in this. Any of it.”

  “Wrong. And a useless thought. I wouldn’t change a thing.”

  They stood in silence for a long time. After a moment, she reached out and took his hand in hers. Her palm was cool, despite the heat, and smooth.

  “We’ll be okay, Ay-shocks. Don’t worry.”

  A smile tugged at his lips. “That’s supposed to be my line.”

  She shrugged and tapped her forehead, right between her eyes. “You’ve got a big frowny wrinkle right here. Tam and Nissa know we’re here. They’ll send someone for us eventually.”

  It might be months. He didn’t say that, though. No need. She knew that, too.

  “Let’s go check our supplies.” She held out a hand.

  It was as good an idea as any.

  He could hunt. Assuming there was anything to hunt on this planet. And they could forage, assuming there was anything to forage—and that it wasn’t poisonous.

  And it was time for some godsdamned luck. An angry buffalo or a wild boy population he could handle. A dangerous bacteria… Anything but that.

  He drifted in Feola’s wake, watching her ass sway, because it was a nice diversion, and better to think about than anything else.

  Ajax watched her because it was something to do other than think about the mess they were in.

  She stood in the pantry, counting out their provisions. The dip of her spine and the small of her back curved as she shifted. She leaned forward slightly, and the round heart of her ass pushed toward him. Because he could, and because it made him happy, he stroked a hand over it. “I love your ass.”

  As she glanced over her shoulder, a wry smile twisted her lips. “You don’t think it’s too big?”

  “Too big?” He frowned, studying her body. It didn’t take a guess to figure out who’d put that idea into her head. “Trust me, your ass is perfect.” He moved forward so his cock pressed hard against that lush roundness, stroked his hands up her slender waist, cupped those perfect little tits. “We fit like we were made for each other.”

  She sighed against him.

  His cock pulsed. There were times when cocks really were smarter than brains. And other times when they weren’t.

  Th
ey weren’t Bonded. He couldn’t really do whatever he wanted, because what he really wanted was for her to spread her thighs and smile while he shoved himself inside her.

  He stepped away, shifting his flight suit so his cock was less in the way. They counted through the food together. It would last a few weeks, assuming it didn’t melt in the heat.

  “We’re going to need more food. There must be something we can eat. There should be game here, since it used to be a sporting planet. I’ll teach you how to hunt.” And then she could protect herself from buffalos or boys, if necessary.

  She looked surprised. “With a knife? Or a rezal?”

  “What else?”

  Something moved behind her eyes. For a minute, he was afraid she might cry.

  Instead, she smiled. “Let’s go.”

  21

  I love it when you scream.

  “There’s less gravity here,” Feola said, lifting her feet experimentally.

  Ajax nodded beside her, a bead of sweat running from his temple, down his neck, and over the sharply angled rise of his Adam’s apple to pool in the hollow of his collarbone.

  It was hot. But more than that, the sun was scorching. They’d changed before they left, donned lightweight white clothes from the closet. Shepherd had provided just about everything. The man had not lied when he’d said he’d give them plenty of provisions.

  They had clothes in every color, weapons, and hats, quite a bit of food, blankets. Everything… Except shoes. The only shoes she had were the slippers she’d worn on Romeo-Two. Ajax had scored the bottoms with one of his knives to give her extra traction and lined the soles with leather inserts he’d torn out of his own boots, but they were still woefully thin.

  The ground was as hot as coals beneath the thin soles, so she kept her steps light and quick, trying to land on clusters of tiny blue flowers, grateful for the long white dress she’d found. Its wide, open sleeves provided protection from the sun and a slight break from the heat of its rays.

  Ajax wore khaki pants and a shirt, and he’d long since sweated through them. The fabric clung to his body, and as always, he was strapped up with all his knives, and those big boots. Poor thing. He looked miserable.

  Triannon, her home planet, had been a sultry, humid place. She’d grown accustomed to the cool temperatures aboard the ship, but still, the heat didn’t faze her. Not like it did him.

  “At least he gave us lots of clothes,” she said, trying to be positive because she knew he was angry.

  He scowled back beneath the wide straw brim of his sunhat. He’d initially refused to wear it. They’d found two in the closet. She’d generously volunteered to take the one decorated with enormous pink flowers, earning a dour frown.

  They’d stepped about eight feet from the ship before he’d backtracked and retrieved the other. It had a big yellow bow tied around the brim, which he had resolutely torn off.

  She’d smothered a laugh as he’d held the offensive ribbon between his fingers as if it were poisoned, letting it flutter to the floor of their ship.

  “I bet you regret tearing off your pretty bow now,” she said, tightening her own pink bow beneath her chin as the wind kicked up.

  He slapped his hand on the back of his hat to keep it from blowing off. He chewed on the inside of his cheek and fired her a dismal glance, but didn’t speak.

  The pale, pearly soil intensified the sun’s brilliance. The dust kicked around their feet as they walked, sending up clouds of blue petals.

  “I feel lighter… almost bouncy,” she said, testing the almost buoyant feel of moving on the strange planet.

  He cast her a speculative glance. “It’s not quite that bouncy.”

  The heat and the sun would kill them as fast as hunger and thirst. How long until Tam decided to come looking for them? Weeks, if they were lucky. Months, more likely. They needed to find a steady source of food and water, and a place in the shade to spend their days.

  He chugged water from one of the bottles they’d brought in the pack he carried. He offered it to her.

