by Linda Mooney
His lips promised sweet passion, drawing away the hurt and anger that had tried to destroy her earlier. As he held her tighter against him, Star wrapped her arms about his neck and tried to lose herself in his kisses. In his love. In the way his body curved against and protected hers. In his heat, and his heady, spicy scent.
Moments later she felt herself falling onto the firm give of a mattress. No word had passed between them, yet they had already shared a thousand thoughts. Eagerly, almost frantically, they shed their clothing, then came together with a hunger that surprised them both.
Hunter spoke her name, repeating it, caressing it with his breath, his lips taking hers as his body merged into hers. He loved her, and showed her that love with slow, gentle movements.
Curling her fingers in his hair, Star tried to give back all that he was giving her as warm tears slid down into her temples. He still wanted her. The HandFast was over, and he still wanted her. The realization burned all the way to her soul.
“My heart. My Terrin. My beautiful, brave, incredible love. I thought I’d lost you.” He stopped moving, planted deep within her, and she could feel how their bodies pulsated. “I thought I’d lost you,” he whispered again. This time she could hear how the pain had torn him apart.
Slowly, carefully, he lowered himself over her, until his full weight was almost pressing down upon her. Star sighed at the feel of him. At the glorious, wonderful heaviness covering her. Then, to her shock, she felt his shoulders heave slightly. His face was buried in the curve of her neck; his mouth and tongue soft against her throat. Hunter wept silently as he cradled her in his arms and along his body.
She held him. Her hands tenderly stroked and touched him. Reassured him. Until he finally lifted slightly off of her and raised his head to gaze down at her. The room wasn’t completely dark, but at that moment Star knew she wanted to see his face. She wanted to see herself reflected in eyes so blue, they were the color of pristine water planets. “Lights on,” she called out softly.
Oddly, the lights didn’t respond.
A deep chuckle reverberated in Hunter’s chest. “Lights on,” he commanded. Instantly the room responded. Then Star knew why, once her eyes had adjusted.
“We’re in your quarters?” she accused him softly, glancing about. The furniture looked similar, but the room definitely reflected Hunter’s past and specific tastes.
Her eyes fixed on a holographic image sitting on his communications panel a few feet away. It was an image of four people—an older man and woman, Hunter, and a younger, slightly altered version of Hunter.
He saw where her eyes were gazing, and he leaned down to brush his cheek against hers. “How are you feeling, Terrin? Forgive me for swooping in and rushing away with you like that.”
“Why did you bring me here?” She smiled, turning back to him.
Hunter moved his hips, dipping into her the smallest bit, but enough to remind her of their intimate connection. He loved the blissful expression that always came over her face when she reveled in their mutual passion. “Because I asked you this morning, remember? I said I wanted us to spend the night at my place tonight.”
Star arched her neck, her eyes tightly shut as she savored his possession of her. There was nothing he didn’t command of her, or couldn’t demand of her. “This morning?” she groaned softly. “Good heavens, Hunter, it seems like this morning was years ago.” Looking back up at him, she suddenly grinned and giggled, and playfully slapped him along one broad shoulder. “You got me pregnant in the shower!”
His reply included one melting smile. “Welllll, I did tell you I didn’t want my hard work to go down the drain.” He quickly kissed her before she could form a retort. Immediately, the kiss deepened. It wasn’t long before Star tugged at him, begging for him to make harder, faster love to her. Desire was a rapidly widening pool of inescapable need, sprinkling them with a thin sheen of perspiration.
Pinning her head against a pillow, Hunter took total possession of her mouth, driving her insane as he exerted the strength of his love over her. Star searched over his warm skin, finding the small of his back, then reaching the firm buttocks nestled between her thighs. There was no other way she could think of to let him know she wanted him to bring her to the edge of their universe but to dig her nails into the meaty portion lying beneath her palms. Hunter gasped sharply from the pain, jerking his head up in surprise.
With her mouth free to speak, Star stared at him with heavy-lidded eyes. “Did you ever think you’d be making love to a pregnant woman?” she asked in a voice like a gentle vibration.
“Not unless she was my wife.” He bent low over her to nuzzle her face. “Not unless she was you.”
“Udo.”
“Hush. I’ve been aching for you ever since your body flooded me this morning with memories in the transport. Do you know how damn hard you made it for me to concentrate?”
She started to reply, but somehow the incredible things he was doing to her just melted all thought out of her mind for the next hour.
It was much, much later after two wringing episodes of raw, lusty sex, when they found the world was no longer centered inside the small bedroom. They had no idea what time it was. They had no desire to find out. They were spent but replete, solidly held against each other amid the tangled bedclothes. Sleep was a breath away.
“Udo.”
“Shhh.” He moved just enough to ease the cramp in one arm.
“I just wanted to tell you…”
And then it came back to her. Lifting her face, she tried to get his attention, but his eyes were closed. “Wife?”
The arm draped around her waist gave her a gentle squeeze in reply.
“Udo, please talk to me.”
