by Kate Rudolph
Peyton still didn’t look happy.
“Even I can see that you’re holding back,” Toran, the traitor, said. Dryce wanted to ask him how he would feel if Iris were the one in the situation, but that would tip off Peyton to the fact that something bigger was going on, and if she knew that who knew how she would react? He hated to lie to her, to withhold this truth, but the mission depended on it.
“See?” Peyton pursed her lips, her brown eyes challenging.
She wanted a challenge? “Again.”
They got back into position, this time with Dryce holding on as hard as he dared. When Peyton stamped on his foot he didn’t move, even as he winced at the pinch through his boots. She tried again, twice in a row, surprising him enough that he lost his grip for just a moment, and she used the advantage to escape his grasp again.
“Damn it,” Peyton spat, her frustration palpable. “If you don’t think I can do this, tell your commander, otherwise do the damn training. I’m not wasting my day so that you can coddle me.”
“That’s not what I’m doing.” If he’d been holding back before, he hadn’t the last time, and she’d performed the move as well as any recruit.
But Peyton wasn’t satisfied. “No?” She turned to Toran. “NaLosen, come over here and show him how to do this.”
Toran took a step forward and this time Dryce couldn’t stop the low growl that came out of his throat. He couldn’t completely prevent the enemy from touching her, but he’d be damned before he let his own man near her.
Peyton spun towards him. “What is your damn problem?”
“He’s not your partner, I am.” Her partner, her protector, her mate.
They set up this time, and Dryce didn’t let his grip loosen, no matter how much Peyton struggled. She wrenched against him, but every time she shifted he moved with her, until the hold was one she hadn’t practiced evading and she didn’t have the technique to escape. But his mate was nothing if not resourceful. She kicked at him and tried to stomp each of his feet, she used what little leverage she had to scratch at his exposed arm, and with a poke at his armpit, she made enough of a hole to get out. But Dryce wasn’t done. He reached for her again and she spun, her fist out, and landed a blow on his nose hard enough to make him bleed.
Peyton’s hands flew to cover her mouth as she immediately stepped back. “I’m sorry!” Her eyes were unbelievably wide and she looked horrified.
Toran laughed, and it was only that sound that reminded Dryce that he and Peyton weren’t alone. “This is going better than I’d hoped,” Toran said. “I’ll be back with some ice. Try not to kill each other while I’m gone.”
Peyton’s horror at making Dryce bleed melted away. “No promises,” she called to Toran’s rapidly retreating back.
Dryce took a seat on the bench and couldn’t help but smile. He might have been bleeding, but it could have gone worse.
Chapter Seven
Peyton ate, slept, and breathed the mission for those three days. She didn’t feel any better equipped to fight an enemy, but maybe she could get out of one or two holds. She and Dryce didn’t talk about anything besides their coming assignment, and that was fine. If she wondered why she sometimes caught him looking at her with a weird look on his face, it wasn’t any of her business. He was probably thinking of the date he’d told them all he planned, or maybe he’d already moved on to the next person.
Whatever it was, it didn’t matter. Even if sometimes she wanted to ask him exactly what he planned to do when he got back. Wanted to ask him why he felt the need to chase after so many lovers.
Despite the stories, he hadn’t done anything untoward since they’d been placed together. And as far as she could tell, he had moved onto the base and stayed away from all of the alien/human hookup spots in the city. So if he was as much of a lothario as the stories suggested, he could put it on hold to get his job done. That was good to know. Not that Peyton had any reason to care. He was a good soldier, that was all. And maybe she’d misjudged him a little. It didn’t mean that they were going to be friends, but maybe she wouldn’t trash talk him to random strangers anymore.
Not that DF was a stranger.
She had snuck away to check if he’d responded to her request to meet and he had. As soon as she was back, she was going to message him and set up a firm plan. She couldn’t wait.
Which made the fantasies that had been sneaking up on her over the last few days a bit... problematic.
