Aurora Rising: The Complete Collection

by G. S. Jennsen

  — Marshal Ferdinand Foch

  32

  PORTAL PRIME

  UNCHARTED SPACE

  * * *

  ALEX WAS LYING ON THE FLOOR in the center of a cavernous but otherwise empty room.

  Caleb’s heart plummeted at the sight of her crumpled body and arrested his forward progress in terror. Then she moved—a tiny, weak shift of her head—and he was again in motion, rushing ahead to drop to his knees beside her.

  His hands roved over her body in search of injuries. But though her clothes bore multiple tears, he saw no blood or ripped skin, only mostly-healed scratches. He wasn’t certain he was able to hear above the pounding of his heartbeat in his ears—or because the dragon’s wail had blown out his eardrums—and tried to wrestle his pulse under control.

  He brushed tangled hair out of her face. “Alex, baby, any chance you could wake up for me?”

  At first there was no response. Alarm had begun to creep anew into his chest when she blinked…blinked again…and opened her eyes. Bleary and clouded, confusion flooded them as they darted blindly for several seconds before appearing to finally see him; they widened as she threw her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder.

  “Caleb…you’re okay….”

  He gathered her up fully in his arms. Tears he refused to allow to fall stung his eyes as he fought to reign in the fervor threatening to overwhelm him. She was safe and it was the only thing he cared about.

  Even so, joy and a kind of awed relief bled into the quiver in his voice. “And so are you.”

  Her lips found his and crushed them in a frantic kiss, full of tumult and panic and need. He savored the perfect feel of her mouth on his, the perfection which her kiss represented, for everything he was worth. After all, it might be his last.

  She gave a muffled laugh. Or it might have been a sob. Or it might have been him. With great reluctance he shifted position enough to be able to see her.

  She looked an absolute wreck, hair falling in dirt-streaked tangles from what had once resembled a ponytail, lips parched and cracked, skin blotchy and….

  He frowned in concern. “Have you been crying?”

  She removed a hand from him to touch fingertips to her cheek, then stared queerly at the dampness they held. Her gaze lost focus as she drifted off.

  The pad of his thumb ran softly over her jaw. “Alex?”

  She jerked a little and offered him a weak smile. “Sorry. I…I’ll explain later. How long have I been here?”

  “A day and a half, give or take.”

  “Is that all? Do you have any water? My god I’m so thirsty.”

  “Absolutely.” He fumbled for the water bottle, unlatched it and handed to her.

  She greedily sucked it down as stray droplets spilled along her chin to join tear stains in cutting streaks through a thin layer of dirt coating her skin. Had the dragon dumped her upon the ground outside for her to be dragged in here?

  She gave it back to him, then tilted her head hesitantly. “You’re covered in blood again.”

  “I really am.”

  “Why are you always covered in blood when I wake up after being unconscious?”

  “Usually for the same reason you were unconscious, I think.”

  A faint twinkle glittered in her eyes, gladdening him more than he would have imagined. “Are we going to have to go through another existential crisis because of it?”

  He groaned. “God, I hope not. Can we not?”

  “Yeah, we can not. But why are you covered in blood?”

  “You’ll see.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means you’ll see.”

  “All right….” A troubled expression dampened the twinkle as her attention left him to roam around the chamber. The walls, floor and ceiling were the same opaque, frosted glass-like material, but inside they were woven through with hundreds of grooves filled with pale, luminescent light.

  “This is…well, almost what I expected. But were they intending on letting me lie here until I starved?”

  “You don’t remember anything? Have you been unconscious this whole time?”

  Her nose crinkled up, the way it did when she got flustered. “Not exactly. It’s complicated. I’ll explain, I will, but give me a chance to get my bearings?”

  “Whatever you need. I’m just glad you’re safe.” He huffed a quiet breath. “And alive.”

  She didn’t quite seem to hear him as she drifted off once more. It was probably lingering disorientation.

