by Leslie Chase
“Give me your gun,” I ordered the nearest warrior. He complied without question, and I hid the wince as I held it in my wounded hand.
I’d been faking the extent of my injury, but my right arm was still badly hurt. This was no time to show weakness, though.
“Now we make peace with the humans,” I said, loud enough for my voice to carry. “No harm is to come to them.”
“They killed half of us,” one of my new followers hissed. “We cannot have peace until they have paid for that crime.”
“They defended themselves,” I snapped. There was no time for this foolishness. “You attacked them, tried to enslave them. They found a clever way to fight back and throw you off — would you have done differently if you were in their place?”
Dafram, I think his name is. I looked the young warrior in the eye until he dropped his gaze and shuffled, embarrassed. Good. Perhaps they can be saved.
Killing Zaren had been the easy part. Undoing the damage he’d done to the Silver Band would be the work of a lifetime, perhaps more, but there was a heart of honor beating inside every prytheen. Bringing it out would be hard work, but it could be done.
And I’d never shied away from hard work.
“The humans have shown themselves our equals today,” I announced. “We will treat with them honorably, and together perhaps we can return to the stars. If we fight them, then even in victory we would gain nothing.”
Dafram nodded, and around me the rest of the Band started to mutter agreement. I took note of who was most reluctant. This would be a hard transition for many, and I had to pay attention to who might cause trouble, but for today I had them on my side.
Not least because so many needed medical treatment after the animal attack.
Turning to the bridge that towered over the deck, I looked up. There was Tamara, my khara, my beloved. She looked down at me, uninjured, and the last of my fears evaporated. Her plan had worked. She was alive, and as far as I could see, unhurt.
We’d won.
“Open the doors,” I said, switching to Galtrade for the benefit of the humans.
Tamara looked at me, her face pale, the glass between us stained with prytheen blood. Her fingers drummed nervously on the glass.
“No,” she replied, speakers amplifying her voice. I blinked. That was not the response I’d expected from my beloved.
“We humans hold the Wandering Star again,” she continued after a moment, nerves giving way to steel. “And I am the highest-ranking officer left. That makes me the captain of this ship, and if you’re serious about respecting me, respecting us, then you don’t give me orders.”
Around me, the warriors of the Silver Band straightened. Readied their weapons. Their alpha was being challenged, and that drew them together behind me just as they’d backed Zaren before. Weapons hummed as they were dialed up to maximum charge, enough to shatter that armored glass and expose the bridge.
I raised a hand, signaling no. Tamara was right — this was not our ship. It belonged to the humans, and my khara was their leader.
That would take some getting used to. My instincts told me that she was mine, and to tear down any obstacle in my way. But if the humans were our equals, that held true for the two of us as well.
“In that case, Captain,” I said carefully, “permission to come aboard?”
Tamara’s grin lit up her face and I felt my spirits buoyed by the sight of her joy. She gestured behind her and the doors hissed open as her crew obeyed her command.
“Welcome aboard, Alpha,” she said.
All of us, humans and prytheen, felt the tension hanging in the air but no one wanted another fight. Moving through the Wandering Star, I felt the eyes of the humans watching from the doorways I passed. Men and women stared at me, and I felt a familiar itch between my shoulder blades.
The human colonists watched warily as I approached their captain, but Tamara stepped forward without fear. She extended her hand in a human greeting that I ignored, sweeping her up in my arms and hugging her tight.
“We won, khara,” I said. She gasped for air, grinned, and kissed me.
“We did,” she agreed. Looking around at the eyes on us, she blushed and squirmed out of my grip. “Now comes the tricky bit. What do we do with our victory?”
I opened my mouth, then closed it again. The tricky bit indeed. No matter where we went from here, though, there were some things that needed to be taken care of. We could start with those. “First, we tend the injured. Both sides took casualties in the fighting, and too many have died already.”
That got nods from everyone who understood, some humans whispering translations for the rest. We would have to do something about that language barrier, I realized, filing the thought for later. There were a lot of things we’d need to take care of, and it was dizzying to think of the responsibility that we were taking on.
“Dr. Orson is in the sickbay, setting up,” Tamara said. The tension in her voice told me she was having the same realization. “We’ll treat your injured as best we can, but I don’t know if we have the supplies you’ll need.”
“We’ll make do,” I assured her. “Some of my people are medics, they will help.”
There would be arguments, of course, but they would help the doctor. I was in no mood to put up with complaints and with Zaren’s corpse still cooling I doubted that anyone would push the issue. For a little while, at least, I could count on cooperation even from Zaren’s loyalists.
I envied Tamara. The humans looked at her with awe; she would have no difficulty getting her people to obey.
“Then we need to reach out to everyone else who’s crashed here,” Tamara continued. “Make sure that the prytheen know Zaren’s not in charge anymore, and the humans know you aren’t all the enemy.”
I nodded, frowning. Zaren hadn’t been the sole ruler of the Band, and there was no guarantee that every prytheen on the planet would acknowledge me as alpha. I didn’t even know if there were other alphas on the planet — if there were, then I’d be one leader amongst several. Still, anything we could do to stop more fighting would be worthwhile.
