by Kate Rudolph
Naomi let out her own sound of frustration. She knocked a finger against her temple and then braced as the car took another turn. “I could see how that would turn out. I’m done being her experiment. And she wasn’t going to let me go. Not after fourteen years.”
They were too far apart. Shayn leaned in and wrapped his arm around his denya. It had to hurt, a betrayal like that. His own mother’s actions paled in comparison. After all, she had only been doing what she thought was best. She had never tried to use them, and never tried to profit from them.
“Would you like to meet my brothers?” he asked. He had planned to tell them before he left Oscavia, but plans had a way of changing.
Naomi nodded against him. “I’m a little afraid of how fast this thing is happening between us,” she admitted. “You say that we’re mates, that if we... bond... that’ll save your life. And I definitely want to save your life. But I don’t know if I’m ready to say I can stay with you forever.”
“Forever is a long time,” Shayn agreed. Though if she was ready, he would dive in with both feet. “We can see where this thing takes us.”
“Who are you calling a thing?” Aileen demanded, the speakers squeaking around them.
“We are not talking about you. Keep driving,” Naomi yelled with a tone Shayn recognized from speaking with his own siblings. Then she smiled at him and pulled back just a little so they could manage to look at each other. “I can give you time. It looks like my schedule just opened up.”
The car lurched and Shayn half fell off of his seat onto one knee before he managed to sit back and fasten the safety restraint. Naomi did the same thing. It took a few more minutes of crazed computerized driving before the car behind them disappeared. Shayn didn’t breathe easy until another few minutes passed with no sign of the vehicle.
“Is anyone following us?” he finally asked.
“Negative,” Aileen responded, though she had not been the one he was asking.
“How far are we from the port?” Naomi asked.
“Ten minutes, approximately,” said Aileen.
Those minutes seemed to take an hour, but Aileen piloted the taxi to the main building before disengaging herself from the taxi’s autonav. Naomi stuck her tablet back in her pocket, but Shayn was sure that Aileen was straining her resources to pay attention to whatever they were saying.
“I’ll get tickets for the next ship off the planet,” said Naomi. “Can you purchase supplies from the shops in the terminal?” She nodded down the hall to where various vendors sold their wares.
She was leaving everything behind, an entire life, and Shayn knew it couldn’t be replaced by a few outfits purchased in a space port. But once they were free of the Oscavian Empire he could show her all of the worlds she’d never seen before. He could even take her home to the planet of her birth. He didn’t want to separate, but things would move faster if they acted independently. He glanced around and was satisfied that no one was paying any undue attention to them. But before he left he gave Naomi the kind of kiss that poems were written about. Something she wouldn’t forget if they were parted for more than a few minutes.
“Join me when you’re ready,” he said before taking off towards the shops. He didn’t have many credits to his name, but he had enough to pay the inflated space port prices for a piece of luggage and a few outfits for both of them. There would be plenty of food and entertainment on whatever ship they took off planet so he ignored that. He paused when he saw a display of Oscavian jewelry, his eyes latching on to a delicate silver and blue bracelet. He wanted it for his denya, wanted to give her that small bit of beauty so that she could fondly remember her home. So that she could look at it and remember him, even if he hoped they were never again parted. The price tag beside it was enough to make him wince, but it wasn’t enough to stop him from signaling to the shop’s proprietor that he wanted a closer look.
“For a sweetheart?” the proprietor asked, his blue eyes lighting up at the thought.
Shayn nodded, unable to speak as he played with the cool metal and watched the light bounce off of the gems. He calculated how much he had left in his account and frowned, knowing he needed to put the piece of jewelry back. They were escaping from people who could turn out to be very dangerous. They would need every resource they had if things went wrong.
Shayn handed the jewelry back. “Perhaps another time,” he said. He made his other purchases and tried to ignore the look of disappointment on the proprietor’s face. Most likely the man was disappointed that he hadn’t made a large sale.
Shayn wondered when Naomi would return. Already more than a quarter of an hour had passed and it hadn’t seemed like the line to purchase tickets was very long. Even though he had told her to join him when she was done, he exited the store and headed back towards the ticket station. Dozens of people milled around, but none of them were his mate.
Had they somehow passed each other? He headed back to the stores, but she wasn’t there either.
Dread settled in Shayn’s gut. Had someone else found them? He wished he had one of the blasters that he normally carried as a security agent on Honora Station. The weight would be familiar in his hand and he could use it to defend his mate. But he had weapons of his own, the claws that normally were sheathed. He didn’t let them out yet. Something like that could cause a panic and make it impossible for him to find Naomi.
There were plenty of reasons why he couldn’t find her now, he was sure. Plenty of reasons that didn’t involve her being taken back to Sola Corporation where they would perform heartless experiments and keep her locked up for the rest of her days. No one deserved that, least of all his mate, and he would not let it happen.
