by Viola Grace
He blinked and raised his head. “The bite didn’t hurt?”
She blushed at the amusement in his eyes. The lazy satisfaction belied the hard throb she could still feel inside her.
“The bite was a bit of a sting. I thought that my first time would hurt, but then, I guess that I have been put back together once or twice.”
“All that matters is that we have bonded, officially and with our actual bodies, not simply blood.”
She remembered her month in the tank. “There was nothing simple about it.”
He kissed her softly and started moving inside her again, the drag of the flared head of his cock could be felt more strongly after the friction of their first union.
“Consider this my apology for causing you discomfort. Allow me to make it up to you.”
She smiled and draped a leg around his hips. “I think your apology will take some time to administer fully.”
He grinned. “I believe that you are correct.”
He continued his slow movements until she was squeezing her own breasts and lifting her hips to his. When she was mindless, he rolled to his back and she rode him slowly, with the scent of crushed flowers in the air around them, mixing with the darker scents of sex.
Chapter Seven
Drovin carried his mate to his quarters with her suit draped over her body to cover any incidental nudity if they came across one of the others. It was late enough that there shouldn’t have been anyone stirring, but lately, one never knew.
She squirmed a little in his arms and he smiled. There was a certainty that came with the bonding.
Wren was a fearsome thing. The power that she wielded left him in the dust. He would need to be careful or she would have his job. He grinned. More time for him to spend with his garden.
Loesh came out of his room as Drovin passed. He raised his brows and grinned. Drovin gave him a signal to remain quiet, and he entered his quarters and tucked his mate into his bed before returning to the hall where his brother grinned like a fool.
“Congratulations, brother.”
“Keep your voice down. She is tired.”
They headed to the kitchen and steered clear of the container marked Beryl only.
“So, what do you think Mother will make of your new mate?”
“I think that our mother has enough grandchildren already. She doesn’t need any from me.” Drovin sighed.
“She will still ask.”
“And I will tell her to mind her own business. I knew what I was choosing and I am happier than I can remember being at this very moment.”
Loesh got an uncharacteristically serious expression. “What if your mind changes?”
“I have been offered use of a gestation canister. She still has eggs, just no womb. We can work around it should she want a child. That can wait a while.”
Loesh hugged him. “Congratulations. Having a sister here will help me get reinforcements to gang up on you.”
Drovin chuckled and returned the hug before letting his brother go. “You have no idea. She can kick my ass if she wants to. I am lucky she is so good natured.”
Loesh made a face. “And lucky that she doesn’t mind that you smell like flowers.”
Drovin grinned. “If you will excuse me, I have to attend to my mate before she wakes up alone in an unfamiliar bed. She isn’t that kind of woman.”
His brother was laughing behind him, but Drovin could tell that he didn’t believe the comment about Wren being stronger than he was. That was fine. He would learn soon enough. Wren didn’t walk through the world, she made the world move around her. She was a solid and determined force of nature, and she was his.
* * * *
Wren felt him wrap his arms around her, and she smiled at the satisfaction that flared in his thoughts again. This time, it was a basic instinct to have the other half of him in his bed. She could make that out with no trouble.
With a quick check on the rest of the base to make sure everyone was well, she snuggled back into Drovin’s arms and let sleep claim her again.
She was halfway through breakfast prep when Drovin came into the kitchen.
“Good morning.” He stepped between her and the counter where she was working.
Wren lifted her lips to his for a quick kiss. “Good morning. Did you sleep well?”
“Until I woke up alone.”
She chuckled. “I was going to come back. I just have a duty to perform as caretaker.”
He gave her a narrow-eyed look. “You are slicing fruit while we talk, aren’t you?”
She shrugged. “Fruit salad waits for no one. The grain cakes are ready and the breakfast drink is in the carafe.”
“How long did it take you to learn that kind of precision?”
“About a week. First, I did strength training, and once I had that down, I was trained on minute motions. Cooking without hands was my final week at the base.”
He nodded. “Can you teach me?”
“Not in the kitchen. I had a lab-style kitchen to work in, but I could teach you in the garden.” She smiled. “I thought you would have had practiced already.”
“Gross movement was all that was required. I haven’t had time to train.”
He smiled as she scooped all the fruits into the bowl and the bowl whisked into the cooler.
“You seemed to have precision last night. You peeled me right out of my suit.”
“That was all instinct.”
She blushed. “Interesting instinct.”
He grinned.
“Go set the table. Breakfast is almost ready and Loesh is on his way. Don’t forget that I want to see you in medical this morning.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He saluted and did her bidding.
Wren grinned. She could get used to this, but somehow, she wasn’t sure it would last.
In five minutes, the Guardians were assembled for breakfast and gnawing their way through the fruit, cakes and the meat patties that she had prepared.
Meals were a quiet time aside from the chewing.
“If anyone has a favourite recipe, let me know. I can probably manage it after a few attempts.” She called it out into the silence.
