IGO 2: Save for Shardae

by Blue, RaeLynn

  She passed both Sauk and Turner hanging around a cluster of firs. She paused from exhaustion. She wanted to needle them to cover her condition. “Not hard to beat stationary targets.”

  Sauk opened his mouth to reply, but thought better of it. Turner merely glowered in his typical brooding manner.

  “Admit it!” roared Zander.

  Homing in on his voice, Shardae ran through the thick snow to him. She found him bent over Mackerel. The lieutenant lay sprawled on the ground with fury ruining his handsome face. His fists reared back, set to deliver a blow.

  “I won’t lie,” Mackerel shot back. His buzzed hair sparkled with chips of melting snow. He glared at Zander, barely acknowledging her clumsy approach. He made a half-hearted attempt to knock Zander’s cannon away, but it remained locked in Zander’s hands. “Not even to satisfy your jealousy.”

  Zander dropped the blast cannon. “I’m not jealous. Someone hit Sergeant Simmons. Turner had been tagged. Sauk had been tagged. That only leaves you.”

  Mackerel’s wide grin broke across his face. His eyes slid to her. “Sergeant Simmons, he’s in love with you. Can’t you tell? Creating phantom creatures that attack you so he can avenge you. Sweet.”

  Zander didn’t move. A muscle ticked along his jaw. Whether his anger stemmed from his embarrassment at Mack’s words or because those words were true, she didn’t know.

  “Mack.” She let her blast cannon hang along her shoulder by its strap. “Did you hit me?”

  He glared at her.

  “I need to know. If you didn’t, we’ve got to question Sauk and Turner. Run the A.I.”

  “No,” Mackerel said, frowning. His smile waned. He glanced back at Zander. “You told me the truth. Someone struck her.”

  “Yeah someone hit her -- you,” Zander accused. “Stop right there.”

  Mack laughed, but it rang uneasy, shallow. He peered across Zander’s shoulder. “Move out of the way, boy to -- uh, Pilot Reyes,” Mackerel said, amending his playful tone after he glanced at Zander’s face.

  Zander’s back was to her, so she couldn’t see his face. Whatever Mack saw in the pilot’s expression he didn’t like because his attitude and demeanor changed considerably.

  “No,” Zander said, anger making his stance rigid, tight, and solid. “You gotta go through me to hurt her again.”

  “I’m a doctor. She needs medical attention.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “Shardae,” Mackerel said, sighing heavily. “Tell him, please.”

  “Mack is a medical doctor and a lieutenant of engineering,” Shardae confirmed. A rush of disorientation swept over her. The world tilted sideways. With her legs wobbling, morphing into gelatinous blobs, she crumpled to the snow-blanketed ground, her belly awash with nausea.

  “Shardae!” Mackerel shoved a bewildered Zander aside.

  Zander’s stricken face hovered above hers along with Mack’s. “Sergeant,” Zander called gently, but with a ring of panic. “What the fuck did you do to her?”

  She cringed. Every sound caused tremendous agony to gnaw at her temples. Shutting her eyes only reinforced her need to vomit.

  “I didn’t do anything!” Mackerel said to Shardae. “Look at me!”

  She squeezed her eyes tighter.

  “Come on, Shardae. Look. At. Zander.”

  Choking back a cry of anguish, she cracked her eyes open. Zander hovered behind Mack. Mack flashed a penlight into each eye. Grunting in searing pain, Shardae didn’t feel the bite of the needle in her arm until the thick liquid burned. She found herself unable to move. Her eyes widened in alarm. “What?” Though the word didn’t sound anything like that because her lips had been paralyzed like the rest of her body.

  “What’s wrong? What the hell did you do?” Zander demanded.

  Yeah, what he said! Shardae thought.

  “I’ve placed her in temporary stasis until I can get her to medical. She has a head injury. I -- I didn’t want to risk it. Comms,” Mackerel said into his earpiece. “Sergeant Simmons needs medical transport. We’re on the hologram floor, pod D.” He pressed the scarlet oval to end the comm. “They’re on the way.”

  Zander knelt beside her and touched her hand. She didn’t feel it, but she knew he held it because she could see him. She could almost feel the tension and irritation rolling from Zander. He didn’t hide his feelings -- he thought Mack had struck her, had harmed her. He didn’t trust the treatment he’d given her. Every twitch of his face told Shardae that Zander wanted very much to beat the living hell out of Mack.

