3013: SALVATION (3013: The Series Book 5) (12 page)

“Stop it,” Skylar ordered as she
turned away to start undressing. “Let’s get this crap over with so I can get
back to stopping interplanetary disasters in the making.”

“You’ll enjoy yourself. Trust me,
this will be fun.”

Skylar shot her a look that said
she didn’t believe her. She hated doing these female rituals that other women
seemed to love. Usually, she found a way to get out of participating, but this
time she was stuck. Oh well, she thought.

Really, how bad could it be?

***

Chapter Nine

It was worse than she’d ever
imagined.

“No, absolutely not. I’m done. Do
you hear me? I am drawing the line. No more.”

Over the last few hours, Skylar
had endured things she never wanted to experience ever again. Why people did
stuff like this willingly, she would never know. She had to admit the hot stone
massage was nice. She had enjoyed that part.

But then had come the torture.

She’d been shown to a room where
she had been pushed back into a reclining chair with hot steam blasting in her
face until she felt like she was going to suffocate. After that, a woman had scraped
at her face until she had been almost sure she would have gigantic gouges in
her skin when she was done. Then they had taken her to another room where they slathered
her body down with something that looked frighteningly like cum and wrapped her
in what seemed to be big piles of seaweed until she resembled a mummy.

After that she had been taken to
a private suite that reminded her of an autopsy room and she’d been hosed her
off before two attendants scrubbed her entire body with some rough concoction
that smelled of a mixture of fruits. The entire ordeal was a mortifying
experience because she couldn’t help but admit to herself how close she had
come to bolting from the room several times.

The strangest part of it all was
the other women having the same types of services actually enjoyed themselves.
They had been smiling and cooing over how wonderful everything was, when all
Skylar wanted to do was punch the women who were attending her in their pretty
faces.

Being a woman was damn hard work,
but she had reached the edge of her endurance.

“I mean it, Serra. I have been
scrubbed, buffed, slathered and I won’t even mention the fact I’ve had more
people touching me today than I want to think about, but I draw the line at
painting my nails. Not gonna happen. Ever.”

Serra frowned at her. “You are
afraid of the most peculiar things.”

No, it wasn’t fear, Skylar
thought. It was pure terror. Not that she would ever admit it out loud. “Don’t
make me hurt you.”

“I thought you would feel that
way, which is why I got my nails done while you were getting the body scrub.”

“Wait—what the hell? You didn’t
have to lie down on that autopsy table?”

Serra shook her head and laughed.
“For star’s sake, Sky. It’s not an autopsy table.”

“It sure felt like it,” Skylar
muttered as she headed back in to the dressing area.

“Anyways, it wasn’t necessary for
me to get the body scrub done. A few nights ago, Jax and Sully used this new
sugar scrub I got on me in the shower and—”

“Okay, that’s enough information.
Let’s get the hell out of here and get back to business.”

Skylar felt better once they left
the spa area and headed down to Commander Jessup’s office on one of the lower
levels. She had been relieved seeing the familiar surroundings of the Alliance
command center where the elites conducted their duties on the base.

Since Serra had visited the base
before, she informed Skylar that there were seven underwater levels of the
base. The few windows there were had been blacked out from the outside, with
holographic imagines of sky and sea on the inside for the men who were stuck
inside, out of view of the Avox.

When they arrived on the lower
floors, they were guided to a conference room at the far end of a long hallway,
away from the main flow of traffic where Arik was sitting at a table with Commander
Malloy and Officer Perez. As if he sensed her presence, Arik looked over and
smiled at her through the window. He stood and greeted them at the doorway to
the conference room, taking Skylar’s hands in his.

“How was it?”

“Don’t ask,” Skylar replied. She
felt herself blush as he leaned down and brushed his lips over hers, not used
to affectionate gestures in front of people. “Why are you guys hidden away back
here?”

“Commander Jessup thought it was
best if we kept a low profile, considering why we are here.” He moved to the
side to let Serra passed them to go inside, giving him and Skylar a small
amount of privacy as they stood just outside of the room.

“That makes sense.”

“You smell absolutely delicious,
my love. Good enough to eat.” he murmured. “You are so beautiful, something it
hurts just to look at you.”

