by Megan Hart
I surprised even myself with how swiftly I moved. I pushed my legs into a combination jump/run that put me next to Howard in a heartbeat.
“I can kill you,” I said. “And I don’t need a lasergun to do it, either.”
“You could,” he replied calmly, with a serene smile. “But you won’t. You’re not bred to it. You’re not meant for it.”
He was right, at least on the latter two accounts. Whether I would or not, neither of us would discover, because at that moment Kaelyn, startled into flight by Howard’s outburst, ran toward the shelter of a stack of crates waiting to be loaded on the ship. The secbots turned toward her, their jointed arms each lifting identical laserguns.
“Shoot that freak!” Howard ordered.
“No!” The shout burst from my throat with the force of a bullet.
Kaelyn froze, eyes wide, wings for once stilled in shock. A breeze from the open hangar door lifted the silk of her hair away from her face, highlighting the lovely, alien features that so incensed Howard Adar.
I didn’t have time to think, I just reacted. I flipped myself forward onto my hands and kicked my legs over my head. Once, twice, I flipped end over end to end up between my daughter and those who sought to cause her harm. I stood just in time to shield her from the shot that hit me in the chest and would’ve hit her in the head.
Instant, blinding agony ripped through me, and I went to my knees. I pushed her down behind me, still shielding her, and the second shot took me in the right shoulder.
Kaelyn scrabbled on hands and knees behind the shelter of the crates. I sank to the ground, willing away the pain, trying to no avail to force my body to respond. Declan moved so fast that to my pain-dimmed vision he seemed to blur.
He kicked the gun from the closest secbot and sent it hurtling to the floor, where it skittered along the cracked pavement and disappeared beneath the ship. Without stopping, he jammed a fist into the secbot’s optic center and ripped out its eyes, complete with dangling, sparking wires.
Eddie leaped on the other bot’s back and tore away the control panel at the back of its neck. The bot swung at the waist and tried to shake him off, but Eddie didn’t stop until he’d torn out the handful of wires that made up the bot’s communication system.
I couldn’t black out, no matter how much my body wanted to. The pain that should have sent me spiraling into darkness stabbed me into a state of almost hyper lucidity. As it was, I heard every word, saw every action.
As though oblivious to the fight going on around him, Howard stepped toward where I lay on the dirty floor. The haze of pain that wouldn’t let me pass out seemed to line him in brightness, while Eddie and Declan’s struggle in the background to subdue the secbots blurred.
“You’d sacrifice yourself for that thing?” Howard asked me, his face showing his incredulity. “That inhuman creature? You’d die for that freak?”
“She is my child, and I would die for her, yes.” Speaking took a great effort. Blood burbled to my lips, bringing with it a taste like rust. I swam against the tide of pain, unable to simply give up and let it take me. “Too bad you’ll never know the depth of that love.”
“You pity me?” Howard loomed over me, his features so familiar to Declan’s, yet so foreign. “You mecho, you freak of nature? You dare to pity me?”
“I think you deserve my pity,” I tried to say, but nothing came but a whisper and a froth of copper on my tongue.
Now, at last, the red glimmer of unconsciousness flickered at the edges of my vision. My sight narrowed, until all I saw was Howard’s face, his shoulder as he reached into his pocket, his hand as he brought up a weapon of his own. And then, finally, the dark eye of the gun as he aimed it at my head.
I waited for the end, and it didn’t come. Howard stiffened, his eyes widened, his arms flung out like a startled infant’s. A hole appeared, black around the edges and red inside, in his chest. Daylight glimmered through it for a brief moment, and then he fell.
He hit the floor beside me, and the dust kicked up from his landing burned my eyes. I saw Declan through the blur, bending next to his father, and the almost reverent way he slid his hand over Howard’s eyes to close them in unending sleep.
“I’m sorry, Dad,” I heard him say, then felt the whisper of his breath against my bloodstained lips as he kissed me. “You’ll be fine,” he said. “I promise.”
