by JC Hay
His hands skimmed up her sides, thumbs stroking the underside of her breasts before tracing circles around their peaks. Each rasping touch of his thumbs sent electricity skittering along her nerves and sharpened the ache in her abdomen. His voice was a reverent whisper. “God damn. You’re beautiful.”
She’d heard it before, too many times and from men too old to say such things, but he was the only one who could ever make her believe it. It made her self-conscious, and she leaned in to kiss him again. He backed up and she left the scooter, leaning into him as she limped toward the bed.
He sat, putting himself at mouth level with her breasts, and immediately pulled one tight bud into his mouth. The contact made her gasp, heightening her awareness of Ren’s body, his every breath. Every heartbeat.
She tugged his shirt off, forcing him to relinquish her nipple despite her body’s wishes. The slick skin puckered in the cool air, and the contrast was almost as delicious as his mouth had been. Lucia straddled his hips, unable to miss the press of his arousal against her core, even through their clothing.
She kissed her way up his neck, delighting in the shudder of his pulse beneath her lips, in the power of being able to completely undo Ren’s rigid control. After another kiss, she paused and touched her forehead to his. She felt a momentary pang of confusion from the wolf in the next room, one that seemed mirrored from Ren. “Before we go any further, I need to know we both still want this.”
He let out a shaky breath, his amused relief rippling along her awareness. “Lucia, I’ve wanted this for a decade.” He turned his arm, so she could see the implant under the skin. “TJF requires all soldiers to be on Panbeset.”
She reared back, showing him the identical implant in her own arm. “Me too, standard practice.” In addition to being a contraceptive, it also protected against nearly all sexually transmitted infections.
Yearning flared through her, and she wasn’t sure if it was hers or Ren’s. She also didn’t care, eager to have more of him. All he could give. Before her mouth snared his again, she flashed him a rapacious smile. “Then let’s not waste another second.”
Nine
"How many times are you going to ask me the same question?" Lucia turned on her best annoyed voice, but it failed to stick. Partly because she was distracted by thoughts of last night. Besides, her ire seemed wasted on the military brass on the opposite side of the table.
"Mx. Sarmiento." A lieutenant colonel, the lone woman among Lucia’s antagonists, kept her voice level, but Lucia could tell how difficult it was for her. "We just need to get to the bottom of this. An open attack on a diplomatic transport is an act of war. If you can't tell us what happened, at least tell us who you were supposed to meet with."
"That would be a violation of trust. The only reason those refugees are meeting with me at all is because it's anonymous. They're terrified that things could get worse for them." She pinched the bridge of her nose. "I'm working to make sure they have human essentials. Clean water. Basic medical care. Officially, TR-Aid hasn't taken sides in this conflict." Which was true in the most literal sense, and because they needed the majority government on Tyson to support their efforts. That said, like most of the people who worked for it, she had pretty strong opinions about who was in the right during the ongoing struggle.
"They are secessionists and terrorists," one of the men started in. The double arrowheads on his collar marked him as a brigadier, which also made him the highest-ranking member of the debriefing team. "Surely you had to expect something like this would happen."
"There's no evidence they were tied to the attack. The only person we know tried anything was a mercenary. What did you learn about him?"
The officers exchanged a set of inscrutable glances before turning back to her. It was the woman who spoke. “What we found or didn’t find isn’t important. This is about what you experienced, not what we already know from other lines of inquiry.”
She stood up. "In that case, I really don't have anything else to add. We're just going around in circles."
"Sit. Down." The brig had a voice that seemed perfect for command, and for a heartbeat, she moved to obey him. Then anger took over.
"I'm not one of your soldiers, Brigadier. If I'm not under arrest?" Lucia glanced at the lieutenant colonel, who gave a subtle shake of her head. "Then I think we're done. I appreciate all you've done for me, but I have things that need to be arranged." She mounted her kick-glider and headed for the door.