  The trees were far slenderer than any she’d seen before, swaying in rhythm with the breeze, as gently as if they were underwater.

  “There’s a larger grove of trees up ahead. We can get out of the sun for a while.”

  He was right. Shining silvery trunks reflected back at them, like a handful of precious metal.

  A silvery tendril of the river curled down the slope of a gentle lavender hill, blinking in the light. Delicate beauty, pristine and unsullied. Untouched by Utto or Rennie or any of the ugliness. Even the dirt was clean and pure.

  They continued in silence toward the copse of trees.

  The air was far cooler in the shade and filled with a sweet, floral scent. The trees rose above them, causing the light to dapple and spread. Long lavender leaves sprouted from the trees like feathers, reaching high into the sky, and then trailing down to touch the ground, willowy and soft. They stepped under an arbor of leaves stroking the ground in a wide circle, trailing into the water on one side. “It’s beautiful.”

  Ajax ripped the hat off his head and tossed it to the ground. “It’s hot,” he said as if hot were a loathsome, vile thing indeed.

  There were far worse things than being hot. As if he could read her mind, Utto flickered in her chest. He’d been quiet lately. Almost as if he were biding his time. Or planning. She shivered despite the heat.

  Ajax unhooked the straps across his chest, moving fast, stomping over to dip some sort of measuring device into the river.

  He looked miserable, weary and wilted down to his soul. And suddenly her heart felt as light as her body. If he were so upset about the heat, he couldn’t be too upset about anything else.

  A small giggle escaped, and he sent her a baleful glare.

  He froze, eyes gleaming.

  “What?” she asked.

  “I haven’t seen you laugh like that. Not since… before.”

  At the look in his eyes, her belly fluttered, and the heat of a blush rose up her neck. There was nothing to say to that. She turned away to stroke the aromatic tree.

  “The water’s safe.” He hooked a hand at the neck of his shirt and peeled it over sweaty skin, revealing the lean, hard expanse of his thickly muscled back. “Take off that dress,” he growled, pulling at his boot.

  “Why?”

  “If you don’t want it to get wet, I suggest you take it off now.” He tossed his boot and set to work on the other one, muscles flexing and bulging as he shifted.

  “Why?” She wasn’t laughing anymore.

  He didn’t look silly. Not at all. All lean and rippling, with a dangerous gleam in his eyes. And naked. And… hard. And big. Heat flooded between her thighs.

  “Because you’re about to get really, really wet.”

  Too late. The dangerous purr in his voice sent ripples of arousal straight to her lower belly, like a punch in the stomach. She sucked in a breath. “Wh-wha—wha…” She trailed off when he straightened and stalked toward her.

  He stopped a few feet away. His eyes were hard, but the slight smile hiding at the curve of his mouth relaxed her. She studied him, biting her lip.

  His eyes softened. “I said I’d teach you how to use a knife, and I will. But I’m too hot to do anything right now. So we’re going to get wet.” He flashed her a grin. “If you aren’t out of your clothes in three seconds, you’re going in the water with them on.”

  She laughed into her hand and shook her head.

  “Three….”

  “You wouldn’t.”

  “Two….”

  She didn’t wait to find out. She slipped out of her slippers and, pulling the dress over her head, ran toward the silvery glint of the river.

  The brittle soil gave way to slippery mud and water, blessedly cool on her skin as she ran down the bank. Ajax followed close behind.

  He could have caught her easily, but he let her run, and for that she was grateful.

  She parted a curtain of trailing
, purple feathery leaves, sending a shower of pale petals swirling through the air, and stumbled out into the brilliant, blinding world beyond.

  Water rose up her hips, and she gasped, sliding beneath the sparkling surface. The river was a paradise of life. Silky-smooth plants swirled cobalt rich and purple bright around her feet. Vivid fish flashed around her legs in a kaleidoscope of color.

  She glanced over her shoulder to see Ajax barreling toward her, water splashing on the hard planes of his body.

  He looked at home here, with his pale silvery blond hair and his golden skin, against the backdrop of a glittering sun and sky.

  She dove under the water again, kicking her feet to get away, propelling forward faster than she’d intended into a school of glassy silver-and-yellow fish that darted and flickered away.

  Ajax caught her by the toe and pulled her back against him. She hit the air laughing and sputtering, sending water splashing in a thousand droplets all around. Her feet found purchase on slick rocks below, and he kept her from falling. Such a relief to be on solid ground after months in space. To feel the weight of the sun’s rays and the slide of moving water over her skin.

  She’d never felt so free in her life.

  All the bad memories receded in the face of the halcyon glory spread before her. They may be on the run. They may be hiding. Utto was out there. She could still feel him, furious and conspiring and tracking them, but he was a million miles away. They may be stuck on this planet for an unknown amount of time, but in that moment, she was free and Ajax was glorious.

  Let the universe fade away. For now, it was just Ajax and those mesmeric turquoise eyes.

  His mouth met hers, grinning. Lips and teeth, less kiss than shared air, a communion of elated glee.

  Months of recycled air and water on the ship had taken a toll. She’d missed the feel of open sky above, and the rhythm of motion that came from life on a planet. The connection to something greater.

  He tugged at her waist, and her feet left the ground, legs circling tightly around him. With a hand on her belly and one below her bottom, he pressed her back so her body rested on the river’s surface. Silken silver fronds licked her skin, and the sunlight bathed her. The water was cool, but Ajax’s eyes were warm.