Epilogue
The sun was bright enough I had to shade my eyes against it when I looked out over the beach. Golden sand covered my feet. The breeze tangled my hair, now the color of a Shaddran sunset.
“Not too far out!” I cried to Kaelyn as she dipped and dove in the waves. Her wings gave her natural buoyancy, and in the gentle waters it would be nearly impossible for her to drown, but I didn’t like to leave anything to chance.
Her laughter came to me on the salt breeze, and the sound of it filled my heart with a joy so fierce it took my breath away.
We’d made it, the four of us, to Shaddra, where the sun always shone and the drinks were always cold. Declan’s Intercolony Credit account had been emptied to provide us with this modest cottage, our clothes, our food, and the down payment on a small tourist pub Eddie had discovered was his true calling. Already my former partner had tanned as dark as the natives, and I was certain there’d be a bonding ceremony soon. Scores of tittering, simpering maidens flocked around him all the time, but he had eyes only for U’Elian, a dark-haired beauty with a kind nature who already had a young son.
“I will watch the children,” U’Elian said to me now, as her boy R’Etan leaped into the surf with Kaelyn. She spoke to me in softly accented English, though I’d been learning Shaddran. “They’ll be fine. Why not go inside and rest for awhile?”
She lowered herself gracefully to the sand, her bright tunic puddled around her knees. “It will give me pleasure to watch them play, G’Emma.”
I nodded and stretched to clear my back of its kinks. My recovery from the wounds had been complicated by infection from lack of appropriate medical care. I’d won against the persistent fevers, aided by Shaddra’s lovely weather and nutritious food. I still tired easily, however, and an afternoon rest would be very welcome.
“Thanks, U’Elian.” I tried the words in Shaddran, and was rewarded with her pleased grin.
“I think perhaps there’s a love match there.” She nodded toward the children scampering in the water. “You start preparing her dowry now, yes?”
I laughed at the thought, but couldn’t deny it pleased me to think Kaelyn could find a life here. Love, someday. Happiness. Yes, that idea pleased me very much.
“My E’Ddie, he works late tonight, serving dinner to tourists.” U’Elian laughed. “I will take K’Aelyn tonight, to play with R’Etan. You have the night to…rest.”
Her grin told me she knew there’d be little rest involved if Declan and I had the cottage to ourselves. Adjusting to life as a family had been difficult in ways I’d never imagined when Kaelyn and I shared the apartment in Newcity.
I stifled a yawn with the back of my hand, and couldn’t stop from rubbing my eyes. “I think I will go in and take a nap, after all. I’m tired.”
U’Elian raised her thin brow ridges until her oval eyes widened. “You’re not sleeping enough at night, yes?” Then she laughed. “Ahh. My E’Ddie is much the same.”
“I’m glad he found you,” I told her. “He deserves a good woman.”
She inclined her head. “He is a good man. As is your D’Eclan.”
I thought about Declan working with Eddie. “He’s never had to work before. I think he’s happy to have something to be proud of.”
“You should be proud of him, G’Emma. He and my E’Ddie have made a success of that broken down tourist trap. Made it lovely.”
“They have, haven’t they?” I had to smile at the thought. “They really have.”
I yawned again, harder this time, and stretched. “Kaelyn!”
She turned in her play. “Yes, my Gemma?”
/>
“Do you want to spend the night with R’Etan and U’Elian tonight?”
Her squeal of delight was answer enough. I left the children splashing and playing under U’Elian’s watchful gaze, and went inside the cottage. Inside was dim and cool, with ceiling fans and strategically opened windows to fan the breeze. The tile floor was chill on my bare feet as I padded into the kitchen to pour a drink of juice, and the hall to the bedroom smelled of the flowers that grew in abundance all over Shaddra.
I took off the light tunic I wore and slipped between sheets as fresh and sweet as sunshine could make them. The bed was soft, and I was sleepy, and in moments I had passed into sleep. I didn’t dream.
I woke to a light touch along my arm, and Declan’s weight sank onto the bed. Disoriented, I sat up, expecting darkness. Late afternoon sun slanted through the shuttered windows in bars of gold against the dark light tile floor.
