“I think it’s all us.” Rachel shifted in the hammock, pressing her body into mine. “It’s part of us.”
“Remember what Ella said about my house?”
“What part specifically?” She pulled a tie out of her hair, letting it splay out over me. Did she realize what she was doing to me?
“I mean could it really be random I was living there if we’re actually starmates? Of all the houses I could have rented?”
“Not at all. Maybe you were drawn to it because I’d lived there.”
“Or because you’d eventually show up there again. Maybe this whole thing is about what’s predestined.” I knew I might sound crazy, but the whole situation was crazy.
Rachel cupped my face with her hand. “Do you believe in pre-destiny?”
“I didn’t. Now I’m debating it. Otherwise none of this really makes sense.” I’d spent hours trying to find a more logical explanation, but I was coming up empty.
“Agreed. I mean we were born decades apart.” And there we were back to the elephant in the room.
She’d clammed up the other times I brought the timeline up, so I’d try to keep it light. It still seemed unreal. I mean it was impossible to look at her and believe she was born when my grandparents were. “Yet in actual years you’re younger than me.”
“And you are never going to let me forget that.” Her lips twisted into a smile.
“No. I’m not.” Not that age mattered, but teasing her came so naturally. And she did right back at me. I loved that. I loved that we could be that easy with one another.
“So you are older in years, but I’m better with robots.”
“Yes. Yes you are.” There was no denying that. Her latest robot, Amsi, was currently plugged into the North Star systems downloading data before we left on our journey. I was glad Amsi would be coming along. Between warning us about oxygen levels and making sure we didn’t crash, she was quite the helpful little robot.
“Not even going to fight me on that one, huh?” She rubbed her cheek against mine. I hoped my stubble didn’t bother her. I was still trying to get used to letting the laser razors do the job for me.
“Not at all. I know where I can compete and where I can’t.”
“Well, you are most definitely better at music.” She entwined her fingers with mine.
“You’ve never heard me play, so how do you know?” I didn’t deny I had some musical ability, but she’d remembered she used to play piano too – albeit at age five.
“We need to change that. I want to hear you play.” Her eyes lit up.
“And you will one day. I can’t really resist sitting down at a piano or picking up a guitar when there’s one around. The trick is getting us in the same room as those instruments.”
“You think Ella has either?” Her eyes widened.
“Do they exist off Earth?”
Rachel had been so entranced by Earth music, that I gathered music was a bit different on Andrelexa. But maybe North Star music was more similar to Earth because it was geographically closer.
She lifted a shoulder in a half-shrug. “Maybe.”
“First we have to finish our mission.” So much had to wait until we finished that. As much as I wanted to give her exactly what she wanted, nothing would matter if we couldn’t save Earth—and at the same time the universe.
“And how’s that going?” She brushed her lips against mine. “Moving along any?” As the feeler I was supposed to be able to sense the other starmate. The only one I sensed was Rachel.
Was she trying to tease me? I couldn’t think straight. “It’s not coming to me naturally, that’s for sure.”
“Then we have to find a way to get you more opened up emotionally. That’s yet another reason you need to play music. It’s your passion.”
“But that’s going to involve getting up. I’m rather comfortable right now.” I was very comfortable, but it had nothing to do with the hammock. It had everything to do with Rachel’s presence in my arms.
“Then maybe you should focus on that.” Her teeth grazed my lip.
“That might be a really good idea.” I wrapped my arms tighter around her and looked into her eyes. “A really good idea. Think we’re really alone in here?”
“Yes.” She glanced out the window. “Unless someone out there on the mountain range is watching us.”
“In other words, this is going to be as private as we can get.” This was the first alone time we’d managed since arriving back on North Star. First, we’d met back up with the others, including Angie. Then we’d started strategic planning. Once Angie, Darto, and Kelby left, we’d been directed to rest and try to find Caspian’s starmate. I’d jumped at the alone time immediately.
