by Erin M. Leaf
Guilt struck him. It was his fault the pairing had been so painful, not hers. She’d opened up to him so beautifully, and then right at the peak, he’d shut down part of his memories, keeping them from her. “I’m so very sorry, Amy.”
She sighed. “Just so it doesn’t happen again.”
“It won’t. Not now that the pairing is complete.” He felt sure of that. The prickle of worry at the back of his skull was nothing more than paranoia. The slight headache he still had was probably from stress.
She patted his arm. “Let me go. I want to wash up.”
Just as she spoke, a deep tone sounded through the apartment.
“What the hell was that?” She whirled around, eyes wide.
Bruno frowned. “It’s the pillar’s emergency alert.” He headed out of the bathroom. He grabbed his pants from the floor and yanked them on. The tone sounded again.
“Wait! Don’t answer it until I put some clothes on,” Amy yelped from just behind him, grabbing her pants and top.
“Hurry,” he said, as a deep foreboding lodged itself in his gut. He waited until she’d put on her clothes, and then he took a moment to kiss her. “Be strong for me.” He didn’t deserve her strength, but he couldn’t help but ask for it.
She nodded, eyes bright. “Always.”
He pivoted and placed his palm on the pillar. The white face of it swirled, and then materialized into a transparent window showing his brother Solomon, and the typical impenetrable glow of fog beyond the windows of his brother’s Stronghold. The top of Mt. Washington had impressively awful weather most of the year.
“Bruno, whatever the hell you did, you need to stop it and fix it,” Solomon growled, attention only half on the viewer. He was clearly focused on multiple windows, and his fingers flew over the controls he’d pulled up from his pillar. “The power surges almost undid the entire Stronghold net.”
“What? That shouldn’t have happened,” Bruno said, pulling up his own diagnostic window. He scanned the information. “This isn’t good.”
“No, it isn’t. Fix it, Bruno,” Solomon said, still tapping away.
“It can’t be undone.” Bruno pulled Amy closer, and then he ran another diagnostic. The energy lines had settled, but were still unbalanced “Maybe the algorithm you implemented a few months ago will be able to compensate.”
“Compensation won’t be good enough when a billion Spiders descend through the atmosphere,” Solomon snarled. He glanced up, face tight with frustration, and then went still as he realized Bruno wasn’t alone. “What exactly happened?”
“This is Amy Day,” Bruno said, emphasizing her new last name.
Solomon’s nostrils flared. “You’ve paired?” His eyes flicked to Amy and then back to his brother.
Bruno nodded, somewhat concerned by Solomon’s lack of manners. His brother should’ve greeted Amy properly. Solomon almost never forgot courtesy. Even in the midst of disaster, Solomon kept his wits together. “I have.”
His brother cursed. “Then something went wrong.” He shifted his focus back to his screens.
“What are you talking about?” Bruno demanded, letting his growing worry fuel outward anger. “We needed extra energy to establish and power the shield net. The anchors are nearly ready to deploy. I did what was necessary in order to handle the growing threat.” He winced inside as he felt Amy’s hurt over his words, quickly smothered.
“Yes, yes, but something isn’t right. The power surges are unpredictable. I’ve just spent the last hour rethreading code on the fly.” Solomon shook his head. “I thought we were done tinkering with the Stronghold kernel.” He paused when his paired mate, Lucy, stepped up to the viewer.
“We smoothed out the surging power flows, Bruno. The net is stable, for now,” she said, putting a hand on her husband’s arm. “Solomon is exaggerating.”
Bruno had already concluded as much from his last diagnostic. He was more worried about Solomon’s strange reaction to his pairing. And, too, my power is so much stronger than the others’. Could it have caused this? he wondered.
“No, I’m not exaggerating,” Solomon retorted, scowling. “It shouldn’t have surged like that in the first place.”
“We have no way to predict what happens when another energy source is suddenly thrust into the net,” Lucy said. She tilted her head as her gaze suddenly landed on Amy. “Solomon knows that.”
“It still shouldn’t have fluctuated like that,” Solomon muttered.
