Synnr's Hope

by Kate Rudolph

  She probably shouldn’t be interested. Concerned? Sure, that sounded better. Not that he could read her mind.

  “It’s complicated.” He didn’t elaborate.

  Why would he? If Lena prodded he’d close off, and they were finally talking. So she wrenched the conversation back on topic. “When is the big day?”

  “Not for another two months. My mother is now obsessed with seeing all her children settled.” He shuddered.

  Lena did not blame him. “I know that feeling! Every time I visited home I swear there was a nice boy waiting to have dinner with us. Total coincidence, my mom insisted. I thought she’d give up hope when I turned thirty, but that just made her more determined.” She’d laughed about the setups in college and been thankful for the reprieve when she was deployed, but it got old fast. And that old frustration quickly turned to sadness when she remembered her mother would never see her happily paired off. She couldn’t think of that now. She wasn’t going to cry on the job or in front of Solan.

  He didn’t sense her mental distress. Thankfully. “Is that common on Earth? Your parents choosing your partners?” he asked.

  She could spend all day going over the different ways to choose a partner on Earth. But explaining hundreds of cultures and variations on courtship, dating, sex, and marriage was about as appealing to her as talking about his father was to Solan. So she shrugged and made it as simple as possible. “Depends on where you are. My grandparents didn’t meet until shortly before their wedding. Some of my cousins were happy for the help. But it was never for me.”

  “You have to make your own path,” he observed with a little smile.

  She was really growing to hate his smiles and what they did to her. “I’ve always been stubborn.”

  “Yes.”

  They both laughed. Lena couldn’t deny it. Not when it had always been true and she’d basically bulldozed her way into this partnership. She tried not to feel hopeful about their future. One decent conversation didn’t make decades of friendship. But it was a start. And she’d take it as the first step to their partnership meshing together. In no time they’d be the ones going directly after bad guys instead of the backup’s backup.

  A voice crackled through on the comm and they both sprang to attention. The suspect had fled and was heading their way. Chances were he’d be apprehended long before he made it to them, but they needed to be ready. Lena flexed her shoulders, ready to call on her wings, when Solan put a hand on her arm.

  “No wings,” he warned. “They’ll give us away.”

  They were in the middle of an alley; no one could see them from the street. “Then how can I use my powers?” She already felt naked without them.

  “You can do it” was her partner’s less than stellar advice.

  “Not helpful.” Lena grit it out. They hadn’t gotten to that part of their training yet, and judging by the increasingly frantic chatter on the comm they didn’t have time right now. She tried to feel for her spark, but it was stubbornly dormant. She reached again and grabbed a little, her hands lighting up with pale streaks of power. It was something. Hopefully enough. And she was still holding the blaster in her other hand. She kept it out, just in case.

  The comm warned the suspect was almost on them, and panicked pedestrians gave him away before he got there. She and Solan went to the correct end of the alley and waited.

  Right on time the suspect rushed by, not even sparing them a glance. He wouldn’t have noticed her wings, but Lena didn’t take the second to rub it in Solan’s face. She took off in pursuit.

  It was just like her run through the market a few weeks ago, but this time she had the authority of the guard and people got out of her way. She reached for her power to zap him, but she didn’t have it. Something tripped Solan up and Lena knew if she didn’t stop the suspect now he’d get away. She wasn’t letting that happen.

  She stopped where she was, raised her blaster, and took the shot before he got out of range.

  The suspect fell to the ground, groaning and bruised but very much alive. She ran towards him and got him secured before he could regain his senses. A minute later Solan joined her, some sort of sauce smeared across his uniform and a large piece of something that looked like cabbage stuck in his helmet.

  “And you said I wouldn’t need a blaster,” she said with a smirk.

  “Good job.” They hauled him up and had him waiting.