Peyton had never been one to fantasize about a man. She dreamed about being recognized as a top name in her field, and about how she could change the world. Occasionally she even dreamed about what it would have been like if her family hadn’t been torn apart by her father’s need to escape. But she never dreamed of the dark pleasures that an alien lover could bring to her.
Had never. Until now.
Dryce snuck up on her like that. She’d be thinking about what the mission would be like, imagining the two of them alone in some dense forest, camped out and forced to huddle for warmth against the encroaching cold. And then she’d think about hot lips on her neck and questing fingers, about shed clothes and arching bodies. She wondered what Dryce looked like naked, if a nude Detyen looked anything like a nude human, and when those fantasies happened while she slept she’d wake up aching and wanting, ready to call out to Dryce and have him show her exactly what she was missing.
She’d even had one crazy dream where she planned to meet DF and when she showed up Dryce was sitting in his place. The shock alone had been enough to send her rocketing to wakefulness and trying to rationalize why she’d think something so crazy. DF was a funny, kind guy who’d taken the time to make sure her communicator had been returned to her. Dryce was... well, he wasn’t what she was looking for, that was for certain. Even if her initial impressions of him weren’t exactly correct, it didn’t somehow turn him into prince charming. And even if she wanted to, she couldn’t afford to develop a crush on the man now. They were about to head into a dangerous mission and she had to think about him as a partner, not someone she was imagining kissing.
Even if his lips looked so damn kissable.
“Don’t be worried, we’ll have your back.” Sierra Alvarez was helping Peyton complete her packing. She and the rest of the Detyens would be taking off by land in the early morning while Peyton and Dryce would leave by air a little later. Sierra seemed determined to make Peyton feel welcome, and Peyton was glad for it. It was a bit intimidating to be surrounded by towering, sexy alien warriors at all hours, and that was probably the main reason for Peyton’s crazy dreams.
“I’m not worried,” Peyton replied. She surveyed the tightly packed bundles of clothes and hoped they would last long enough. She and Dryce weren’t supposed to be out for more than a week, and she had two changes of clothes and an extra pair of socks. It was probably a luxury, she was sure regular soldiers normally went with far less, but she wasn’t a soldier.
“Really?” Sierra clearly didn’t believe her.
Peyton shrugged. “I could sit here and imagine all the horrible things that could happen to me if something goes wrong, or I could sit and imagine what will happen if we don’t stop the people out in space. But none of that is going to solve anything. Dryce seems capable enough, and as soon as I’m near the devices I’ll be able to disable them, if they’re there. Worry will just make me screw up.”
“How often are you repeating that to yourself?” Sierra handed her a tube of regen gel and Peyton stuffed it away.
“Oh, only every fifteen minutes or so.”
They shared a grin. “My first mission off planet I was sure we were going to end up stranded on some hostile land and never manage to get back home. Right up until I was strapped in for takeoff I wanted to run back home and tell my dad it was a bad idea and I’d stay on Earth. And then we were off planet and it was too late. But the mission went well, and I never wanted to back out after that.”
“Your dad didn’t want you to go?” It was a trip to think o
f the famous General Remington Alvarez as a doting and concerned father, but to Sierra, that was who he was. The man had single-handedly saved Mumbai from alien invasion, but Sierra was more likely to offer stories of him failing at cooking or trying to scare her first boyfriend.
“He wanted me in defense, not intelligence. We’ve had words.” She gave a wry laugh. “He’s not happy about how the SIA fired me, but I think he’s a little glad I’m working with the SDA now.”
“The SIA fired you? You’re General Alvarez’s daughter! And amazing in your own right,” Peyton was quick to add when she realized how that sounded.