Bruno appreciated his sister-in-law’s calming influence. “Is this an emergency?” he asked.
“Maybe.” Solomon let out a harsh breath as he scrubbed his hands through his hair. “I don’t know.”
“It’s only an emergency because of the swarm,” Lucy said.
Bruno nodded, absently rubbing a thumb over Amy’s wrist. He needed to assess the damage, and gather his brothers so that they could determine whether or not the additional power would allow them to deploy the shield net.
“May I be introduced?” Lucy asked, startling him out of his task assessment.
“You already know who she is.” Solomon scowled.
Lucy shushed him. “Solomon, you’re acting as grumpy as Greyson.” Solomon sighed, but fell silent as she raised an inquiring eyebrow at Bruno.
Bruno controlled a smile. Lucy was the best thing that ever happened to his brother. “Of course, sister. Lucy, this is Amy, my paired mate. Amy, this is Lucy, my brother’s keeper and civilizing influence.”
Amy smiled. “Hello, Lucy.”
Bruno sensed Amy’s amusement, but also her puzzlement. She knew enough to know that their pairing hadn’t gone smoothly. She also wasn’t stupid. It was only a matter of time before she figured out that the power fluctuations in the Stronghold net weren’t just abnormal, they were unprecedented. He sighed, wondering if the issue would prove to be a bigger problem than he’d anticipated. He wished his visions had shown him the future beyond the moment he’d met her, but his glimpses of timelines were notoriously unreliable. He knew he’d meet Amy, but he’d had no idea that their pairing might destabilize their tech.
Good intentions don’t always result in the anticipated outcome, he thought, frustrated. He really ought to know better by now.
Lucy touched the corner of her eye. “Welcome to the family, Amy.”
“Thanks,” Amy said, hesitantly touching her eye. “Is he always this cranky?” She gestured to Solomon.
Lucy laughed. “No. He’s usually the calm one.” She glanced at Bruno. “Well, next to Bruno, that is. Bruno has nerves of steel. I wish we could all be so steady.”
Bruno resisted the urge to comment on that. He simply had excellent control of his emotions. He needed to be controlled. He lived in a city, surrounded by human minds, and dealt with the delicate sensibilities of world leaders. Rash words and thoughts could lead to disaster. Also, he’d been leading his younger brothers for two centuries. Being calm and in control was no longer a habit, it was an integral part of his personality.
“You know Saige, right?” Lucy asked, startling Bruno out of his thoughts.
Amy nodded, smiling. “Yes. She and I were best friends in college.” She made a face. “And then she met Isaac and popped off with him to the other end of the universe. I’d really hoped she was having a good honeymoon, but I guess there’s no way to predict when a disaster will happen.”
Lucy’s smile slipped. “Yes. It’s really unfortunate that the Spiders picked right now to swarm out of their self-imposed hibernation.”
“Bad things happen to good people all the time,” Amy said, lifting a shoulder. “The best we can do is attempt to mitigate the suffering, and plan for the worst.”
“That’s an interesting viewpoint.” Lucy raised her eyebrows. “It sounds like you have some experience with disaster.”
“My father was a diplomat. I learned a lot from him,” Amy said softly. “He said those words to me more than once.”
Sensing Amy’s pain, Bruno interrupted their conversati
on before Lucy could pry any further into her life. He didn’t want her to have to relive her father’s death, yet again, especially since their pairing had already brought the memory uncomfortably close to the surface of her mind. “I think we can run some diagnostics on the Stronghold net overnight, and touch base in the morning.” He checked on the status of Isaac and Saige’s starship. “We don’t have to deal with the swarm for at least several days.” He grimaced. “Tomorrow I’ll meet with the President and other heads of state, and inform them of the threat.”
“Shouldn’t you let the President know tonight? Won’t he want to mobilize the military or something?” Lucy asked.
