Worlds Apart (Warriors of Risnar)

by Tracy St. John

  She said, “I didn’t realize how lonely I was until now. I have friends and family, but—I don’t know. Maybe my crappy attitude keeps them at a distance. There’s nobody I can share myself with. Not the way I can with you.”

  “I feel the same. My interests bring me in closer contact with the women, who are not easy to be friends with. They do not inspire the closeness men do.”

  “Salno’s not so bad. I feel like I can share things with her too.”

  Nex smiled. “I like her, but I find she...and the other women...lack a certain fire I respond to. Many of the Risnarish men have a similar problem. We try to be helpful companions to each other.”

  “Risnar is heavy on the bromance. You’d have to be, in respect to how your society is made up.”

  Nex blinked, probably trying to figure out what “bromance” meant. Anneliese laughed and explained the term.

  “You’re right about that. The need to be around people on the same wavelength led me to do work that kept me around the other men. Unfortunately, law enforcement left me empty. Either I do the things I love and keep to myself, or I turn my back on what fulfills me to have decent connections. Either way, though, I come home to an empty dome at the end of the day.”

  “Not today.” Anneliese pulled his hand to her, pressed it between her breasts. It wasn’t so much a sexual move as one to hold a piece of him close.

  Well—maybe it was a little sexual. “Tell me I can spend the night,” she whispered.

  She watched as want battled with caution for possession over Nex. After a moment, he challenged, “You have to play by my rules.”

  Anneliese gave him an impatient shove. “Ugh, stop treating me as if I’m something special you have to court in a certain way. Come on, man. Bone me!”

  “Bone” was another term the system struggled with, but Nex got its meaning. His eyes brightened with a dangerous light. Under that stare, her pulse raced. A thrill of excitement mixed with terror chased down her spine. She was wet in an instant.

  He moved toward her, a skulking, stalking, creeping movement that set her hair on end. She slid off the couch, shifting in a defensive crouch.

  “Come on, big man.” She grinned.

  Nex’s voice came out in an animal growl. “Are you ready?”

  “Are you? This isn’t a part of your precious ritual.”

  “Maybe I enjoy you struggling against me. I like how you resist and then fall apart in my arms.”

  Anneliese had a bare second to digest that bit of information, for it to bring a surge of heat, before he sprang at her.

  They wrestled around the room, their bodies twisting and twining around each other as each sought to gain the upper hand. Anneliese held back despite the occasional opening she discerned, opportunities in which she could have brought Nex down, albeit painfully. She had no intention of harming him, not even to win the right to have things her way—besides, his way was always delicious. She noted he was more careful with her, not doing anything to aggravate her left leg’s injuries or strain her back.

  Even with Nex’s caution, he still outweighed, outreached, and outmuscled her. The disadvantages were too many. In the end, Anneliese found herself bent over the side of the couch, pants and panties yanked to her knees, receiving the same treatment she’d gotten in the pool earlier that day. Nex buried his face in her pussy, making her weaker than all his prodigious strength could. It wasn’t long before arousal eclipsed any notion of continued resistance. Anneliese yelled into the cushions as Nex licked her close to orgasm.

  “Good girl. Surrender, my sweet little Earthling. Let me love you.”

  Her iron will crumbled before an onslaught of desperate need. “Please, Nex. Please.”

  “Anneliese. My beautiful Anneliese.” He sighed, stroking her back with trembling fingers.

  Muscled thighs pushed between hers, opening her, made her cry out anew. At last Nex was going to make love to her. At last.

  His groin pushed up against her. Something hard pushed and throbbed. Anneliese wriggled against him, enticing him to let his cock swell and enter her.

  Instead, a portion of his flesh enveloped her clit. A warm pocket enclosed the swollen bit, drawing it in. Anneliese stopped breathing. A fine tremor seized her body. What was he about to do?

  The cleft holding her clit thrummed to life, vibrating her most sensitive flesh hard and fast. Violent craving seized Anneliese, shoving her straight into climax. Nex held her down as she kicked and screamed, exaltation barreling through her. He made her come until she begged him with hoarse cries to stop.

