Her Robot Wolf: Gift of Gaia

by Jenny Schwartz

  My heartbeat picked up.

  He swiveled me around and pointed me to the ladder. “A shower, then clean clothes. The Orion can easily catch Ivan’s kite. We’ll talk while we eat.”

  I sighed in disappointment, but one whiff of how my deodorant had struggled with my fear sweat, and I raced up the ladder. “A shower is a good idea.”

  Walking through the ship to the guest cabin, I was very conscious of Vulf, naked and gorgeous behind me. The knowledge dislodged all the questions and speculation I had about his shift to a robot wolf form and the mystery of how sha energy had enabled it. I was breathless by the time I entered the guest cabin and closed the door.

  Ten seconds later, I heard Vulf’s door close. Had he stood at my door, contemplating as I had, the option of showering together? The mating heat was burning. But neither of us were reckless personalities, willing to make life-changing decisions during a highly fraught moment.

  Although, it seemed my use of sha had changed Vulf into a robot wolf which many would define as the height of reckless action. Still, without that miracle, he’d have died.

  I took a hot shower and the stream of water washed away sweat and tears. I dressed in my second utility suit, one in a dull purple, but left my black hair down rather than braided.

  Vulf waited in the recreation cabin. For once, he wasn’t wearing a utility suit. He was in exercise gear, shorts and a sleeveless shirt. His muscles rippled.

  My gaze wandered over him, possessive and lustful.

  He cleared his throat. “I’d like to try to change into a robot wolf again before we leave Earth. In case the shift is only possible on Earth. You mentioned that the sha patterns are unique to each planet. Maybe shifters can only shift on Earth.”

  “It wouldn’t explain why you shifted into a robot,” I said. “Although, I have a theory…but, you’re right. We should test whether you can shift. Do you want to try here?” There was room for his robot wolf form in the cabin.

  “Yes. My clothes vanished in the original shift, so I wore these.” He hooked a thumb in the waistband of his shorts.

  “Wait!” It wasn’t that I didn’t want to see him naked. “We need to keep conditions as similar as possible. I don’t want to replicate the danger of your original shift, but if you wore clothes then, maybe they contributed to your robot body. You’d better leave these on.”

  “Okay. Stand back. While you watch the sha patterns, if you see a need to intervene to push the shift, don’t.”

  I frowned at his order. “Why not? Does shifting hurt? Is it unnatural?”

  “It seems as easy as breathing. But I’d like the shift to be under my control.”

  “I understand.” I did. “Your body. Your control. I’m observation only—unless you get stuck mid-shift or something.”

  He grimaced. “Now there’s a positive thought. Ready?”

  At my nod, he shifted. It happened in a second.

  “That is fast,” I said shakily.

  “Very impressive,” Ahab commented. “Captain Vulf requested that I record his shift and take measurements of his shifted form. Recording, now.”

  Vulf stood to his full height. His metal ears twitched.

  I made a note to question him on the acuity of his robotic senses. “You’re beautiful.”

  The tip of his tail swished.

  In the well-lit cabin, Vulf’s metal body shimmered with a thousand constant alterations in its gray color. It resembled fur, without the messiness of it. When he moved, his paws were silent on the floor, despite the scary claws that tipped them.

  “Observation complete,” Ahab said.

  I approached Vulf. “Can you feel when I touch you?” I stroked the smooth metal of his shoulder. He moved and rubbed his head against me. “I’m assuming that’s a yes.” I traced the shape of one of his ears with my fingertips. “Is my touch pleasant or annoying? Oops. You need yes or no questions. Now, I understand why shifter mates would prize telepathy. Nod if I can continue touching you.”

  He nodded vigorously.

  I examined him from head to tail, sensing the sha that wove around and through him as I did so. The pattern included me in its flow. “I’ve never seen a sha pattern similar to the one that dances through you, but it’s powerful.” On impulse I kissed the tip of his nose.

  He licked me.

  His tongue was dry and resembled silver velvet.

  “That tickles.”

  He tumbled me carefully to the ground and licked me, before snuffle-tickling my ribs through my utility suit. One giant paw pinned me carefully.

