United

by Melissa Landers

  Cara broke from the kiss long enough to pull off her tunic, then helped Aelyx do the same. Skin-to-skin, he settled two fingers at the base of her throat to count the frenzied beats of her heart.

  “One-twenty,” he whispered against her mouth. “I think we can do better.”

  He opened his mind to her for a moment, just long enough for Cara to feel an ache of desire low in his core. She knew what he wanted—and what she wanted, too.

  She rested a palm over his heart, wondering if it was fully healed from the accident. “Are you sure you’re ready for this?”

  He swallowed hard and studied her from beneath heavy lids, his chrome eyes darkening while his mouth curved in a grin. “You’re not planning to jump on my chest, are you?”

  Cara matched his smile. “I’ve never done this before, but I’m pretty sure that’s not how it works.”

  “Then I’m ready.” He asked her silently, Are you? If not, we can stop.

  By way of answer, she stood up and led him into the bedroom.

  They peeled off the rest of their clothes and settled on the linked cots. This wasn’t like their reunion on Earth, when they tore at each other in a rush of desperation. Now their entire future stretched out before them. They slowed things down and shared lingering kisses as if they had a lifetime to get this right.

  Because they did.

  Despite their inexperience, it didn’t take long for them to figure out what they were doing. He moved inside her slowly at first. There was some pain, but it was duller than Cara had expected, and mingled with an urgent sort of pleasure that drove her hips into a steady rhythm that matched the pace of her breathing.

  He held her gaze the whole time, whispering I love you in broken L’eihr. She didn’t need the words because with each lapse of control, his sensations slipped out through Silent Speech, and in those moments, they were one person, thinking and feeling and moving in flawless synchrony. There was no distinction between his touch and hers, between his body and hers, only unified bliss. It was unlike anything she’d ever experienced—unearthly and spectacular, just like Aelyx.

  After, they lay together, limbs tangled, for a while, the only sound an erratic pull of breath into their lungs. She rested a hand on his chest and timed his heartbeats, which seemed strong and steady. She smiled to herself. They’d actually done it. Now that the rush was receding, she tried to pinpoint whether she felt any differently. At once she decided yes. There was something new at the base of her heart, as if an extra chamber had grown there, one that filled her veins with emotion instead of blood. It was hard to describe and slightly scary, because now she had more to lose than ever.

  She wondered what Aelyx was thinking, and if he felt differently, too.

  Aelyx had won at life.

  If an iphal should take him again, he’d be ready, because nothing could surpass what he’d done with Cara. It had been worth every second of the wait. He only hoped she couldn’t see him grinning like a madman at the ceiling.

  “Hey,” she whispered, tickling his skin with the light sweep of her fingernails. “You okay? A credit for your thoughts.”

  Aelyx tightened his arms around her and buried his face in her hair. “A million credits couldn’t buy anything as amazing as that.”

  She shrank into his shoulder as if embarrassed. “Not too bad for our first time, huh?”

  “Well, remember our first kiss? I told you we were gifted.”

  Cara’s body shook with quiet laughter. “That’s right. And I said the world wasn’t ready for our talent.”

  “Which explains why we had to relocate across multiple galaxies.”

  Her fingertips halted their lazy skate across his chest, her mood seeming to shift.

  When she didn’t respond, he asked, “A credit for yours?”

  “I’m just worried. About a lot of things, like your heart.” She paused to place a kiss on his chest. “It would break me to lose you again. And then there are the colonists. I don’t know what—”

  “Hey, we’re off duty, remember?” He smoothed the hair back from her face and used a thumb to caress her cheek. He wished he had Syrine’s gift. If he did, he would absorb Cara’s anxiety and bear it himself. “I need you to do something for me.”

  “Anything,” she said without hesitation.

  “Three days.” He paused to deliver a pointed look. “That’s all the time we have before our lives are consumed again. That time belongs to us, and we deserve every moment of it. Can you give me three days with no worries?”

  Her blue gaze turned soft, almost apologetic, and she slid a bare leg over his hip. “Live in the moment,” she mused. “I can do that.”

  “Promise?”

  “I don’t just promise.” She extended her little finger. “I pinky-swear.”

  He grinned at her offering, then hooked a finger around hers. “Now I know you’re serious.”

  They fell asleep to the lullaby of ocean waves, and in the days that followed, awoke to sunlight streaming through the open window. Each morning they ate their breakfast on the beach, and Aelyx reserved some spare crumbs to trap a peca. With the amphibian in hand, he showed Cara how to lure fish by holding it beneath the water and tickling its belly. In response, the peca emitted a series of ultrasonic chirps that drew a few specimens within reach. Aelyx eventually caught a fish, but released it, as he wasn’t in the mood to clean and cook it.

  He showed Cara the cave he’d discovered, and by the second afternoon, she grew brave enough to shed her uniform and skinny-dip in the freshwater pool. Then they lay on the warm stone slabs and let the sun dry their skin before devouring the picnic lunch they’d assembled from the kitchen imports. When the sun hung low in the sky, they linked hands and strode back to their apartment, where they spent the evening playing chess and sharing stories of their time apart.