Five sets of eyes looked at her, and they were all smiling. Toyo swallowed. “I will get the recipes from my family, and I am sure the others will do the same.”
“Good. Since I don’t know what the end result should be, this might take trial and error.”
Rand grinned. “We will eat just about anything, so feel free to experiment on us.”
She laughed. “I already have been. I have no idea if those fruits are even edible, but they were in a recipe, so I used them.”
Beryl snickered. “Good thing you haven’t been paging through the local entertainment vids. They have tons of cooking shows that focus on using insects as the core ingredients. It takes some getting used to.”
The men looked surprised at her comment.
Toyo snorted. “You would never know that by the way you go through gashki.”
“They taste like peanuts and popcorn at the same time with a candy coating. What is there not to like?” She shrugged.
Wren grinned. “They taste that way to you now. Your sense of taste might change once your pregnancy has run its course.”
“So, why are you packing them into my snacks?”
“You said it yourself, you like the flavour, and it hides the slight bitterness of the chassa.”
Beryl snorted. “The slight bitterness is nothing compared to the sludge that I was drinking to keep myself on an even keel.”
Toyo nodded. “I tasted it once. It was nasty stuff.”
“All the chemical compounds that she was being given are in the chassa profile, as well as additional protein and beneficial vitamins. You are building a new person; you need all the help you can get.”
Beryl laughed. “And on that note, I am off to work. I will see you all later.”
She got up and headed to the com station where she worked on data streams and filtered out the roots of criminal activity.
Wren looked at the men around the table. “So, what do you do when you have a day off?”
Toyo got to his feet and grinned. “We enjoy it.”
Wren sighed and stood. “Drovin, Rand, med office, now, before anyone does anything stupid and, based on the expressions around the table, stupid is a very likely outcome today.”
The faces she was looking at were unrepentant. Her two patients filed down the hall with the grim enthusiasm she normally saved for broccoli.
Rand kept his clothing on for this one. She had him stand in the body scanner and all was repairing nicely. If he didn’t run into another herd of animals, he should be fine.
“Okay, you are fine, but if you open your back, come and find me. It is healing but I do not put it past you to open it again. You can go and play.”
He grinned, ruffled her hair and ran out of the room.
Wren sighed and shook her head, running a hand through her hair to tidy it. “Fine, Drovin, it is your turn. Hop on the bed and let me look at that arm.”
He smiled and followed her directions.
Wren could feel her pulse speed up as she got close enough to smell the heat coming off his skin. The flex of his muscle when she touched him made her jump a little.
Her mind probed at his, looking for any tenuous signs of discomfort or his talent supporting his body.
“How does it feel today?” She slid her fingers along the bulk of muscle and into the valleys where tendons clustered.
“Better. Much better.” He bent his head and nuzzled her ear.
Wren blushed and fought the urge to lean into him. First things first.
She picked up the accelerator and pressed it to the thinnest spot between muscle and bone once again. She felt the minute change in his emotional output as threads of pain he wasn’t aware of disappeared.
He nuzzled her again, and she kept her hands in place as she turned to respond to his contact. She rubbed her cheek along his and brushed her lips along his jawline.
They kissed softly until the accelerator chirped completion, and with a regretful sigh, she backed away. “You are done.”
He smiled slowly and ran a hand through her hair, stroking the curve of her skull. “Not even close.”
She licked her lips as she turned away to stow the equipment in their sterilizers. “So, what will you do today?”
“A little exercise, a little time in the garden. If there is a concert tonight, we might all get dressed and head out.”
Wren blinked. “Out?”
He laughed. “Yes. Off the base. Even Beryl enjoys going out for a concert now and then. W’lyn is alive with music; you just have to be willing to hear it.”
The reminder that she needed to listen came just in time. “Please excuse me. I need to attend to Beryl. She didn’t get her full dose yesterday and she is getting frustrated.”
Drovin went from mildly seductive to serious in an instant. “Do you need me to do anything?”
Wren laughed. “She is fine; I can just feel her unravelling around the edges.”
Wren was still smiling when she brought Beryl a tray with the snack bars and a glass of iced tea. She eased Beryl out of her focused state and inserted the bar into her hand.
Beryl ate mechanically, and Wren kept it up until her charge had been given her supplements and the base was safe from prenatal hormones once again. As Wren removed the tray and left Beryl to her work, she grinned. She needed a cape and a heroic breeze. Nothing made her feel more like a superhero than saving four men from the wrath of one little woman who could snap them in two.
Chapter Eight
Seated with the Guardians at the concert in Yorkit prefecture, she tried to keep her expression calm.
She was seated between Loesh and Drovin.
Loesh asked, “Is that your favourite jewellery?”
Wren touched the stone at the neckline of her crimson gown. “It is and it isn’t. It is the soul stone of my former employer. I promised her that I would wear her for two years so she could see a bit of an alien world before she heads to the Citadel to become a teaching tool.”