The last member of the interview team, a captain, rushed to open the door and followed her out. "Brigadier Bhakta has some strong feelings, sorry." He held out a hand. "Snyder, by the way."
Lucia stared at the offered hand. "I remember. What do you want, Captain? Casual conversation isn't going to pry any more information out of me than that interrogation did."
He pulled back his hand with a weak smile and dragged it through his hair. "Look. I’m not—the brigadier just wants to take care of everyone. He doesn't love the idea of folks going out there unescorted. It's a good way to get kidnapped, or dead."
In all the times she'd worked with the separatists, they hadn't so much as thought of threatening her, but he was unlikely to believe that. "They're in trouble. You people need to understand how much this protracted stalemate is costing them."
"I get it. That’s what I came to tell you. We don’t all share the old man’s hardliner approach. Hell, if we can take care of their needs, maybe they can stop demonizing us.”
She hated to admit solidarity with the man, but he was right. The first step was going to have to be reaching across the gulf of mistrust and trying to see the people on both sides of the conflict. It was why she’d taken up aid work in the first place. Well, and to do some good with her money.
“Let me set up an escort, or fly you back myself even. If what you said is true, we can’t miss the opportunity to give aid." His voice raised on the last bit, turning the statement into a question. Snyder took one of her hands, and she tried to decide how rude she could be to someone interviewing her.
The omni in her pocket buzzed, giving her the perfect excuse to ease her hand out of his grip. “I’ll think about it, okay? I’ve got to take this.” She tugged the device out of her pocket and turned away, not watching to see if Snyder had taken the hint.
Lizbeth’s name flashed on the screen. She felt a pang of disappointment that it wasn’t Ren’s number on the omni, but then it couldn’t be. She’d picked up the replacement at the PX, but never bothered to give him her number.
She steered the glider around a corner with a couple of quick kicks and answered, forcing herself to sound chipper. “Lizzie! What’s the occasion?”
“How could you not even text me? I had to find out from my aunt that you’d been shot down by terrorists or something!” Lizbeth Talamentes was her oldest friend, had stuck by quietly during Lucia’s misguided attempts to be popular. The one person she had confided in about how she felt about Ren. In the end, she’d been the only friend who’d stuck around after she’d renounced her family.
“They don’t know who shot me down. Don’t go jumping to conclusions. Or believe everything you see on vid.” She took a deep breath. “And I just got this omni. The old one got destroyed in the crash.”
“Well, at least they were able to restore from your backups. Aren’t you glad I pushed you into doing that?”
“Yes, yes. You were right.” Lizzie had always been the most technical of her friends, had gone into engineering out of secondaries. She tried to explain what she did once, but even the layman’s version made Lucia’s head hurt. Once science pushed into theoreticals, it was too weird to keep up with.
“So, when are you coming home to recuperate? It feels like I haven’t seen you in forever.”
“It’s been a month. I think you’re fine. That said, I’m not entirely sure when I’ll be getting out.” If what Ren had told her was true, he still had some leave left. Given the choice, he was much more entertaining than Lizbeth, no
matter how much she loved her friend.
“Do you need me to come down there and rescue you?” Lucia could practically hear her friend’s eyes narrowing through the audio connection.
“No. Nothing like that. I don’t know when they’ll decide they’re done asking me questions. I’ll call in a couple of days, I promise. We can get together then.” She hung up before Lizzie could start her own interrogation. The last thing Lucia felt like doing was to explain the situation with Ren. She wanted to keep that to herself a little longer.
As if thinking of him served as a summons, she spotted him leaning against the wall of one of the administration buildings that formed the core of the base. Even from a distance, she could make out the broad shoulders, the solid line of his jaw, and it made her pulse stutter. He had definitely wormed his way under her skin.
As soon as he saw her, he raised a hand and started her direction. Lucia swallowed. She’d been curious if this was more than a one-time thing. Apparently, she’d have her answer sooner than she’d expected.