Sierra rolled her eyes. “I disobeyed orders in a big way. I’m lucky I didn’t end up in prison. But I got Raze out of the deal, and we saved a bunch of lives. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”
Until she’d met Sierra, Peyton hadn’t known the role she’d played in the Detyen arrival on Earth. Though the Detyens had given several media interviews, mostly through Dryce, they hadn’t spoken much of their human counterparts who had led them to the planet. But Sierra and her team of Sol Intelligence Agency operatives had met a team of Detyen warriors on a desolate scrap of dirt called Fenryr 1 where she and the Detyens had freed a dozen human women and discovered the ship that implicated Yormas of Wreet in the destruction of Detya. She’d also fallen in love with Raze while the whole thing was happening, and from the way all the Detyens looked at her, that was somehow more amazing to them than everything else.
“What’s it like, being with one of them?” Peyton wasn’t sure if she was thinking about DF or Dryce, but either way her mind was stuck on a Detyen man, and she didn’t know what she had in store if something more than a flirtation came out of it.
Sierra got a far off look in her eye and grinned sweetly. “I feel like such a sap when I think about it. It’s not common for a Detyen to find a human denya, and it was supposed to be impossible for Raze, but from the moment I met him, I just knew that there was something there I couldn’t ignore.”
“Denya?” Peyton thought she’d heard that word before, but she hadn’t bothered to wonder what it meant. But now that Sierra brought it up, it seemed to mean that Raze was more than just her boyfriend.
“It means mate.” Suddenly she became clinical, as if she were reading the definition out of a book. “Detyens recognize their mates on sight, and there is a strong pull between them. Often this leads to love, but sometimes they will just bond and leave one another to live their own lives.”
“I didn’t realize that Detyens were like that.” Peyton had heard of fated mate bonds in news reports and media shows, but they’d always sounded a bit farfetched to her. But she wasn’t about to say that to Sierra, not when the woman had risked her life and future for one of those Detyens.
“How’s working with Dryce been?” Sierra thankfully changed the subject. Peyton didn’t know why, but talking about fated mates made her feel strange, like there was something she was missing, some piece she didn’t yet understand. It was like an itch covered by a bandage, something she wanted to pick at but knew that would make her bleed.
“Since it appears I’m talking to his sister-in-law... it’s been fine.” She was still mapping out all of the relationships on the team. Raze and Dryce were brothers, Sierra was Raze’s mate, and the rest had worked together on various missions, and all of them were friends. Except her. She was one of two humans, one of two women, and floundering because she had no history with these people and no reason to build one. Once the mission was over they’d all go their separate ways.
If they survived.
Sierra nudged her shoulder and offered a smile. “If you want to complain, I promise, I’m a vault.”
Peyton didn’t want to complain, not exactly. She wanted to ask Sierra if she was crazy for the thoughts she was having about Dryce. Wanted to know just how guaranteed she was to get hurt if she let her guard down and tried to see where things could go between them. But despite Sierra’s promise, Peyton didn’t delude herself. If she revealed to Sierra that she had a... crush on Dryce, that would get back to everyone and the man would be insufferable.
On the bright side, his insufferability would probably obliterate any fond feelings she had in no time. But she didn’t want to deal with the humiliation that would come before that.
“We’ll get the job done well enough,” Peyton said. “So let’s get finished packing so we can get started.”
DRYCE SAT IN THE PILOT’S seat with Peyton by his side, the engines humming as they prepared to embark on their mission. An eerie sense of calm settled over him. An entire lifetime had led to this moment, and if they were lucky, in a matter of days it would all be over. The threat to Earth would be taken care of, the destruction of his people would be avenged, and he would reveal himself to his denya and hope that she could accept him for the warrior he was and not the slick playboy he’d once been.
Peyton gripped the edge of her seat and took deep breaths, trying to steady herself. Dryce wanted to reach over and offer her words of encouragement, but each person had their own rituals before a mission and he couldn’t interrupt hers just because she looked to be about thirty seconds from panic. Slowly her fingers loosened and she opened her eyes, staring out of the giant window in front of them. The speeder they’d been given was more like an early human aerial device called a helicopter rather than the sleek spacecraft he was used to. They wouldn’t be able to break atmo, but what they gave up in power they gained in stealth.
