by Tasha Black
And it was nice to hang out with her friends.
Life was pretty good.
Well…
“What are you thinking about?” Trinity asked her softly.
Lobo, Lobo, Lobo…
“Nothing,” she replied briskly.
“They’re not here,” Trinity said. “You can talk about it.”
The aliens were going for a jog. The cadets had explained to them how important fitness training was. The boys really bought into it.
Veronica doubted any of them actually needed a jog. Their flawless physiques seemed to be maintained effortlessly. But truth be told, it was a relief to have some space and be able to think. Or try to think.
“You like him, don’t you?” Trinity asked.
“He surprised me today,” Veronica admitted.
“Oh yeah?” Brooke sounded interested.
“I fed the dogs and put them away last night,” Veronica explained. “I do it every night, and I’m always careful about latching the kennels. But… I don’t know, somehow I must not have latched one. Anyway, this morning Henderson came to check in and Biscuit got loose.”
“Shit,” Brooke breathed.
Everyone knew Captain Henderson was not a fan of the K-9 unit. He felt it was a resource drain and a liability.
“What did you do?” Trinity asked.
“Nothing,” Veronica said. “Lobo took the fall for me.”
“Nice,” Brooke nodded.
“He did?” Trinity sounded shocked. “Wow.”
“Yeah,” Veronica said.
Trinity let out a low whistle.
“He’s a nice guy, you shouldn’t be shocked or anything,” Veronica said, feeling a little irritated.
“I’m just surprised that he knows how to lie,” Trinity said, shrugging.
Veronica hadn’t thought of it in that light before.
“He’s loyal,” Brooke declared.
“Yeah,” Veronica said, smiling. “He’s loyal.”
“Like the dogs,” Brooke added, raising an eyebrow.
“Hmmm…” Trinity pretended to think hard. “I believe that Veronica once said she wouldn’t date again unless she met a man as loyal as Officer Biscuit.”
“Guys, come on,” Veronica laughed weakly.
“You’re right, Trinity,” Brooke said. “She did say that. And it sounds like she’s met her match. Does this mean that our Veronica is finally ready to break her vow of chastity?”
“I never vowed chastity,” Veronica protested.
“Could have fooled me,” Brooke muttered.
“Who is Chastity?”
The deep voice came from the doorframe and Veronica nearly jumped out of her shoes with surprise.
“Hi, Lobo,” Trinity said, blinking up at him like she was the picture of innocence.
But Lobo was looking only at Veronica.
His blue eyes burned through her and she felt her whole face go warm.
He wasn’t wearing a shirt. His sculpted muscles gleamed with sweat.
“Do you want an ice cream sandwich?” Trinity asked him.
Brooke elbowed her in the ribs.
“Ow, my ribs,” Trinity said.
“We’ll catch up with you guys later,” Brooke said, dragging Trinity out bodily.
“Conan and Hawkeye are making a snack downstairs,” Lobo called after them.
Veronica wondered vaguely what the two aliens would cook.
Lobo came out and sat on the metal grating at Veronica’s feet. He looked out over the scene below with her.
The beautifully articulated muscles of his back rippled like a river.
“Thank you,” she told him.
“What for?”
“For today,” she said. “You covered for me.”
He looked down at himself.
“Are you saying you want me to put on a shirt?”
“What? Oh. No,” she said. “That’s not what covering for someone means.”
“What does it mean?”
“It means… you spoke up to prevent me from getting in trouble,” she said slowly, trying to figure out how to explain it. “You protected me.”
“Ah,” he said. “Yes, protecting you is my job.”
He went back to calmly studying the vista below, leaving Veronica to take in what he had just said.
Protecting you is my job.
“But you lied,” she pressed on. “You could have gotten into trouble yourself.”
“Did I act wrongly?” He looked very worried. “Please forgive me. I want to be a good friend to you.”
Veronica sighed.
“No,” she said. “No you acted… rightly. You are a good friend.”
“I am glad,” he said. His blue eyes were shining with contentment. And something else - hunger maybe…
She swallowed hard and tried to think. But questions swirled in her brain.
Did you mean it when you said you wanted to know me better?
“Did you mean it when you said you liked working with the dogs?” she asked instead.
“Yes,” he said with a gentle smile. “The dogs are very wise.”
He was right, of course, though few saw it that way.
“I heard what you said to Anka this morning,” she said.
“Yes, Anka is a good leader,” he nodded.
“How did you know she was the alpha female?”
“I do not know.” He frowned. “It seemed clear to me. Is that not right?”
“It’s right,” she said. “It’s exactly right. You understand her so well.”
“Thank you,” he said.
“Do you want to help me with Zeus in the morning?”
She wanted to bite back the question, but it had already been asked.
“I would love to,” he told her, looking very pleased.
“Good,” she told him. “We’ll have breakfast at six and then take him out, ok?”
He nodded, his indigo gaze blazing through her.
