Given

by Elin Wyn

  He moved towards the gray bag and I pulled it away from him. “Mine,” I growled.

  “That’s my girl.”

  “Fuck you.” I peeked in the bag. “There are two servings, actually. Want one?”

  “Only if you’re sure you won’t bite my hand off.”

  Despite the casual pretense, he dug into the bowl of noodles as if he craved the nutrients as much as I needed the warmth.

  For a few moments, I didn’t worry about him, about Bani, think about anything other than the spiciness of the broth and the slippery noodles sliding down my throat.

  “How did you get Artin to cook so late, anyway?” I threw a glance at the chron near the dresser. “He closed hours ago.”

  “He was worried, too.” Davien looked up over the rim of his bowl, chopsticks still. “You've got a whole bunch of people who care about you, best as I can tell.”

  Great. More guilt to pile up against the shame of my leaving.

  “I know where we need to go to find Helmet Head,” I mumbled.

  “Tomorrow,” was his only answer, between slurps of noodles.

  “What?” I asked, bewildered.

  “We’ll talk about it tomorrow.”

  “But, don’t you want to….”

  He shook his head. “Telling me now doesn’t do us any good. We’re tired, you’re healing, we can’t do anything about it.” He finished off his soup with a slurp. “Tomorrow.”

  As much as I wanted to talk about our next phase of attack, I couldn’t help but agree with him. I wasn’t at my best. If I had to plan how we were going to get past two Helmet Heads tonight, I doubted if I’d come up with anything better than sending them invitations to dinner at Artin’s, and seeing what happened.

  Could they eat through their helmets? They had to take them off sometime, right?

  Lost in questions I had no hope of answering, Davien startled me when he stepped away from the desk.

  “If you don’t mind, I’m going to use your refresher, then hit the sack. We have plenty to plan tomorrow, so stop thinking about it tonight.”

  The sound of water splashing startled me from the hopeless spiral of thoughts, one crashing into the other.

  Even though I had just woken up, weariness from the day ached through my bones.

  I tossed our bowls and chopsticks into the recycler to be broken down, then stepped around the half-wall. Davien had set the opacity of the refresher midway; I could make out his broad shoulders, but none of the detail of his hard-muscled body.

  Come on, Kara, I chided myself. Weren't you ready to crawl back into bed two minutes ago?

  I shook my head to refocus and set the opacity of the rest of the washing station to full.

  After I finished my business and brushed my teeth, I thought about the warm shower. I've done a few jobs for the landlord, so my water allowance was a little higher than normal. Still, it wouldn't hurt to double up and save rations, right?

  Davien yelped in surprise as I slid in behind him.

  "That may be the first completely undignified sound I've heard you make," I said with a grin.

  I reached past him for the gel dispenser.

  He cocked an eyebrow.

  "Are you sure about this? You've had a pretty long day." There's the arrogant bastard I was coming to know so well.

  "I am sure...that I want to shower. Everything else is going to have to wait.”

  I turned away from him and lathered up, reaching for my shoulder blades.

  "Here, let me do that. No one can do a decent job washing their own back."

  He took the scrubby from my hand and made circles with it on my spine, traveling up and down, back and forth.

  "Harder, right there." I arched my spine into the scrubby, bracing my hands against the wall. He'd found an itchy spot.

  The scrubbing stopped, and he coughed, then focused his attention on that one spot.

  I sagged in relief. "There's nothing worse than having an itch you can't quite reach, right?"

  I spun under the water, keeping my eyes averted out of politeness. Mostly. I did take a little peek and darted my eyes away quickly.

  Void's sake. Maybe he did have something to be arrogant about.

  Before he could catch me looking, I turned him away, back towards the spray of water.

  "If I can't reach my own back, there's no way you can scrub all of yours. Give me the scrubby."

  I started at the top of his shoulders, working back and forth in small circles, switching directions as I worked my way down the vee of his back to his waist. Nice ass, too.