  Nex picked up her limp body and carried her to his bed. Spooning against her from behind, he wrapped his arms around her, holding her close, sheltering her with his amazing body.

  “How do you feel?” he whispered in her ear.

  Anneliese choked on weak laughter. “As if you couldn’t tell?”

  He chuckled. “I meant overall. I take it you feel as I do. That we fit each other well, even when we fight.”

  “Yes. We are a wonderful couple.”

  The lump had returned to Anneliese’s throat. It hit her all at once. She didn’t want to go home to cousins she usually only saw at lacrosse games and the grocery store, to causes that never went anywhere. To a home filled with too much quiet. To her lonely life, that seemed to grow less useful every day. Somehow, she felt sure she belonged on Risnar. It was an alien world, and she was too combative a woman for its people by far. Nonetheless, she belonged. She wanted to stay.

  Specifically, she wanted to stay with Nex. She wanted that part more than all the rest.

  The trouble was, she didn’t know how she was supposed to make that happen.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Nex was awakened the next morning by a throbbing tone that he felt as much as he heard. Someone was calling him. Whatever they wanted, he didn’t wish to be roused. He was snuggled in bed, curled behind the warm body of Anneliese. No, he did not want to budge one inch. He wanted to stay right where he was, forever.

  He muttered into her hair, his voice sleep-choked and grouchy. The translator informed him the words he used could not be deciphered in the Earthling’s language, which was just as well. Anneliese was better off not having an inkling of the oaths he spoke in reaction to the rude awakening.

  The system did interpret when he answered the call, along with Jape’s words. “I need you and Anneliese to meet me at the training grounds. I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

  “I’ll be there in an hour,” Anneliese griped in an undertone.

  “We’ll get there as soon as possible,” Nex answered Jape, who immediately clicked off.

  Nex stretched. His yawn changed into a startled yelp when Anneliese turned over to smack him with a pillow. “Hey!”

  “Some of us don’t move that fast when we first wake up. Especially on a world without coffee,” she grumbled. Before Nex could take revenge for the fluffy assault, she got up and headed to the lavatory.

  He needn’t have worried. Anneliese had been a soldier too long to rouse with any substantial delay. She emerged from the bath facility with wide-awake eyes, ready to take on the day. She and Nex were flying in the dartwing eight minutes after Jape’s call.

  They arrived at the training grounds before the ten-minute deadline, but Jape was already there. As they set down, Anneliese pulled off the protective helmet and asked Nex, “Are we early?”

  Besides Jape and themselves, there were only two other people on the field that had been teeming with warriors the day before. Nex recognized the other two, older men respected by the inhabitants of Cas.

  As they started toward the small waiting party, he told Anneliese, “No drills were scheduled today. Jape must have come up with something to protect you during battle. Those men are Keta, the armory guild master, and Giru of the weave guild.”

  Nex’s stomachs kn
otted, but he kept his tone casual. Anneliese was a warrior. A skilled one. Maybe better than Nex, though he’d started training as a boy to defend his home village from the Monsuda and their drones. He still wished she would not fight their mutual enemy.

  The best fighters sometimes lost battles. Nex feared for Anneliese, feared what could happen to her.

  Jape’s greeting was quick and casual. “From my spirit to yours. We have found a solution to your soft-skin problem, Earthling.”

  Anneliese snickered good-naturedly at his mocking tone. When Jape introduced her to the guild masters, she returned their salutations Risnarish-style, her palm to her chest. “From my spirit to yours,” she said respectfully, perhaps realizing she spoke to elders. Either that, or she was eager to not jeopardize any opportunity to fight.

  Black and forest-green Keta was enthusiastic to meet her. His gaze avid, he said, “Your particular concern has actually been a boon for a project I’ve been working on. Ever since we found out we were taking an active stance against the Monsuda, I’ve been developing a new defensive tool. I have many improvements to make on the design, but this is workable enough for taking back the hive near Cas.” He tapped the steel-colored flex-metal belt he wore over the usual utility belt most Risnarish favored.

