He laughed.
Probably accurate
.
“From what I learned after basic training, it was definitely accurate. To say that they were shocked when I was good at it was an understatement. When it became apparent that I could also manipulate the auras, they were flabbergasted. Sorry, Terran word. It means really, really shocked.”
I see. So, have you taken lovers since you have joined the Citadel?
She blushed. “Uh, no. There have been those who were interested but none that I have taken up on their offers.”
Good. I do not know how I would have reacted if you had said yes. I have a rather possessive streak where you are concerned.
Avina cleared her throat. “You do?”
I do. I would not have regained my living form for anyone else. I have been waiting for a woman with your energy pattern for my entire life. I looked forward to each and every summoning. Your mind called to mine in the most amazing ways.
She laughed. “A man after my mind. That is a switch.”
I strive for originality.
Avina settled back and started to fill him in on the goings on of the Alliance. It was a pleasant way to pass the time, and if she chose, she didn’t even have to open her mouth.
Reset came in every four hours for a breathing sample and another shot. “Fast recovery. We are delighted to hear it.”
“We?”
“The base at large. General Brodin is fussing and ordering you to be kept comfortable at all costs.” Reset winked.
Utolian was laughing silently.
What did you do?
They want me to join the Sector Guard. I said I would not do it without you, so they are attempting to wheedle you from the Citadel. I am guessing that the negotiation is heated.
Oh, for the love of…
“Having a quiet chat?” Reset finished her measurements of Avina’s vitals before she exited and removed her mask before Avina could answer.
Avina raised her voice. “Can you run some scans on his body when it isn’t occupied?”
Reset waved a hand scanner. “Already ahead of you. It seems completely inert.”
I object to her calling it an
it
. I put a lot of detail into every inch of my body.
It
is definitely male.
She wasn’t insulting you, but it is hard to speak of a body without a soul or aura in it as him or her.
Fair enough, as long as you remember I am male. I would have switched genders if I had to, but since I didn’t, I am very pleased. I never got to use the same form twice before.
Glad I could help you recycle.
She snorted and then spent the next half hour explaining recycling. He couldn’t seem to grasp the idea of not making everything out of compostable materials the first time around.
She had no answer for him, so they lapsed into silence. Avina yawned and rubbed her eyes. She settled on her bunk and smiled. “I think I am more tired than I believed I was.”
I will watch over you while you rest.
I knew you would. Good night.
She felt his hand stroke her hair, but it was merely the energy trace. His body was outside the quarantine and it was better for all concerned. She really wasn’t up to dealing with the physical him at close quarters.
She woke warm, comfortable and held in his arms. Avina grumbled, “How did you get in here?”
“I begged Reset, and she got tired of hearing me. She had her mate shove me inside, and I will be serving out the rest of your sentence with you.”
He stroked her shoulder, and she shivered. The thin robe was no barrier to his touch.
Worried, she glanced toward the plexi, but a thick, dark curtain had been erected.
“Reset insisted that you be allowed a little privacy. Well, she said something about me being indecorous or something. It was muttered under her breath.”
“Well, she needn’t have worried. Nothing is going to happen. How are you even fitting on this bed?” She wrinkled her nose.
“Oh, if you feel around carefully, you are on top of me.” He sounded obnoxiously perky.
Avina closed her eyes as the solid warmth under her now made sense. She really didn’t wake up easily, darn it.
“How much longer am I going to be in here?”
“Eighteen hours. Reset sedated you because you were not tolerating the confinement well. I believe it was also why she was willing to finally let me in. She thought I would distract you.”
Avina tried to sit up, but he held her fast. “You are certainly doing that. Now, let me up or you are going to have a bit of a fight on your hands.”
He sat up and released her. “Off you go.”
She wrinkled her nose, smoothed her medical wrap and made her way to the lav. It was tempting to consider hiding in the lav for the next eighteen hours, but the idea of the tiny space was worse than facing Utolian at close quarters. She stood through a solar shower and crept back into the quarantine area just in time to see Reset enter with her ubiquitous tray.
