by Smith, S. E.
She brushed her fingers along his palm, surprised that the same electrical kick was just as strong through her survival suit. "I don't know. JJ has taken to sleeping in my bed."
His eyebrow curved up in surprise, the smile lines around his mouth deepening. "I'll miss having him snoring on my chest."
It was her turn to smile, and she laced her fingers into his. "I don't see that the two are mutually exclusive." She tugged his hand slightly, and he took the final step to eliminate the space between them. His other arm wrapped around her waist to hold her close. "Just to see if we can work together, of course."
His laugh was quiet, shaking his chest against her cheek. "I guess that's a yes then."
"You bet your ass."
11
Rafe stood at the end of the run, watching the wolves race back and forth with ice cubes in their mouths, and happy grins when they’d dropped those. It was hard not to share in their obvious joy. He hadn’t expected the simple enrichment exercise to be so effective for them, but sure enough they couldn’t get enough of the small, frozen treats. They seemed to like the ice even more than the grass and sunlight of their new surroundings.
He tapped the surface of his omni and turned off the polarized light running above the pen. Instantly the wolves switched from black to the blurry camouflage of their natural state.
It made it more difficult to see the three members of the double-J litter, but he didn’t mind. For now they fit in as part of the pack. In another month or so they’d form wolfbonds with one of the ranger cadets, and they’d head off to live aboard a starship with their rangers. They could afford a little time to be wolves.
JJ leaned against his leg, weight almost enough to push Rafe off balance. With the cast off, the wolf was once again an irregular-shaped blur in the absence of polarized light, but Rafe knew the pup’s shape and reached down unerringly to ruffle the wolf’s ears.
"Though you’re hardly a pup now, are you?" Eight months had passed since he’d returned to Secundus, and the young wolf was absolutely in the midst of an awkward adolescence. Adorable juvenile proportions had converted into a gangly mess consisting mostly of legs, ears, and tail, while fluffy soft fur had begun to be replaced with the thick warm coat of adulthood.
Eight months that had flashed by in a heartbeat, and somehow, Nafisi continued to say yes each and every day. It was a miracle he’d never stop being thankful for.
Rafe rubbed his way down to the wolf's shoulders, and then dug his fingers in to fire off a bout of play-wrestling that had JJ bounding backwards with a bark, front body low in a play bow. The response was so similar to how Actaeon had played that pain twinged in his chest, bright and sudden, at the sight of it.
The door to the clinical suite opened and Nafisi came out, one hand raised to shield her eyes from the glare of the sun. "I don't know that I'll ever get used to that."
Like every other time he saw her, his breath caught in his throat. Happiness pushed out the pain of loss, until there was no room left for anything else. Rafe glanced toward the red star on the horizon, past the large, blue-and-brown-banded ball of Calypso. "I used to say the same thing about non-recycled air."
“And yet here you are,” she murmured, closing the distance. “Out in the fresh air.”
“And the sun.”
“Ugh.” She grimaced then threaded her fingers into his and turned to watch the wolves in the pen. "The new mama is fine, by the way. Not that you were asking."
"I knew you would tell me in your own time." He turned with her, slipping his arms around her shoulders as she wrapped hers around his waist. "The rest of the pack seems happy. They like the ice cubes." It had been a genius idea, really. Bits of fresh meat frozen in ice, so the wolves had to figure out how to crack the ice open to get the treat. He chuckled and rested his chin atop her head to watch them. “They like what’s inside, at least. They put up with the rest to get to that.”
“Speaking of, are you planning to take them to the big yard later?" Her thumbs hooked under his belt and pulled him close.
"That had been my original plan," Rafe said. "I figure it's important for them to get some exercise. Run them down a little before the slick-sleeves show up." Having the base close to ranger school meant that the recruits saw the wolves more frequently than they used to, but it also meant more people putting time constraints on the ranch. He leaned down to press a kiss to her forehead, taking a moment to relish the smell of her shampoo. "Unless you've got a better idea?"
Her fingers skated into the hair at his temples, tightening up just enough to guide his mouth down to hers for a slow, promise-laden kiss. Languid want curled through his blood, and she let out a startled squeak as he swung her up from the ground.
When the kiss ended, he smiled at the half-lidded gaze she gave him, hoping the ridiculous happiness he felt was just as visible to her. "Yes, I'd say that's a much better idea." He carried her back up to the ranch house and let them both inside, while JJ trotted along beside them.
As soon as they were through the door, she squirmed free of his arms and walked back toward their bedroom with an exaggerated sway in her hips. “Well, soldier? Coming?” Either her walk had the desired effect, or his pants had shrunk two sizes while he stood there.
Rafe turned to say something to JJ, but the wolf had already gone to lie down next to the electric heater with a smoked bone in his jaws. As the runt, he might never have found a proper bond, wouldn’t even have survived in the wild, but someone with too much heart had given the wolf a second chance.
And him too. Rafe peeled his shirt over his head and tossed it on the couch. “No room for you in the bed, I’m afraid.” He grinned at JJ, but the wolf just snorted and went back to chewing.
He’d spent so long living in his past that it was almost miraculous for him to stop and look out the window. For the first time, he could see more than the ranch. He could see a future.