  Mack sighed. “You don’t have to trust me, but you’re not in a position to do anything but help.”

  Shardae could see, but not talk. Breathe, but not speak. Frustration threatened to overcome her.

  “I want her safe,” Zander said. “If anything else happens to her, Mack…”

  Shardae tried to smirk, but found it harder to do so than usual, and gave up. She put her attention back on the men. Zander had let his threat trail into whatever Mack wanted to supply in the blank. She liked that. Perhaps the pilot would be a good fit for the security team after all.

  Mack gave him a grim nod, holding his hand up to silence him. “I know. I didn’t do this. I care about her too.”

  The corners of his mouth turned down in distaste. “I know.”

  Mack shook his head and gave a soft guffaw. “She cares about you, too.”

  Shardae groaned. How the hell did Mack know how she felt?

  “Yeah, don’t mock me,” Zander growled in warning.

  “I’m not. Shardae’s heart is on her sleeve, even when she tries to cover it up. Her strong emotions glow, burn, right through…”

  She wanted to tell them both to shut up, but she couldn’t do much to stop them. Nausea rolled through her. A cramp crunched her insides, but she couldn’t move. Their voices came from far away, from a deep tunnel. The chasm grew larger, the voices more faint. Zander’s face consumed her vision as he leaned down close to her face. She could no longer hear him, but he appeared to be yelling franticly at her.

  I’ll be fine, pilot, she wanted to say, but she had to be honest. She didn’t know for sure. In her entire life she hadn’t ever been in this position.

  Zander put his head on her chest as if to listen to her heart proclaim its affection for him. What did her heart tell him in its sluggish beats? Would it confess her feelings for him, her budding love for him? Laughing on the inside, an involuntary spasm bucked through the temporary stasis.

  For just the briefest of moments, panic scrambled up her throat before subsiding to allow darkness to claim her.

  Chapter 11

  Three days later

  Zander stood beside Shardae’s infirmary bed, a sleek padding held suspended above the floor by titanium rods anchored to the wall. The cobalt lighting gave a strange tint to her gorgeous skin. He traced his fingers across her cheek, enjoying the softness of her skin.

  She’d been in medical for three days. For most of the first night, Mackerel and Raja couldn’t find what had happened to her, other than the head wound. Something had attacked her system -- infiltrated it and tried a hostile takeover. He’d made acting security chief Lieutenant Stein promise to keep him in the loop. Surprisingly, Stein had kept his word. He had a newfound appreciation for the stern-faced man.

  He’d learned that Shardae had been attacked by Sauk. The A.I. had been reprogrammed in that specific section of the gaming ward. There had been more that Lieutenant Stein had uncovered, but Dr. Raja only cared about reporting his own findings. Zander had gone deaf when Stein mentioned Sauk refused to answer when interrogated about the poison he’d used.

  “You’re here again, Reyes,” declared Dr. Raja, the chief of medicine. He stood beside Shardae’s bed. He peered at him over his two square, rimless glasses. “She’s healed up remarkably well. Let me check a few things. She could go to her quarters.”

  “Yeah, her color looks good. I see the antibiotic drip has been removed.” Zander watched Sharda
e wince in her sleep. Something tormented her during her sleep -- a nightmare, a memory -- but when he took her hand in his, she relaxed. “I guess Commander Ashe already knows she’s fit for duty.”

  “Of course, as does Lieutenant Stein,” Dr. Raja said patiently. “None too soon. The lieutenant has been burning the candle at both ends. Sergeant Simmons will be fit to return to her duties by commencement of her morning shift.”

  She’d have roughly seven hours of rest before she had to report. He didn’t like it. Shardae needed a few days to recover.

  He looked at the pile of clothes, a folded ebony tank top and uniform bottoms. A smile tugged at his lips as he thought about how he’d gone to her quarters three days ago and retrieved her clothing…

  * * *

  “You know, I’ve never been in her quarters.” Lieutenant Stein grunted. “I don’t feel right about going through her things.”

  “She isn’t going to leave medical in a thin paper wrap, so I’m going to snag her a fresh set of unis.”