He kissed her forehead, keeping his lips against her skin so he could continue to caress her in that manner. “I want this baby, Terrin. I want us to raise it together. You and me.” Bending his head lower, he whispered, “Tell me what you want, my love. If you feel differently, I’ll accept your decision.”
“I don’t know what I want,” she admitted with all honesty. He would sense her truthfulness, so there would be no misunderstanding between them. “But I do know I can’t go back to the way I was. The way it used to be. I can’t ever spend another night without having you next to me.” Shifting slightly in his embrace, she told him, “All I’m sure of is that I want to remain a Guardian. And I want to spend forever with you.”
His breath tickled her skin. “I’ve read and reread the bylaws of Guardianship. There is nothing stated that forbids Guardians from being married.” He paused to smile as she stiffened against him. “There is nothing that states that Guardians cannot have children, or raise a family.” Her tenseness grew more acute, and he had to bring it to her attention. “Why the anxiety?”
“That’s twice now you’ve mentioned…” Star faltered. Smiling, Hunter tasted her brow.
“Mentioned what? Staying together?”
She couldn’t tell if he was serious, or playing with her. Damn him. This one-sided sensing irritated her, and her irritation was evident in her tone. “Don’t bandy about with words like ‘wife’ and ‘marriage’, Udo. Don’t. Don’t tease my heart. It’s taken me years to trust anyone enough to open it this much. You’ve never betrayed me, but it was easier to give you my body than it was to give you my love.”
“Then will you love me enough to do this, Terrin?” He nuzzled her temple, inhaling her sweet scent and her warmth. “For the sake of our children?”
“Children?” Unable to breathe, Star lifted her face and opened her eyes. In the room’s dimmed light she saw he was watching her. Waiting for her. “I can’t sense you. I’ve spent my whole life fighting suppositions and innuendos. I need to hear the words from you, as clearly as you hear and feel it from me.”
“Then I’ll put it as bluntly as I can. I want to be your husband. I want you to be my wife. I want to be able to make love to you every moment possible whenever we’re not out in the field on ass
ignment. I want to share what time we have in this existence with you beside me, and I want to spend every night with you in our bed. I want you and me to bring more children into this world. But more than anything, I want your love and all of your heart.” He paused, finally adding, “Can you face such a possible future with me, Terrin?”
“As Guardians?”
“Dammit, Terrin. What do I have to do to convince you?”
“Nothing.” She leaned into him, happy to feel his arms drawing her closer to his hard body. “I was already yours the second night you came back for me.”
“Why … you little hussy.” He chuckled as he kissed her, tickling her lips with his breath.
She smiled into his mouth. “Shut up. That’s no way to talk to the mother of your daughter.”
When she heard his quick intake, Star giggled at the rare opportunity to get the upper hand with him.
“Daughter?”
“Mm-hmmm.”
“Any chance she could turn out to be just like her mother?”
“Oh, good heavens, I hope not!” Star exclaimed as Hunter laughed out loud.
As they cuddled, they continued to laugh softly and talk about the future and things that might be. Soon their breathing slowed as they finally fell asleep.
Light years away, death and destruction began to take on the form of an Ombitran mothership, and the immense craft slowly started angling toward the home planet of Guardian Command.
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Subterfuge 6
“Success.”
“Success.”
Four men stood around the small table in the tiny room at the back of the empty shop.
“Damn. Four days,” three smiled. “I still find it hard to believe.”
“And you’re certain they have no suspicions?” one inquired again of two.
“None. Absolutely none,” Tark promised.
“And the Ombitra?” four asked, more for his sake than the others’.
“Ready and waiting. I personally delivered the cloud to guarantee it being there on time, and they have already tested it on an uninhabited planet, so as not to draw the Guardians to them before it’s time.”
“And you’ve sent the new edicts to Guardian Command, telling them StarLight is to remain planetside?”
Nodding, Tark insisted, “Once the Ombitra begin their descent, there will be nothing to stop them.”
“When are they scheduled to arrive?”
Offering the others his best professional smile, Tark said, “They’re already on their way, gentlemen. That’s why I called you here tonight. Make haste and be off this planet before one o’clock tomorrow afternoon, or find yourself the nearest grave. Because once they’re finished, there will be nothing left of this world except for scorched earth.”
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Chapter 25
Reassignment
The best thing Deceiver liked about starting his day at five in the morning was that he could get a lot of little things accomplished before the others were up and filing into breakfast. It was also the quietest time of the day, and probably the least hectic. It allowed him time to think. More than that, he could sit and let his powers spread out before him like a well-thought-out diagram.
When he’d taken the reins of leadership four years ago, after Redeemer had been killed during the their last tangle with the Ombitra, Deceiver never believed he was capable of directing the remaining twelve Guardians. In fact, if truth be told, he never thought they would take him into their membership when he had originally applied more than a dozen years ago.
It was hard to explain what he did. Explain or define how he could detect falsehoods. How he could follow the most intricate plot, and unweave it one twisted thread at a time. How he could tell, when they had encountered the Ombitra that they were going to form a net to trap the Guardian vessels.
He could “read” the enemy. Just like he could read anyone about to strike if he was within sight of them.