Also by JC Hay
If you enjoyed Rafe and Nafisi’s story you should see what the rest of the JTF Rangers, and their loyal Umbra Wolves, risking their hides and hearts in the TriSystems: Rangers books -
Inouye
Grenville
If gritty, cyberpunk romance on the edge of the Arabian Sea is more your thing, check out The Corporate Services books:
Dubai Double-Cross
Mumbai Manhunt
South Seas Salvation
About JC Hay
SFR Galaxy Award Winner JC Hay writes romantic science fiction, space opera, and cyberpunk where the relationships matter just as much as the tech. After all, the coolest gadgets in the world are useless without someone to share them.
In addition to Romance Writers of America, he is also a proud member of the SFR Brigade (for Science Fiction Romance), GSRWA, and RWA’s Published Author Network.
Website
After The Fall
A'ryk Chiste of Korth marooned himself on an uninhabited world for a reason. He doesn’t want to be reminded of a galaxy where his people lost the war, taken over by the merciless Invaders who changed his life forever. A galaxy where he failed at the one thing he was born for, to protect worlds. He wants no part of the shaky forced ‘peace.’ So when an Invader crashes onto his planet, the simple solution is to let her die. But his furry companions have other ideas.
Lyra Merrick is a surveyor for the Earth Council of Habitable Worlds. She searches for and reports planets that can be terraformed for human survival, comfort and stability. It is business as usual when she finds another planet in a little-known section of the galaxy. A routine mission turns into a fight for survival when her ship has a malfunction and she crashes to the icy, unrelenting world. When she comes to, she hears a voice in her head. Confused, she wonders if the lonely existence of a surveyor finally made her crazy. Not only is she hearing things, her eyes are deceiving her too, because she's in the domicile of the sexiest man she's ever seen.
1
Crack! Sound pierced the atmosphere so forcefully, the ground
shook. K’mi’s head shot up, pointy ears turning in the direction of the sound. Or was that the direction of the sound? Her ears turned again, long antennae twirling in circles.
H’tch pried up a piece of ice from the hole they were digging, licking the claw of one of his long fingers. “It’s just another meteor.”
“Maybe,” K’mi returned to her work. Having a good nose for hibernating rodents, her sire promised dinner. She didn’t mind helping him dig. They’d flush them out soon. Using her long fingers, she grabbed and tossed aside a rock.
Something about that meteor, though. She turned her head toward the crystal blue sky and froze. Something was falling, but it was no meteor.
It had every appearance of being a meteor, engulfed in red fire, bright enough to see even in the daylight, but a trail of luminous smoke followed. There was something about that, but nothing compared to the fire burning within her; intense, accompanied by a whirlwind of emotions that were not hers. Breathing heavy, foreign emotions intermingled with her own trepidation.
She glanced at H’tch, who had stopped digging and was now looking at her. “Are you okay? You’re shaking.”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t know what it is. We need to follow that meteor.” Then she had it, “A ship!”
Having a limited emotional bond with her sire, nothing like the link H’tch had with his Korthan alpha, she could tell he was irritated.
“Not a ship. We haven’t seen another living being in years. What we need to do is find food. There isn’t enough daylight left to go on wild chases,” he said.
“This isn’t a wild chase,” K’mi said. “Please sire, didn’t you see? Didn’t look completely like a meteor. What if it is a ship?”
“Looked like a meteor to me,” H’tch said, voice muffled as he stuck his nose in the hole and sniffed.
“I felt something.”
H’tch paused, lifting his head, “Felt something?”
“Yes,” K’mi said. “I think I felt the ship, or meteor, or whatever it is.”
H’tch quickly tossed several rocks back in the hole, pushing in as much of the dirt and snow as he could, keeping their dinner preserved. Left exposed, the creatures down below would freeze to death, the meat spoiled. Through their bond, she could feel his excitement. “Let’s go on this wild chase of yours, then.”
K’mi loved this time of the planet’s rotation. Always frozen, everything was covered in a twinkling layer of ice. Even the snow twinkled in the light of the faraway sun. As they ran towards lingering smoke, she felt giddy with the beauty of the landscape, fueled by a deep-seeded joy with having felt the emotions of another.
Could this be her master companion, like the bond H’tch had with his Korthan? A long time since any of them had seen another Korthan, if this was what she thought it was, this was a day of celebration.
“There is a ship,” her sire’s voice cut through her thoughts, his excitement unmistakable. They approached a smoking mass. “Or what’s left of it.”
Barely recognizable as a ship, fire engulfed twisted metal. Still, K’mi was on the verge of saying how she was right when she felt H’tch’s mood shift completely to fear. All thoughts of celebration came to an abrupt halt.
“We need to leave. Now,” he said.
She didn’t understand. They could see it was a ship, and now they were supposed to just leave? “Someone is in there. We have to help.”
“No, we have to go. Leave it, K’mi,” his voice was stern.
A groaning noise came from within the flames. There was the popping of fuel lines bursting and electronics melting, but this sound was different. Then K’mi felt a burst of sharp, burning agony. Gasping, she fell to her haunches.