  Without warning she began to climb to her feet, only to waver unsteadily. She reached out to grab his hand, allowing him to help her up. He tried and failed to not cringe in pain at her tight grasp.

  She flipped his hand over to reveal a deep, serrated gash cutting through the middle of his palm. “You’re not merely covered in blood—you’re hurt.”

  He reached up to run the other hand along her cheek. “It’s fine. I’ll bandage them up once we get outside. Promise.”

  “Them?” She clasped the hand at her cheek and tugged it away to inspect it. Eyes anxious with concern met his.

  He smiled with as much easy confidence as he could muster. “I’m fine.”

  She regarded him warily for another second before letting his hands drop and wandering in a slow circle around the room. “Was there a…dragon?”

  “There was in fact. Several, actually.”

  “Thought I might have dreamed that part.” She drew in a long breath and visibly worked to put herself together. “Let’s get out of here. I’ve a powerful need for some fresh air.”

  “I like this idea.” He located his improvised weapon from where it had been discarded in his rush to reach her and fitted it back in the sheath.

  “What is that?”

  “My sword.”

  “Your…is it from my ship?”

  “Yep.” His shrug conveyed feigned casualness. “What? I had to improvise. Don’t get your panties in a twist, I didn’t chop up any critical systems.”

  “Is the handle from my chair?”

  He grumbled under his breath; it had taken her less than ten seconds to notice. “I said nothing critical, didn’t I?”

  She squelched the mild displeasure in her countenance. “Okay. I trust you.”

  Not for much longer. Luckily she had begun hurrying toward the open doorway and missed the flash of disquiet he knew crossed his face. He shoved it away and followed her.

  When she stepped outside she careened to a stop. He came up to stand beside her and waited in silence while she contemplated matters.

  “You…you slayed the dragon.”

  “I did.”

  An eyebrow arched at the violence splayed upon the plateau. She canted her head to the side to inspect it at a different angle. Canted it in the other direction. Considered the scene dominated by the enormous dragon carcass.

  Finally she gave an exaggerated sigh. “I got nothing.”

  “Sure.” He brought his hand to rest on her shoulder with a chuckle. “Come on. Let’s get off this ledge, in case it didn’t live alone. We can take a break in the shade below. I’ll get my hands cleaned up, and you can eat something.”

  “Yes. My god, I’m starving.”

  “You must be.” If she hadn’t had fluids or nourishment for nearly two days, no wonder she seemed disoriented and unsteady. He retrieved the pack and she followed him down the steep slope until it leveled off at a shaded copse of trees.

  He offered the pack to her. “Food.” After she accepted it he pulled the strap over his head and tossed the bloodied sword to the side.

  “So the sword’s what you used to slay the dragon?” He nodded as she passed him the med kit from the pack.

  “Well that’s very ‘knightly’ of you, but why not simply use a Daemon? Be a hell of a lot easier.”

  “A field encompasses this whole area. It repels all active technology, which created a problem.”

  “Clearly…” she squinted at the wooded
mountainside, a puzzled frown darkening her features “…wait a minute. We’re in the middle of the mountains? We couldn’t see mountains where we camped. We have to be at least hundreds of kilometers from there. How did you get to me in a day and a half?”

  His chin dropped to his chest. Time’s up.

  He didn’t want to do this. Oh how he did not want to do this.

  He finished wrapping the more damaged hand, set the med kit on the ground beside the sword and turned to face her. God, she was beautiful. Hair a tangled mess, clothes torn, lips pale and swollen, skin streaked in dirt. And she was so damn beautiful and flawed and perfect.

  “I flew your ship to the base of the mountains. The shield blocked it from continuing any farther, so I hiked in from there.”

  A tight crease formed at her brow. “What? No, that’s impossible.”

  “When the Siyane was docked on Romane, I had Mia hack it to grant me full access and flying rights.”

  Her irises flashed a pure argent, so bright they resembled the flare of a nova, in what could only be shock doubtless to soon be followed by outrage. “You…you did what?”