“Hey.” He stroked my hair. “How are you feeling?”
I stretched until the tiny bones along my spine crackled. “Good.”
He touched my cheek, softly. I leaned into his touch and pressed a kiss to his palm.
“K is spending the night with U’Elian and R’Etan.” The words left my mouth in a throaty whisper that was meant to be an invitation. “We have the whole house to ourselves.”
He tossed me that sexy grin that had so captivated me the first time I saw him. “Let’s see what we can do about that.”
He shucked off the loose cotton trousers he wore. I took a long look at him, this man I’d grown to love. His firm, smooth chest. The line of hair tracing down his belly to the thicker patch at his crotch. The length of his erection stretched and rose at my gaze. His face flushed, and he slid into bed next to me.
Declan’s mouth found the sensitive spot at the base of my neck as his hands slid up to cup my breasts. I arched against him as his fingertips found the scar tissue over my left breast. His touch there made me shiver.
“Does that hurt?” he whispered.
I shook my head. “Not anymore.”
Seeing him stand before me had aroused me. Looking wasn’t enough. I had to touch him, feel him, taste him. I moved to my knees and pushed him back gently against the pillows. I pressed my mouth along the firmness of his muscled chest, browned from the tropical sun, and brushed my cheeks with the softness of his pubic hair.
I took his cock into my mouth with a sigh he echoed. His hands found my hair and tangled there briefly. This was how we’d begun, what seemed so long ago, and the memory of that first encounter filled my mind now as I slid my tongue along the rim of his cock.
Declan’s hips bucked a little beneath me as I took him inside my mouth again and sucked softly, then harder. Without stopping my rhythmic suckling, I turned onto my side and snuggled more comfortably along his body, so my thighs were close to his face.
My own hips jerked as his tongue sought my heated cunt. His hands cupped my buttocks, and he pulled me closer to slide my legs apart and reach my inner folds with his lips.
“I love the way you taste.” The murmur against my flesh sent a burst of sensation tearing through me. “So sweet.”
All at once, he pushed me until I rolled to my back. He turned so we no longer lay head to foot. He kissed my thighs, the curve of my belly, my taut nipples, then found my mouth with his. I parted my legs and he lay between them, his cock nestled in the slickness of my arousal. He moved his erection against my engorged clitoris. Slowly. Maddeningly slowly. His weight pressed me into the bed, his hands pinned my wrists above my head, and he continued to kiss every part of me his mouth could reach. All the while he stroked me with small, controlled movements of his hips.
A cry rose to my lips, and he took it with his mouth. With every stroke the tip of him nudged at my opening. I wanted him inside me, ached for him to slide into me, and he refused. My thighs shuddered with a climax that danced just out of my reach. I lifted my hips against him, but he moved away before I came.
“Say my name,” he whispered. “I want to hear you say it.”
“Declan,” came my whispered reply, and he captured my mouth again.
He groaned when he finally thrust into me and released my wrists. My arms went around him, and my hands smoothed his sweat-damp back. My hands found the clenching mounds of his buttocks, and I cupped him, urging him to love me harder, faster, deeper.
“Gemma.”
“I love you, Declan.” I kissed his chin, his chest, the curve of his jaw, his shoulder. “I love you!”
He shuddered as he thrust, and my climax built inside of me until I couldn’t hold it back. I arched against him, meeting his thrusts with my own, and he slipped his arms beneath my back to cradle me closer as my orgasm began.
I’ve heard sexual climax referred to as a little death, and so it seemed to me that I died in Declan’s arms just then, for the stars whirled around me and darkness pressed at my eyes. All the heaviness left my limbs until I floated, soared, swam, taken over by the unstoppable sensations pouring through my body. My clitoris felt as though it were on fire, bursts of white-hot pleasure radiating from it and through my entire body.
I heard myself cry his name again, and was surprised I was capable at that moment of speech at all. He answered me, and another burst of exquisite, agonizing pleasure ripped through me. Declan pressed his forehead to mine, and I sank into the scent of his hair as he spent himself inside of me.