In battle he was indispensable. In times of conflict, he was the Guardians’ pivotal point.
And, although he couldn’t put a specific name or finger on what was bothering him, Deceiver knew that something major was about to happen with the Ombitra.
He sat back in his chair, fingers templed in front of his face, and let his mind open up. As it had since he’d first discovered his ability when he was a skinny kid in primary school, and the target of bullying by the bigger boys, the bluish-gray grid opened up, quickly expanding to fill the room. Almost at the same time, the bits and pieces of information he’d mentally stored began to coalesce into sections of the grid, creating a pattern. Creating a whole that he and the others could see when he was ready to call it up again for review.
That little nagging in the back of his brain had begun the instant he had heard the HandFast Committee Chairman announce StarLight and Master Hunter among that month’s participants. His power had kicked in, as it often did whether he wanted it to or not. That part of his ability he couldn’t control, but neither did he want to. Too many times in the past his “instincts”, as the others sometimes called it, had saved their butts.
The nagging had grown until their encounter with the Ombitra on Greater Biris. Suddenly there was a full-fledged alarm going off in his head. Ever since that moment Deceiver had absorbed every minute detail he could remember. And he remembered everything.
As the grid filled in, his nervousness increased. Putting his power in a temporary stasis, he checked the time. Nearly half past five. The others wouldn’t be heading for breakfast for another couple of hours. Morning meetings were always at eight a.m. prompt.
Deceiver groaned. At this rate, he’d have a nice new ulcer to add to his collection.
At his elbow, the communications board lit up with an incoming call. Eyebrows descended as he glanced again at the chronometer. There could never be any good news coming into Guardian Command at this time in the morning.
“Guardian Command,” he briskly answered.
“This is Doctor Clearlian at the hospital. Would you please advise StarLight that she broke protocol when she left the hospital without doctor’s approval?” The ticked off voice of authority on the other end put a hint of a smile on Deceiver’s face. Good old StarLight. Up to mischief as usual.
“I take it you need her to return as soon as possible?”
Was it his imagination, or did the physician make a little exasperated sound? “We promise to release her first thing this morning.”
“Are you finished with your tests?”
“For the moment, but she’ll need to start coming in at weekly intervals in order for us to monitor the baby’s development. When we sign off to let her return to Guardian Command, she’ll be given a list of dates she’ll be required to comply with.”
“I take it, then, she won’t be allowed to venture off-planet.”
“Definitely not,” the doctor snapped peevishly. “As of yesterday, StarLight was placed on the disabled list. We’ve let her know she is not to use her powers. Not even flying. She is not to risk the child in any manner.”
No flying? Deceiver couldn’t imagine Star not flying for one day, much less for nine months. And to remain cooped up at headquarters? He groaned inwardly without letting the man on the other end of the transmission know how he was beginning to dread the coming months.
“Very well, Doctor Clearlian. I’ll have StarLight return to the hospital within the hour, but we need her back with us before eight. Will that pose a problem?”
“Not at all. Thank you for your cooperation … Deceiver, isn’t it?”
“This is Deceiver.”
The man thanked him again and killed the connection. Deceiver drummed his fingers on the panel and stared at the row of switches.
So StarLight went AWOL last night. Why wasn’t he surprised? What he wanted to know was if Hunter had had a hand in her escape.
Who am I trying to kid? Reaching out, he punched a button to buz
z Star’s quarters. A full minute passed without her answering, and Deceiver frowned. Where would she have spent the night? As if you don’t already know.
“Computer. What is StarLight’s location?”
“StarLight is in Master Hunter’s quarters,” came the metallic response.
For the life of him, Deceiver couldn’t wipe the smile off of his face. The HandFast was ended. For all intents and purposes, Hunter and Star were no longer bound to each other, and they were free to go their separate ways.
The HandFast may be over, but there was no denying Hunter and Star were bound to each other in a way now that would not end that easily. Dammit, but Deceiver envied them and hoped it would continue.
As he was reaching to buzz Hunter’s quarters, he paused a moment to consider. Was there anything in the bylaws preventing them from making it a permanent issue? Quickly he scanned the rules embedded in his mind but found nothing that could keep the two from taking their relationship to the next level. Odd, but he took comfort in the fact, and hit the switch.
Five seconds went by. Then ten.
“Yes?” It was Hunter’s voice, sounding bored. Or half-asleep.
“Hunter, this is Deceiver. Sorry to wake you, but the hospital just called. They’re miffed at Star’s disappearance. I gave my word she’d be back within the hour, and they promised she would be released in time to return before our morning meeting.”
Deceiver waited for the man to make some comment about her being with him in his room, but Hunter simply replied, “Very well, but I’m staying with her until they dismiss her.”
“See you at breakfast, then. Deceiver out.”
Flipping the toggle, a grin came over the Guardian leader’s face. And, heavens help him, he couldn’t get rid of it.
The tunnel grew wider, but the hospital room remained gray and fuzzy. They could see it was crowded with several physicians, waiting for her arrival. And the staff didn’t have pleasant expressions on their faces.