She laughed. “Yes. That’s probably a good way to view it.”
I cupped her face in my hands. “You are so beautiful.”
She blushed. “Thank you.”
“I mean it. I’ve never met anyone as beautiful as you. I recognized it from the moment I met you, and I don’t just mean physically. It’s everything. There’s this glow about you I can’t get enough of. It’s incredible.”
“So are you. Well, handsome. Although can you be handsome inside?” Her cheeks were still a light shade of pink. It looked good on her. Cute, and maybe a little something else. I loved that she could be as awkward as I was. I guess growing up on another planet with space warriors didn’t give her anymore experience with being starmates than my childhood did.
But I was done being awkward. I gazed deep into her eyes before connecting my lips with hers. She responded immediately, pulling me in. I deepened the kiss, soaking up her taste, inhaling her scent. She rolled over on top of me as her hands twisted in my hair. I ran my hands down her back, wishing the jumpsuits weren’t between us. I needed to feel her skin. To feel everything.
She tugged down on the back of my jumpsuit, pulling it off of me down to my waist. Her hands slipped down my skin, leaving a delightfully fiery trail in their wake. As if her touch itself could ignite me into flames. I made eye contact, making sure she was okay with me doing the same thing because I needed to get as close to her as I could get.
She gave her answer, leaving no room for misinterpretation. She pulled down the top half of her jumpsuit, revealing her breasts, and leaving me breathless. I cupped one of her breasts in a hand while my lips moved to her neck. I pushed away all other thoughts. All worries. There was only us.
“Noah?” My name left her lips in a half moan, half whisper.
“Yes?”
She opened her eyes, her deep brown ones locking on mine. “I love you.”
“I love you too.” My lips found hers, and I realized I knew exactly what a starmate was.
4 Noah
My mind could only focus on one thing. On one person. Rachel. I’d already been thinking about her non-stop, but what had happened in the hammock changed things, even if we had gotten interrupted by Amsi before things went too far.
I wasn’t sure if I should be angry at the robot or not. I’d obviously been annoyed by the interruption, but I wanted our first time to be special and to take place somewhere other than a hammock on some strange planet. But before we’d been interrupted, my mind had opened. My heart opened. I’d connected completely with Rachel, and somehow in the midst of all that I’d gotten my first clue of where to find Caspian’s Starmate.
The word Soldrum had popped into my head like a flash of lightning. As soon as I’d spoken the word out loud, Amsi digested it and let us know it was a planet. According to Amsi it was a small mostly desolate planet in another sector of the galaxy.
I had no way of knowing if the planet name was actually a clue or not, but together Rachel and I decided it had to mean something. I hoped we were right. I didn’t want to end up on some wild goose chase in space.
The problem was even hours later when we were strapped into our seats on the pod, all I could think about was the feel of Rachel in my arms. And the taste of her lips. And just how good she
looked without the jumpsuit.
“Noah?” Rachel said my name softly. It brought me back to the last time she’d spoken my name. To her moan. To her breasts. To what I wanted to do—.
I shook myself. I had to snap out of it. “Yes. Sorry.”
“Where was your mind?” She reached over and ran her hand down my arm.
“To be honest,” I started. There was no sense hiding it since I was pretty sure it was obvious. “It was on you.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
“Yes.” I glanced over at her, picturing her with her jumpsuit around her waist. Man, I was losing it.
“Well, that makes two of us, or I mean I was thinking about you.”
“Anything in particular?” This was a very dangerous question to ask. I was sweating. My thoughts were making it hard to breathe. That wasn’t a good thing on small pod heading to who knew where.
“Can I be totally open?” She pulled her hand back to her side. That gave me the hint this wasn’t going to be that kind of open.
I cleared my head of sexual thoughts. “Of course.”
“You know how Caspian got confused about me? He thought we had a connection even though we didn’t?”
“Yes.” Caspian’s name was like a splash of cold water. I straightened in my seat.
