Hero

by Reagan Woods

  “Woah, woah, woah.” Tara pulled the large skillet off the heat, spinning away from his seductive hands, as she transferred it to the convection box to bake. Dusting off her hands, she pinned him with a no-nonsense look. “Living in your space? You mean, staying there for a night.”

  “Think of it as a prelude to living as my Claimed Female.” His dimples flashed, melting her resistance like butter. That didn’t seem fair.

  Hands on hips, Tara mulled it over. “It seems like you’ve thought of everything,” she admitted, heart catching as his smiled widened. It shouldn’t be legal for a man to be that sinfully attractive. “What are we going to do if we find we aren’t suited, after all?”

  When the hunter flickered to life behind his silver eyes this time, she wasn’t frightened. She’d half-expected it.

  He was full-on predator as he stalked forward, closing the distance between them. Okay, she still kind of wanted to wet herself, but she didn’t let him cow her. She stood her ground when he bent so they were nose-to-nose.

  “Oh, my Tara,” he purred. “You don’t understand what is happening here, do you, my love?”

  Mutely, she shook her head, mesmerized by the tender amusement on his face that seemed to be at odds with the ruthless determination in his demeanor.

  “You were mine from the moment I saw you. Mine,” he snarled.

  Tara drew breath to speak, but the alpha alien inhabiting her boyfriend’s body placed a finger over her lips and continued, “I used what influence I had to get you this job, so you wouldn’t be out roaming the camp, drawing the attention of every male here, and so you might find a modicum of happiness -.”

  “That’s so sweet –.”

  “Hsst,” he shushed. “I have been patient and done my absolute best to abide by the rules, to earn the Right to Seek Claim so that you can be under my protection. When it became apparent that I mightn’t be able to protect you, I urged you seek protection elsewhere. You rejected that notion, and I began to hope that you returned some of my feelings.”

  She opened her mouth to interrupt his tirade, but his warning glance told her he was at the end of his patience.

  His hands cupped her hips, clenching hard as he spoke. “Tara, I love you and I know you love me. If you think I’m going to allow you to walk away from this, from us, you’re mistaken…and if you think I’m going to let some spoiled, rich Doranos take you while I’m away doing my job -,” he broke off, gentling his hold as he drew her into the circle of his arms. “Others might break their contracts, seek new lovers, whatever. You and I are forever. I need you to believe that.”

  “Is it my turn now?” She asked with a smirk.

  Lips pressed into a thin line, Calyx inclined his head, his hands moving restlessly over her back.

  “Don’t think I’m fooled by all your love talk,” she began, enjoying herself immensely. “Though, I do like hearing it. I know you’re sticking me with Keble because you know I don’t much care for him.”

  “That does recommend him.” He smirked. “But you waited for me when you didn’t have to. You could have been with anyone else, males with power, males with the ability to take you away from this camp completely…”

  “Yeah,” she snickered. “I could be a sex slave on another planet.”

  “Don’t remind me.” The predator was receding little by little. “My point is what we have between us is deeper than a biological urge,” he finished.

  “But we do have chemistry.” She blew out a frustrated breath. “And listening to you talk about how much you love me, and how jealous you are over me…I have to be honest, that makes me want to get you naked.”

  Calyx leaned close, nuzzled his nose against hers and dropped a quick kiss on her waiting mouth. “You’re insatiable,” he said on a laugh. “But I must go.” He sniffed the air. “I think your food is burning.”

  “Dammit,” Tara cursed as she pulled the not-too-badly-burnt scramble from the convection box. “Be safe,” she called after him.

  Chapter 42

  “Halt,” Silex brought a hand up as the team stealthily approached the small structure.

  After two days of fruitless searching, it seemed they’d finally located Silex’s missing friend. Scanners indicated a single lifeform inside the narrow cone of camouflage fabric. The energy signature hovered a few inches above the earth - a canny human sleeping on a hammock to keep cool.

  On Calyx’s monitor, the temperature hovered between hostile and uninhabitable. The hike from their hover navs had been sheer misery as the dessert air threatened to overwhelm their clothing’s temperature regulation.