  Possibly the scrubby dipped a little lower on his hip than it should have if I was going to be all business. Possibly.

  He turned in my soapy hands so fast I lost my balance, but a firm hand cupped my elbow, keeping me on my feet.

  "Keep playing, Kara, and later is going to be now." He growled, sliding one hand around my waist.

  I reached behind him to hang the scrubby up, then rested my hands on his shoulders. I tilted my head up to watch him, watch that mouth. Did he realize how much he gave away with those lips?

  I licked my own, remembering the taste of him. Dammit, sleep could wait.

  Balancing on my toes, I pulled his face down the rest of the way to meet mine.

  "Thinking about it again, now sounds fabulous." I reached for him, but he pounced first, hands sliding around my waist, over and under my hips as he lifted me, back against the wall.

  My legs wrapped around his waist, arms tangled around his neck, clinging to him, as he devoured my mouth with his own. His tongue demanded entrance, and I opened to him, flicking against him.

  He switched his grip to hold me up with one arm, then his hand slid over my breast, kneading, squeezing. I gasped as I slipped against him, and the broad head of his cock nudged against my opening, sending sparks throughout me.

  Shuddering, my head fell to his shoulder, eyes closing against the onslaught of sensations.

  Tiny bolts of electricity ran from my neck down to my core as he bit and licked his way down my exposed neck. I nuzzled into him, then flicked my tongue over the lobe of his ear, working my way as high up against the pointed rim as I could reach.

  He roared, fingers digging into my hip, grinding me into him. Then, when I thought I would shatter, he stopped, panting for air, the cords of his neck straining against an invisible force.

  "Don't move."

  "Huh?” I blinked, unable to keep up.

  He lowered me to my unsteady feet, ran his hands up and down my sides.

  "You’re going to push me over the edge, and I plan to take my time with you." His eyes ran over my body, and I shuddered from the heat, the desire that touched me as fiercely as his hands.

  "What if I want you to fall?" I leaned forward for another kiss, just as the refresher beeped.

  "Dammit!"

  I pulled him towards me, but not fast enough for us to avoid the freezing spray.

  "It's just one of the quirks you get in an older building." I hit the switch to turn the water off. Warm air jetted around us as the drying cycle started.

  He glanced around the room. "There seems to be an abundance of...quirks."

  "You seem like the kind of guy that can work around surprises," I purred, sliding my hands up his chest.

  His scorching kiss was hotter than the drying jets and had parts of me decidedly wet again.

  I gave a final spin in front of the hot air, relaxing muscles that had tensed under the sudden onslaught of cold water.

  "Get into bed," he whispered in my hair. "I'll be right behind you."

  I scampered across the room, the chill in the air sharp against my newly warmed skin.

  As I slid between the covers I watched him finishing in the dryer. What was taking him so long, I wondered? His short hair should have been finished in half the time. Of course, I giggled to myself, other parts were considerably bigger.

  Suddenly, the room was tinged with the pink glow of the early morning light cycle. I
lay stretched out, down the length of his body, his arms wrapped around my back, keeping me pressed against his chest. The room was still mostly dark, only the faintest of street lights shining in from around the window covering.

  I pushed up on my elbows to stare accusingly at him. “You let me go to sleep.”

  In the low light, I could just make out his face. He didn't bother to open his eyes. “You were tired. You didn't complain at the time.” He smoothed the hair off my face. “Besides, crushing humiliation is good for me, I’m sure.”

  “What?”

  “You called me an arrogant bastard when I moved you to get into bed.”

  I scrambled off him, mortified. “I did not,” I muttered, as I wrapped the top blanket around me, looking for where he’d put my clothes, and calling for the lights to come back on full.

  He pulled on his pants, then padded towards me. “I know there’s not a kitchen in your ‘quirky’ place, but at least tell me you have kaf pods hidden somewhere around here.” There was that grin again. “It’s the least you can do, after such heartlessness.”

