by 1
He rubbed his face and then smiled. “We have three candidates out of the dozen we interviewed. You will be able to choose from the three and I would suggest you do it sooner rather than later.”
She stared at him. “What do you mean sooner?”
“They are waiting behind me.” He stepped aside and three men wearing different robe colours walked into the room behind him.
That they were all men struck her immediately, but she supposed that it made sense to create a strong link with a member of the opposite sex.
The male in white was one of her students, Wiccho. He was a Wyoran, smart, funny and had a hard time not touching her.
The male in red was one of the admin team. Xoon was a Vimpyr with altered biochemistry to defend him from the ultraviolet rays that his kind was prone to.
The third was… “Orenn.” The word left her lips in a sigh and the two others gave each other rueful looks before bowing and leaving the med centre.
Orenn moved to her bed and sat at her side. “I am willing to anchor you, but you have to know that I am often called in for consults on cases and events attended by the Sector Guard. If we are connected, you will have to go, too, and I don’t know how you will take to flying.”
Zeyan nodded and stared into his eyes. “I am thinking that my initial problem was separation from my world. I am hoping to be fine during travel from here on out. Are you doing this because you want to?”
His position had separated them the moment that her week of introduction was over. He had left on three assignments that she was aware of, accompanied by the Guardsmen.
“I have wanted to get close to you since you arrived here. I can think of no better means than by extending your life to achieve that goal.” He reached out and caressed her cheek.
Her heart started pounding the moment that physical contact began. He was the only one who sent her into this state and she wasn’t sure if she was going to enjoy the process of taking him on as her anchor. It might be more than she could handle.
Chapter Five
“How does this work?” She kept staring into the eyes of her soon-to-be anchor.
Orenn smiled. “I am not sure. From what I have been told, Wyoran’s do it with instinct. Can you reach for my mind with yours?”
Zeyan bit her lip. “I haven’t ever done that before. Will you promise not to laugh if I do it wrong?”
He took her hands in his own and solemnly promised. “I won’t laugh.”
Zeyan looked to the healers and they were aiming the recorders at her, trying to capture data on a never-before-seen event. She twisted her lips and looked at Orenn, seeing his aura and the distinct pattern that was him alone.
As she watched his pattern, she extended her soul around his, encapsulating him in the power that spun out of her without ceasing. It was fascinating to feel her soul stick to his as it melded to him. There was a space between them that was a mix of their personal energies, but he remained an individual as did she.
With a sigh, she retracted her energy and a thin tendril of the blend remained between them. The missing connection that had drained her filled in less than three minutes with her Admaryn descendant linked to her mind and body.
Tinneer whistled softly. “That is amazing.”
Orenn seemed dazed. “What is?”
“She is actually wrapped around your power with a thin shell. You might not be able to see or feel it, but the monitors are recording a blend of talent.” Tinneer shook his head. “Zeyan, is this what you did on your world?”
She smiled. “I suppose I did. I surrounded it over a lifetime. I knew the location of every soul on Heschell and I can tell you, I am glad it was sparsely populated.”
Tinneer cocked his head. “How many?”
“Twelve thousand, nine hundred and thirty-one as of the moment I left.”
Orenn was giving her a strange look. “You could feel all of them?”
“Yes. I knew when they lived and when they died. It was tiring and I needed to be able to show someone.”
Tinneer nodded as if that made perfect sense. “You will have to remain close together for a few days until you are fully recovered, Zeyan.”
“I feel fine.”
Orenn gripped her hands tightly, “You will do as the doctor says.”
“You can’t order me around.” She scowled and tried to extricate her hands.
“I can. I am your anchor and you will depend on me from here on. That means that I am taking an active interest in your safety and condition.”
She opened and closed her mouth several times while she wrestled with that logic. “Fine. I am exhausted, so where do I sleep?”
A gleam came into his eyes. “My rooms will be the best option. I have an early-morning class and having you with me would be easier than trying to work my way out of the student quarters.”
Orenn taught two classes at the Citadel when he was in residence. A course on psychic focus as a weapon and a martial arts class.
“So, I will have to attend your classes?”
“And I will attend yours.” He inclined his head in a gesture of fairness.
“Fine, let’s get me out of bed and…well, into bed.” She yawned and smiled.
Orenn looked to the doctor and when Tinneer said, “We have all we need for tonight. If you could return tomorrow, Zeyan, I would like to track your progress.”
She grumbled, “Fine.”
“I will make sure she returns here, Tinneer.” Orenn helped her to her feet. “Now, let’s get you into bed.”
She stood and smiled at the steadiness of her balance. Taking her robes off the hook, she folded them over one arm and linked the other with Orenn. He smiled down at her as if he had won some sort of prize.
The halls were sparsely populated, only the nocturnal staff and students were in the common areas.
“Why did you agree?” Orenn’s voice was loud in the empty hall.
She tried to catch the thread of the question. “To save my life?”