He looked around with practiced eyes, searching for anything that might be a threat. Two people near one of the restaurants seemed ready to sneak off from the way they glanced around surreptitiously, but he was willing to bet it was merely for a tryst. An alien with large horns protruding from his skull stood eerily still next to one of the windows as if he were a statue—the only thing that gave away that he wasn’t was that he was breathing. Security guards walked in twos from one end of the terminal and back, casually observing everything that Shayn saw. Could he go to them and ask them to find his denya?
No. If the corporation was as powerful as Naomi feared then they would already be in contact with station security and he couldn’t risk alerting them to their presence.
He was going to go mad if he didn’t find her soon. This was worse than if his brothers had run off. He knew them well enough to know they could manage on their own for a while. Not to mention the fact that no one would try and hunt them down. He already knew Naomi was capable, knew she was smart and clever and had a convenient insight into things to come. But by her own admission she had rarely left the Sola facility. There were things she didn’t know, things she wouldn’t expect since she didn’t have the experience to know about them. They should have never split up.
“Is anything wrong?”
Shayn spun around and sucked in a deep breath as his denya crept up behind him. “Where were you?” It came out more harsh than he intended, but he’d already imagined one hundred different scenarios that ended with her tied up or hurt, or otherwise in trouble.
She flashed their tickets in front of his face. “The machine broke so I had to wait for another. You look kind of tense.”
He let the tension melt out of him. They were safe. There was no reason for Sola to know where they were already. It hadn’t even been an hour since Naomi came to him in his room and asked him to leave with her.
“And,” Naomi added after a second, “I thought some guy was looking at me suspiciously so I walked around randomly until I lost him.”
And the tension was back. Shayn looked up and down the terminal. The would-be lovers were gone but the horned statue man remained in place. No one else caught his eye. “What did he look like? Are you sure he was following you?”
Naomi leaned against the wall. “O
scavian, short dark hair. Black clothing, no luggage. I thought that seemed weird. I mean, we didn’t have any luggage before we bought some. But, you know, we are running for our lives. I don’t think there can be many people in the same situation right now. Right?”
“Right,” Shayn agreed. There were hundreds of Oscavians around them, plenty with dark hair and black clothes. “Any hints from up here?” He tapped his forehead.
His denya shrugged. “As far as I can tell we’re safe for now. I just hope it doesn’t change.”
Shayn just hoped she was right.
CHAPTER FIVE
NAOMI HAD A LOT OF credits in her account. A lot. She didn’t pay rent and Morgyn and the team took care of most of her needs. Except for some entertainment vids and books and a few parts that Aileen had requested, she’d mostly let her money sit in her account and grow.
She’d received a settlement when her parents died and all of the money in their accounts. And Morgyn paid her salary for all the experiments that Sola did on her. She hadn’t realized just how rich she was until she checked her credits to make sure she could afford to purchase two tickets out of the Oscavian Empire.
Two tickets? She was pretty sure she could manage to purchase the entire damn ship.
But she’d shown restraint when choosing a cabin and only reserved what she and Shayn would need, rather than something extravagant. Her only splurge was that their cabin came with an actual window looking out at the stars around them, rather than one of the simulated view screens.
She’d expected to be more nervous, but as soon as their flight was called all of her fears dissolved. They’d managed to lose the car that had chased them away from the Sola facility, and she’d managed to lose the man who’d been following her, if he’d been following her, and now they were on their way off planet on a ship that would eventually take them to Honora Station. They were on their way to their future.
That was a little terrifying, but for completely different reasons. She was running away with a man she’d known for two days, escaping a place that had been home for fourteen years, and hoping his brothers liked her. She tried to urge her visions to tell her how that would go, but her powers were stubbornly silent. Even worse, she could feel the first vestiges of a headache threatening to attack. She’d used her powers more than enough for one day and her brain needed time to recover.
“Oh.” Shayn bumped into her when he came up the hallway and Naomi realized she was standing in the doorway. She moved to let him in and watched as he took in their quarters for the next few weeks.
“Is it alright?” she asked, suddenly concerned. There had been dozens of options when she was booking and she hoped she hadn’t missed out on anything.
Shayn’s eyes found the window and then took in the small seating area next to their kitchenette, the door that led to the spacious bathroom, the closet that could fit ten times the amount of things they had, and the bed.
The bed.
“Oh,” Naomi breathed out. “There’s only one bed.” Sure, she’d been attracted to Shayn since the moment she first saw him, and yes he’d said that he would die if they didn’t have sex. But it seemed a little presumptuous to book a room with a single bed as if she had... expectations. “I think I’d fit on the couch,” she offered.
Shayn looked at her, eyes flashing bright blue. “If you have an objection to sharing the bed with me, I’ll take the couch.”
Naomi gulped. “No objection here. But, um...” She cleared her throat and looked away. “Anyway! The ship should get us to a place called Nina Station in two and a half weeks. From there we are booked on another ship that will take us to Honora Station by the end of the month. There were craft that had more direct flights, but this was the only one leaving today.”
Her companion glanced at the bed, then down at the suitcase. He picked it up and placed it in the closet. “On my journey to Oscavia I was sharing a room with three other people. I had a bunk, a locker, and a small shared bathroom.”