  I rolled my eyes, then grabbed the mugs and pods from a drawer. “I’m not a complete barbarian.”

  He pulled the heating tabs on both, then handed my mug back to me as it began to simmer. “But maybe I am.”

  “Idiot.” While the kaf cooled back down to drinkable levels, I called up a line map of the dome on my tablet. “Here,” I tapped. “This is the location my friend tracked Helmet Head to.”

  He flicked the map larger, then toggled the layers to show more detail. “What kind of neighborhood is it?”

  I shrugged. “Pretty standard. Not a lot of action, not terribly close to any of the territories. If it’s hiding, it’s not a bad spot.”

  Something else tickled in the back of my head, something else important, but a dull headache kept me from grasping it. I rubbed my temple, willing the caffeine to pull it forth, but nothing came.

  He tossed back the rest of his kaf, then started dressing. “I’ll let you know what I find when I get back.”

  “Excuse me, what?” I stared at him. “You’re not cutting me out of this.”

  He frowned. “You’re not going anywhere. You need to rest.”

  I stood in front of him, fury blinding me to the ridiculousness of trying to physically stop him.

  “You don’t own me, no matter what deal you made with Xavis.”

  His eyes flared wide, then narrowed, jaw tight. “That has nothing to do with this. You could have died yesterday.”

  “Yeah, I know that. But I didn’t. Don’t use that as an excuse to control me.”

  “I’m not trying to control you, I’m trying to keep you safe.” His harsh whisper cut sharper than a yell.

  “I’ve been keeping myself safe for my entire life,” I bit back, anger burbling the words out faster than I could think. “I don’t need you, I don’t need anyone.”

  “Really?” He stalked towards me. I refused to budge, and he bent down over me, hands tight on my shoulders.

  “Because yesterday you sure did. You said that little episode wasn’t anything to do with me, just previous business. How the hell were you planning to get out of that?

  “I…” I didn’t have an answer, but he wasn’t listening anyway.

  “And you needed Bani. And Artin. And weren’t you visiting a friend when Sary’s men got you?” He kept walking, slowly forcing me to step back until I was flat against the wall, his eyes piercing me. “You have a pack here, friends, people who care about you.”

  “They don’t try to control me,” I whispered, unable to look away.

  Davien’s voice gentled, but his grip didn’t loosen. “No, but they want you to be safe.”

  His lips brushed my temple, hovered by my ear. “And so do I.”

  His tongue flicked the edge of my ear, and I shuddered in his grasp. He pulled me to him, his lips falling on mine as if he’d devour me, and I clung to him, aching with need.

  The sheet fell away as he lifted me, my legs wrapped around him as he walked us back towards the bed, still hungry for each other.

  He laid me on the bed, still raining kisses until I was breathless, panting.

  Then the bastard spun away, grabbing his jacket and wresting the broken door to my apartment open.

  It slammed shut behind him, and metal squealed as he jammed the door.

  I banged on the panel, but it wouldn’t budge.

  “Get some rest, Kara,” he laughed. “I’ll be back later, and we can pick up where we were.”

  “Like hell we will!” I shouted at him, trying to rock the now-fixed barrier in its track.

  He just laughed again, and I heard his footfalls as he headed down the stairs.

  I slid down the door to rest my head on my knees. How could he get me so mixed up, so vulnerable?

  And I needed to go with him, because…my brain finally remembered the last piece of information that had eluded me all morning.

  Oh, Void.

  Davien didn’t know there were two Helmets. He might as well be walking into a trap.

  Davien

  My commlink buzzed again as I strode through the city streets. I didn't bother to look. It'd just be Kara, and I wasn’t planning to answer.

  She'd called four times already in as many blocks, and whatever she had to yell at me would have to wait until I got back.

  Right now, I needed my head back on the mission.

  I'd wasted time last night that I should have spent on planning my approach to the Hunter, just lying there, holding her. I shook my head, furious with myself. No wonder the Doc had kept us aboard the Daedalus. Spending too much time planet-side, too much time with people outside the Pack, just led to complications. And complications were always best avoided.