  Calyx was ready to assign all Earthers to the hottest regions of the system’s star – save Tara. Sleeping on the hard ground, surrounded by males was not his idea of fun, not when he could be with her.

  Commander Skylan climbed a ridge while Silex, Domik and Calyx fanned out and found cover. They waited, and they watched.

  They’d covered much ground in their search; sending sophisticated drones ahead to scout. Some places, the drones couldn’t go, and they’d learned when they tracked Arianna to search those areas in pairs. So, ensconced in radiation shields, they’d taken individual hover navs, low-flying, open-air vehicles, through the morbid remains of irradiated cities.

  The ruins were endless, cities built for millions reduced to heaps of rubble almost as tall as the mountain ranges they nestled up to.

  From the east, the mountains seemed to rise gradually, to undulate softly into the horizon. Only when one was truly in the heart of the range did the danger become known. There were caverns collapsed into sinkholes with toothy, jagged edges and crevasses just waiting to swallow a male whole.

  Night was rushing in when Skylan said, “We’ll move on Silex’s signal.”

  “I’ll go in alone, first,” Silex advised over the comm. “She knows me. Francesca is tricky, so be ready.”

  With practiced moves, Skylan, Calyx and Domik ranged closer, drawing their weapons to cover Silex. As he opened the tent flap, a ragged Earther launched out like a wild animal pouncing. Silex met the charge and the two went to the ground, grappled.

  Calyx was first on scene. “Subject is unarmed,” he reported as Domik and Skylan approached.

  Silex subdued his opponent with a fist to the face. Panting, he drew a set of plasticuffs from his belt and cuffed the Earther’s hands.

  “This doesn’t look like Francesca,” Domik commented wryly as he holstered his weapon and hauled the woozy male to his feet.

  For an Earther, he was tall, his build wiry. Dark golden skin stretched over sharp bones on an angular face. A pair of shrewd, almond-shaped eyes seemed to laugh though his split mouth wasn’t smiling.

  “Who are you?” Spittle flew from Silex’s mouth as he grabbed the male by the throat and shook.

  Calyx, weapon still in hand, caught the Commander’s eye and moved closer. For now, they tacitly agreed to let Silex handle the interrogation.

  The unknown coughed, and when Silex backed off, spit an arc of red blood, barely missing Silex’s left boot. “You can call me Dex,” he rasped, his lip gaping where Silex’s fist had connected as he gave a parody of a smile. “I hope you brought water.”

  Commander Skylan took a flexible canteen from his belt and passed it to Silex.

  “Where is the female?” Silex allowed a trickle of water to flow between Dex’s chapped, bloody lips.

  Dex rinsed his mouth and spat before arching a brow. “Female? I haven’t seen a woman in a long time.” He smirked. “Last I heard, they’d been abducted by aliens. Be a pal and give me another swig.”

  “Which camp did you come from?” Silex asked mildly after he’d given Dex more water.

  “I’m a free man,” Dex answered with a shrug that flicked his smug expression into a wince. Silex had worked him over.

  “But I’m not opposed to three square and a cot in exchange for a little work,” he continued.

  To Calyx’s frustration, they made camp at the foot of
the mountains. In the distance, he swore he could detect the glow of the work camp where Tara waited. He could be there with her right now. Instead, he sat on hard-packed dirt and scarfed down a meal bar.

  “I’ll keep watch,” Silex grunted, stomping off. Setting a watch wasn’t a necessary precaution with all the tech they had, but to Calyx’s mind, a live set of eyes was probably a wise precaution after the Doranos had proven their ability to infiltrate the most sensitive Warrior tech.

  “I’ll guard the prisoner,” Domik volunteered, ponderously getting to his feet and plodding over to where the Earther slept in a drugged haze inside one of the self-contained sleeping units.

  Calyx frowned at Skylan across the small blue light they used when camping. The light shone the length and breadth of their camp but illuminated no more than three feet above the ground and couldn’t be seen from a distance. It made missions on alien planets like Earth much safer because it allowed them to move about without detection.