  Anneliese eyed it greedily. “What does it do?”

  “This belt emits a rebound field. It produces a localized barrier, similar in function to the larger boundary field we use to keep the Monsuda and their drones out of our villages. Like those fields, this will deflect scatter-shot, leaving the wearer unharmed at close range. Jape?”

  Jape and Keta stepped apart from the rest, putting several feet of distance between themselves and the other three. Jape showed them the scatter-shooter he held in his hand, no doubt captured from the enemy during a battle. At Keta’s nod, he fired on the armory master.

  Nex couldn’t help but wince as the scatter-shot bullets flared blindingly bright about a foot away from Keta. The guild master wouldn’t ask for such a demonstration—and certainly Jape wouldn’t have agreed to it—unless they were positive the belt worked. Even so, it took an enormous amount of self-control to not spring at either man, either to stop the shooting or defend the “victim.”

  From the tension in Anneliese’s stance, her jaw tight, she had just as much trouble watching the demonstration. They both sighed with relief when Jape lowered the weapon.

  Keta smiled and held his hands out to either side. “See? Perfect deflection. No injury.”

  As he and Jape returned to stand near them, Nex smiled in appreciation. “That’s wonderful, Guild Master. With such a device, we’ll be able to take on the Monsuda easily.”

  Keta waved modestly. “It’s good for too short an interval, I’m sorry to say. Unlike our village fields, this device does not have the advantage of unlimited power. The smallest portable generator I could build for it would be too heavy to carry about.”

  Anneliese grasped his concerns. “Exactly how long does the charge last, sir?”

  “That depends. The more shots you take, the faster it drains. The power fades over a period of time, even if you’re not involved in a firefight. Continuous use without coming under attack would tap it out in about three hours.”

  “And during battle?”

  “The tests I’ve performed with its wearer under attack render it inoperable after an average of twenty-five shots.”

  With Anneliese’s life on the line, Nex wanted the worst-case scenario. “What’s the least number of shots it’s managed to deflect before draining?”

  “Eighteen.” Keta grimaced.

  Nex and Jape both blew out simultaneous breaths. Nex said, “That’s not a lot under a full attack force.”

  Keta didn’t take offense. “That’s the reason it’s an ongoing project. I’ve got a way to go to make it truly useful for our needs. There’s no use in expending resources to mass produce these yet.”

  Anneliese was as optimistic as they were pessimistic. “What is the most the field has handled?”

  “Thirty-two impacts—but I wouldn’t bet my life on it for over twenty shots.”

  “It’s better than nothing.” Jape nodded to Giru.

  The weavers’ guild master was the eldest of Cas Village. He had once been on the council before retiring from public service to concentrate on creating astonishingly beautiful fabrics. Silver shot through his green and ivory mane, but he stood strong and straight shouldered. He stepped forward without any sign of hesitation, a thick piece of dark blue cloth in his hands.

  “Once your field fades, you’ll be glad to have this. It’s not meant to fight in, Anneliese. I don’t have the expertise for the shot-proof vest Jape described to me.”

  She slid it on, putting her head and arms through the holes in the sleeveless torso covering. Giru fussed over it, pulling attached straps and adjusting it to fit her better.

  As he worked, he said, “It’s only meant as last-ditch protection for your torso and vital organs once your field gives out. It will hopefully provide you the ability to find cover quickly.” He stepped back and looked her over with a critical eye.

  Anneliese patted the vest, then rapped her knuckles against where it covered her stomach. “It’s a good fit. Lighter than what I had in the field. This will absorb the scatter-shot?”

  Giru nodded. “That’s right. You might experience some pain and receive bruising if it’s a close-range hit, but I’ve tested it. Only point-blank shots got through.”

  Nex quickly pointed out, “It still leaves your limbs and head vulnerable.”

