Selene turned away from Rikkard, her blood pumping with anticipation as she unzipped the front of her suit before slipping it off her shoulders and down around her hips.
Warm hands circled her waist, making her jump as she spun to look at Rikkard. His normally cold gaze blazed with warmth, and the ghost of a smile softened the normally harsh plains of his face.
Selene’s heart raced and her body heated as she bit her lip. She knew what she wanted. It was something she was never sure she’d had before, but right now, she needed it.
Slowly, Selene slid the rest of her suit off until she stood naked before him. Rikkard’s gaze roamed up and down until he stopped on her lips. Her mouth opened to take a breath, and he captured her lips with his.
The kiss was nothing like she’d ever had before, deep and passionate and all consuming. Selene wrapped her arms around his neck, and Rikkard pulled her against him until there was no space left between them.
Somewhere in the crazed haze of their kiss, all clothes were lost and the cold tile of the wall pressed against her back. He lifted her up, and she wrapped her legs around his hips. Steam filled every inch of space around them, and her breath was lost, but she didn’t care as she fell deeper and deeper into Rikkard’s kiss.
Selene stared at the metal ceiling, her heart slowing after the best couple hours of her life. She smiled, her cheeks heating at the memory.
Rikkard slipped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him until her leg was wrapped around his, and her head was nestled into the crook of his shoulder. She sighed blissfully, and traced a finger down his chest, following the curved lines of his tattoos. She’d never asked him about them, why he had them or what they meant. It felt almost rude to ask. Tattoos were a personal thing, but all the same, she was curious.
His hand squeezed her shoulder, and she looked up at him, meeting his icy blue eyes. He smiled, a rare smile. The one she usually almost missed, but now he didn’t hide it from her.
Heat filled her cheeks, and she leaned up to kiss him softly. Warmth swelled inside her, a feeling of home, of contentment, like she’d never need anything but this again.
When she leaned back he took her hand, intertwining their fingers. His smile fell, and he looked at their hands. Something about his face told her he wanted to say something, but didn’t know how.
Her heart skipped. He didn’t regret it, did he? They weren’t dating, or in a relationship, or whatever people called it nowadays. In fact, she was fairly certain she’d never dated anyone in her life. She didn’t need any official labels slapped on it either, but if he regretted having sex with her—being with her—then she was sure it’d crush her.
“Selene,” he said. His voice was low and husky.
She almost leaned back in an attempt to escape what she was sure was coming, but he squeezed her hand, and held her securely in place.
“I love you.”
Everything felt like it stopped. Her heart, her breath, even the soft hum of electricity in the walls. When it started back up, her heart pounded her ribs and she blinked quickly, wondering for a split second if she’d misheard him.
Rikkard glanced up shyly. It was the first time she’d ever seen him like this—so vulnerable and unsure of himself. It melted her heart.
Selene wrapped her arms around his neck and cradled him against her chest. Her heart swam with so much delight she thought she might explode.
When he cleared his throat she realized she had yet to say anything. Cheeks burning, she leaned back, unable to rip the smile from her face. “I love you, too.”
Rikkard seemed to sag in relief before pulling her back into his arms. Did he really think she wouldn’t say it too?
She bit back a laugh, clamping down on her lip with her teeth. They’d been through a lot together. To hell and back. Through torture, sleepless nights, hundreds of missions, near-death experiences, and a thousand other things she couldn’t even name.
A thought struck her suddenly, and she had to blink back tears. Over a month ago, she remembered drinking with their new Alliance friends on their old cargo ship. They’d been in the dining hall most of the night, drinking Darius’ special brew until she couldn’t see straight. When she’d sat down with Sarah, they’d talked about Rikkard, and Sarah had asked if Rikkard had finally told her.
Selene never thought about it much after that. Rikkard always kept things from her. He was a man with many secrets, and though some of them she didn’t care to let him keep, she’d given him this one. Had this been what Sarah meant? Did Rikkard love her all this time?