Reset had her navy hair in a braid today, and she slung it back over one shoulder. “Morning, Avina. How have you been doing?”
“I just woke up.”
Avina was less than gratified when Reset looked nervous. Apparently, her morning temper was legendary. She took the tube and exhaled into it while Reset used the hypo.
Her physician checked the readout and smiled. “You are clear. I am keeping you here for the remainder of the day, though. Just to be on the safe side.”
There was a sly look on Reset’s features. Avina grimaced. “What are you up to?”
“Oh, nothing. The Citadel is demanding your return and the Sector Guard is pushing a requisition for your services through. The Citadel may think it is good at paperwork, but they have nothing on Relay.”
“You mean they are fighting over Utolian.” Avina was confused.
“No, it is your services they are after. He won’t work for us without you and that is a price we are willing to accept.” Reset shrugged, took the tray and headed for the door.
“So, you are keeping me here…”
“Because, if you return to the Citadel, they will dispatch you on a mission, and we will have to wait for you to return. With the Citadel knowing what we are up to, it is unlikely that will happen anytime soon.”
Reset whisked her way out of the room a moment before Avina got to the point where she had been standing. Her fists thudded against the protective curtain over the glass.
Her pacing was brought to a halt when two arms came around her.
“Is life as my partner so bad?” His lips were next to her ear and her back was against his chest.
“You could have asked.” It was a sullen mumble, and she knew it.
“You have pulled me out, put me through my paces and stuffed me back in that box for years. I think I am entitled to a few demands.” His arms were around her in a warming hug.
She started to relax against him before she remembered the histories she had read. “What about when you go on to your next fascination? I have read up on your habits, and while I am sure that some are exaggerated, there is a grain of truth in all of them.”
“My past was another body. This one has been created for you and only you. No other being has touched it aside from the medical team.”
Avina blinked and settled against him. “It doesn’t make this easier. I am not someone to be given away.”
He turned her in his arms. “You aren’t being given, I am being bribed and you are the only thing I want. You were already under contract to the Citadel, now you will be transferred to the Sector Guard.”
“Why can’t you transfer to the Citadel?”
“Because to them, I am an object to study; to the Sector Guard, I can be an asset, an agent.”
His eyes were the same solid black they had been when he was an aura, but she could read the emotion in them. He was eager for something new and very calm about his status. He knew what was waiting for him if he left the Guard base.
She sighed and pressed her forehead to his chest. “Will you hold me until they let me out of here?”
“It would give me the greatest pleasure.”
She laughed, “You have been in that orb for a long time.”
He stroked a hand down her back and patted her butt. “I still remember the basics.”
Avina leaned back. “Oh, honey, I am far from basic.”
Aura and Speaker were shown to their on-base housing the moment that Reset lifted the quarantine.
Speaker kept running her hands over her new uniform. “Does this pattern make my butt look big?”
“No more than mine does. I like it. It is very comfortable. That bodysuit you gave me was a little tight.”
Speaker laughed. “It wasn’t designed for your dimensions. You managed.”
“I did, but my new body was in danger of being useless to you in all but a battle capacity.”
“Is that your version of flirting?”
“I am a little out of practice.” He wrapped an arm around her waist and leaned in to nibble on her ear.
“Now? You want to do this now?”
“What better time? We have privacy, a home of our own and guaranteed no assignments for the next day and a half. Your ship is still under repair.”
He was understating it. With their assignment to Sector Guard Base Teklan, the ship had been bought from the Citadel and was getting a complete refit.
Avina ran over the options in her mind. It was the last piece of the puzzle. She could feel him when he crossed the room, walked up behind her or was even thinking about her. He did that a lot.
During their confinement, he had shared moments from his past and she had returned the favour. They were now bonded as partners in an indefinite contract, signed and sealed by three Guardsman witnesses. There was no one for her but him, and he had made it clear that he felt the same.