REN FORCED HIMSELF to walk at a normal pace, but Inari charged out in front, and damned if she didn't just go straight to Lucia. Lucia eased off her scooter onto the ground, cuddling and rubbing on the wolf as she bounced around in front of her. He hadn’t seen his wolf that happy, or energetic, since she’d been a puppy. Which only made everything between them that much weirder.
Not that last night hadn't been incredible. Not just the sex, but the connection, the ease of having her in his life. As he’d suspected, he’d always end up wanting more. And Inari, clearly, had already made up her mind.
But Lucia didn't understand what a relationship with a ranger would be like. If he told her how rare it was for two people to bond with the same wolf, that it meant they were supposed to be together? She’d have every right to think he was trying to pressure her for more. It would be like their secondaries all over again.
Lucia stood as he approached keeping her injured leg up as she leaned in to tap a quick kiss on his cheek. He let his palms skate over her hips but forced himself not to embrace her.
She smiled. "I was just thinking about you. Are you following me?"
"Sadly, no. Grenville made some kind of idiot bet against the local forces, and apparently we've been challenged to a round of BoomBall. It's not typically my thing, but now the honor of the rangers is all tied up in it. We were just heading over to the courts when I saw you." Most of that was true, at least. Inari had wanted to track Lucia from the start of the morning, but he didn’t want to look like a stalker. Besides, he’d known she’d be in her debrief most of the day. But when they’d crossed her trail outside, he was inclined to indulge his wolf a little.
Not that seeing something he knew he couldn't have was going to be much of a picnic for him. But Inari’s happiness mattered more.
Two fingers dimpled his chin and made him face her. "Hey. What's going on? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," he lied. "Just preoccupied is all. Annoyed at Grenville."
"So," she said slowly. "After the game, what are you planning? Still thinking you'll take your leave?"
"Yeah, probably. My family has a little cabin in the mountains up near Teal Creek. It's pretty much kilometers away from everyone else and has plenty of space for Inari to run around." He could spend some time tidying it up, make sure everything was cleaned for when his dad came out at the start of the hot season.
"Sounds lonely."
"The quiet doesn't much bother me. I spend most of my days surrounded by rangers and wolves and support personnel crammed into a very small ship. Silence and space will be pretty enjoyable."
She'd wanted him to invite her and looked crestfallen that he hadn't done so. Inari’s confusion and irritation buffeted him. The wolf knew what she wanted, and as far as she was concerned he was screwing it up. She couldn't understand that this was the best way to spare all of their feelings.
Lucia took a step back, hands dropping uselessly to her sides. "Oh, I guess I hadn't thought about it like that. I'd hate to intrude on your solitude then."
God, this felt shitty. "Look, last night was really special. It meant a lot to me. But, if I'm honest, I don't have time for something more. And you've got your thing that you do." He waved his hand in the direction of the mountains.
"This thing I do." Her voice sounded like he'd cut her heart out and kicked it down the dusty side street. "I figured of all people, someone from the TJF might understand the importance of what we are trying to do here. I guess I was wrong.” Her face hardened, eyes going from warm brown to flinty. “Look, I don't want to keep you from your game." She packed enough scorn into the last word to set a record.
"It's not like that, I just..."
"No, I get it. You don't need to explain anything to me. We’re even now, right? Enjoy your leave. I'll see you around, Ranger." She mounted the kick-glider, spun it around and kicked off as fast as the inhibitor would let her.
Ten
Ren grunted at the slap of flesh as he threw himself backwards into one of the defenders guarding him. An arm snaked around him, reaching for the ball, and he spun on his back heel to put his elbow into a set of unprotected ribs. The guard stumbled back, giving Ren just enough room to hurl the weighted ball to where he knew Grenville would be. The taller, lanky ranger snagged the ball mid-jump, spinning in the air to sink it into the goal set in the wall. The buzzer sounded, indicating ten goals, accompanied by a chorus of profanity in as many languages as there were people.