  “What’s going on?” Calyx asked candidly. Dex didn’t need a guard, he was as secure inside the sleeping unit as he would be in a holding cell.

  Skylan’s expression remained bland as he checked the charge cell on his laser rifle. “The small button-like knob of flesh behind your ear activates your internal communications system.”

  “Yes, I know,” Calyx replied, briefly wondering if his Commander had a brain bleed.

  “Well, starshine,” he used a common Corian pet name for a child, “what you don’t know is that if you press and hold that button for a count of five, let up for a count of five and hold again, it will deactivate the comm until you initiate the sequence again.”

  That was new information.

  “Close your mouth, Calyx,” Skylan advised. “And deactivate your comm.”

  Calyx mentally counted. “Done, sir.”

  “We have much to discuss,” Skylan began, setting a small device down. “This is a privacy bubble, a sound dampener, if you will, to ensure we’re not overheard. First, I’m going to read you in on the mission Soryan is running on-planet right now.”

  “Soryan?” Calyx’s quick mind went to work. “Commander Tiron’s Security Chief from the Trident?”

  “Yes. Our team left, not to hunt the female Francesca, but to give the Doranos a chance to finish what they started.”

  “Tara!” Calyx managed to make his knees before Skylan yanked him back down.

  “Sit!” He pointed a black-nailed finger at Calyx. “Stay!”

  “Soryan is Doranos,” Calyx complained bitterly. “He’s practically royalty – just like Jorkan, Dorit and Shirok. Who knows what they’ve done to my Tara.” The ration bar he’d eaten rolled heavily in his stomach. “She could be pregnant.” He hadn’t let himself think overmuch about it after she’d rejected the notion of having his child, but now he had to consider it. He retched.

  There was a pop and a hiss next to his ear. Cool calm washed over him. “Your heart rate is calming, your pupils are dilating, and time is slowing,” Skylan’s syllables lengthened markedly as his arm slowly withdrew, an empty pressure syringe between his fingers. “The drug is called Citriuese.”

  “Assassins,” Calyx snapped impatiently. His mind felt laser sharp, but his body was heavy and difficult to maneuver. “They use it to focus, to tune out danger.”

  “Just so,” Skylan agreed. “Your Tara is safe. Keble has escorted her to and from the kitchen each day. The medics have brought a third on rotation to subtly watch her during her work shifts. We’re giving the betrayers one final night to make their move.”

  “My female is bait,” Calyx accused, aware that he should be angry even if he couldn’t access that part of his personality.

  “She is well-protected incentive to act,” Skylan corrected. “Shirok won’t get to her. We need his accomplices to reveal themselves. Not all Doranos are bad people, you know.”

  “Why are you telling me this now?” Without his fear blurring his vision, Calyx could see there was more going on.

  Skylan’s expression went more blank than usual. “I’ve been called away on Council business. If this doesn’t work tonight, you must continue the mission to clean up Earth. The General is counting on you, Calyx.”

  “Clean up -?”

  “You’re young. The enemy will believe that makes you incompetent. Use that, because you and I know you’re not.” Skylan sent him a cold smile. “I was there when you convinced Vank to pressure Darvan into reinstituting the Claimed Female program.”

  “How am I supposed to clean up Earth?”

  “One camp at a time.” Skylan stowed his rifle and began inspecting his hand weapons. “Without me here, you’ll be the highest-ranking Warrior in our camp.”

  “No,” Calyx denied. “Silex and Domik outrank me as well as several of the Warriors on the camp security team.”

  “Silex and Domik are gone.” Skylan gestured encompassing the whole campsite. “Dex killed them before you and I could subdue him.”

  Disbelieving, he followed the Commander’s hand with his eyes. There was no trace of either male or their hover navs.

  “What? How?”

  Skylan clapped him on the shoulder. “Good work, Commander Calyx. Get some sleep.” He deactivated the dampener. “Tomorrow is a big day for you. You’ll be promoted. Tara’s official request to be your Claimed Female will cross the General’s desk shortly thereafter. Congratulations.”