  Even if they came wrapped up in an intoxicating package of steel and sweetness named Kara.

  Maybe especially then.

  So, I was going to ignore the scent of her still on my jacket, and catch up on the planning I should have done last night before I got to the address she'd found.

  I'd dealt with Hunters, Kara’s Helmet Heads, before when they came to the ship, and occasionally, as one of the Pack's first decanted from the growth tanks, sent down on dirt jobs where they were involved.

  Didn't know much about them, some sort of modified android was the best guess. Didn't know much about who or what controlled them. Doc said it was some old Empire corp, still running with no one at the controls.

  That never quite made sense to me. Doc had some pretty specific supply requirements, and the Hunters were able to get quite a bit, just in exchange for her research data. Someone out there wanted *something* from Doc and wanted it enough to put up with her peculiarities.

  But maybe, maybe they'd gotten impatient, a little voice from my gut whispered.

  I didn't know who'd attacked the Daedalus, didn't think the Doc did, either, before she ordered us into the pods.

  But it could have been them...

  I stopped, stepped into the shallow recess of a doorway, and ran through some scenarios while watching the street traffic flow by.

  If it wasn't the Hunters, their controller might have a way to contact the Doc. That's what I had been betting on since first hearing from Kara that they were here. Even an old protocol would give me a starting place.

  If it was the Hunters...

  My fist clenched, and I tasted copper. This unit might not have information, but I'd never seen one that wasn't in near constant communications with their organization. The comm restrictions here wouldn't stop Hunter tech, but it’d need some sort of signal booster. And that meant something I could work with.

  I nodded and stepped back out, task back in focus.

  Either way, I'd get what I needed.

  Once at the coordinates, I walked past, just to get a sense of the building. Like everything else in this dome, the squat building had seen better days. Shutters covered the small windows, and I heard nothing within.

 
Didn't mean anything. Hunters didn't fidget. He, it, whatever, could be in there, just standing still. Or out, doing whatever it was here for.

  I walked up to the door, knocked, and listened again.

  Nothing.

  As far as I understood general rules of etiquette, the polite thing to do would have been to wait, come back another time.

  Doc didn't really build us for polite.

  Yesterday I was in a hurry. Today, I didn't mind taking a little extra time.

  I reached for the seam of the jacket lining. A quick tug opened up one of the hidden pockets and a set of micro tools slid into my hand. Standing by the door, I took a quick look around to see if anyone was near.

  The short sequence of sonics triggered automatically when I slid the edge of the card under the plate. A quick green flash and the electronics opened to what it thought was the coded handprint. Didn't always work, but on any tech older than a year or so, it hadn't let me down.

  I stepped inside, then quickly went to the side of the door, taking a quick look around the room while the portal slid shut behind me.

  It looked like the rooms had been rented, but Helmet Head hadn't thought much of the furnishings. A small table, a couple of chairs, and a ratty-looking couch were all shoved into the far-right corner. The rest of the room was totally bare. Nothing of the previous resident and nothing that looked like a Hunter had been here. At the back left, a door opened up - another room, a stairway - couldn't tell. I froze, long enough to take a good listen. Still nothing but the soft whine of electronics, so I went to check it out.

  As angry as Kara was going to be about me heading out on my own, I really didn't want to tell her the intel was wrong. I grinned. Or maybe I did. She was kinda fun when she got all riled up...

  Dammit, there I went again.

  I jabbed a nail into my hand. If I didn't break this habit of letting her randomly into my head, she was going to get me killed.

  Back to the mission.

  The doorway opened onto a short hall, ending in a flight of stairs. A second door led to another, smaller room.

  Jackpot.

  Sleek and black, like a cone that flared out in the middle then came to a sharp point at head height, a mini commtower sat in the middle of the floor. A series of slowly blinking lights circled the midpoint. I'd guess they indicated some sort of standby.