  Because Cara was still tender from their first night together, the only thing they did in bed was sleep. But Aelyx didn’t mind. He simply loved having her near—and all to himself. He could honestly say that those three days were the best of his life.

  But as leisure time had a tendency to do, it passed too quickly.

  On the fourth morning, they awoke to the noise of shuttles alighting on the beach and supplies being hauled into the living center. Then Cara received a transmission on her com-sphere. It was Devinder, informing her that the first group of human colonists had arrived on the transport and begun quarantine procedures.

  After disconnecting, Cara bit her lip and set down her sphere. With a sigh, she rested her chin on Aelyx’s chest. “Time to get up. Devinder wants to meet us in town to go over some new policies.”

  Aelyx suppressed a groan. “A far cry from skinny-dipping at the cave.”

  “No joke.” A pair of lines creased her ivory brow. “But if the colonists are already in quarantine, that means they’ll be here next week.” That pair of lines turned into a trio, and her breathing accelerated. “There’s so much to do before then, I get dizzy just thinking about it.”

  Aelyx pulled her close, nuzzling the spot on her shoulder that always gave her chills. But her muscles were too tense for the contact to produce the desired effect. He wished she weren’t so anxious. After all, he was here to share the responsibility as the L’eihr representative. “No worries, remember?”

  She shook her head. “That was a limited-time offer.”

  “It was fun while it lasted.”

  “Come on.” She threw aside the sheet and sat up, then tugged at his elbow until he did the same. “Duty calls.”

  She didn’t even offer to race him to the washroom.

  The vacation was officially over.

  Chapter Four

  TUESDAY, JULY 25

  Growing Pains

  There’s an old saying that you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. Or as my dad likes to put it, “If you don’t screw up at least once a day, you’re not trying hard enough.” Either way, the point is basically the same: you can’t have success w
ithout failure.

  By that logic, this colony will be a masterpiece.

  It’s been a couple of months since the first immigrants arrived, and I won’t lie—we’ve had some pretty spectacular fails. Like the time we discovered half the human colonists are allergic to L’eihr seafood. (Who knew faces could swell so big?) Or when a dead bird got stuck in the drinking filtration system and gave us all salmonella poisoning. It probably goes without saying that projectile vomiting isn’t very romantic, so matchmaking efforts between humans and L’eihrs have been a bit hampered by recent events. But we’ve had some wins in that department. The software created for us by the experts at e-Compatibility has already resulted in a few love matches, and I’m confident that many more will follow.

  We’ll get the hang of this whole “alien integration” thing. Because we don’t make stupid mistakes on our colony. We make spectacular ones!

  Posted by Cara Sweeney

  Cara logged off and stuffed another bite of l’ina sandwich into her mouth, littering the laptop keyboard with crumbs. She tried to blow them away, but her mouth was too full, so she made a mental note to deal with it later. Right now she had to get back to the administrative building before the colonists assembled in the lobby noticed she was gone and came looking for her.

  Because they would.

  A few minutes ago she’d snuck into her apartment for a quick working lunch, typing with one hand while feeding herself with the other, but experience had taught her there was no place to hide from her people. Not even the shower stalls were safe. It was somewhat disturbing how accustomed she’d become to taking complaints while shaving her armpits.

  She grabbed her sandwich and made for the door, but stopped short when she discovered a petite brunette waiting on the other side. Cara recognized the woman, having seen her once or twice in passing. She was young for a colonist, about twenty-three, with an angled bob hugging her jawline and a pair of misty, red-rimmed eyes that formed an instant link to Cara’s heartstrings. Maybe she was homesick. It was a bigger problem than anyone wanted to admit.

  “I saw you come in through the window,” the woman said, fidgeting with her hands. “So I know you want to be alone, but …” Her gaze faltered. “I really need to talk. I’m Mary, by the way.”

  Cara made a concerted effort not to glance at the clock or think about her appointments. Helping people like Mary was part of her role as human representative. “No problem.” She gestured for Mary to come inside. “Are you missing your family? Because I can give you extra time in the conference pods. As much as you need.”

  “No,” Mary said as the door closed behind her. “I mean, yes, but that’s not the problem.”

  “What’s bothering you?”

  Mary smoothed her tunic, watching the floor while she spoke. “It’s my job.”

  Cara mentally groaned. Of course it was.

  “I knew we wouldn’t get to pick for ourselves,” Mary went on. “I read your blog before I applied. But you kind of made it sound like the intake test would match us to our perfect careers, and—”

  “And that’s not the case?”

  “Not even close. They put me in sanitation.”

  “Cleaning isn’t glamorous, but every job is important here.”

  Mary quickly clarified, “Oh, it’s not that the work’s beneath me. I’m not too good to clean. It’s the isolation. I’m on a crew with one other person, a L’eihr guy, and most days we go a whole shift without saying ten words to each other.” She tucked a lock of hair behind one ear and lifted a shoulder. “I thought coming here would be some great adventure, but more than anything I feel lonely. I’m not asking for special treatment, and I’m not afraid of hard work. I just want to be around other people.” She peered up with wide eyes. “Isn’t there anything you can do?”