  Chapter 43

  “One night my ass,” Tara griped, violently snapping the blanket in the air above Calyx’s bed. The silky black coverlet floated out and settled. With practiced efficiency, she smoothed the wrinkles from the surface and tucked the edges in to knife-sharp pleats.

  This would be his fourth day gone. She was starting to wonder if he’d ever come back.

  No matter how Tara complained, Keble made her sleep in Calyx’s room, in his bed, surrounded by his stuff, every night. She missed him desperately. Sleeping in his space, breathing the subtle scent of his skin from the sheets, didn’t help.

  On her second night, restless, she’d straightened everything, sending his dirty uniforms through the refresher, lining his boots neatly against the wall. When she’d done that, a panel had slid back to reveal a small clothing storage area and a miniscule water closet. That solved one very real problem. She nearly peed her pants every morning waiting for Keble to collect her.

  When she’d complained that she needed a shower and her pajamas, he’d told her to sleep in one of Calyx’s shirts, but he’d shown up earlier the next morning and escorted her to a bank of sonishowers in the barracks. There was a line of Warriors, each with a woman in tow, waiting to use the clear tubes.

  Slack-jawed, she’d watched as the Warriors helped the modestly dressed Earthers into the tubes – the step up was much higher than the ones in the Earther dorms. The Warriors either joined the women in the tubes, stone-faced and fully clothed, or guarded the sliding doors menacingly.

  “I guess that saves time on laundry,” she’d muttered to herself.

  Keble had answered anyway, “You still need to put your clothing through the refresher once a week or so. The sonishowers don’t do as well with odor-causing bacteria planet-side as they do in space.”

  “What are all these women doing here?” She’d asked.

  Keble’s eyes narrowed as he scanned the bleary-eyed crowd. “Some have unofficial relationships with a Warrior and have stayed overnight. Others, like you, are females found to suddenly be without identifying documentation. His stoic gaze focused across the room and Tara curiously followed the direction of his stare.

  As if sensing scrutiny, Penelope turned and gave them a dazzling smile and wave. Her red hair was in a tumble down her back and her dark gray pajamas appeared wrinkled and slept-in, but she still looked fresh-faced and beautiful. When the Warrior with Penelope tapped her shoulder to direct her to an open tube, Tara heard Keble growl disapprovingly.

  “Relax,” Tara advised in a whisper. “He’s keeping a respectful d
istance, right?”

  Keble propelled her forward as the line moved. “Just because she is odd looking, doesn’t mean he isn’t interested,” he replied in a low voice.

  Laughing, Tara patted his arm in a friendly manner. “Keble, Penelope is not ‘odd looking’, she’s a knock-out.”

  It seemed she’d be gross again this morning, though, because Keble was late. At this rate, her staff, the lovely Penelope included, wasn’t getting breakfast. If he didn’t show soon, breakfast was going to be the bland alien ration bars for everyone.

  When the door finally slid back, Tara had been pacing for long minutes. She turned, instinctively launching herself forward as Calyx stepped into the room. He caught her up, buried his face in the curve of her neck and held on.

  Emotion stung her eyes and clogged her throat as she wrapped her arms around his head and her legs around his waist, did a little holding on of her own. She hadn’t realized until just then how afraid she’d been that he wouldn’t return.

  “I missed you.” He pulled back, met her lips with his in a tender kiss.

  Tara melted as he nipped at her mouth, his tongue seeking entrance, destroying her composure. She slid down his body, feeling the hard club of his cock jump. The answering squeeze in her core, the heavy fullness of her breasts as his hands slid under top had her moaning in response.

  Breathing heavily, she pulled back. “I have to get to work.”

  “Mmm,” he responded, his fingers tweaking her nipples softly before he withdrew. “Let’s go. Today is going to be busy.”

  Her whole body shivered with awareness when she placed her smaller hand in the broad palm he offered. His warm, strong grip reminded her vividly of the way those rough palms felt sliding over her skin. It was going to be a long day, indeed, she thought as they trekked toward the center of camp.

  Warriors kept staring at Calyx, hurriedly averting their gazes when he returned their stares with a hard look of his own. She was so happy to have her lover back, it was hard to keep her own eyes off his thick, muscled body and handsome face.