  He forced down the jagged lump clogging his larynx. “I secretly had your ship hacked and acquired myself flying rights to it without your consent. I did it because I knew one day—somewhere, somehow—I would need it to save one or both of us. I didn’t ask you first because I knew you would never permit it. You are insular and controlling and bullheaded stubborn and one day it is going to get you killed—but it won’t be on a day I’m with you.”

  His pacing had grown furious around the small copse. His voice had started out flat and toneless, but more vehemence crept into each sentence. “And you know what? I’m not sorry. You can hate me if you want, you can believe I betrayed you and kick me out of your life if you must, but I don’t regret doing it. Because I was right. And because I was right you’re alive and safe, and nothing matters more to me.

  “I would do it all over again, and again if I had to, because it meant I was able to save you.”

  A frayed breath ended the screed, heavy with bitterness and sorrow. He had meant every syllable, even if he hadn’t realized all of it until the words spilled forth. Even if it didn’t matter.

  She was staring at him with the oddest expression. Whether it was fury or remained simple incredulity for the moment he dared not presume. Her irises now swirled melted silver, hiding her thoughts behind an impenetrable storm.

  She opened her mouth as if to speak, only to close it. She pivoted as if to tramp about in a fit of anger…and stopped. Her brow furrowed and unfurrowed several times in succession.

  He felt dangerously unhinged. Raw. The emotions he had kept bottled up inside for days so he was able to search for her and not crumble under their weight burst free from the dull ache in his chest to roil beneath his skin, searching for a path forward, demanding an outlet. But there was nothing he could do.

  While he would never—could never—harm her, he thought he might gleefully harm anything else which came within reach. Another dragon should suffice. In fact, he’d offer a significant fortune for another dragon to show up right about now.

  Looking into her eyes, he silently begged her to see the torment in his. Desperation bled out of his voice. “Do something, please. Yell, scream, hit me if you want, but do not just leave me standing here awaiting my execution sentence.”

  Her throat worked laboriously, as if it struggled to remember the actions required for speech. “I love you….”

  All the blood rushed to his head, sending it spinning violently. His injuries were graver than he had realized, for him to be so delirious as to be hearing things. He choked out a precious few syllables. “What did you say?”

  Her eyes narrowed, perplexed, as if she wasn’t entirely sure herself. “You went behind my back and against my wishes, and I should be furious with you. And part of me is. But you’re right—had you asked I would have said ‘no,’ and it would have been wrong of me.

  “This is the second time you’ve saved me expecting to lose me for it, which is apparently far more selfless than anything I’ve ever done. And every time I try to work up a case of righteous indignation against you, all I can think is…I love you. I didn’t real—”

  His mouth was on hers and his hands were in her hair and he was pressing her into the nearest tree, stealing the air from her lungs though he owned none to replace it.

  “What are you…doing?” It was barely a murmur.

  He brushed feather-light kisses across her lips and back again. “Telling you I love you, too.”

  She smiled and made to recapture his kiss, then retreated, her gaze falling away. “No, you don’t need to—”

  “Would you shut up and let me tell you?” He smothered her gasp, drawing her in and this time refusing to let go. His lips ghosted over hers, over the tip of her nose, her eyelids, her jawline, her inexplicably tear-stained cheeks, always a phrase humming upon them. “I love you….”

  A hand clawed up his shoulder to clench in his hair; the other found the small of his back and pulled him yet closer. She claimed his mouth in full, bringing a delightful halt to his roving kisses, and the fire, the passion he craved more than the most addictive chimeral surged to life in his embrace.

  He was dizzy from euphoria at his unexpected, impossible turn of fortune…and perhaps a few other things like exhaustion and pain, but he chose to focus on the euphoria. She kept insisting on surprising him in the most astounding ways, challenging everything he thought he knew about people and the world and most of all, himself. Remarkable.