  Stein nodded, but his eyes revealed his disbelief and just a touch of censure. Frankly, Zander didn’t give a damn what the older man thought. He was going to get Shardae’s clothing and that was that.

  “I’ll stay out here,” Stein said. “When she gets better and finds out you went in there…”

  Zander ignored him and went inside, after Stein finally gave up the access code. The doors hushed closed behind him. Shardae’s scent hit him hard, slamming into his nostrils, lodging itself into his blood. He stood for a moment, not moving, not daring to disturb the quiet thrill, but his heart pumped ferociously in his chest. Red hot need swamped him with a ferocity he was having trouble handling.

  Entering her personal space was like walking into some new dimension. He was overcome by a sort of slow erotic drug that dipped into his veins. Each breath tasted of lust and longing. A sheen of sweat surfaced on his body. The air was thick and heady and sultry.

  His piercing green eyes raced around the room. His ears strained to hear the little imaginary mewls that had for a brief second thundered in his ears. Forcing the air from his lungs in a long hiss, Zander took one slow step after another until he was standing directly in front of the doors to her bedroom. He knew it was wrong but he couldn’t help but think this was the place she slept, probably touching herself, cupping those luscious breasts in her own hands, maybe even tweaking diamond hard nipples. She would spread those perfectly shaped thighs and --

  Nope. He didn’t need to think about that now. He’d come in for Shardae’s clothes, he might as well get them. The doors slid back with a soft oooohhhh causing him to shiver. Why did every damn thing here bring to mind Shardae in some sexual form or another? The rush of cold air roused more than just goose bumps. He squinted against the frigid air. How the hell did Shardae sleep in here? Her twin-sized standard-issue bed had nothing standard about it. Three layers of blankets sat folded at the end of the bed. He couldn’t help but think if he shared that bed she’d have no need for any of them. He would keep her so damn hot she wouldn’t want anything covering her but him. His hands twitched, the muscles flexing in eagerness to touch her warm skin. Damn it, just the thought had him hard and aching. He grabbed a fistful of one of the blankets, brought it to his nose and inhaled it deep. He could smell her, her light scent engulfing him almost as if he could be closer to her, have her inside him, like he so desperately wanted to be inside her. He sat down, leaving the blanket tossed across his thigh. The sensations were too much; he wanted her so bad, and this was as close as he’d ever gotten. The media center, three embedded panels, glowed in the soft hush.

  “Hurry up, Reyes! I’ve got duties and so do you, pilot!” Stein bellowed.

  “Keep your pants on! I’m coming.”

  Well, not yet. He lay back on her bed, picturing her curvy body tossing one sexy item off at a time. The seductive striptease ratcheted his hunger higher. Her chestnut brown hair spilled down to smooth, nude shoulders. She leaned in to kiss him deeply. He breathed her in and his cock rose. His hand became hers gliding over his rock hard ache. He drank her in again as she put both hands on her hips -- hips meant for riding. He could already see his hands locked on that waist as his stone hard cock plunged into her again and again.

  Zander closed his eyes and saw Shardae, naked and sprawled across his lap. Seeing her this way made him feel powerful, but blessed. His cock, already hardened steel, seemed to grow harder still. He couldn’t help himself. He raised his hand and whacked the wonderful curve of her ass. Zander adjusted his position a bit, gliding his hands over her flushed buttocks.

  He swatted her again, and Shardae purred in pleasure, taking her lower lip between her teeth. She tugged on it and looked over her shoulder to him.

  “Oh, oh!” She moaned and again her body quivered against his thighs.

  Watching her delightful breasts swing back and forth with each whack of his hand, feeling her squirm against his cock and witnessing how damn sexy she looked all caught up in the rapture of desire, Zander released his swollen and already leaking phallus into his hand. He wrapped his fist around his thick tool and glided it over the purple sensitive head. He used his leaking lust to lubricate his cock.

  He could see the wet slickness between Shardae’s legs growing glossier with each whack. The ripe hardening and elongating of the cinnamon rose tips of her breasts as the sound, the very crack of his hand across her ass…

  When he thought he couldn’t grow any harder, he asked, “Are you ready for me, Sergeant?”

  “Yes!” Shardae shrieked, quivering with need. “Yes!”