He kept his arm around her waist and coaxed her through the home and into the bedroom. It appeared that not only the suits had been made to fit them precisely, the colours were the same misty grey and blues that made up their suits and the bed was at least seven feet long and just as wide.
“Hm. I may lose you in there. You will have to stay close.”
She chortled and put her hands on the closure of his suit, easing it open. “I promise to say close if you promise to take it slow.”
He blinked, and the smile that crossed his features was feral.
She wasn’t sure, but she thought she saw his teeth visibly sharpen as she stared. It must have been a trick of the light.
She stopped thinking when he carefully pressed his lips to hers. His hands worked at her suit while she worked at his, and when they were both naked from the waist up, it became rounds of touching and tasting.
His skin reminded her of honey and musk. It was a strange combination, but she enjoyed it. The blue tinge flushed to a deeper purple where she kissed and sucked at his skin.
Utolian was busy on his own, cupping her breasts, stroking her nipples and waiting his turn to apply his lips to her skin. He slowly backed her to the bed and pressed her into the sitting position. With a smooth move, he lifted her legs and tipped her back, peeling the bodysuit from her with gentle jerks.
When he lowered her legs to the bed, she laughed. He was hopping on one foot as he removed his own uniform completely. His erection was full, long and it curved dramatically upward. She licked her lips, but he eased her back and lowered himself against her, covering her completely.
Avina groaned happily at the full contact. Utolian smiled and pressed another kiss to her lips, gradually working her into a frenzy as he kissed, licked and nibbled at her mouth.
Once she was as enthusiastic as he was, he left her mouth and kissed his way down her neck, across her shoulders and down to her breasts. The hard suction that came without warning made her break the silence with a shriek. A heavy throb answered between her thighs. Despite her surprise, her body knew what to do when he repeated it on the other nipple.
Her hips shimmied against his belly, twisting restlessly. As he worked down her torso, nibbling at her ribs, lapping at her belly and easing himself between her thighs, she pulled at his hair, trying to bring him up to where she could convince him to come inside her.
He lifted his head, pulled her hands out of his hair and pinned them next to her hips with his fingers woven through hers.
Avina watched as he shifted, widening the part of her thighs with his chest. He might have been out of practice, but he hadn’t forgotten a thing as he used his tongue to explore her, one lap at a time.
She lifted her hips to meet his slow caresses and despite her gasps and whines, he didn’t increase his speed. Her climax surged through her, rocking her body against his mouth, she clenched her fingers against his and held tight. He continued his slow lapping from her opening to her clit, and she sobbed when the light caresses continued her aftershocks.
Avina tried to move away from him, but he was firmly pinning her in place. “Stop.”
“Why? You are enjoying it.”
“It is a little…it is hard to explain, but it borders on pain.”
He pulled away. “I am sorry.”
“It wasn’t a bad pain, but it goes from pleasure to irritation in seconds. It will be fine in a few minutes.”
He sighed in relief and sat up on his heels. “Then, I will do what cannot irritate you.”
She didn’t have time to ask what it was.
He glowed. From head to foot, he glowed and anywhere their skin touched, electric heat rippled into her. He released her hands and stroked her cheeks, ran his thumb over her lips and tapped her nose with one finger. Every place he touched lit up with excited energy.
Her arousal ratcheted up beyond where she thought that climax was inevitable, but she was still held at bay with the slow increase of sensation until her entire body was throbbing and she was clutching at Utolian’s shoulders, trying to pull him down to her.
He pulled her up instead.
He lifted her and fitted the head of his cock to her, easing her down carefully; her wet sex took him eagerly. The slow slide wasn’t enough to tip her over the edge, but as he settled her on top of his thighs, she held tight to him and rocked against him. Four slow shifts of her hips and she looked up at him with wide eyes as the energy that he had placed inside her skin came roaring out.