  As much as Cara wanted to say no, there actually was something she could do, and everyone knew it. As a member of The Way, her decision was law. No L’eihrs would question her if she reassigned Mary’s occupation. Humans, on the other hand, would go berserk. If word spread that she was willing to change people’s jobs, it would open the floodgates for a hundred more requests. She’d told the truth when she’d said every role was important. The reality of it was there were some jobs nobody wanted to do … like cleaning.

  “Please?” Mary pressed. “I really want to stay, but this isn’t what I signed up for. Give me something else. Anything else. I promise I won’t complain.”

  The longer Cara looked into those sad brown eyes, the more her willpower crumbled. “Well, I guess the agriculture department can always use another—” Before she could finish her sentence, Mary threw both arms around her. “Let’s keep this quiet,” Cara mumbled around a mouthful of hair. “If anyone asks, we’ll say there was a mistake with your test results.”

  After a multitude of thanks, Mary practically skipped out the door to tell her supervisor the news. Cara started to follow, then changed her mind and decided to leave the same way she’d arrived—through the window.

  As she strode along the outskirts of the front lawn, she pictured Mary’s smile and found herself beaming. It felt good to make a difference, to boost someone’s quality of life with one simple act. Maybe it was a small victory, but she’d needed the win, so she reveled in it while munching on her sandwich.

  While walking, she watched the activity taking place on the park field as colonists used their lunch break to fulfill the daily exercise quota. One group of humans had formed a scrimmage game, flag football from the look of it, while another group jogged laps around the field perimeter. It seemed all of the L’eihrs were either engaged in games of sticks on the opposite end of the park or swimming in the nearby saltwater pool.

  Cara’s prideful grin fell. Aside from one interspecies couple sitting on a bench overlooking the ocean, she couldn’t see any humans and L’eihrs interacting. There were no fights, but it was clear that cliques had formed. She wished she knew what to do about it. This was the sort of problem that couldn’t be fixed by shuffling job assignments.

  Her day took a turn for the worse when she snuck back into her office and found a pair of pristine boots propped up on her data table, belonging to a young blond man who was currently perusing her data tablet. He glanced up at her with narrowed eyes, as if she’d been caught trespassing instead of the other way around.

  Cara’s jaw clenched. Jake Winters.

  He was her least favorite human being on the planet—a twenty-something Los Angeles big shot who’d made millions from an Internet startup company, and then gotten bored, sold it, and applied to join the colony. Cara didn’t know why he’d come here. He didn’t seem to like her very much, and the feeling was mutual.

  “Make yourself at home,” she said sarcastically while snatching her tablet from him. At least he had the decency to remove his boots from her table, though he didn’t surrender her chair. “We need to have a serious talk about boundaries, Jake.”

  “What we need to talk about,” he countered, “is why you’re playing favorites.”

  “I already told you Aelyx doesn’t get special treatment.”

  “Who said anything about your boyfriend?” Jake stood up extra tall in a clear attempt to use his three-inch height advantage against her. Not that it worked. She glared right back at him. “I want to know why Mary Shapiro can change jobs, but the rest of us have to suck it up and play the hand we’re dealt.”

  Cara’s mouth dropped open. How could he have possibly heard so quickly? She’d barely left the living center five minutes ago.

  Jake’s answering smirk said he enjoyed catching her off guard. “I was with the agriculture supervisor when the call came in. I heard everything, so don’t bother denying it.”

  Cara released a thousand mental swears while a riot broke out in her stomach. Of all the people to overhear that call, it had to be an instigator like Jake. “There was a problem with Mary’s—”

  “Test results,” he finished flatly. “Yeah, I know. Well, guess what
. There’s a problem with mine, too.”

  Behind her, the door hissed open and Aelyx stepped inside, pausing to survey the tension with a sweeping gaze. Cara felt a brief moment of relief at seeing him until she noticed the parallel lines between his eyes and realized he hadn’t come here bearing good news.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  After another sideways glance at Jake, he moved closer to her and used Silent Speech instead of speaking aloud. Why did you transfer the human female away from the sanitation department?

  Right away Cara sensed his urgency, which surprised her. He was upset about her decision, and so were several other L’eihrs. You heard about that, too?

  Just now, yes. Her supervisor contacted me with a complaint. He then shared a brief stream of consciousness that explained everything. Mary’s former crew partner—the L’eihr who’d barely spoken to her—harbored a secret crush, but he wasn’t sure how to proceed. He’d hoped to use their shifts together to understand more about her. In reassigning Mary, not only had Cara hindered a potential match; she’d also made the L’eihrs in the sanitation department worry she’d shown favoritism toward a human. They were growing resentful of the number of L’eihrs holding service-related positions within the colony.

  Cara’s eyes began to water. She couldn’t win.

  Aelyx cupped her chin in a comforting gesture, but she felt his frustration. He wished she had talked to him first instead of making a snap decision. I’ll find a way to smooth it over. Your intentions were pure. Maybe if you transfer the L’eihr male to the same department, he’ll withdraw his complaint.