  “Bully.” I giggled. I locked my arms around his neck and he lifted me up. For an instant, I stared into the sapphire blue of his robot eyes, then he shifted form.

  Chapter 9

  Vulf reached for his utility trousers and pulled them on. “My wolf’s senses are incredible. Do you know how amazing you taste?”

  I laughed. “No.”

  He laughed, too, realizing what he’d asked. “My wolf is crazy-happy at finally having his mate see and touch him.”

  My laughter stopped. “Mate? I thought we were still to choose.” Happiness and uncertainty battled inside me.

  “Ahab, privacy,” Vulf ordered, his gaze locked on me. Shirtless, the tension that invaded his muscles was obvious. “My wolf has chosen you.”

  “Does that mean he took the choice from you, that you’re stuck with me?”

  He reached out to catch my hand, but I retreated. I didn’t want to be with Vulf because he was compelled to want me. A lifetime of feeling peripheral to others’ lives, as with Ivan, had scarred me. As much as I wanted Vulf, the strength of the attraction between us terrified me. How could I trust something so far beyond my experience? On the other hand, how could I say anything but “yes” to him. My desperation when I thought I’d lost him to Earth’s nuclear winter had starkly revealed his importance to me.

  He prowled forward, man and wolf hunting me. It shouldn’t have been sexy, but it was. His intensity was all for me. His powerful body—in either form—promised violence and mayhem for others, but for me, was urgent with the need to protect. His tone coaxed me, rough with emotion. “Jaya, I wanted you first.”

  It was too much. I shook my head. “You need to put a shirt on. The stupid mating heat is distracting me.”

  “Or it could be that you simply want me. You and me, no mating heat, no wolf. You and me.”

  “What if there’s no ‘you and me’ without those things?” I challenged him.

  He shrugged his incredible shoulders. “I don’t believe it.”

  “Pfft.” I made a squeaky sound of frustrated disbelief and paced in a circle. When I faced Vulf again, he closed the distance between us.

  “Are you so scared of being happy?” he asked me.

  I stared at him.

  “That’s how you make me feel.” He slid his arms around me. The heat of his body encompassed me. “The mating heat is intense, and I definitely want you that way, but it’s the fact that I’m happy when I’m with you that tells me you’re special. I have no reason to work and live alone. My family are good people. Loyal. But there’s always been an instinct in me to tread my own path, to go it alone. Until you.”

  My traitorous arms wrapped around him, hands resting low on his back.

  His voice dropped to a low rumble. “When you told me you were fated to be a Shaman Justice—”

  “I can refuse it.”

  “Can you?”

  I slid one hand up his spine, thinking. Accepting the truth. “No, probably not. The Academy will remind me of the important role Shaman Justices play in meeting humanity’s contribution to the Galaxy Proper. We owe the union our loyalty.”

  He nodded. “If you choose me, it’ll make your life difficult. I’m a bounty hunter and related to pirates. Pirates will be your family.”

  My fingers dug into the muscle of his shoulder. “You know, having family, any kind of family, is a plus in my book.”

  “They’ll respect yo
ur strength.”

  I smiled tightly. “That’s why I put on that demonstration on the Capricorn.”

  “Cyrus knew that I’d panic when I learned of your future as a Shaman Justice. I couldn’t see—can’t see—how that’ll work for us. But we’ll find a way. My wolf is raging to tear through anyone who threatens us. I’ve realized that he’s right. If I want you—and I do—I have to fight for you, whether that’s against your grandfather. No, don’t hide your face. Or whether I fight the Galactic Government for the right to stay by your side. I’m yours, if you’ll have me.”

  “Vulf.” I trembled because he was offering me everything I’d ever wanted. “You chose to be alone, but I’ve been alone my whole life. What you’re offering me…it’s my dream. To be loved.”

  His arms tightened. I don’t think either of us were aware he was crushing me. I just breathed a little shallower.

  “Vulf, aren’t you scared that I’ll say yes because you’re offering me a person and a family to belong to, plus the lure of the mating heat?”

  His smile was genuine, and faintly rueful. His arms relaxed enough that I could breathe freely.

  If I hadn’t been holding my breath for his answer.