“No, to me as your anchor. Wiccho is Wyoran and knows how this works. Xoon is primarily nocturnal and would leave you alone much of the time and neither of them leave the Citadel. Why me?”
They were outside his quarters and she waited until they were inside his rooms before she told him the truth. “The moment that I saw you, I didn’t see them. Does that make sense?”
He stood in front of her and caressed her cheek. “It makes perfect sense. When you are in a room, all I see is you and when I am away, all I think of is you.”
She blinked and went up on tiptoe to plant a kiss on his lips. “I feel the same, now where am I going to sleep?”
He waved his hand at the bed. “I can take the couch if you prefer.”
She smiled. cupped his cheeks in her palms and nodded. “Please, take the couch. I need a full night’s sleep now that I am not in danger of being dead in the morning.”
He leaned in to kiss her, but she dodged his mouth.
“None of that. It is way too soon to consider that kind of thing. I owe you my life, not my body.”
Orenn blinked and she felt him touch her mind for the first time. She wasn’t sure what he saw, but whatever it was made him nod and turn away from her to the couch.
She turned and draped her robes over the foot of the bed and then followed it with her tunic, breast band and trousers.
Orenn was watching her with an undecipherable expression. She suddenly had the thought that there might be a clothing taboo. “Is nudity a problem?”
He swallowed and drew a deep breath. “No. Not a problem at all.”
She turned back the covers and slid between the sheets. She still didn’t feel quite right, but her exhaustion had fallen away. The fatigue that she felt was bone deep but natural.
A frisson of guilt ran through her. “Orenn, come to the bed. No contact, but you won’t even fit on the couch properly, let alone get a good night’s sleep.”
He didn’t acknowledge her with words. She heard
the rustle of his clothing and then the dip as he slid into the bed. If it hadn’t been so large, she would have felt a little vulnerable, but there was plenty of room and no reason for them to come into contact.
As theories went, she thought it was pretty sound.
Waking with her arm wrapped around him protectively sent a small jolt through Zeyan.
“Thank goodness you are awake. If we don’t get breakfast quickly, we won’t make it to my morning class.” Orenn’s sleep-roughened voice woke her completely.
Zeyan removed her arm from his torso and she rolled away, gathering the sheets against her as she took in the heat points on her skin from where she had pressed against him. “I am sorry.”
He stretched and she watched the play of muscles under his skin. The rise in the sheets covering him from the hips down made her swallow out of reflex.
He saw the direction of her gaze and gave her a lazy grin. “Don’t worry. That happens to most males in the morning. I am not saying that having all your soft skin pressed against me didn’t cause a reaction, but we would have to run a more thorough experiment to be sure.”
“Do you want the shower first, or shall I take it?”
“Ladies first.”
He gestured for her to take the first turn and she didn’t hesitate. She bolted from the bed and quickly ran through her morning rituals in the very masculine bathroom.
Wrapped in a dark blue towel, she emerged and returned the gesture. “All yours.”
He grinned and passed her, giving her a light swat to the buttocks. “A roommate who is considerate of my schedule. I could get to like this.”
Roommate. That was accurate. They were sharing space and she was using him as a fulcrum for her very life. It was not a fair trade, but she would try to make sure that he did not regret his generosity.
Chapter Six
“Strike.”
Zeyan punched air and Orenn came up and corrected her stance and the angle of her fist.
“Strike.”
She switched to the left hand forward and mimicked the correct stance he had just shown her. He nodded and walked to the next student in line.
“Strike.”
She sent her fist forward and felt the power rippling through her body. A strong body contributed to a stronger talent. In the two weeks that they had been connected, he had worked out with her every day, fighting to make her body strong and completely under her control.
Zeyan hadn’t realised that her body’s issues had caused a reduction in her muscle tone and overall health, but Orenn had. He helped her build a meal plan and she was allowed into his advanced combat class when it should have taken her years to qualify.
Each night, he gave her a rubdown and they spent an hour in silent meditation, strengthening their bond. Every morning, Zeyan woke with her body on, around or pressed against Orenn and they simply acted as if her clinging behaviour was normal.
It was an odd sort of camaraderie, but their new schedule was coming fairly easily.
“Strike.”
She just wished that he would try and kiss her again. She could feel his desire at every moment of every day. Zeyan was also fairly certain that he could feel hers.
In the meantime, she would work herself into an exhausted stupor every day.
“Strike!”
Tomorrow, they would move to sparring and she would get to use a few of the techniques that she was learning on a real person. A smile crept across her face as she imagined flipping Orenn to his back and straddling him until the heat between them flared. Well, it was worth fantasizing about.
“I have requisitioned some alternate clothing for you. Robes do not work on assignment with the Sector Guard.”
“Really? I thought I would forever swish when I walked.” Zeyan quirked a grin.
He chuckled and wrapped an arm around her waist. “I wouldn’t mind. I would be able to keep tabs on you at all times.”
She smirked as they walked to the clothier. “I thought you already did that.” She bumped his hip with her own, astonished at her boldness.
“The sound makes it easier.”
