Sons of Lyra: Stranded

by Felicity Heaton

  If only she knew.

  She’d given him looks when she’d first come onboard, ones full of meaning and easy to interpret. She knew his reputation and she wanted to be the one to catch him, to tame him and claim his heart for her own. He wished he’d let her rather than fighting the attraction. What could have been something beautiful now brought him nothing but pain. It hurt to even think that now nothing could happen between them, no matter how badly they wanted it.

  He turned down a side corridor and away from the engine room. The temperature was rising again. He wished the climate control had broken on a downswing not an upswing. He could handle the freezing cold far better than this stifling heat.

  Ahead of him, the mess room doors opened to greet him. He went straight to the refrigerator units and took out two bottles of water. The cold against his skin was divine. If they had enough supplies, he’d bathe in them. Maybe once he could’ve convinced her to bathe with him. Not now though. He’d wrecked any chance of that.

  He laughed at himself and left the mess room. A man well known for his vicious attitude and confidence had been too frightened of rejection to ask the most beautiful woman in the universe to be his. His parents would have frowned on it, his desire to marry a woman outside decent Lyran society, an engineer on his ship no less. He supposed they’d be happy now they were getting what they wanted—one of their sons married to Lyran aristocracy.

  He wasn’t.

  The door to the engine room slid open and he stepped inside. She was on her back, her knees bent and the top half of her body hidden inside the tube. He padded quietly over to her, hoping not to disturb her so he could observe her and remember how good she looked in little clothing.

  “I can’t fix it!” There was a clang of metal on metal and then she slid out from the tube.

  She lay on her back staring up at him.

  She’d tied her dark hair back and her white top was damp with sweat around the edges. He held one of the bottles of water out to her. She got to her feet and took it from him, gulping half the contents down in one go.

  “It’s too hot,” she said and wiped the sweat from her brow.

  He glanced at the temperature reading. Thirty-seven degrees Celsius.

  At this rate, they’d be dead before anyone found them.

  He sipped his water, trying to think of a solution. There had to be a way to save Stella from this heat. Pain wracked his heart at the thought of her dying. He’d never let anything bad happen to her. Never. Nothing in this universe, not even his future wife, could stop him from protecting her or change his feelings towards her.

  Stella gulped half the remains of her water, desperate for its coolness. It did nothing to lower her temperature. Seeing her captain in just his underwear wasn’t helping. She swore that the second he was out of sight, her temperature had dropped by five degrees.

  He was staring at her but she didn’t look at him. She liked the feel of his eyes on her, trailing fire over her body and making her burn for him. If she looked at him, he was likely to look away. She hadn’t realised before today, but he watched her if she didn’t pay attention to him. Was he scared of looking at her when she was looking at him?

  “I suggest we go to the cryo-sleep chamber. The temperature may be cooler there if we open the pods.” His voice was liquid fire, seeping into her veins and stirring ideas that would only make her hotter.

  She nodded and swigged her water, hoping it would cool her down.

  He walked from the room and she followed him, her eyes roaming the strong muscles of his back, sculpted to perfection. His buttocks shifted as he walked and dimpled. He had a cute backside, and those legs were to die for. Long, muscled and strong, she wanted to touch every inch of them and gradually work her way up. She wished he was facing her again. There was nothing as spectacular as the sight of his torso or his body in the tiny tight trunks.

  All too quickly, he came to a halt in front of the cryo-sleep chamber. The door swished open and she followed him in. It was as hot and stuffy in the room as it had been in the rest of the ship.

  She stood in the middle of the room and looked around her. He went to one of the glass and white metal pods and opened it. A cool breeze touched her skin, pleasant and refreshing. She went to the pod on the opposite side of the room to the one he’d opened and pressed the button. It whooshed open. Chill air washed over her skin. It was wonderful.

  She remained there, enjoying the cool air and how refreshing it was. She didn’t even move when it turned colder, freezing her skin. His hand came to rest on her shoulder. She moved now, turning to look at him. There was fire in his eyes and they burned her as he looked her over. Her nipples hardened into peaks that pushed against the tight material of her white vest. She blamed the cold.

  Looking into his eyes, with his hand resting on her shoulder, she felt connected to him. Her body was aflame where he was touching her, his fingers lightly grazing her skin. She couldn’t believe she was standing alone with him in only her underwear. Something surfaced in his eyes that she couldn’t read and his expression altered for a brief moment before returning to normal. What had he been thinking in there? Was it about her? Was it about them? She laughed internally at herself for being so ridiculous. He was miles out of her league. Her imagination was playing tricks.