Grenville strutted to the center of the court, his grin almost as big as his ego. "And that is why you don't challenge rangers to BoomBall." One of the local soldiers tossed a towel at him and Grenville passed it to Ren. "We'll be expecting our drinks in the e-club after supper."
There was more grousing at the reminder of their bet, and the standard complaints that rangers didn't play fair and the wolves made them psychic. It wasn't true of course, but it made the local soldiers feel better. Given that both the other teams had worked together to turn the game into four-on-two, and they’d still lost? Ren could allow them their excuses.
He rubbed the sweat from his face, then dried his short hair before looking at his partner. "You headed back to orbit tonight?"
Both of their wolves wandered over now that the game had ended, weaving around each other in the method they often used when playing, and Grenville watched them before answering. "Nah. The window's a little tight, and since I'm already here, I got permission to head back after tomorrow's shadowfall. Why? I thought you were headed up into the mountains, deliberately this time."
Ren almost resented his connection to Inari, who in turn reflected the inquisitiveness of Grenville's wolf alongside her own poorly hidden irritation. She skittered just out of reach of his hand and shot him a dirty look. "Yeah, I think I've had enough of mountains for a while. Figured I'd save some other poor bastard the pain of having to sit next to you."
"You can stow that shit, Ranger. We’ve been together long enough that I half-think you and I have bonded.”
“God forbid.”
“Whatever.” Grenville beamed. “You know you love me. Anyway, all I’m saying is an idiot couldn't miss that Inari's pissed at you." He shook his head, emphasizing his long neck. "I assume it's about something more than feeding her kibble while you had a steak."
Ren sighed and toweled his face off a second time. "It's complicated."
"When isn't it?" Grenville tied his towel into a fat knot and then arced it toward the hamper on the side of the court. When it went in, he made a poor imitation of the scoring buzzer. "Boom. Grenville. Unassisted!"
Ren couldn't help but smile. In his experience, every fireteam had a joker, the guy you could count on to bring the others out of their dour moods. Most of the time, they tried too hard, but Grenville seemed to know just how far to push it and stay funny. "Fine. So, Lucia wanted to come to the cabin with Inari and me. I said no. That's the end of the story."
"Clearly it's not. I shoot down
ladies all the time. You don't see Djehuti snapping at my hands." He started into his postgame stretches with a disturbing amount of energy.
"Inari liked her. That's all."
Grenville froze, his head turning to lock eyes with him. "Holy shit. Lucia could feel your wolf."
Ren shot a dirty look at Inari, who huffed before padding to the edge of the court. "Maybe. I don't know."
"You can lie to yourself, brother, but we're too close for that. What are you still doing here?" He gestured toward where Inari waited. "Your wolf’s got the right idea. You need to listen to her."
"Hardly." Ren rolled his eyes. "That’s not fair to Lucia. We’ve—let’s just say there’s history. 'Ri can learn to live with it." True enough, he supposed. In time he might be able to convince himself that he could too.
A frustrated anger seeped into the edge of his awareness, a moment before Grenville whispered, “Officer!” and snapped to attention.
Ren mirrored the posture reflexively as the man stepped into the court. Ren recognized him as the same captain Lucia had been talking to earlier and glanced at the name tape on the man’s chest. Snyder.
"At ease, rangers." His tone was easy as he strolled up, but his gaze stayed glued to the two wolves. "I just wanted to thank you both for your help with this whole disaster. If the insurgents had managed to kill Mx. Sarmiento, even indirectly, it would have brought this mess to a boiling point." As if summoned, Inari padded closer and punched her head into the back of Ren's knee.
Ren resisted the urge to roll his eyes and reached down to snag his wolf, but she slipped away. "Just doing our jobs, that's all."
Snyder nodded. "Indeed. And it's been a pleasure to see. Not often us dirtsiders get to spend time with you TJF boys."