  But the ground commander wasn’t happy when he learned how Lena had taken him out and yelled at both her and Solan on the way back to headquarters. She could have hit a civilian, he fumed. She could have used too much power and killed the man. She could have caused utter chaos and destruction. Lena kept her mouth shut and took the reaming. She didn’t point out that all those things would still be true with her powers. Clearly the commander was pissed that his other teams had failed in their duties and it had taken her and Solan to get it done.

  And the suspicion that he was yelling just to yell was confirmed when they were dismissed to get changed and told to report back in the morning for their next assignment, not a reprimand.

  Finally. A success.

  Things were looking up.

  THE CHANGING STALLS at headquarters weren’t gender segregated, so she and Solan were changing at the same time. Lena tried not to look, she really did. It was disrespectful, and she didn’t necessarily want him ogling her. But she still snatched glances of defined muscle and thick thighs. And, okay, if he was the one ogling her she wouldn’t be upset. General objectification was bad, but she wouldn’t mind admiration from the guy she was attracted to.

  Ugh. No. She couldn’t be attracted to him. She’d promised.

  But adrenaline from the op was still buzzing in her veins along with the victory of a job well done, and she couldn’t completely tamp down the emotions she wasn’t supposed to be feeling.

  And when Solan dropped his towel there was no ignoring what she saw.

  She didn’t mean to make a noise. Really.

  But that was not a human cock.

  “What?” Solan looked down at himself and back to her. Lena shouldn’t have known what he was doing since the polite thing was to look away immediately, but she couldn’t stop staring.

  “I wasn’t looking.” That was a lie. She was still staring right at his crotch. The base was flared out, and it tapered at the tip, probably making insertion a bit easier. Then there were ridges running along the shaft that would give the most delectable sensation. But what had her focus was the extra part on top of the base of his shaft that looked a bit like a tongue. She snapped her eyes away before she did something embarrassing, like lick her lips. But now she was intrigued to know what he tasted like.

  “Clearly you were. What’s the problem?” He didn’t seem shaken by her perusal, but he picked up his towel and put it back on, blocking her from looking back at him again.

  “I forgot you were an alien for a second.” And that was just a stupid excuse. Of course he was alien. How else would he have wings and fangs and fancy skin and live on an alien planet?

  He made a face and scoffed. “You’re the alien.”

  Lena rolled her eyes, but she had to suppress a teasing smile. “Semantics.”

  He teased the edge of the towel and wiggled his hips. “Did you want to get a closer look?” There was a challenge in his eye, and if she said the word, he’d be naked and on display in front of her again.

  That could not happen. “Of course not. I’m not ogling you. That would be messed up.” Professional. They were keeping things professional. This was juvenile banter, not flirting. And Lena had to keep a tight leash on wherever her thoughts wanted to wander.

  But he still wasn’t bothered. “We have bodies. Nothing to be ashamed of.” He let it drop and quickly changed into his clothes. Lena did the same. She noticed there were privacy shields that could be engaged with the touch of a button, but it felt too late now to put hers up, like she’d be admitting that she lost their little game.

&n
bsp; It could be so much worse. She’d worked with hundreds of dudes over the course of her career and some of them barely saw women as people. She’d been something to be objectified, ogled. She didn’t want to do that to Solan. They were partners, equals. Or they’d be equal once she finally had her powers under her control.

  She was still feeling good and didn’t want the mood to go away. “Did you want to get that beer? Celebrate a job well done?” That was the proper way to end a day in the field, and she’d learned so much about Solan today that she wanted to keep going.

  Solan straightened the collar of his shirt and closed his locker. “The commander wouldn’t agree with your assessment.”

  She had kicked ass and she knew it. Who cared if she had to use a blaster instead of her new magical powers? “The point stands. Beer?”

  “I would, but Allic is putting together some kind of surprise for Ortid and we all have to be there. Big family thing.” He looked disappointed, as if he really did want to go get a drink with her. It was another reminder that Lena was a completely separate part of his life. His family didn’t know she existed.