“There are many details to work out,” I said. “We should start with the simplest. I propose an alliance between our people: humans and prytheen, working together.”
“I won’t put my people under your command,” Tamara said. “I’m sorry, Auric, but we can’t trust the prytheen.”
That hurt, but I couldn’t argue. The warriors following me had abandoned the Code once — it would be foolish of Tamara to ignore the possibility that they’d do it again. That we’d do it again.
“My warriors will not obey you,” I replied. “The Silver Band is prytheen and I cannot put them at the service of another species.”
She nodded. Smiled. “So we share command. You rule the prytheen, I command the humans, and we sort out a government that suits everyone.”
“That will take some doing,” I pointed out.
“Oh no,” Tamara replied, eyes gleaming as she grinned. “Lots of meetings, just the two of us, working late into the night. However will we cope?”
I couldn’t contain my laugh and reached for her again. Tamara stepped back, putting a hand to my chest and holding me off.
“Not so fast,” she said. “You’re hurt. Go get yourself checked out and then you can hug me.”
I wanted to protest, but I could see my blood on her hands. Zaren’s claws had bitten deep and the pain was starting to catch up. Tamara was right. I needed medical attention.
But I didn’t let that stop me. Grabbing Tamara, I lifted her up and kissed her hard on the lips, silencing her squeal of surprised protest as we spun around the bridge. A ragged cheer went up from both the prytheen and humans gathered around us, but we paid them no heed. My full attention was on her, the feel of her lips against mine, the taste of her, the delightful feeling of her body pressed to mine.
Tamara melted against me, her protests forgotten in the whirlwind of emotion that gripped us both. B
y the time I set her down we were both breathless and I could feel her joy through the khara-bond that linked us. She tried to frown but couldn’t hide her smile as she swatted me on my good arm.
“Now I will go see your doctor,” I told her, turning and walking off the bridge with a spring in my step.
25
Tamara
“I can’t work in these conditions,” Dr. Orson complained when I came to look in on her a week later. The same complaint she’d made every day since the rebellion, but it wasn’t a joke. Patients spilled out into the corridors around sickbay, and she had no qualified help. Orson worked constantly, and as far as I knew, our little meetings were the only breaks she took.
“If we find any nurses, I’ll send them to you straight away,” I promised for the twentieth time. “But it looks like you’re doing a great job under the circumstances, Doc.”
She snorted and shook her head, but there was a spark in her eyes. A hint that she was pleased with how things were going. And the room looked a little less full than it had the day before. Since no one had reported any deaths that was a good sign.
“It helps that the prytheen don’t need much,” she said, pushing a hand through her messy hair. “Patch up the worst of their injuries and they go into a trance. I wish humans were that convenient. What about your work?”
I failed to hold back a groan. “Which bit, engineer or captain? Neither’s great. I’ve finally finished the inventory of damage to the Wandering Star, and…”
Orson pulled a face. “And we’re not going anywhere.”
“Yeah. The hyperdrive might be repairable, but the thrusters are finished. No way I can get them fixed without a full space dock, and spare parts we can’t build here.” I leaned against the wall resisting the urge to put my head in my hands. “Plus, the hull damage is bad. We might be able to repair it, but there are other things we can use those resources for.”
Dr. Orson snorted. “I didn’t expect to get off world any time soon. I’m just glad you’re the one stuck running the colony, not me.”
That made me grimace. The endless meetings would only get worse if we were stuck here, but we had so many decisions to make. What work was essential, what could we put off? Did we need a police force, an army? Where were we going to plant farms, who would run the power plant?
I’d hoped that we wouldn’t need to make those choices — if the Wandering Star could take us home, we wouldn’t need them. But if we were trapped on this planet…
“We can’t even get everyone here,” I complained. “Half the colonists are scattered around the planet with broken colony pods.”
“And your boyfriend’s people are out there making trouble, too,” Dr. Orson said as though I needed reminding. The prytheen here might obey Auric, but there were plenty out there who wouldn’t. It was a concern that the joint colony would need to do something about soon.
“He’ll work on that once he’s up and about,” I said. “I’ll talk to him about it now, if he’s up to having a visitor.”
It wasn’t much of an excuse for seeing him, but it was all I had. Auric’s injuries had needed time to heal, and he couldn’t afford to vanish into the healing trance like the other prytheen. He’d been leading his people from a hospital bunk, recovering slowly, and Dr. Orson kept me away as much as possible. I was bad for his recovery, she’d said.
That she was right didn’t make it any easier to stay away.
I tried to catch sight of him in the crowded sick bay, but the door to the isolation room where Orson had stashed Auric was shut. I tried to hide my disappointment.
Dr. Orson grinned, and I caught her gaze slip over my shoulder at something behind me. That was all the warning I had before Auric’s strong arms slipped around my waist and he pulled me to him with crushing, wonderful strength. I gasped, the air driven from my lungs and my hands going to his.
“Khara,” he whispered in my ear, his voice sending a shiver down my spine. “I have missed holding you.”