She laughed and nodded to a few of her students who were in one of the common areas. “What kind of clothing was requested?”
“A sturdy vest with built-in body armour and some leggings that have the same properties.”
“Footwear?”
“A nice knee-high boot to match your leggings.”
“What do you wear?”
“Whatever the occasion demands.”
They entered their quarters and she smiled at the stack of parcels on her bed. It was refreshing to be near a man who appreciated that she hated surprises. Physically, she kept her cool as she ran her hands over the crackling tissue that covered the fabric, but emotionally, she was a child getting a present again.
The vest was a shimmering burgundy fabric with a heavy leathery feel. The trousers were grey and scaled but felt soft to the touch. The boots matched the trousers in a solid grey. It was a uniform of sorts, because there were matching pieces in different colours as she worked through the pile.
A small carry-on was included with the clothing. It was large enough to hold three changes of clothes and two pairs of boots. She packed everything into the go-bag with the certainty that she would need it soon.
“Thanks, Orenn. I would never have thought to order clothing. Where did it come from?”
Orenn was sitting in their small living area, his feet up on the ottoman and his body facing the entertainment screen. “Morganti, where all good body armour is born.”
She folded the paper away and tucked it at the bottom of her wardrobe. Orenn’s birthday was in a few weeks and while she knew it was useless to hide something from a telepath, she was still going to try. He did enjoy surprises. For him, they were few and far between.
The go-bag took its place in the wardrobe and she spent a moment observing her violet robes hanging next to his blue ones. They had been given new quarters in the couples section of the Citadel. The walls were thicker and the rooms more spacious.
She took a seat next to him and worked on her next day’s lessons.
“Your students enjoy your lectures on the safety of their souls.”
Zeyan snorted. “You make it sound like a religious exercise.”
“You know what I mean.”
She chuckled. “Yes, I know what you mean. Far too many of my students have worn holes in their auras due to hyperextending their mental reach. They are suffering degradation of their working mental structure.”
“And you tell them this?” He laid his arm behind her neck.
“Of course. I know that Quedar and the other healers lecture them on this sort of thing, but I can see it and tackle it on a case-by-case basis.” In what was becoming a habit, she snuggled up against him and relaxed. His arm curled tightly around her.
They spent the evening together, she working on her lesson plan and he was slowly stroking her hair. When they rose to go to bed, the chirp of the com drew their attention. Orenn sighed and walked over to the desk that they shared, his shirt open and trousers low on his hips.
Zeyan had removed her shirt and was working on her trousers when Orenn called her over.
There was another Admaryn crossbreed on the screen and his eyes widened in appreciation as she looked over Orenn’s shoulder. “Yes?”
“Are you Zeyan, recently of Heschell?”
She looped her arms around Orenn’s shoulders for balance. “I am. Why are you asking and who are you, Guardsman?”
The uniform of the Sector Guard was unmistakable. The grin that the man gave her was so similar to Orenn’s, it sent a chill down her spine.
“My call sign is Rupture, but I give Orenn authorization to share my other name. Phase and I are on watch during a medical crisis. Apparently, there is a plague world that needs your help, Zeyan.”
She blinked. “What can I do to help with a plague?”
“I will leave that for our healer
to explain to you. We are expecting you in a few hours. Your shuttle should be landing right now.”
Zeyan blinked. “We don’t get a choice in this?”
Orenn shook his head. “When you agreed to take me as your anchor, you agreed to go with me on assignments. I did not conceive of the reversal, but here we are.”
“We will see you as soon as your pilot can get you here. Rupture out.” He winked as he flicked off the connection.
Zeyan pressed a kiss to Orenn’s cheek. “A relative.”
“My cousin, Fenn. He and Kahlia are partners. Though Rupture and Phase is how we will address them while they are on duty.”
She chuckled and released him. “Well, I suppose they were just waiting until I had my travelling clothes.”
He rubbed his neck while she slipped out of her trousers and into the new scaled-fitted set.
“Whoever created these got the fit perfect.” The vest slipped on and gave her a warm and snug support as she laced it from her navel to mid-chest.
She stomped into the boots, stuffed a set of robes in her small bag and met Orenn at the door. “Ready when you are.”
He pressed a quick kiss to her forehead and she couldn’t help but admire the fit of his own clothing. It followed the same burgundy and grey pattern as her own but covering slabs of muscle gave his clothing quite a different effect.
“Whatever they ask you to do, I will be there with you, so draw on me when you need to.”
She shrugged and watched him lock their quarters. They walked through the halls and while several of the nocturnals saw them, no one commented on their choice of attire.
The sleek silver shuttle was waiting for them. A huge, burly Kozue was leaning up against the exterior. “Zeyan and Orenn?”
They nodded.
“I am Hardcore, inside is Green. We will be your pilots for today. Come along, plagues take hold with suddenness and spread like fire. Guardian and Pax are waiting for us.”
Zeyan took hold of Orenn’s hand. “Well, if people are waiting, why are we standing here?”