  “Have fun.” It came out a bit sour, and Lena scowled at herself. She’d agreed to the arrangement. And since when did she jump at the chance to go to another person’s pre-wedding party? The events were bad enough when it was her own family. A stranger? That was a recipe for boredom or disaster. Maybe both.

  She left Solan with a weak farewell and took a transport home. She wasn’t going to let a minor disappoint ruin her day. Her stomach growled and she realized it was later than she’d thought, the bright sun still throwing off her conception of time. She got off the transport in a random district and followed her nose until she found a restaurant that appealed. One bowl of steaming hot soup and noodles later, her stomach was satisfied, and she continued on her way back to Crowze’s estate.

  She greeted Zac, who was in the sitting room, and waved hi to Joel and Julie. If she spent many more nights all alone in her room, she was going to get a reputation for being anti-social, but her energy was starting to crash and she was ready for bed.

  Almost ready.

  She still couldn’t get over seeing Solan naked.

  His cock was unlike anything she’d ever seen and she wanted to touch it. She wanted to see what that tongue thing would do when he was hard and aching for release. She wanted to take him in her mouth and feel the power that came from owning someone else’s pleasure.

  Was it Solan? Or was she just horny?

  She didn’t know which was the better answer. Generic horniness was probably better for her sanity. But when she closed her eyes she didn’t imagine any other alien.

  Could it be that she just hadn’t seen any other alien? The thought knocked around Lena’s head. Maybe what felt like attraction to Solan was just a fascination with the aliens of her new home. It had to be possible, right? But how could she test the theory? No doubt there were clubs where the desperate and lonely could go to find a partner for the night, but she wasn’t into one night stands. And she didn’t need to fuck a guy to know if she was attracted or not.

  Porn.

  Did aliens have porn?

  She reached for the tablet sitting on her bedside table. It was a wonder of technology that made her old Motorola Razr phone look like a piece of garbage. Emily and Luci had both been more familiar with the concept, saying the tablets were a lot like “iPads”, but Lena was still impressed.

  She’d been using the tablet to practice her reading, and between the built-in voice commands and the holographic keyboard she could successfully search for just about anything. Dare she look for porn?

  With the device resting on her knees as she lay in her bed, her fingers hovered over the keyboard. It would be so simple to make the search. No one had to know. And she was a full grown adult, she could look up dirty pictures if she wanted to.

  Determination flowing through her veins, Lena called up the program to help her search. “Pornography” gave her results for scholarly papers. “Penis” led to medical articles. So did “sex.”

  “Just show me people fucking,” she muttered in frustration.

  The tablet beeped and the screen went black before coming back up with a dozen videos of Zulir in various states of undress. Lena stared at her options for several seconds before glancing back at the door. Had she locked it? If she got into this she didn’t want anyone bursting in and finding her in a compromising position.

  She set the tablet down and checked. Yes, the door was locked, and she pressed her ear against it to make sure she couldn’t hear anyone outside, not that she planned to make a lot of noise. But she could never be too careful.

  When she settled back into bed the videos were still waiting for her. One thumbnail caught her eye, a Zulir man with long braided hair and tattoos down one arm that looked a little like Solan’s. He had his arms on a naked human woman’s shoulders. She hadn’t realized there would be porn with Zulir/human pairings. Part of her wanted to look away; it was a bit too close to home with a guy who looked almost like Solan if she squinted.

  But her finger had a mind of its own and she clicked on the video.

  Enable holographic playback? the tablet asked in a tinny voice.

  Lena almost threw the tablet across the room. “No!” she said in a harsh whisper, looking for a way to get rid of the option. Apparently the voice recognition was still working and the video popped up on her screen in two dimensions. A hologram was a bit too much for her first foray into alien porn.

  Only foray.

  Well... it depended on the porn.

  Soon Lena was captivated by the noises the couple were making. The video description called the woman Jane and the man Wyn.