  Her buttocks, flushed scarlet as his hair despite her mocha with cream coloring, set his cock to dripping droplets of anticipation. He couldn’t pass up the chance to pinch the tiny scarlet welts dotting her ass. They made her shudder and his cock stiffen all the more. She crawled up the bed, casting heated glances over her shoulder. The looks called him hither and he didn’t delay.

  His fist pumped harder, faster as he mentally played out Shardae climbing onto him. She sank her hot wet pussy onto him and he fought to control himself. So deliciously tight, she hugged him inside her. She began to move against his cock, slowly riding him. Zander grabbed both her fabulous buttocks, anchoring her to him.

  “Hurry up, Reyes!” came Stein’s coarse voice.

  Zander didn’t even bother to respond. At least not vocally. Shardae increased her speed and kept slamming faster, harder, riding him until he couldn’t hold back. Not now, not anymore. The orgasm tore through him, forcing him to grunt and clench his teeth to keep from shouting out.

  It took him a few minutes to gather himself. He cleaned himself up in the head and grabbed a uniform pair, tank and bottoms. He also grabbed a sexy bra and pair of panties for her. He tucked them between the uniform so Stein wouldn’t see what he’d grabbed.

  He exited Shardae’s quarters with his breathing rough, and his heart excited to experience the real thing…

  * * *

  When Zander looked up again, he found Dr. Raja staring at him. The way the light fell, his glasses looked opaque and hid his eyes. “Does Sergeant Simmons know?” the doctor asked, his mouth twitching in a smile. He tapped the vitals screen and leaned in closer to read the text. He glanced back at Zander.

  “Know what?” Zander pinned the doctor with a shrewd glare. He didn’t like the doctor’s amused tone. Nothing about Shardae’s injuries spoke to humor -- nothing at all.

  “That you’re in love with her,” Dr. Raja said plainly. He shot Zander a broader smile, one he probably gave before slicing up a patient for surgery or before shooting medicine into someone’s arm. Most likely, Raja meant to reassure but Zander only found it annoying. “It’s obvious to everyone.”

  Zander scowled harder. Being easy to read had only come up recently, since his transfer to The Explorer. First Mackerel and now the doctor. “Is everybody on this vessel a walking psychiatrist?”

  Dr. Raja snorted in laughter. “No, but you’re an unprotecte
d file. Might as well proclaim it via the craft’s monitors. The way you stare at her, and whenever another male approaches you growl deep in your throat like a loyal pet.”

  Despite how lighthearted he sounded, the doctor’s observations had a harsh realism. “Is it that apparent? I thought my poker face had more merit.”

  “Yes, well, you’d better upgrade it,” the doctor chuckled. The monitor beside her bed broke into blue swirls before clearing to present menu options for IGO medical. He turned back to the screen, but continued to talk to Zander. “She’s a lovely woman. You’re not the first one to fall for her.”

  Zander expected that -- after all he had been reared on several spacecrafts -- and he had met several of Shardae’s suitors in the last few days.

  “Ah, there,” Dr. Raja said with a sharp clearing of his throat. “The toxin has been flushed from her system. Her sutures have been removed. The sergeant’s fit to go. She’ll be a little hungry when she comes around. The stasis Mackerel placed her in actually saved her from serious paralysis.”

  “It’s a good thing I didn’t kill him, then.” Zander wiped his face with his hands.

  “Ah, the look on your face, Pilot Reyes.” The doctor chuckled and adjusted his glasses. He hesitated. “It isn’t my place to say, but since your father and I are old pieces in this very new game, I’d like to give you some advice.”

  Yeah, well, here it was. He’d heard all the discouraging talk about pursuing Shardae -- mostly from the very men who wanted her for themselves. The uncomfortable feeling of discussing Shardae with a complete stranger made him pace a little faster beside her bed. “Look,” Zander said, holding up his hand to stop the doctor. “I’ve heard all the rumors. The warnings about dating her. I don’t care that she’s tough, that she’s jaded, that Ashe will have me demoted. I don’t care. The only thing I care about -- is her. She’s worth the risk.”

  “Agreed,” Dr. Raja said firmly. “I was only going to say that when she wakes, you should make sure she eats a big meal. Keep her from any strenuous physical activity. Her neck is still very tender. After seventy-two hours of intense antibiotic treatment, she might be nauseous if she doesn’t eat something to steady her stomach.”