Bruno shook his head. “I’m sure he will want to do that, but it won’t do much good. The only thing that can repel and destroy the Spiders is the personal energy of the Sentries. That’s why we built the Stronghold net and created tech that could absorb our energy—we needed to increase our range of protection because there are only eight of us. Every other kind of weapons technology is just food to them, including whatever bombs the human military can bring to bear.” He felt Amy’s alarm, but there wasn’t a damned thing he could do about it. The threat looming over them was real, and she already knew that. Nevertheless, he sent a short burst of soothing energy to her. She shot him a look, but her shoulders eased down a fraction. He nodded, pleased.
“I’ll set up another algorithm to monitor the energy fluctuations in our tech. Do you want me to talk to Greyson about it?” Solomon asked, glancing at Amy again.
Bruno knew his brother was extending an apology for his earlier rude behavior by offering him some uninterrupted time alone with Amy. “Thank you, Solomon. Yes. Please talk to Greyson.”
Solomon nodded. “Very well.” He glanced at his wife, then looked directly at Amy. “Welcome to the family, sister,” he said graciously, touching his eye. Clearly, he’d calmed down from his earlier alarm over the net’s energy fluctuations. “My apologies for my behavior. I have no excuse.”
Amy let out a breath, but Bruno didn’t think anyone but him heard it.
“Thank you, Solomon.” She squeezed Bruno’s forearm, but he didn’t think she realized how tightly she was holding onto him. “I understand that this is a stressful situation. No worries.” She smiled at Solomon’s paired-mate. “It was nice to meet you, Lucy.”
“I’m sure we will meet each other in person very soon,” Lucy replied.
“I will be in touch tomorrow, Solomon,” Bruno said, nodding at Lucy, too. “Get a good night’s sleep.” He touched the corner of his eye.
“Yes, Mother,” Solomon said, a hint of exasperation in his tone.
Lucy nodded, touching the corner of her eye in unison with her husband. “I’ll make sure he sleeps tonight. We all need to be ready for what’s coming.” She nodded, then reached out and touched their pillar. The window swirled into whiteness.
Bruno suppressed a smile and deactivated the viewer.
Amy let out an explosive breath. “Wow. That was … interesting.”
Bruno ran a calming hand down her back as her anxiety pinged against his empathy. The tight muscles beneath his palm told him she wasn’t feeling very sanguine about his brother’s call. “Solomon is an idiot. Pay him no mind.” He ushered her back to the bed.
She sat down on the mattress, absently rubbing her arms. “I don’t know about that. The Spiders are massing, and he’s stressed about dealing with them. I can see why he’d be less than enthused to meet me, especially right after your tech went haywire. Did he have any reason to suspect there’d be so much fluctuation in the Stronghold net?”
Bruno shrugged. “My personal power is stronger than my brothers’, and every time one of us pairs it adds an unpredictable amount of energy to the net.” Her fear over the Spiders and her struggle to handle their pairing pricked at his mind. He wished he’d had more time for them to get to know each other. No, I wish I had been able to stay away from her so she could live her life in peace, and not in the midst of my impossible duty. “It is not something we can predict.”
Amy sighed. “And it’s not like any of you are going to call up the others and let them know that, oh, by the way, I’m about to have sex now. Brace yourselves because the net might suddenly be unstable.”
Bruno laughed. “No. Not in a million years.” He rubbed his chin. “Happily, the power surge only happens when one of us first pairs and adds the energy of another Sentry to the net, and now that you belong to me, that kind of instability is a thing of the past.”
“I belong to you?” Amy asked, arching an eyebrow.
“Yes.” Bruno resisted the urge to apologize. The words were accurate. “Just as I belong to you.”
Amy smiled impishly at him. “Good. Glad you clarified that.”
Bruno shook his head, a bit embarrassed for the first time in ages. “Are you hungry?”
“I could eat.”
“Why don’t you freshen up and I’ll make us sandwiches,” Bruno offered.
Amy cocked her head. “The most powerful man in the world is offering to cook for me? Sure. There’s no way that I could pass that up.”
Bruno smiled despite the thousand and one worries crowding through his brain. “You may regret it after you taste my attempts in the kitchen.” He kissed her, and she grabbed his arms, keeping him from straightening up.