She could feel a shockwave of his
lust hit her so strong, the intensity of it made her sway on her feet. He
caught her to him, pulling her close as he looked down at her, his iridescent
eyes blazing with hunger. “They did enough to fix me up—”

“No, Skylar. You need nothing to
enhance your beauty, here or here,” He said, gently touching his hand to her
face, then her heart. He raised his fingers to the claiming mark next to her
eye. “You wear our mark here. Can you sense how much I need you, Skylar? Are
you ready to be mine in truth?”

“I am,” she said, unable to deny
him any longer. He pulled her closer, and the world seemed to disappear around
them as she leaned into him. “I made my choice when I let Dom put your mark on
me. I want to be your keeper, Arik.”

“You already are,” he growled,
then sealed his mouth on hers in a kiss so hot she felt singed to her core.

“Wow, they have some pretty
potent chemistry,” Officer Perez commented as he watched them with wide eyes.

“Ignore them,” Commander Malloy
ordered. “That’s what I’m doing. In fact, I’m not even here.”

Serra laughed softly from her
seat at the table as she watched Skylar pushed out of Arik’s arms, her cheeks
flushed with embarrassment. “It’s always fascinating to me to see the different
reactions people have to public displays of affection.”

“It makes the Commander twitchy.
Malloy believes bonding is catching, so he tries to ignore it as much as
possible,” Perez explained.

“Which is why I’m pretending I’m
not here right now.”

Ignoring them, Skylar and Arik entered
the room and took their seats. Skylar was determined to avoid making eye
contact with anyone until she felt the heat in her cheeks dissipate, then was happily
distracted when she saw what was on the table.

“Oh, sandwiches! I’m starving!” She
picked one up from the big platter in the middle of the table and took a big
bite.

Amused Arik said, “Here, take
this plate. And a napkin.”

“Thanks,” she mumbled around a
mouthful of food as he pushed the offered items in front of her.

“You shouldn’t fear bonding,”
Serra told Commander Malloy. “Since Jax and Sully claimed me I’m much happier,
as are they. And this morning even Dominic wasn’t as irritable as he usually is,
even though we had to practically tie him to a chair in order for him to let
Skylar out of his sight after last night. I’ve tried to tell him sex would help
his disposition before—”

“Now I’m the one who isn’t here,”
Skylar interjected. “Oh, look. There’s Commander Jessup and I bet the three
people with her are the scientists we’ve been waiting to speak with.”

Everyone in the room turned to
look out the conference room window to see Commander Jessup speaking with a man
and two women at the end of the hall. “As I said, we’ve briefed Commander
Jessup on the basics of the case,” Arik informed them. “She was...very displeased.”

Commander Malloy grunted. “That’s
an understatement. She was fucking pissed.”

“Well, she should be. This has
all been going down under her command.” Skylar studied the three people standing
with the commander and saw the reluctance on their faces as they started down
the hallway toward the conference room.

The older scientist was a pretty
brunette. Her hair was pulled back in a haphazard bun on the top of her head.
The other woman was younger, with sunny blonde hair. She was absolutely gorgeous,
and looked completely mismatched with the geeky guy she was holding hands with.
“The young one...she’s been tainted with
xili
.”

Arik shot her a look. “We don’t
know that yet.”

“Wanna bet? Just look at them.
She’s hot and he’s...definitely not.”

“That’s unkind, Skylar.”

She snorted. “But true. She is so
much hotter than him, but she chooses him over all other men to bond with? And
she only takes him and not a second? Nope, she’s tainted. See? He’s so skinny
and dorky looking, and he’s even a mouth breather. I hate that.”

Commander Malloy and Officer Perez
snorted in amusement as Serra nodded. “They do seem to make an odd pairing, but
it seems within range.”

Arik frowned at her. “What do you
mean by that?”

“There is empirical data on relationship
dynamics that states pairings are often based on a combination of
attractiveness, things people have in common and other various factors,
however, generally speaking, those terms are usually within a variance of the
quotient of the higher individual’s measure on a quantitative scale using a
divisor of two.”

“What?”

At the blank stares from everyone
sitting at the table, Serra tried to explain a different way. “On a scale of
one to ten, if we were to say she was a...”

“Eight,” Officer Perez said.
“She’s an eight...maybe even a nine.”