  His hand trailed off her, leaving her feeling bereft. Her gaze followed him as he crossed the room. It slid over his back muscles again, slowly falling to his shorts. The tight white material really left even less to the imagination than his flight suit did, if that was possible.

  He turned to face her when he reached the benches near the shuttered window. His physique was stunning, better than any she’d seen in the brochures of Lyra Six or imagined in her fantasies. Her eyes delighted in following the lines of his muscles, over his smooth defined chest to his taut abdominal muscles, and then onwards to the point where they ended and the shaping around his hips led her eyes down to his shorts.

  She swallowed, burning up.

  “Take a seat,” he said in a voice so husky it startled her out of her reverie.

  She sat down on the bench opposite the one he was near. He opened the screen across the window to reveal the never-ending darkness of deep space. In the distance she could see the spiralling arms of the closest galaxy.

  “It’s beautiful,” she said.

  He sat on the bench and she knew his eyes were on her again.

  “I never get to see it where I work,” she said, feeling the need to explain.

  He was looking out of the window at the galaxy when her gaze slid across to him.

  He was beautiful. He was more breathtaking than that galaxy or anything she’d ever seen in her life. He made her glad she’d been drafted. The idea that she might have spent her whole life never seeing such a man, only seeing the grimy dark engine rooms of half-dead freighters and the dusty space ports of the outer colonies, made her ache and made her happy to serve her galaxy’s leaders.

  “It’s the reason I wanted to be a captain,” he said in a voice tinged with sadness.

  “Your brother is a captain also,” she said, wondering if he was so very different to his brothers.

  He smiled.

  “He is,” he said and then whispered so quiet that she barely heard him, “he sent me you, a real star, more beau—”

  She frowned, her heart in her mouth and her mind screaming out for him to finish his sentence. Had she imagined it? Had he been on the brink of saying that she was beautiful?

  In the distance, the gravity drive whined.

  She grabbed her bench at the same time as he grabbed his. There was a clunk, a shudder that rocked the ship, and then she was drifting off the seat, only her hands anchoring her.

  She couldn’t look at him so she pushed off and floated to the window. Shame filled her along with embarrassment. What kind of engineer couldn’t fix an engine? Granted they were low on parts and weapons fire had damaged it, but she still should have been able to fix it.


  “Are we ever going to get to Lyra Prime?” she said to the night.

  “I don’t mind if we don’t.”

  She looked over her shoulder at him. He had his head hung forwards, staring at the floor. A blind person could have seen he wasn’t happy. She’d thought he’d be pleased to be returning home, to see his family and the planet he’d grown up on again.

  “Why?” she whispered, not confident enough to voice that question clearly.

  When he looked at her, she looked back out of the window at the distant galaxy. The atmosphere in the room was oppressive as she waited for him to speak. She’d never said as much to him in her entire year of service as she had these past two days, and most of that had been today. Now she felt as though they were bordering on intimate, travelling into uncharted territory, and a part of her was frightened he’d discover her feelings and that he wouldn’t return them. What if he made her leave him? Would she be happy to serve her system then?

  What if he sent her back to Captain Lyra II? Seeing his brother everyday would be a constant painful reminder of him.

  “What would you say to a man... about to be married?” he said with none of his usual confidence.

  She didn’t dare look at him as her mind raced to draw an inevitable conclusion and tears began to fill her eyes.

  “Congratulations.” She forced the word out through a throat tight with emotions.

  Silence.

  “What would you say to a man about to be married... who didn’t want to be... who wanted someone else, someone of his own choosing?”

  She kept her face forwards when he drifted up next to her, his hand coming to rest on the grab rail near to hers. She looked down at them, at how close they were to each other, and then up into his eyes. Their aquamarine depths were asking her that question. What would she say to him? He didn’t look as though he wanted to be married. She felt nauseas. Her hand moved closer to his, their little fingers touching.

  “I’d fix the ship and take him away from his future wife so he’d be happy again.”

  He laughed, mirthless and empty. “I wish that were possible, but I’m bound by duty... and it was my own fault for waiting too long from fear and foolish pride.”

  His confession floored her. If the gravity drive had been working, she would’ve fallen on her backside. As it was, she was shaken to the core and sent trembling. Was he saying he liked her? Her eyes searched his. There was so much fear and hope in them, so much fire and passion, and so much regret. It hit her hardest of all. He really didn’t want this to happen to him. She wished there was something she could do.