The thrust came from a bladeless rotor which circled overhead and was much less susceptible to weather conditions than its primitive ancestors. He and Peyton were essentially sitting in a giant bubble and once they lifted off they’d be able to see far into the distance and it would be almost like they were floating. Dryce had spent plenty of time in a simulator learning to fly the human craft and he knew that Peyton had been given emergency lessons, but she didn’t seem as excited to finally be taking off.
“We’ll be perfectly safe,” Dryce assured her. “We shouldn’t encounter any hostiles, and even if we do, the stealth settings on this craft are some of the best available.”
Peyton let out a shaky breath. “Not worried about that.” She stared out the window in front of them but it didn’t look like she was seeing anything but whatever was going on in her mind.
“Then what? Are you unwell?” The mission couldn’t be delayed, but he would do whatever he could, short of stopping everything, to see to his mate’s comfort.
“Not a big fan of heights,” Peyton bit out. “I’ll get over it.”
“You’re scared of heights?” Dryce didn’t mean for it to come out so surprised, but he found it hard to believe that Peyton was scared of anything. She projected enough strength and confidence to cow a general and even knowing the secrets she’d shared with him in their messages he never would have guessed that something so banal could set her on edge.
“Yes,” came her tortured confirmation. “It’s quite common, I’ll get over it. Let’s just do this.”
“No.” Dryce leaned back in his seat and took his hands off the controls, looking towards his denya.
“No? You’re going to put the planet at risk just because I’m a little nervous?” She sounded incredulous, and she turned to him, eyes narrowed, and no longer paying attention to the windows in front of them.
“The planet can wait a minute, you can’t.” Dryce offered her his best grin and almost laughed when she scrunched her eyebrows down, clearly perplexed by his reaction.
“I’ll be fine,” Peyton insisted. “I can do this.”
“There’s nothing you can’t do,” Dryce agreed.
“Don’t patronize me,” she snapped.
His smile wanted to falter, but he kept it plastered in place. Could his mate not see that he just wanted to ease her through this difficult situation? “I’m not, I promise.”
Her expression evened out, even if it remained a bit suspicious. “Okay.”
“Now I’m going to signal Dr
u and once he gives the go ahead I’m going to lift off. Keep your eyes on me until I tell you otherwise.” He had no idea if this would make things better or worse, but he had to do something for Peyton.
“Oh, so this is just an excuse to get me to stare at your pretty face.” Her eyes widened and she snapped her mouth shut as she finished the thought, a faint blush coloring her cheeks.
Dryce didn’t shout in triumph, but it was a close thing. He’d known she thought he was attractive, even if she discounted all of his other qualities, but he’d never expected to hear her say it. “You think I’m pretty?” He gave an exaggerated simper and wanted to celebrate again when it forced a laugh out of her.
She didn’t want to like him, he knew that. But he was making progress. If the mission went well, maybe by the end she might think of him as more than a useless pretty boy, might see him as the mate he could be.
If she didn’t feel betrayed when she discovered he was the man she’d been messaging for weeks.
Doubt begin to creep in at the edges of Dryce’s mind. He hadn’t started their communication with any intention to deceive Peyton, and he hadn’t explicitly lied to her. But the more they interacted in person, the more it felt like he was balancing on the line between truth and falsehood and one misstep would see him tumble over into the unforgivable.
He pushed those thoughts aside. They had a mission to carry out, and he needed to get Peyton through this despite her fears. Once they were on their way, he wouldn’t have time to worry about the mixed up situation he’d gotten them into; his mind would be wholly dedicated to the mission and keeping his mate safe.
“You know you’re too pretty for your own good,” Peyton answered with a defiant smirk. “And I’m sure you use it to your advantage.”
“It’s all for you,” Dryce said, more honest than he’d ever been in his life. “So keep your eyes here,” he pointed towards himself, “and let’s see where we can go.”