Drovin blinked. “She was there last night?”
Wren laughed. “Knowing Emily, she was probably taking notes. I used to read to her, and she preferred romances where the heroes were handsome aliens there to sweep her away. There was a huge surge in that particular book genre after the Alliance showed up at our doorstep.”
Loesh blinked and got a predatory gleam in his eyes. “You mean there is an entire world where women dream of me?”
Rand leaned over. “Right, Loesh, they are called nightmares.”
Wren laughed and held Drovin’s hand as the lights came down and the music began with the projection of swirling lights in the evening sky.
The music was amazing and the concert was at the halfway point when the alarm sounded and the Guardians had to leave the concert.
Beryl and Wren moved close together and whispered.
Wren said, “I will take us home.”
“No, I want to see the rest of the concert. We can leave when it is over.”
“Are you sure?”
“If we don’t let them get at us now, they are going to pick a moment when we are not prepared. Best to get it over with and explain that we are not targets.” Beryl was serene in her assertions.
“You are the analyst.” The intermission concluded and the music began to soar around them again.
It didn’t completely wipe out Wren’s tension, but it did take the edge off. When she and Beryl were left to thank the head of the prefecture for the concert, they did so graciously before leaving at the tail end of the crowd.
The skimmer was two long blocks away, and Wren was on alert while trying to appear casual.
Beryl was shifting into battle mode. She really wanted a fight.
There was no one between them and the parking area, and Wren felt the approach as armoured attackers appeared in doorways and shadowed alleys.
A man in a mech suit stepped between them and their goal. “Remain calm and you will come to no harm.”
Wren felt Beryl cycling up, her pink hair was close to glowing and there was a grin on her face.
Wren spoke, “Sir, take your friends and leave before you are injured.”
The emotions of the men around them spiked with amusement.
Wren flexed her hands and angled her shoulder to meet Beryl’s for a moment.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
The man in the mech gave the signal, and the shadows moved with hostiles.
Wren waited until they were three feet away before she sent a wave of energy up from the ground that sent the men tumbling up and back over the nearby buildings in a wave.
Beryl went for the man in the mech and tore the suit to pieces around him, leaving the would-be kidnapper in the tangle of wires and shattered servos.
Wren reached into her cleavage and flicked the com button. “They are down and kind of all over the place.”
Drovin chuckled. “The peacekeepers are coming in. Remain where you are, and keep Beryl from killing anyone.”
“I will try, but she is really irritated.”
He laughed, and Wren left the com open as she went to calm Beryl.
“Easy now. We are safe, Beryl. Let’s get to the skimmer and wait it out.” She sent tiny threads of calm and security through Beryl’s mind.
Beryl nodded and backed away with her limbs still shaking with fury.
With tonight’s events looming ahead of them, Beryl had skipped her dose for the night.
Beryl had uncovered the plan to kidnap and hold her in her daily search through the data streams. Her work in the sector had drawn the ire of some members of organized crime families and she was targeted to gain leverage over the Guardians of W’lyn.
Wren still had a hard time not laughing at the thought that Beryl would make a good victim.
Beryl’s target was still stuck in his mech, but he felt a surge of triumph as they touched the wall of the skimmer.
“Beryl. Freeze.”
Beryl was irritated, but she turned slowly to face Wren. “What?”
“Was there any contingency plan in your finding of their scheme?”
“Like…”
“Blowing you up?”
“There was something about taking care of me. Why?”
“Because my hand just activated a bomb and we need to get out of here fast.”
Beryl was worried. “I can fly myself, but I am not sure if I can carry you.”
“Don’t worry about me. I can get us both out of here safely if you will trust me.”
Beryl smiled nervously. “Caretaker, I trust you.”
“Then, give me a hug and don’t let go.”
The moment that Beryl touched her, her weight shifted and the switch went off. Wren wrapped them both in a protective shield and propelled them up and away from the skimmer.
When the blast hit them, they were knocked about like dandelion fluff, landing safely on a rooftop to watch the blaze where they had been standing seconds earlier.
Beryl blinked. “I didn’t know you could do that.”
“I did it in practice a few times. I haven’t ever had to maintain a shield while being blown up before, though.” Wren’s hands were shaking as she looked at the explosion.
The peacekeepers swarmed over the streets below, locking up those who had been standing by to attack. The man in the mech was laughing at the explosion.
Beryl whistled sharply and wiggled her fingers at him from her perch on the edge of the roof.
He saw her and he began to fight his captors, shrieking and cursing in languages that Wren couldn’t identify.
The peacekeepers stunned him and wrapped him in restraints. They would file him into their system, and his owners or employers would have to decide on what they wanted to do with him after he was released from peacekeepers’ custody. It would be his problem to deal with. If he ever came near Beryl again, Wren was pretty sure that he would end up dead. She would just have to kill him rather than let him target her charges. It wouldn’t be the first time she had used any necessary means to defend one of her clients.