“Okay, if she’s an eight, then
the quotient we would use would be a four. So, she would be expected to be with
someone who was at least a four.”

Skylar blinked at her friend.
“You’re mind fucking fascinates me sometimes.”

“Thanks...I think.”

“But he isn’t a four. I’d say
he’s a two...and that’s being generous,” Skylar said as she looked out the
window again.

Serra frowned thoughtfully. “But
he could have a big—”

“Enough! You people are crazy,” Commander
Malloy snapped.

“Well, if he is well endowed that
would raise his ranking,” Serra said, ignoring him. “Also, you aren’t factoring
in love.”

Skylar waved a hand in the air.
“Whatever. I still say she’s been brainwashed. Just look at them. And add the
fact that he’s her only bonded, I call bullshit.”

Arik stared at her, then Serra,
then back again. “You females are terrifying creatures.”

“Yeah, they’re a little scary,”
Officer Perez agreed. “But I think Officer Stryker-V’Dir is right.”

“I can’t believe we’re even
having this conversation,” Commander Malloy said as he looked up at the
ceiling.

Skylar felt a jolt of surprise
hearing her new name. She glanced over at Arik and felt her nerves settle when
she saw the look of pride on his face. No, there was more than pride...there
was also love. She lost herself in his gaze for a moment, and had to force
herself to focus as Commander Jessup and the three scientists entered the room.

“Everyone, I would like to
introduce Dr. Catherine Whitmer-Fields, Dr. Henry Atwood and Dr. Astrid Atwood.”
From the cold look on Commander Jessup’s face, she was not hiding her anger
very well. “I was just informing the doctors that they will have to put all
their tests on hold and be available for you to speak with as long as needed.”

Skylar could sense the irritation
emanating from both of the female doctors, but what she felt from the man was annoyance
and anger mixed with a hint of fear.

“Something’s off with him,” she
murmured sotto voce to Arik. He squeezed her hand beneath the table, letting
her know that he’d heard her.

“Why don’t we begin then,” Arik
announced, claiming everyone’s attention as he stood and strode forward to greet
the doctors. “I am Ambassador Arik V’Dir, and would like to thank you for
joining us.”

Despite her annoyance, Catherine’s
attitude relaxed a bit as she shook Arik’s hand after he extended it. “As I
told Commander Archer when he contacted me, we are happy to help any way we can.”

Skylar settled back in her chair
as she watched Arik greet the younger woman, aware of what he was doing.
Although he could sense things about a person by being in the same room with
them, he could read them better through direct contact. He was checking each of
the scientists for the taint of
xili
under the guise of being polite.

Devious, she thought.

She liked it. A lot.

Arik moved past the females and
approached Henry Atwood last. He took note of the way the smaller man took a
step away from him, but he persisted, reaching down to grab Henry’s hand before
he could evade. The moment Arik touched Henry, all the panic and fear the man
was feeling became crystal clear. Arik was careful to give nothing away as he
walked back to his seat besides Skylar, but he made eye contact with Matt
Malloy, putting the commander of the Strike Force Team on guard.

Commander Jessup sat next to
Serra, but the three doctors sat down at the far end of the table, away from
everyone else. Astrid nervously tapped her fingers on the table before
speaking. “I’m sorry. Catherine and Commander Jessup told us you wanted to
speak with us, but I don’t understand what this is all about.”

Skylar’s eyebrow rose. “Didn’t
Dr. Whitmer-Fields explain to you why we are here?”

Catherine shifted in her chair.
“I didn’t see a need, as I told Commander Archer what I knew. Honestly, I
didn’t really think you would bother to come here to speak with us personally.”

Skylar’s bullshit radar went
crazy as she watched the older woman rub her temples. “What’s the matter, Doc?
Headache?”

At Catherine’s curt nod, Henry
leaned forward in his chair. “I think we should postpone this meeting until
later when Dr. Whitmer-Fields is feeling better.”

Astrid placed a hand on his arm
as if to calm him. “I’m sorry. We’ve been working non-stop and haven’t slept in
about twenty hours. Of course we want to help, but I’m sure whatever this is
about can wait until we have all gotten some rest.”

“Sleep is going to have to wait,”
Skylar said briskly. “Why the accelerated timetable on your project, doctors?
What’s the rush?”