  “Which is why I don’t recommend it for actual battle,” Giru affirmed. “This is just so you can get out of the field of combat to a safe place.”

  Anneliese thought for a second. “We had helmets. What about those you use when flying dartwings? How are they at repelling scatter shot?”

  Jape scowled. “Better than nothing, but the clear facemasks are no help. It’s not enough protection to fight in when the belt fades out, Soft Skin.”

  Nex was glad the head of Cas’s warriors sounded determined to keep Anneliese out of the big fights. “It hardly sounds as if she’d be protected long enough to make a real difference when we take the hive.”

  “Which is why she won’t be a part of the attack party, as we’ve already discussed.”

  A protest was coming. Anneliese didn’t wait to prove Nex right. “Now hold on a moment—”

  Jape cut her off. “You’re an able fighter. A trained warrior, like us. But you wouldn’t be that effective, especially in the close quarters fighting within the hive.”

  Keta was quick to take up the cause. “Especially if your deflection barrier fails and the Monsuda use a capture field on you.”

  Giru’s ears flattened. “The vest won’t protect against that nasty bit of business. No, you don’t want to take our defenses into such an arena. They won’t do you much good.”

  Anneliese huffed impatiently. “What was the point of this, then? I can’t believe you’re going to insist I sit in the temple with all the happy-spirit, give-peace-a-chance sisters when I could be helping.”

  Jape choked on a laugh at her description. “As I told you, I want you patrolling the barrier and keeping Cas safe when we leave. I have to leave a squad behind for that duty in case something goes terribly wrong and the barriers fail.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Has that happened? Have the barriers ever fallen?”

  Nex gave her a crooked smile. “There’s always a first time.”

  “Ha, ha. Thanks a lot, guys. Waste my years of expertise in the field of war.”

  “Actually, I’m counting on your knowledge,” Jape said. “You’re going to be our secret weapon against another danger, a very real one.”

  Anneliese’s disgruntled tone said she wasn’t buying whatever Jape was selling. “How so?”

  “It
could be a bunch of drones gets between our main force going to the hive and the safety of Cas. Caught out in the open with no way to come back, we’d be torn apart. Those guarding the village could be our only hope for home—the people we’ll need to open a path that might save some of us.”

  It was a weak argument since Jape would leave sentries all along the route between the hive and Cas. Nex was sure Anneliese knew it, just as he understood she would continue to fight for the chance to join in the battle for the hive.

  To his shock, she gave in with rueful grace. “Fine. I’ll patrol the border, free up an extra guy who doesn’t have to plug in every few hours, all for the glory of Risnar. And I’ll hate every second of it.”

  Jape gave her a smile that said far better than words that he understood her unhappiness with the situation. “Yes, you will hate it. Nothing is worse than being left behind when there’s a fight to be had elsewhere. I will call on the All-Spirit to bless you to the end of your days for the sacrifice.”

  When Anneliese glanced in Nex’s direction, he tried not to show the relief he felt. Instead, he imitated Jape’s sympathetic expression, pretending he wasn’t elated that she would remain behind the protective field.

  Keta handed off the field belt to Anneliese, ready to take his leave. “I will continue to work on the belt’s design. Perhaps I can find a means to get around the power storage issue in time for you to join the attack.”

  “Thank you. Thank you all for letting me take part in the fight for my world.”

  Judging from how the others smiled and nodded, Nex was the only one who noted the tightness of Anneliese’s smile and insincerity in her tone. After a few last-minute instructions on how to charge the belt, they all headed to their respective dartwings. Despite the disappointment of not getting what she wanted, Anneliese clutched her belt and vest like discovered treasure.

  * * *

  Anneliese and Nex arrived at the temple, near the garden where they’d spent what she considered quality time. While colorful in the light of day, it was not nearly as impressive as it was when glowing under the Cadi-lit night sky. She assumed her lover was going to work in the labs again. She tucked the protective vest in the dartwing’s storage hatch, next to the plasma shooters. She kept her belt strapped on, however, reasoning it was easiest to keep track of it that way.