  His hand drifted down her neck, along her collarbone, and continued on to dance fingertips over her breast through the fabric of her shirt.

  She bit his lower lip and moaned in a manner he could best describe as, well, visceral, then dragged her teeth along his jaw to the crease of his ear. “Can I be mad at you now?”

  He dipped a hand beneath her shirt and shoved the material upward. “No, you cannot.”

  “But you—” His mouth silenced the rest.

  “When you put it like…unh….” With his thumb he traced circles on her bare breast beneath her shirt, delighting in how she trembled at his caress.

  As her fingers snaked up his spine, he dropped both hands to her hips and hoisted her up—

  —and winced as the shredded ligaments in his left shoulder screamed in protest and refused to comply.

  Instantly she drew back to regard him suspiciously. Her lips were swollen once more, this time from his abuse of them. “You are such a liar. You are not ‘fine.’ You can barely stand.”

  His eyes squeezed shut as passion and pain waged war, his body the battlefield. His voice came out half frustrated, half graveled. “You exaggerate. I can stand fine. I am fine…” he sank into her arms “…or I will be.” Seeing the earnest worry animating her face, he brought a hand up to run gently along her jaw to the curve of her neck. “I promise.”

  She sighed and kissed him, so wonderfully soft and tender and poignant. They remained there for untold seconds or minutes or hours, before he pulled away a fraction.

  “Tell me what happened to you?”

  33

  NEW BABEL

  INDEPENDENT COLONY

  * * *

  THE FIRST THOUGHT OLIVIA HAD when Marcus’ figure shimmered into existence was, he looks frazzled.

  He did his best to conceal it, donning a poised mien and ostensible confidence. But she had observed him in this precise setting a number of times now. He was cracking beneath the pressure.

  She hadn’t believed him so weak, so easily broken. Perhaps there was more at work than merely a galactic war and an alien invasion.

  “Olivia. You said it was urgent. You need to discuss something?” His tone came out clipped. Strained.

  “Yes, Marcus. We need to discuss the small matter of the aliens tearing up the eastern half of settled space. They represent a small kink in our plans, wouldn’t you say?”

  “Adm
ittedly, it is a complication. I’m working to resolve the matter as quickly as I can.”

  Suspicion flared in her gut. “Resolve the matter? If it’s all the same to you, as your partner I’d like a few details. You’re now the most powerful person in the galaxy, so how do you plan to ‘resolve the matter’? Do you enjoy a direct line to the alien leadership to negotiate a truce?”

  His eyes flickered. Something akin to fear passed across them. A blink and it was gone. “No, of course not. But—”

  “Son of a bitch, you knew. How long have you been keeping your little secret from me? A week? A month? A year? Did you know they were coming when you presented your plan to me?”

  “Olivia, you must realize—”

  “The Alliance-Federation war was supposed to increase my power—and yours—in the galaxy. Instead the war has weakened our ability to defend against aliens currently wreaking havoc on over a dozen worlds, and something tells me they’re just getting warmed up. At this rate the galaxy will be left in ruins. Marcus, I stand to lose everything.”

  His head shook as if to deny the veracity of her claims. “I can convince them to stop. It was the whole point of rising to this position. I can get them to understand we won’t be a threat to them. You simply need to give me a little more time.”

  She only barely prevented her jaw from falling open in naked disbelief. “Are you telling me you really do have a direct line to their leadership?”

  For a beat his usual confidence returned in the twist of his mouth and set of his chin. “In a manner of speaking.”

  “Oh, you dirty, conniving little snake. Did you lie to me about everything or solely the part where the war would be to my benefit?”

  “Olivia—”

  “You required me to make the war happen, so you used me for your own ends.”

  “We used one another. That’s how the world works. I thought you of all people understood this.”

  “Nice try, but no. You used my resources, my people, my money and my influence for purposes contrary to those you presented.”

  He brandished a visage so malevolent he’d never dare show it in public. “Would you have believed me had I told you aliens were talking to me?”