Veronica felt her body calling to his. He was so close, inches separated them. He smelled like fresh cut grass and something spicy and masculine.
She moved to get up, wanting space.
As if he had anticipated her movement, Lobo arose gracefully.
He was enormous, standing over her, those glistening abs so close to her face. If she leaned forward she could lick the single drop of sweat that slid over those ridges toward her mouth.
He offered her his hand.
She took it, relishing the sizzle of electricity when they touched. He pulled her gently to her feet.
Veronica stood before him, trembling, like in the dream. Heat seemed to throb between them.
Lobo’s jaw tensed.
“Veronica,” he said, his voice almost a growl.
She closed her eyes and tried not to whimper with need.
But when she opened them she saw that he had stepped backward, and was indicating the door with his hand.
She bit her lip hard and stepped inside.
“I’ll see you in the morning,” she called over her shoulder, using the last of her willpower to walk slowly to her suite, rather than throwing herself into his arms.
15
Lobo
Lobo walked at Veronica’s side. She was near enough that he could have reached out and grasped her hand if he thought she would allow it.
The cool morning breeze danced in the tendrils of her dark hair.
A light tug brought his attention back to the leash he held.
Zeus was bounding forward, excitement flashing in the air around him.
“So, this is the monastery land,” Veronica said as they left the K-9 area behind.
Compared to the dusty K-9 enclosure, the field seemed remarkably lush, like a depiction of heaven in the movies. A huge maple tree spread out its leaves before them. Just past it, waves of purple blossoms dotted the deep green grass.
“What are those?” he asked, indicating the flowers.
“Violets,” she replied, smiling up
at him.
“How do we walk?” he asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Someone must tend to the violets, they will be displeased if we crush them,” he said.
“Oh.” She looked surprised. “No, they’re wildflowers. They grow with the grass, you can walk on them.”
Incredible.
“Didn’t you have wildflowers on Aerie?”
She was curious about his old home. He was delighted and only wished there were a better answer to give her.
“No,” he shook his head. “Aerie is a dry, rocky planet that has almost no flora, except for something akin to lichen.”
“The lichen must be treasured,” Veronica mused. “And carefully tended.”
“It is carnivorous,” he told her. “Very dangerous.”
“Oh,” she said in a surprised way.
“But the rocks are beautiful,” he told her. “They are dark, like your obsidian, and they point to the stars.”
He hadn’t explained it well enough. There were no human words to capture the eerie beauty of the glassy crags, bursting from the sand of Aerie as if they had been a liquid, frozen in the process of being sucked out into the galaxy.
“They sound beautiful,” she said. “Do you miss it?”
“It is difficult to explain,” he told her, wishing desperately to share his honest feelings with this female who was so important to him. “I have a hard time understanding it myself. Aerie was a quiet place. Without a physical form, life was different - peaceful, but also cold, solitary.”
“So having a human form is less peaceful,” she echoed.
“My brothers and I have absorbed a great deal about what it means to be human. Some of your wise scholars have equated physicality to psychology.”
“What do you mean?”
“That if man wishes to feel reverent he needs only to kneel,” he told her.
“Oh,” she said. “The mind takes cues from the body. Yes, I have heard that theory.”
“Acquiring this body has also changed my thoughts,” he told her. “And so with its biological rhythms of fueling and resting and even breathing, I grow with each cycle to crave more of the same.”
Veronica nodded, looking up at him in wonder.
“So you don’t miss the peace of Aerie?”
“No,” he told her. “This new body craves many things. Solitude is not one of them.”
Her cheeks blushed pink, and he realized the significance of his words.
By the three moons of Aerie he desired her. It was impossible to refuse the demands of his heart and body, to restrain himself.
But she had taken him in, and she did not want him for a mate. He could not force himself on her.
Or beg.
Just then Zeus tugged on his leash again. Lobo could practically see the beams of happiness exploding from him.
“He smells the creek,” Veronica laughed.
“There is a creek?” Lobo was very excited. He loved the pond back in Stargazer.
“The monastery is on ten acres,” Veronica explained. “If I could have even two of them for the K-9 training program it would be incredible.”
“But the land already belongs to the academy, doesn’t it?” Lobo asked.
“The cost to enclose it properly would be at least forty thousand dollars,” Veronica sighed.
“This is a lot of money?” Lobo wasn’t entirely clear on the value of money. There were too many Earth currencies to learn all at once.
“It’s a lot, yes,” she said.
“Why must it be enclosed?”
“To keep the dogs in and to keep people away from the dogs,” she replied.
“But the dogs love people,” he said.
“Henderson isn’t so sure about that,” Veronica said. The edge in her voice told him she was unhappy.
“That is the man from yesterday?”
“Yes,” she replied. “He thinks the dogs are a liability and that it costs too much to run the program.”
“But you have sponsors,” he said.
“You were paying attention,” she said, with a smile.