Several of the injured colonists in the sick bay let out a cheer and I felt my cheeks heat. Pulling away from Auric, I spun to look at him, my heart hammering in my chest. My khara wore an open chested tunic that did nothing to hide his muscular body. The new wounds had closed into scars that made Auric even sexier. And there was a light in his eyes as he looked at me, a shining glorious need that made it hard to breathe.
Every time I saw him it took my breath away. The world seemed to fade out around us and all I could see was him.
Dr. Orson’s laugh brought me back and I blushed bright.
“Officially discharged him today,” she said, chuckling and stepping back into the sick bay. “He still needs to take it easy, but I can’t keep him here forever. I’ll leave the pair of you to discuss, ah, colony business. Don’t tear his stitches.”
I shot her a look that did nothing to wipe the amusement off her face and then she vanished, leaving me alone in the corridor with my khara. I bit my lip, feeling a familiar tingle as he took my arm. One problem with running the colony together would be how much we distracted each other. Going to have to work on that. Eventually.
Outside the ship, farms were taking shape. Slowly, dangerously slowly given the number of mouths we had to feed, but they were there. Auric looked out at the work being done — mostly by humans, but some prytheen worked amongst them.
“I would not have believed a colony could form so quickly, my love,” he said, pulling me into a powerful hug. This time I didn’t try to resist — whatever dignity the colony captain should have could go hang. I’d missed him and his touch too much.
“It’s pretty much what we’d planned for Arcadia,” I said, snuggling into the firm warmth of his chest. “Not really my doing.”
“Nonsense,” Auric told me firmly. “You are in charge, and this is not the world you set out for. I doubt my Silver Band would have managed anything like this well, and you will take the credit you are due.”
His tone brooked no argument, and my heart warmed at his words. I’d put a lot of work into this, even if it was hard to accept.
“Your warriors helped,” I told him. “They did some of the heavy lifting, and the food they’ve brought in hunting was a godsend. That left the human colonists free to focus on getting the farms running.”
“Together we can make this work.” Auric’s arm squeezed my shoulders and we looked out at the hills. “I just hope that the other alphas see the benefits of equal cooperation.”
“And if they don’t?” I asked, shivering slightly. I knew that there might be more hostile prytheen out there, but I didn’t want to think about it much.
“If they don’t, we’ll make them,” Auric said. “Do not worry, my love. I will send emissaries to find them and explain. If I can avoid fighting, I will.”
That was as much as I could ask, I realized. And there were more pressing matters on both our minds.
“Dr. Orson gave you a clean bill of health?”
“Of course not,” Auric snorted. “She threatened to tie me to a bed if I left now, but she couldn’t keep me from your side, my love. I will not be kept from your side just because she doesn’t want to let me up.”
I punched his arm, with as much effect as punching a tree, and he laughed. “See? If a formidable warrior such as yourself can’t hurt me…”
It was hard to contain my laughter at that, but I aimed a more serious punch at him. He swayed back, letting my fist swing through the space he’d vacated, and grabbed me before I caught my balance. I squirmed, helpless and laughing, and he lifted me without paying any attention to my struggles.
“No fair,” I gasped.
“I don’t intend to be fair,” he told me, carrying me into the ship as I struggled playfully. Thankfully there was no chance I’d escape his grip.
Auric didn’t put me down on the way to my cabin, carrying me casually, pinning my arms as I squirmed and laughed. “Quiet, or I shall tickle you.”
“Oh, and you think that will shut me up?�
� I protested, only for him to make good on his threat. I shrieked and kicked. “Okay, okay, I give in!”
“Good,” he said, pushing open the door to my cabin and stepping inside. My heart pounded as the door swung shut behind us.
We’d been alone on our journey across the planet, of course. But somehow it was different now that we were on the ship again, surrounded by our people. Now, being with him in this small space seemed almost scandalous. Like the entire crew would know.
Who cares? They know already, I reminded myself as Auric put me down gently. Still, my cheeks heated and I felt almost embarrassed as he looked at me.
That intense gaze made me melt, and I felt the flush spread across my body. Auric breathed in deeply and smiled, a hungry, eager expression.
I forgot about what anyone else might think. Auric was all that mattered, and I stared back at him with the same hunger. Let myself admire him, his taut muscles and broad shoulders, his golden eyes.
Biting my lip, I unzipped my uniform. Auric growled wordlessly, casting off his tunic and watching as I opened my top. My breasts heaved as I breathed deep, and he couldn’t tear his eyes off me.
It was still hard to grasp. This man, with all his self-control, was helpless. It took everything he had not to pounce straight away, and I could see his struggle against that urge. It felt so good to know that I had such power over him.
That I, Tamara Joyce, could crack his iron will. I felt a flush spread across my breasts as I bit my lip and stepped closer to him. Met his golden gaze. Reached out to run my fingers over the taut muscles of his chest.
That was too much, even for him. Auric’s self-control snapped and he pounced with a roar, pulling my top off. My bra followed, torn open when he couldn’t work the fastening quick enough, and then his hands were on me.
Caressing me.
Teasing and squeezing and enjoying me.
I could scarcely breathe, I was so aroused. My body ached for him, needed him in a way that I could hardly understand. I’d been suppressing that need for days, and now I didn’t need to. Now, I could have what I wanted.