She’d seen the dormitory options but had quickly dismissed them. “This seemed like a better room for us,” she replied. “It’s kind of exciting, isn’t it?” Then she remembered that Shayn had lived a life far outside of the Sola Corp building. “Though I guess you’ve been on lots of ships.”
She tried to keep her head high as she crossed to the couch and sat, looking out their window into the blackness of space. Shouldn’t she be able to see the stars? Had she paid a premium for something that was ultimately useless? She hoped not. The day caught up to her in a rush and she sagged into the seat, clutching a pillow to her as her emotions welled and she had to keep her tears back. She didn’t cry, not because of feelings. Sure, sometimes testing hurt and a few tears escaped, but that was completely different.
The cushion sank next to her as Shayn joined her. He rubbed his fingers up and down her nearest arm and she leaned into the touch. “Breathe,” he instructed. “Deep breath in, and then out. In and out. You’ve got it.”
She didn’t have it, but she found herself mimicking his inhalations and some of her nerves began to settle. “I’m sorry,” she said, trying to lean away. He wouldn’t let her, his fingers too comforting a presence. “I haven’t been off Oscavia since I was twelve. I don’t think I ever expected to leave. Working for Morgyn... well, I didn’t really think of my future that much. It was just one experiment, one test after the next. I thought I was okay with that. I thought I was happy. Wasn’t I?” She leaned her head against Shayn’s warm body and wrapped her arms around him.
He stroked her hair and muttered something she couldn’t make out. Then he kissed her forehead and she sighed. “Did I tell you how my brothers and I made it to Honora Station? And why our mother isn’t with us?”
“No,” and if he was telling her now there had to be a darkness, a sadness, to the tale. Naomi wrapped an arm around him and stayed huddled close. “You don’t have to share if you don’t want to.”
“You’re my denya,” Shayn assured her. “There’s nothing I want to keep from you.”
What would that be like? She didn’t have any secrets to keep. Scientists had been prying into her since she was a child and she’d never been allowed to keep things to herself. But did she really want to keep them from Shayn? Telling him her thoughts and wishes and fears was completely different than having the answers ripped out of her by a technician who didn’t care beyond what her visions could do for the company.
“And I want to hear what you have to say.” The well of emotion she already felt for him ran deep, but she needed to know him as well. Perhaps knowing him would make everything she was already feeling a little less scary. She’d never believed in all of that at first sight crap, but sitting in this room, with her mate, gave lie to that. She’d run away with him and he was still a stranger.
“My mother was raised in a... community. A small one.” Shayn got a faraway tone in his voice, as if he was looking back on where he’d grown up. “Almost all Oscavian, on this tiny little moon with a lord who didn’t care too much what his people did as long as they paid their taxes and stayed out of trouble. The community was led by a man who’d inherited it from his father. And he liked to make sure that his people were marrying the right partners, having the right children. When my father came to the community he paired him up with my mother, and it didn’t matter that they weren’t mates. It was just how things were done. Eventually they grew to care for each other, fell in love. Me and my brothers were born. And we were raised to know that our elder would choose our wives for us. And then my father died.” He sucked in a shuddering breath and Naomi could see that his eyes shone bright. “I wasn’t even ten. The twins were barely more than babies. Dad had explained that it would happen, but I hadn’t really believed him. But we all survived, and about five years ago our leader decided that it was time I get married, that I’d been enough of a drain on resources and it was time for me to contribute. Since I hadn’t met my denya yet, I knew I couldn’t do that. I asked my brothers an
d my mother to leave with me, to take a chance on another planet or space station. Brax and Deke came, but my mother decided to stay. She’d been married to a new man for a few years and she liked him well enough. He didn’t have much to do with me or my brothers, but he never hurt us. But leaving home was one of the scariest things I’d ever done. I know some bit of what you’re feeling now. And you’ll be alright. I’ve seen your strength.”
Naomi kissed him.
At first she meant it as an affirmation, an acknowledgment that they’d both survived their own troubles and were together now. But when Shayn’s taste invaded her senses she was overcome, her body lit up from within with the taste of her mate. She turned closer, pressing against him, swiping her tongue against his and marveling at the different textures. Still it wasn’t enough.
She slung a leg over his until she was straddling him and could feel the growing presence of his cock hidden under his clothes. She had only done this a few times, and already what she felt for and with Shayn was more than she’d ever had before. Those furtive, stolen moments had nothing of the enormity of her connection to Shayn. And it wasn’t enough. Desperation clawed deeply in her. She breathed him in, tasted him on her tongue, felt him beneath her fingers, but she still needed more.
One of his hands came to rest on her back and Naomi moaned at the heat of it. She was a live wire, her nerves lighting up at the possibility of joining together with him. She pressed down against him, their groins touching through their clothes. She wanted to take them off, to get naked, but doing that meant breaking the kiss, and if she did that she might die.
How did he do this to her? He spoke of fated mates and joining and bonding and it all sounded like nonsense until her lips found his and her senses took over for her thoughts. She didn’t need to worry about what came after when she was too busy holding onto him, her body slick with want and her lips swollen from heated kisses.