“What if this girl thinks the same about you?”
“Oh. Well, it doesn’t matter. I already have my starmate. I’m not available.” I winked.
“Yeah… but you haven’t met her yet. You have no idea how you’re going to feel.” Rachel looked down at her hands. “It could be the same way. You might get confused”
“Rachel.” I turned my seat so I was looking at her. “There’s never going to be anyone but you. You have to know that. You have to have felt what I felt back in that hammock.”
“Oh, I did. That’s why the thought of you with this girl makes my skin crawl.” Her eyes darkened.
“Well, that’s how I feel when I think of you and Caspian.” A tightness clinched my chest.
“I was never with Caspian. Not that way.”
“What you’ve done with anyone else before isn’t any of my business.” We were all entitled to our pasts, especially when your past was never in your control.
She smiled. “Why are you like this?”
“Like what?” I adjusted the straps of my seat.
“So nice. So unbelievably nice.” Normally when a girl called you nice it wasn’t a good thing, but I was pretty sure Rachel didn’t mean it in that typical way. She may have spoken the same language as I did, but she’d developed it in a far different place.
“Is there another way I’m supposed to be?”
“No.” She pursed her lips. “Of course not. I’m just lucky.”
“I’m the lucky one.” So incredibly lucky. I glanced at the robot. “Amsi? How long till we land?”
“Two hours and twenty-three minutes.”
“Okay. Great.” I unbuckled my seatbelt.
Amsi beeped. “That is not wise. We may hit unsteady pockets at any time.”
I shrugged off the concern. “I’ll take my chances.” I knelt in front of Rachel. “Listen. I really don’t want you to start doubting me. The only reason we’re looking for this girl is so we can correct the equilibrium. If it were up to me, and things were different, we wouldn’t be headed to a planet called Soldrum. Even that name sounds unappealing.”
She unbuckled and leaned down. “I’m not doubting you. I’m just insecure.”
I shook my head. “You have no reason to ever be insecure. Okay?”
She nodded. “Okay.”
I leaned in and went for another kiss even though I knew it was asking for trouble. She kissed me back, and I rose, stumbling back into my seat. She straddled me. Her every move making it painfully obvious to her just how she made me feel. She wrapped her arms around my neck, and I hungrily devoured her mouth.
“Noah.” She moaned my name again while shifting in my lap. My hands went to the back of her jumpsuit. Needing her skin again. While I tugged down the fabric my lips moved to her neck, sliding down further as I exposed more skin. She rewarded me with another moan. My lips found her breast. She moaned louder.
Amsi beeped.
I ignored her at first, refusing to let her interrupt us again. I needed Rachel, and she needed me. She cupped me through the jumpsuit. I hated the fabric. I hated anything that separated us.
Beep. “Another ship is nearing.” Beep.
Ugh. I reluctantly moved my lips away from Rachel. “I’m guessing that’s our cue to stop.”
Rachel’s eyes were wide. Her lips swollen. “One of these times we won’t get interrupted.”
“That’s a promise.”
It was a loss when she removed herself from my lap and fixed her jumpsuit. It was so much harder to see her wearing the tight fabric now that I knew what waited underneath.
She returned to her seat, and I buckled in, far more uncomfortable now. I really hoped we weren’t about to meet anyone. I wasn’t in the right condition.
“Amsi, can you identify the ship?” Rachel was way more composed than I was. The only evidence on her of what transpired was her messy hair, which she was already smoothing out.
“No. The ship shows up nowhere in my programs. I have found no indicators of a home planet or origin.”
“What does that mean? Should we assume it’s hostile?” I wanted to believe I could defend us against whatever we were up against but that involved having some info. And some weapons. I should have listened closer when Etan had listed them off, but I’d been focused on Rachel. Of course.
“There is no way to know.” Amsi beeped. “Should I open coms with the ship?”