Afterwards, we slept. I rose when the bars of golden light had turned to silver, and night fell across the beach. I went to the private balcony overlooking the sea and let the wind toss my hair and fill my nose with the scent of freedom.
To my right and across the small courtyard, I saw a light in the cottage Eddie and U’Elian shared. Inside I saw my friend and his lover tucking light covers around the children who made all our lives complete. I looked back to the sea, silver gilt moonlight shining on its waves. The sound of the waves spoke to me of dreams fulfilled and wishes granted.
I listened for awhile and let the peace of its song fill me. Then I blew a kiss through the window beyond to my sleeping child, and I went inside to dream next to the man I loved.
About the Author
To learn more about Megan Hart please visit www.meganhart.com. Send an email to Megan at [email protected]. Read her blog at www.meganhart.com, or follow her on twitter at www.twitter.com/Megan_Hart.
Look for these titles by Megan Hart
Coming Soon:
Amidst a Crowd of Stars
A love as a rare—and precious—as a desert rain.
Amidst a Crowd of Stars
© 2010 Megan Hart
Marrin Levy needs a man. Not to have children. Her husband gave her three before he died—along with a failing homestead and crushing debt. What she needs is a strong back to help her wrest a living from the harsh, desert plant of Lujawed.
She’s sent away for a field-husband to take over the hard labor, nothing more. She never expected the devastatingly handsome, forever-young Seveeran, Keane Delacore, would fit so easily into her family’s life.
Keane’s heart is as strong as his back, bringing Marrin more than just help in the fields. He offers her love she never thought she’d feel again…if she has the courage to reach out and take it.
Warning: Contains three-alarm love scenes and a three-hankie love story. Read it and weep—in a good way!
Enjoy the following excerpt for Amidst a Crowd of Stars:
The colony was still small enough to support group celebrations like this one. The tables had been set with flowers and pretty cloths. A band hired to provide music. Food, laid out in a bounty that proved to any who doubted how prosperous they’d all become.
Marrin watched Sarai chattering with her friends. Her other daughters, Aliya and Hadassah, had also abandoned the dull company of their parents to seek their companions. Marrin had a plate of salad and a glass of iced water, but wasn’t doing much beyond looking around in amazed pride.
“You’re Sarai�
�s mother, aren’t you?”
Marrin turned at the question to see a woman of about her own age she faintly recognized. “Yes. I’m Marrin Levy.”
“Arlene Simpson. I’m Jack’s mom.”
Marrin didn’t know Jack, but she smiled and nodded anyway. Keane came up beside her and put his arm around her shoulders, squeezing gently before stepping away to take the plate from her hands and begin finishing the salad.
“Hi,” he greeted Arlene.
The other woman’s eyes widened slightly. “Hello. I’m Jack’s mom.” Her smile thinned as she looked at Marrin.
Keane smiled and shrugged, more honest in his reply than Marrin had been. “Sorry, I don’t know Jack.”
“Jack Simpson?” Arlene’s tone clearly said Keane ought to know him. “He might be a year or two behind you.”
Keane paused with the fork halfway to his mouth, an eyebrow raised. “Sorry?”
Marrin tensed, her gut twisting. It wasn’t the first time their apparent age difference had been brought up in casual conversation, but it had been quite a while. Anyone who knew them knew Keane wasn’t as young as his Seveeran genetics made him appear.
“My son,” Arlene said patiently, as though Keane were an idiot. “He graduated today with your girlfriend.”
“My girlfriend?” Keane’s face showed an amusement Marrin envied, but didn’t feel. He looked around the room, clearly biting back a laugh.
“Well, yes…you’re Sarai’s boyfriend, aren’t you? I just guessed you—”
“You guessed because I was here with Marrin and behaving in such a familiar manner that I must somehow be related to her, and you assumed for some reason I was here because of her daughter, who graduated today with your son.” His smile remained pleasant, his voice light, but he’d set down his plate and put an arm around Marrin’s shoulders.
Arlene looked confused, from Keane to Marrin and back again. “Well, yes.”