  “Then I’d give the man something to remember me by... so he knew that the one he’d chosen had chosen him too.”

  He frowned and looked pained. She raised her hand to his face and swept her fingers across his cheek, her insides quivering with nerves. His eyes met hers again.

  “Captain Lyra III... if there’s anything I can—”

  “Call me Acer,” he said, cutting her off. His hand ghosted up her arm to catch her shoulder. A slight tug and she was against him, her body pressing into his. Zero gravity had its advantages.

  Her hands came to rest against his chest. The feel of his warm muscles beneath her fingers sent her heart racing.

  Her eyes darted between his and his mouth.

  “Acer, I... every girl in the galaxy has probably said this to you... every one but me... I don’t care what happens tomorrow... I just want this for tonight.” She didn’t know where those words had come from, but she felt incredibly powerful when his eyes narrowed on hers, filling with dark hunger, and his grip on her tightened.

  He tilted his head, moving towards her. Her heart pounded, hammering against her chest as she watched his mouth getting closer. Too slow. She felt as though she was going to die before he reached her. She needed to feel his mouth on hers, his fingers pressing firmly into her sides and letting her know this was really happening.

  Before she could blink, his lips were dancing against hers, sending shivers through her and making her temperature rise again. Her eyes fell shut and she surrendered to him, leaning into the kiss and wrapping her arms around his neck. Even if she could only have him for tonight, even if he was married tomorrow, she wanted this to happen. She wanted to know it was her who had tamed him and who had broken through the barriers around his heart.

  His hands shifted to her sides, thumbs pressing in just above her hips. She ran hers down to his shoulder blades, pulling him closer to her and desperate to feel his body against hers. His tongue traced her lips, begging entrance that she willingly gave. Her mouth opened and her tongue met his. Electric shivers bolted through her, making every hair on her body stand on end. It was incredible.

  This was what it was like to kiss a son of Lyra, to feel their strength and passion. She melted in his arms, limp and submissive. He could do what he wanted with her, just as long as he didn’t stop kissing her.

  He pushed harder against her and her eyes shot wide open when she began to move. She stared at the room as it slowly turned upside down and tilted her head to one side as he kissed along her jaw, devouring her and making the inferno inside her burn hotter.

  Her fingernails dug into his shoulders. He lightly bit her neck and she dragged her nails across his skin, moaning out her pleasure at the floor. The blood rushed to her head. He ground his hips against hers and she rolled her eyes closed. Clearly his blood was rushing elsewhere.

  She turned with him, her mouth reclaiming his, until they were floating horizontal with him beneath her. She’d never kissed anyone while weightless before. She hadn’t kissed anyone in years.

  Her lips grazed his before she kissed across his cheek and down his neck. He tasted salty and his heat was incredible. Even with the cool air swirling around them, he was still burning up. So was she.

  He grabbed her shoulders and pushed her off him, holding her at arm’s length. They drifted upwards.

  She frowned and then furrowed her brows when she saw the look in his eyes. She wished he didn’t look as though this was the end of the world. In all her fantasies, he’d been strong and commanding. This new side to him only made her love him even more, and was only going to make it harder to accept the fact that after tonight, she’d never feel his touch again.

  She closed her eyes against the tears and kissed him again, wanting to chase away his sadness and her own. She’d promised him a night to remember her by. She didn’t want him to remember her crying. She wanted this to be a happy memory, for both of them.

  He turned with her again, until they were spinning towards the window. She put her hands out in front of her to stop herself from hitting it as he moved around behind her, pressing persuasive kisses along the curve her of shoulders. She stared at the distant galaxy, half aware of it but fully aware of Acer. His hands grazed her sides, pushing the white vest up until his fingers were tracing the underside of her breasts. Her eyes became hooded and her body burned, begging him to explore it and make her feel alive. She wanted him inside her, completing her and making her believe for this one night that she might be the one he loved.

  His tongue traced patterns on the sensitive area at the back of her neck, sending shivers and pulses of desire through her. Her abdomen warmed and tightened, and she tensed her muscles to make the most of the divine feeling. His hands continued to push upwards, brushing her pert nipples as he removed her top. She raised her arms and he pulled her top off over them. It drifted away. Leaning backwards into him, she bent her arms over her head and ran her fingers through his hair. She wriggled as his hands skimmed down her arms and covered her breasts. He ground his pelvis against her backside and she groaned at the feel of his hard cock, imagining it inside her.