  “I’ve seen your loyalty to Ivan, Jaya. That sort of loyalty comes from an immense capacity to love. For all our courage in tackling the world, we both guard our hearts, but I think we have a better than average chance to love and be loved. At a minimum, we’re both capable of loyalty. We’d never have to worry that either of us would betray the other. The mating heat assures us that the physical side of things will be fun.”

  He kissed me lightly.

  My lips clung a moment to his.

  He rested his forehead against mine. “I’m yours, without reservation. But you have the harder choice. For a future Shaman Justice, I’m a complication.”

  Oddly, it was the tiny hint of vulnerability in him that decided me. “You’re my complication.”

  He pulled back just far enough to search my eyes.

  I felt a slow smile stretch my mouth. I nodded in answer to his silent question, his need for confirmation that I wanted him. “I choose you, Vulf. I’m saying yes to whatever is between us. We’ll face the future together.”

  I shrieked as he spun me in a jubilant circle. But as he locked me against him, all laughter fled.

  This kiss was special. In a sense, this would be our first kiss, weighted with our commitment and promising everything.

  “Captain, we have a problem,” Ahab interrupted urgently.

  Vulf growled. “It better be civilization-ending.”

  I agreed. “Ahab, you have the worst timing.” But that wasn’t fair. It was Vulf’s fault and mine for combining romance with a dangerous mission.

  “I apologize,” Ahab said. “However, the message is from the Meitj Imperial Court and flagged as red alert.” Red alert in the Galactic Code meant imminent danger of multiple casualties.

  “Play it,” Vulf ordered.

  We turned to face the viewscreen, my back against Vulf’s chest, but the message was audio only, capable of swifter transmission across the galaxy than if it had included video. And with this message coming from the Meitj Imperial Court, unless the Court, the Meitj’s government, had uncharacteristically departed the Imperial Palace, the message had travelled three quarters of the galaxy to reach us.

  “Vulf Trent, on Professor Summer’s recommendation, you are included in this emergency bulletin. Know that the miscreant you are pursuing, the human, Ivan Mishkin, has threatened the Meitj.”

  Dear God. I gripped Vulf’s forearms as they rested at my waist.

  The crisp yet reedy Meitj voice continued. “Twenty three minutes prior to the release of this bulletin, Ivan Mishkin sent a message to the Imperial Court. We have forty eight hours to deliver the Imperial Crown to Ivan Mishkin on the planet Hades or he will obliterate our solar system. His exact words were ‘…death to a corrupt civilization unless the Imperial Crown is delivered to me on Hades in the Dragon Sector within forty eight hours’.”

  There was a whistling breath as the Meitj paused in his message.

  I was unsure what emotion that whistling breath indicated, but I felt icy horror. Obliterate was a word that no one used lightly. But this was a recorded message. I couldn’t question the Meitj.

  Fortunately, he conquered his emotions and provided the requisite information; the method by which Ivan intended to destroy an entire civilization.

  “Shadow forms populated the central market and religious temple on Shaidoc two and a half hours ago.” Shaidoc was the sister planet to Naidoc, the planet that hosted the Meitj Imperial Palace. Where Naidoc focused on matters of government and agriculture, Shaidoc was the Meitj’s trading hub.

  “Shadow forms,” I whispered. “Wraiths.”

  “We believe the threat to be a credible one,” the Meitj recording continued.

  So did I. It left me shaking.

  “The Meitj will not surrender to terrorism.”

  “Dear God, no.” My fingers dug into Vulf’s arms. He was supporting most of my weight as shock weakened me. “Give him the Crown!”

  “The shadow forms are sha constructs,” the Meitj said. “The Star Guild Shaman Academy has been contacted. There are no shamans of sufficient ability within forty eight hours travel distance from Shaidoc.” And sha patterns as complicated and volatile as multiple wraiths couldn’t be manipulated at a distance.

  So how had Ivan activated them?

  “The two shaman justices, in particular, are more than four days travel away. They were responding to suspicious incidents.” The implication being that Ivan had planned their distraction. “Unless someone can reach Ivan Mishkin in time to convince him to renounce the murder of an entire civilization, we are doomed.”

  “Message ends,” Ahab said.

  “Why won’t they just give him the crown?” I wailed.