She looked up at him, tracing the tips of her fingers along the scruff covering his jaw. She wished she could share this with Sarah. Her heart ached at the thought. So much had happened since Sarah’s death, so much pain, so much suffering, but in between they’d made friends, killed some bad guys, and were going to save the world if it was the last thing they did.
Selene sighed and buried her face against his neck. He squeezed her shoulder, and minutes later, she fell into a much needed sleep.
Pounding at the door ripped her from the black behind her eyelids. Selene groaned as the bed shifted beneath her, ducking low before springing back up as Rikkard slipped from the mattress.
“Tell them to go away,” she mumbled into her pillow. She pulled another over her head in an attempt to shut out the fists beating the door. Her pulse spiked, and a growl rumbled in her throat. All she wanted was a few hours of rest. Was that too much to ask?
The door opened, and sneakers slapped the floor on their way in. Whoever it was, Rikkard hadn’t stopped them. At least that meant they weren’t dangerous. Probably one of the crew.
“What are you still doing in bed?” Rem snapped, his voice higher than usual. “I found the Saegon!”
Selene stiffened. Her heartbeat sped as she tossed away the pillow atop her head, moving to sit up when she realized she was still naked. Heat flooded her cheeks as she stared at Rem, the sheet pulled up around her chest.
Rem didn’t seem to realize, and started pacing the room, flinging his hands around the air. “This is just like you two! Taking the morning off when I’m hard at work trying to save our damn lives!”
She shook her head, but still didn’t move to stand.
Rem stopped his pacing and looked at her pointedly, while Rikkard grinned over his shoulder.
Selene narrowed her eyes at Rik. This was anything but funny.
“Are you going to get up or not?” Rem crossed his arms and tapped his foot impatiently. “I’ve found the Saegon, and I’ve gone through most of its current security protocols. We have planning to do, ships to repair for departure, supplies to gather…”
He continued to list, but Selene had already tuned him out. Cold air brushed her bare shoulders, and she supressed a shiver. How did he not realize something was up? She was sitting there with naked shoulders, probably sex hair, and her face had to be twelve shades of red.
“We should discuss with Erock if he has any sort of engineers on board. I mean, he has to have someone with a ship this size.” Rem continued to ramble until finally his gaze lowered from her eyes to her shoulders, then the sheet she held. He glanced back at Rikkard, then whipped back to face her, his eyes wide and his cheeks red.
Finally, he got it.
“That’s fine,” Selene huffed. “Gather everyone in Erock’s office. We’ll be there shortly!” Her voice was high, her embarrassment palpable.
Rem nodded brusquely, his eyes still wide and cheeks flaming as he ran from the room.
As soon as the door shut behind him, Selene buried her face in the sheet and groaned. “Oh my god. How can he be so clueless?”
Rikkard chuckled. “Well, he got it now.”
Selene sighed and shook her head, unable to hold back her smile. Though she felt more embarrassed than she’d ever been before, Rem’s look of shock kept playing over and over in her head, a constant loop of surprise. Finally, she laughed. She couldn’t help it. Rem was so innocent in
some ways, and not in others. She couldn’t believe it took him a good few minutes to realize something was up.
After giving herself a few moments to regain her composure, Selene slipped off to the bathroom, getting ready for the day before the two of them headed out for Erock’s office. The second they stepped inside, Rem looked up, then quickly avoided her gaze.
She ignored Rikkard’s chuckle behind her, and tried unsuccessfully to combat the blush from her cheeks.
“Good morning,” she said brusquely.
“Morning.” Erock glanced at her curiously from the head of the table. He crossed his large arms over his chest, trying to figure something out as he looked between her and Rem.
“How is Flik?” Selene looked at Sav, who sat next to Rem with Darius on his other side. If Sav was there, Flik must be recovering fine. She glanced around the rest of the room; none of the Icarus were present, but Erock’s lieutenants held up the wall as per usual.
“Good,” Sav said. “He’ll recover quickly with the nanites. He’s sleeping now, but I’m sure he’ll be ready to join us soon.”