“Hey. Don’t let this one crisis derail everything you’ve done for the world, Bruno,” she said, startling him with her insight.
“So wise,” he murmured, tracing a finger down her cheek. “The question is, how does one keep bitterness at bay when too many years of one disaster after another shows the true nature of an unfeeling universe?”
She flushed. “My father always said that you can’t handle five disasters at once. You can only handle the one right in front of you.” She paused, and Bruno sensed her uncertainty, but then she forged ahead. “One step at a time.”
Bruno straightened up, emotions churning behind the rigid walls he’d erected. He would not suck Amy down to his level. She did not need to feel the despair that seemed to dog his heels more and more these days. “He sounds like he was a good man.” He kissed her again, and then headed off to do something useful before she could read his worry in his eyes. At the very least, he could spoil her with care and comfort, before they all died.
Chapter Seven
“My father was a good man,” Amy murmured, thinking of her dad as Bruno headed towards the kitchen area. She felt foolish about counseling such an experienced leader. Who was she to tell Bruno Day how to act? She thought about the turmoil she’d sensed behind Bruno’s solid wall of self-control.
I can’t help him if he doesn’t let me in, she thought, wondering for the first time if she’d actually be able to help. Sure, they’d paired, whatever that really meant, but what about the deeper problems she sensed from him? He needed help. More help than a single assistant could give him. More than she could give him.
“One step at a time,” she murmured, taking a deep breath. If there was one thing she knew, it was that trying to change everything about Bruno’s life would be an exercise in futility. She’d simply have to approach things more obliquely and hope for the best. It wasn’t like she had much choice. She was stuck with him now. She knew that much.
She snorted. “So much for allowing myself one night of indulgence.” She thought she’d be able to make love with Bruno and move on, but after the crashing cascade of his memories hit her mind, she knew that she’d never be able to leave his side. Hell, she didn’t want to leave his side. His life was a long stretch of centuries punctuated with intense loneliness and insane responsibility. No man should have to live like Bruno, yet he persisted, stubborn and honorable. He kept the world safe, and asked for nothing. His humility in the face of such an overwhelming duty amazed her. She rubbed her eyes as exhaustion pressed into her muscles. Between the pairing and the incessant hammering of minds against her newly built mental wall, she knew her reserves of energy were dangerously
low. Not that it mattered.
Get up, girl. You’re not going to be able to help him if you don’t get up. Summoning a last shred of determination, she stood up from the bed and stretched, wincing as a few more sore muscles announced themselves. Riding on a motorcycle was fun and exciting, but she wasn’t used to it. Riding Bruno, on the other hand, had its perks, and was worth every painful bruise and stretched tendon. She grinned through her tiredness and headed for the bathroom.
****
After eating, Amy let Bruno tuck her into bed with him. Neither of them mentioned the Spiders. Neither of them mentioned the pairing.
Which is just as well. I’m not sure I can carry on a conversation at this point, she mused, yawning. She traced her fingers along Bruno’s arm, enjoying his warmth. Night had just fallen over the city. The twinkling lights beyond the windows looked like something out of a fairytale against the darkening purple of the horizon. She had trouble imagining that the Spiders were really coming for them through such a beautiful sunset. She stared outside until a glint of green against the glow flared brightly.
“It’s our camouflage net. It distracts any stray Spider, disguising the planet,” Bruno murmured.
“I didn’t know I’d be able to see it,” Amy said, still staring. It looked like a weird curtain of distorted light against the deepening orange of the night sky.
“Only Sentries can see it.”
Amy tilted her head, then blinked. The green disappeared. If Bruno hadn’t said anything, she’d have thought she’d imagined it. “Where are Saige and Isaac now?” she asked him, tracing a line from his thumb to his wrist.
He shrugged. “Just beyond the Kuiper Belt.”
Amy had no idea how fast the Sentries’ starships could fly. For all she knew, they’d be in space for the next two weeks. “And that means they’ll be home…” She trailed off questioningly.
“They should be here sometime tomorrow,” Bruno said, stroking a hand down her hair. “You should try to sleep. We will have a lot to do in a few hours.”