  Wyn had Jane pinned to the bed and she was moaning under him, chest heaving. There was some dialogue about Wyn rescuing Jane’s ship from certain destruction and her uncontrollable gratitude. Gratitude that, of course, took the form of sex.

  The camera loved the two actors, zooming in everywhere on their bodies and taking a good long time to look at Wyn’s cock. Lena’s mouth dropped open as she watched Jane take it in her mouth. And she learned the bit on top was called a stimulator. Porn could be educational and sexy, who knew?

  But Lena could only take a few minutes before she had to look away. She kept imagining Solan in bed with her, on top of her, inside her, and if she watched another second her hand was going to reach into her pants and take care of the growing arousal.

  She closed out of the video and tried to find a way to delete any record of ever having looked at it. She was unsuccessful, but at least it was gone for now.

  And when she finally closed her eyes and went to sleep, she dreamed of alien dicks and Solan.

  CHAPTER TEN

  LENA WOULDN’T LOOK at him while they changed for the day’s assignment. Solan didn’t notice it at first, and he hadn’t paid any attention when she put up her privacy screen, but the longer they stood silently getting ready, the more obvious it became. Had he done something to offend her? Was she disgusted by the differences between their bodies? Asking seemed like it would just lead to more trouble, and that wasn’t what they needed.

  She might have been happy about the results of their mission the other day, but Solan had seen the look in the field commander’s eyes, and he’d made a point to come in early to read the official report. He shouldn’t have had access to it, but his name gave him a lot of information he wasn’t supposed to have, and Solan wasn’t afraid to throw it around when it was important.

  The commander recommended they be placed into an intensive training program and not cleared for field duty until Lena got her powers under control. If they hadn’t been a Matched pair, Lena might have been fired on the spot.

  He didn’t tell her that. She’d been so happy that he didn’t want to be the one to bring her mood down. But they couldn’t screw up again today. Major Ozar had made the consequences known, even if Lena couldn’t understand them. If they failed, they’d be ba
nished to a remedial training camp. He’d never heard of someone getting reinstated after being sent to one, and he didn’t want to be the next in a long line of failures.

  He didn’t want that to happen to Lena. She’d bet her future on a Match with him, hoping it would give her a purpose. He wasn’t going to let that purpose get ripped away when they’d barely begun.

  And he couldn’t let whatever was making her shy get in the way.

  “No blaster today,” he warned once they were suited up. He wanted to take the weapon away from her, but that would create more questions he couldn’t answer.

  “It got the job done,” she insisted.

  “We need to use the right tools,” he responded. Was it her imagination or did her eyes flick down his body? Was she checking him out? His cock liked the idea of that, but he clenched his jaw and made himself think of anything else.

  “I’ll do the best I can,” she promised.

  It had to be good enough. Solan put all thoughts of failure aside. If it happened, they’d deal with it. But it didn’t have to happen, not if things went right. And he was willing to try for a little optimism.

  Like the day before, they were backup. This time, however, they were stationed on a roof on the outskirts of Osais, waiting as the strike team advanced on a subject on one of the lower floors. An elevator and a staircase both led to the roof, and the distance between buildings was technically jumpable, but no one truly expected the suspect to try to escape via the roof. His apartment was located on the second floor of the nine story building.

  “If you think you’ll need them, bring your wings out,” Solan instructed. “We don’t need to be stealthy.” Not exactly true. The suspect could have a lookout in another building, but it was a risk Solan was willing to take.

  They didn’t chat today. There wasn’t as much time to wait.

  The call came in through the comms that the strike team was heading in just as Lena flared out her wings. Solan took a second to appreciate them. They looked so much like his own it was uncanny. That didn’t happen with all Matched pairs, not even Zulir/human Matches, but when it did, it was a sight to behold. And a primal part of him liked knowing she was wearing his mark, that anyone who saw her wings knew she was taken.