Rachel and I exchanged looks. I shrugged. She nodded. “Yes. Open coms.”
We waited in silence for a few moments. Amsi beeped again. “They are not responding.”
“That probably isn’t good.” I needed to pull myself together and step up. I’d promised to protect Rachel, and I would stand by my word.
“No.” Rachel sighed. “Okay. Maybe they just want to be left alone. I say we proceed with the original route.”
“Works for me.” There was no reason to make a mountain out of a mole hole.
Amsi beeped. “The ship is headed directly for us. They are moving at an accelerated speed.”
“Crap.”
“Maybe they just happen to be coming this direction.” Rachel bit her lip.
“They changed course.” Amsi beeped. “They had been heading parallel to us.”
“Okay. What do we do?” I was asking either Amsi or Rachel. I wasn’t sure which would know more. All I knew was we needed to be prepared.
“We can’t outrun them.” Rachel pointed to the screen. “Look at their speed.”
“It’s fast.” I wasn’t sure what the numbers were, but by the way the dot sped across the screen I knew it wasn’t moving slow.
“Exactly. And we can’t fight them off. There’s no way.” Rachel put her head in her hands. “I should have pushed harder for training. I shouldn’t have given up so easily.”
“None of this is your fault.” I rubbed her back. “Please, don’t put this on yourself.” I thought fast. “Can we hyperspace? Isn’t that a possibility?”
Amsi beeped. “Hyperspace mode unavailable without a reboot.”
“What?” Rachel and I said in unison.
“Did neither of you listen to Etan before we left North Star? It is a glitch in the ship’s system.”
“I tried to listen.” In truth I had been way too distracted. We were going to pay for it now.
By Rachel’s guilty expression she was thinking the same thing. “Then why did he give us this pod? He had to have had one that wasn’t faulty.”
“It is old enough it can’t be detected by the advanced radars. He believed it was least likely to be shot down.” Amsi beeped.
“Hopefully, these people don’t plan to do just that.” Rachel stared at the scr
een.
“Wouldn’t they have done that already?” Maybe that wasn’t a helpful comment to make, but it made sense.
“Who knows. I guess it depends on their missile technology.”
I closed my eyes and then opened them. “Maybe we should shut down the engines. That way we can hyperspace if we need to.”
Amsi beeped. “The unidentified ship will reach us before we can reboot.”
“Either way they are going to reach us.” Which wasn’t a good thing.
Rachel nodded. “I agree. Maybe they don’t mean us any harm.”
I wanted to believe that was true, and it sounded like a better plan than getting shot out of the sky—well, out of space. “Amsi, prepare to shut down the engines.” Then I thought of something. “Wait. I assume we’ll still float?” I felt like a total loser. You’d think I’d have gained a basic grasp on how space travel worked, but no such luck.
“Yes. We will be motionless and defenseless, but we will float.” Amsi beeped.
“Aren’t we defenseless already? Are you trying to tell me we do have weapons?”
“We do. But likely not at the level the other ship has. Besides, it would take us too long to find them. Plus we don’t know who they are. To shoot first…” Rachel trailed off. “They might be friends, not foe. Although why not answer our com?”
“Maybe it’s jammed,” I threw the possibility out there.
Amsi beeped. “Doubtful.” In the beginning hearing a robot speak in a little girl’s voice was jarring, but I was getting used to it now.
“Okay when the robot is saying it’s doubtful, I’m going to assume we’re in for a rude awakening.”
“Maybe they think we are someone else? We are in a North Star vessel. They cannot hurt us.” Rachel grasped the console.
“Really? The protection extends beyond the planet?” That was news to me.
“It’s supposed to.”
“You should buckle up.” Amsi beeped.
“Buckle up? So we’re sitting ducks when they board?” I may have been in over my head, but I wasn’t going to give up the smallest advantage we might have.
“If they board. They may try to barge into us instead.” Rachel paled. “What a mess.”
Starless: Half Light Page 3