“Of course,” he said, unsure why she was surprised.
“Anyway, this land is perfect for the dogs. They could really run and stretch their legs, which they don’t get to do now. And we could do serious search and rescue drills,” she went on. “When we get enough money raised.”
“How will you raise the money?”
“It won’t be easy.” She furrowed her brow. “I was excited to get a dog like Biscuit. He’s a champion. He could open up a lot of doors…”
“But?”
“But Officer Biscuit isn’t himself this week,” Veronica replied. “And I’m not sure why.”
“I will help him,” Lobo promised.
“Thank you,” she said.
Zeus tugged on his leash again.
“Come on,” Veronica said, heading toward the trees on the edge of the field.
Lobo could hear the creek, a happy bubbling sound.
Zeus wagged his stump of a tail merrily.
When they reached the trees, Veronica indicated a smaller one.
“I normally tie his leash around that one and sit a while. It’s nice for him to be out in nature, with people, resting and communing.”
Lobo thought it would be nice for him too.
He fixed the leash to the tree in question and came back to Veronica, who was seating herself on the ground.
Zeus trotted up to her immediately and nuzzled her.
Good.
The creature’s thought popped into Lobo’s head.
Then Zeus wandered off to explore the area around them. His leash was about twenty feet long, so he was able to taste a hint of freedom.
One moment they were three, and then they were two.
Lobo seated himself as close to Veronica as he dared.
They looked down at the small creek together. The moving water was dappled by the shade of the trees overhead, and it glimmered mischievously where the sunlight found its way between the leaves to reach its surface. Lobo could see some of the rounded stones beneath the water. All of the plants on either side of the creek leaned toward the center, as if they too were entranced by the gurgling movement.
When Lobo looked up, he met Veronica’s dark eyes and something passed between them.
Need.
Her emotion flooded him as surely as if it were his own and he reeled in the heady sensation of her desire for him. He felt the tautness of his muscles, the strong line of his jaw, his own masculine presence threaded through her thoughts.
Lobo’s time at the academy had already introduced him to several words he wasn’t familiar with. So he had looked them up in the dog-eared dictionary Dr. Bhimani had given him as a good-bye present.
A monastery was a place for unmarried humans who had vowed to live without mates.
And chastity was not a person, but the practice of refraining from sexual release.
When he replayed the events of their first conversation with the benefit of this information, Veronica’s words took on a new meaning.
“I’m not interested in finding a mate.”
He had assumed that Veronica wished to achieve a state of readiness before mating. This was common among humans.
But perhaps she wished to refrain from mating at all.
Lobo could not understand why anyone would wish to refrain from mating. Even the solitary imitation of mating he had experienced in the lab was quite pleasant, and he was told, real mating was a way to attain closeness between people. The coupling also resulted in babies, which were treasured by humans.
Was it possible that Veronica really didn’t want that?
The waves of longing she was transmitting to him said the opposite.
Had he not known her intention to remain solitary he would have moved to fulfill her longings instantly.
As things were, he knew he should get up, move away from her, give her the space to gather herself.
Instead, he found himself leaning forward, and brushing a silken tendril of her hair behind her ear, as he had seen her do many times.
She closed her eyes and leaned into his hand slightly.
Please, oh, please.
Her need awakened an immediate response in his body and he nearly gasped as he felt his organ go rigid in the space of a heartbeat.
The skin of her cheek was so soft against his hand.
He leaned closer, desperate to taste her soft lips in a kiss.
Lobo had seen many kisses in the movies, they seemed almost perfunctory, a means to an end.
But when he brushed his lips against hers, the tidal wave of emotion he felt from both of them threatened to consume him.
She sighed and he tasted her sweet breath.
Helpless with desire, he kissed her again, and again.
More, more, more…
His hand was cradling her cheek, it was easy to thumb her jaw open and allow his tongue to stroke hers.
She seemed to melt into him.
The wet heat of her mouth was mesmerizing. His whole body was throbbing with the need to claim her.
Please.
She whimpered and he lost his resolve.
As gently as he could bear to do it he pulled them both to the ground.
The tender shoots of grass and the loamy scent of the soil below told him this was real, not one of the dreams he’d been having about her - dreams where something always stopped them before they could become as one.
She trembled in his arms, her breasts pressed to his chest, her nipples so stiff.
She was so soft, so small, so warm.
Need you.
A jolt of sympathetic lust went through him and he was nearly breathless.
He slid his hand from her hair down between her shoulder blades to her waist and the flare of her hips in an almost unconscious soothing gesture that only made her press herself closer.
He abandoned her lips to kiss her neck.
She dragged her fingers through his hair.
Emboldened, he slid lower, nuzzled the space between her breasts.
Veronica arched her back. He could taste her yearning.
He cupped her left breast in his hand.
She stilled.
He ran his thumb slowly across her breast, felt her nipple through the fabric of her clothing.