Selene nodded, grateful everything had turned out okay. “We should get started.”
The others agreed, so Selene and Rikkard took a seat across the table from Rem, who deftly avoided her gaze.
“So, where is it?” Rikkard asked when Rem didn’t immediately take over.
“Right!” Rem leapt to his feet. He grabbed his phone from his pocket, typed in a few commands and slid it across the table. From the screen popped a large three-dimensional blue rendering of a mountain range with the open door to a bunker near the base. Speeders, a couple cruisers, and a myriad of security personnel wandered the base of the hills where trees had been clear-cut away from a large enough area to house a few metal trailers.
“Where is this?” Erock asked.
“North west. The Rocky Mountains,” Rem explained. “There’s a bunker at the base of the mountains. It’s a lot bigger inside than it looks.” Rem manipulated the image so it became like an x-ray, showing the schematics of long shafts descending into the earth, and a huge hangar at the mouth of the bunker with several identical floors below it. Nestled in the largest of them was a round ship with what looked like sideways pillars sticking from the back, some kind of propulsion engines attached to the ends.
“That’s it.”
They all looked up to see Flik hovering in the doorway, his eyes wide, and his hand clutching his side where bandages peeked below his open shirt.
“Flik,” she said. “Are you feeling okay?”
Flik brushed off her question with a roll of his eyes and came to sit beside her. He sat down hard, as if it took all the energy he had to get to Erock’s office. “That’s the Saegon,” he confirmed.
Rem nodded and continued. “It’s well guarded with around the clock surveillance, top of the line cameras, dozens of soldiers, and even some engineers and lab personnel deeper inside the bunker.” He motioned at the shafts descending to another complex far beneath the earth. “They’re using it as some sort of research center.”
“It seems strange they’d leave such an important ship so close to the surface,” Darius commented.
Selene inspected the image. It did seem strange that the ship was on the first level, with catwalks surrounding the second floor of the at least four or five story hangar.
“They’re getting cocky,” Erock grumbled.
Selene worked her jaw. She couldn’t disagree. It did seem strange. Then again, she thought about all they’d gone through to get this information. “They probably think it’d be next to impossible to even find the place, considering the only datahive that has the info is in the sky over the Atlantic.”
They all paused to think about that.
“You have a point,” Darius conceded.
“Either way, we’ve found it,” Rem continued. “I have all the current security protocols on file, every code we’ll need for the doors, access to their cameras, comlinks, everything.”
Selene’s eyes widened. “Damn.”
“This should be a piece of cake.” Darius grinned.
Rikkard shook his head. “If they had all that information on Targen, they’ll realize what we took sooner or later.”
“Exactly,” Flik said. “They’re not stupid. They’ll scour the archives until they find all the information we took, then they’ll change security protocols.”
Selene’s heart raced. “How long would it take them to figure out what we took?”
Flik and Rem exchanged a look.
“How long?” Sav insisted.
“Twenty-four, maybe forty-eight hours if we’re lucky,” Rem said.
Selene sat back hard. “So soon?”
“We need to leave as soon as possible,” Flik said. His gaze was dark, but determined.
“How long has it been?” Rikkard asked. His fists clenched in his lap. Selene had a feeling he wished they’d figured this out sooner. If they had, maybe they wouldn’t have spent so long sleeping… and doing other things.
Rem looked up as he thought. “Twelve hours or so.”
Selene let out a relieved sigh. “We have plenty of time then!”
Rikkard shot her a narrow-eyed look.
“What?” she asked.
“That leaves us less than twelve hours to prepare and execute our plan,” he said.
“So?”
Rikkard sighed loudly.
“I think you’re all getting ahead of yourselves,” Erock interrupted. “Do you even know how you’re going to repair the beacon once you get to it?”
The entire room went quiet. He was right. They didn’t know how to fix it. She was sure given some time that Rem could figure it out. He was smart like that. But given the time constraint, especially when they probably wouldn’t have long with the beacon itself, they didn’t have time for Rem to experiment with alien technology.