  “Star map, Ahab,” Vulf snapped. “Distance from Naidoc to Hades.”

  “Forty two hours. Assuming safe passage through the two wormholes and that the Meitj don’t encounter a space storm.”

  I noticed red crescents indented in Vulf’s skin and winced. “Sorry.” I rubbed at them. They were the marks of my fingernails. “But the Meitj refuse to give Ivan the Imperial Crown. What does it matter how long the journey from Naidoc to Hades is?”

  Vulf turned me to face him. “Focus.” His eyes were hard, his mouth a grim line. “Professor Summer insisted we receive this information for a reason. He’s right. We have the best chance of catching up with Ivan.”

  “And doing what?” I flung my arms out. “What can we do to save Shaidoc and the Meitj solar system at this distance? Wraiths are complicated. You saw the one I created on the Capricorn. It was freaky, and it was a small one. But when you let a wraith grow, it becomes a black hole. Ivan—my grandfather!—has unleashed baby black holes on the Meitj.” By the end, I was screaming.

  “How?” Vulf’s snapped question cut through my hysteria. “Think, Jaya. Ivan was with us on Earth less than six hours ago. How could he have created wraiths half a galaxy away on Shaidoc?”

  My brain stuttered into action, slowly and jerkily. “He won’t be working with anyone else,” I muttered. “This is a crazy solo endeavor.”

  “I agree.” Vulf watched me.

  “The Meitj transmission was sent two and a half hours ago,” Ahab contributed.

  Vulf and I stared at each other. The math was simple. The Meitj’s message had taken two and a half hours to reach us here, near Earth. According to the transmission, it had been beamed twenty minutes after the Meitj Imperial Court received Ivan’s transmission. Round that to an easy half hour, then add two and a half hours for Ivan’s transmission to travel from Earth to Naidoc. The conclusion was obvious: the wraiths had appeared on Shaidoc while Ivan was on or near Earth.

  “It’s impossible,” I muttered. “A shaman has to be present to construct a wraith. You have to fold layers of sha energy in a spiral. I wo
nder how many Ivan made. To create more than three would exhaust me…” I rubbed my hands together agitatedly as I realized what he’d done. “That’s why he stole my sha crystal on Tyger Tyger. It had enough stored sha energy to construct seven portals. Wraiths don’t require anywhere near as much sha energy to create as portals. He used my sha energy to create the wraiths and to build the shield that held me, and which would have let him kill you if I hadn’t broken free. But how did he create the wraiths while he was on Earth with us?”

  Vulf pulled on his shirt before crossing to the food dispenser. “Couldn’t he have set them up earlier, as he did with the portals he used to escape Tyger Tyger and then Station Folly?”

  “No. Wraiths don’t work that way.” I frowned. “Unless…Ivan wasn’t trained at the Academy. We were taught to treat wraiths as shields. They absorb energy blasts so they’re a powerful defensive weapon. That’s why I thought to use one on the Capricorn. The pirates challenged me to use sha as a weapon. I shaped the wraith, a defensive weapon, to look scary, knowing that just the use of sha feels eerie to non-shamans. But if Ivan doesn’t consider wraiths as shields, maybe that changes how he constructs them…”

  Vulf put plates of stew on the table, reheated bread rolls balanced on the edge of them, and filled two mugs with coffee.

  I forgot about my plan to eat salad, and ate the stew absently. The meal was about refueling. I continued puzzling over what Ivan had done—refusing to think beyond the puzzle of his use of sha energy. If I considered his actual threat to murder an entire civilization, I’d be uselessly rocking in a corner.

  “He must have used the portal on Tyger Tyger to reach Shaidoc,” I said as pushed away my empty plate.

  Vulf had eaten one-handed, leaving me to my thoughts while he studied various star maps on the table screen as well as information on Hades, where Ivan had ordered the Meitj to deliver the Imperial Crown. Now, Vulf dismissed the star maps with a swipe of his finger, and the surface of the table returned to its usual finish.

  “Do you have any chocolate?” I asked him. “No, I’ll get it,” I added as he went to stand. I took our empty plates to the counter beside the food dispenser and the automated cleaning system sunk them below the counter and out of sight.