H’tch was at her side in an instant, “What is it?”
“It burns,” she said, voice tight. In a moment of clarity, she jumped up and ran towards the burning mass of metal and wiring.
“What are you doing?” H’tch’s voice sounded behind her as she ran, his concern evident in their bond. It was nothing like the intensity she felt coming from the ship. The urge to act now was all consuming. She had to get whoever was in the ship out, that’s all that mattered.
Jumping onto a section of gnarled metal, K’mi howled at the searing pain through her paws. No matter. Getting the pilot out mattered. Long fingers extending from her paws, she began pulling aside metal and burned wiring until touching living flesh.
First she saw an elbow, then a shoulder, then a face. There was something about this being she didn’t have time to think more about. Grabbing cloth with her teeth, she pulled until the pilot was free of the wreckage. H’tch was beside her now, pulling also.
They dragged the body to an outcropping a safe distance from the burning ship. That’s when K’mi noticed what it was about this being; a human female. The fact it was female was an afterthought in light of the fact she was human.
“It’s an Invader,” she heard H’tch say as K’mi buried her paws and extended fingers in the snow to ease the pain of the burns.
Staring at the burning wreck, she whispered, “An Invader ship.”
The female human groaned and K’mi ran around her, sniffing her burns before kicking snow over them. H’tch simply stared, a look of confoundment.
“Help me,” K’mi said, voice urgent.
H’tch wrinkled his nose, “Have you gone mad? She is free of the immediate threat. The rest is up to her. Leave her.”
“She will not survive,” K’mi grew desperate. “Please, sire. I can hear her.”
She now had H’tch’s full attention. “Hear her, how?”
“In my head. She’s alone and in pain. She needs our help. I think she’s my alpha.” Not knowing what else to do, K’mi sat beside the woman.
There was a spike in H’tch’s emotions, great conflict warring within him. “That is impossible. This is a human, not a Korthan.”
“Please, sire,” K’mi was nearly in tears. The need to save this human was all that mattered, all consuming. She opened her bond with H’tch as far as would allow, pouring everything she had into it.
H’tch nodded slowly, “I will get A’ryk.”
* * *
A’ryk loved being on the ice, especially days like today. The frozen lake sang, sharp, almost sonic sounds, followed by several zings that sounded like skating blaster fire. The sounds transmitted and amplified across the entire surface of the lake, a loud pong signaling cracking on the other end. A beautiful melody. H’tch wasn’t particularly fond of it, but it spoke to A’ryk’s soul.
A’ryk went inside his small make-shift shelter he used just for fishing. It was crude, but effective in keeping him out of the wind that occasionally whipped over the ice.
A couple of holes were drilled through the ice floor of his shanty, lines cast with their lures, but nothing yet. Five holes were drilled outside the shelter, equipped with flags that would signal a fish on the line. So far, nothing there either.
At this rate, they weren’t going to have much to store for true winter. The ice zinged again, followed by a sound as if someone was hitting a great drum. He smiled. At least it was entertaining.
Having been low on their food stores in true winters past, he was confident they’d survive. It only meant they’d have to come out here in bitter wind and drill deeper holes with thicker ice. It was harder, but he wasn’t one to back down from a challenge. H’tch and K’mi would probably complain, but they’d get over it.
The thought of H’tch and K’mi made him smile. They went digging for ground squirrels going into hibernation. Maybe they were having better luck.
One of the flags snapped up and A’ryk nearly slipped on the ice as he ran out the makeshift door. The fish fought, but was no match for the force pulling upwards.
A’ryk whistled in victory as he grabbed the fish from the water through the hole in the ice. Not a prize, but a good foot long. Minding the teeth, he took the hook from its mouth.
“One in the bucket,” he said, tr
iumphant. He needed a ton more, but it was a start.
A’ryk felt the tingling presence of his mogha seconds before the animal ran out on the ice. That was strange. H’tch didn’t like the ice. It usually took some coaxing to get him out there.
Korthans could only read the minds of their moghas if the mogha wanted them to. For whatever reason, H’tch was locked up tight. A’ryk could feel his panic, though.
Realizing K’mi wasn’t with H’tch, his stomach dropped. Oh no. Something happened to K’mi.
K’mi is fine, H’tch said as he skidded to a halt, paws spread wide on shaky legs.
A’ryk sighed. It was irritating that his mogha could read his mind all the time, but that was a relief to hear.
H’tch started pulling flags and hooks out of the holes.
“Hey!” A’ryk protested.
Come with me right now, H’tch said. She might not be fine for long.
“Has she gone on some wild chase again?” A’ryk said.
H’tch paused, Something like that.
“Let’s at least dress the fish first,” A’ryk held up his fish, which wiggled and twisted so strongly, he dropped it.
No time, H’tch was so desperate that he scooped up the catch and dropped it head first through the hole. Splashing back in the water, its tail slapped the edges of the opening.
“Dammit, H’tch,” A’ryk swooped towards the hole, trying to grab the fish’s tail, but it was already gone, shadow under the ice darting swiftly away.
A’ryk relented, kicking snow and slush back into the holes so they would refreeze faster. “This better be an emergency.”