Everyone stayed silent, staring at the table as they thought. Selene’s heart squeezed. They couldn’t be defeated by something as simple as this. Her eyebrows furrowed as she inspected the others, grasping desperately for any straw she could think of, but none of them were engineers. Gun lovers, yes. Smugglers, oh hell yes. But though Rem and Rikkard could accomplish a lot, this was outside their area of expertise.
Selene swallowed a sad sigh as she looked at Rikkard. His fists were still balled and his jaw worked back and forth as he stared at the table.
She raised an eyebrow. She knew that look. He was hiding something.
“What’s up?” she asked, suspicious.
Everyone looked up from their own thoughts.
Rikkard glanced around like he’d been found out and was about to run. Selene placed a hand on his arm, hoping to convey that everything would be all right as long as they worked together.
He seemed to relax a little, some of that reluctance fading. “I think I might know someone who can help.” He nearly bit off each word. Whoever it was, Rikkard did not want to see them.
“Who?” she asked. Her mind raced with possibilities.
Rikkard looked at her, long and hard. “Kayl.”
Selene leaned away, her hand dropping. “Kayl?” He nodded. “Kayl tried to kill me.” She still hadn’t forgiven him for that, grieving widower or not.
Rikkard’s eyes hardened. He knew that.
“What does Kayl know about engineering?” Rem piped up.
Rikkard’s gaze didn’t leave hers. “Before he was Sarah’s dance instructor, he had a very good education, being one of the Aldar council’s only sons.”
Selene’s eyes widened. “What?”
Rikkard sighed. “He went through years of training before finally breaking away from his father. He was an engineer specializing in alien technology long before he was anything else.”
“Do you think Kayl would help?” Darius asked, his voice gruff, doubtful.
Rikkard shook his head. “Not willingly.”
“How about unwillingly?” Sav asked.
; “It’s worth a shot,” Selene said when Rikkard didn’t answer.
“That’s all well and good, but where the hell is Kayl?” Rem raised an eyebrow.
“I don’t know for sure,” Rikkard said. “But I have an idea.”
When he didn’t elaborate, Selene narrowed her eyes. “Are you going to tell us?” Rikkard avoided her gaze. “Rik?” she snapped. If he knew anything about Kayl’s whereabouts, he had to share it with them. He might be the only person they could get on short notice with a chance of fixing that beacon. It’s not like they could risk the time it’d take to grab an uncooperative Aldar engineer from their own bunker.
Rikkard sighed. “He’s probably in the Outskirts of the Old Boston Ruins.”
Why was that so hard to say? “Okaaaay?” she said, confused.
“It’s where we went on our first mission together.” Rikkard’s jaw twitched like he was in physical pain. “It’s the one place Kayl would go to avoid me. He knows I’d never go back there.”
Selene’s eyebrows shot up. “Why?”
Rikkard leaned his head back and stared at the ceiling like he was calling to the heavens to help him. “It’s where I’m from. I swore I’d never go back there.”
Selene snapped her lips closed on a gasp. She couldn’t believe it—not that Rikkard knew where Kayl was, but that she just now realized he hadn’t ever told her where he was from, and to find out he was so close by. What were the chances?
“You know we have go there right?” Flik asked.
Selene agreed. “We have no other choice.”
Rikkard closed his eyes and nodded. “I know.” If there was any other way, Selene was sure he’d find it. Something about that place must haunt him. She’d never seen him like this before. He looked almost… afraid.
The cruiser hummed around them as they shot through the air towards the Old Boston Ruins. It suddenly made sense why every time they neared it, Rikkard got this strange look on his face like he was both angry and sad. She’d never asked him about it before, knowing his grumpiness would only fill the silence for so long.
Curiosity clawed at her and she couldn’t resist glancing at him across the hull.
The Darri Commission: A Sci-Fi Dystopian Adventure (Dominion Rising Book 3) Page 13
