Invaded (30 page)

The travel band around her wrist buzzed an alert. It was time to board the transport
and face the long, nauseating journey home. She swiped beneath her eyes and dried
her tears. At least she
couldn’t feel any worse.

Cara was eating those words the next morning as she hugged her chamber’s toilet receptacle
and dry-heaved for the umpteenth time. She coughed and retched in vain, having
long ago emptied the contents of her stomach.

Groaning, she wiped her mouth on her tunic sleeve, cursing herself for not visiting
the infirmary yesterday. She had hoped to overcome speed sickness—supposedly, the
whole thing was
psychological—but to hell with it. Next time she’d ask for an injection the instant
she stepped aboard the ship.

Wait.

She froze with her head above the toilet rim. There wouldn’t
be
a next time, would there? Cara’s stomach turned heavy and sank in a way that had
nothing to do with nausea.
This was her last voyage. She’d never again explore the wonders beyond Earth’s stratosphere,
never catalog her discoveries on the colony or learn what creatures skittered beneath
the
crashing waves. That was almost as depressing as losing Aelyx.

Almost.

But she couldn’t think about that now, not if she wanted to survive the day. Pushing
the dark thoughts from her head, she crawled to the wall, then used it to right herself.
Once standing,
she made her way into the hallway and hugged the corridor railing until she made it
to the infirmary. She didn’t expect to find Jaxen inside waiting for her.

“It took you long enough.” Jaxen smiled, shaking his head at her. “A less stubborn
girl would have taken the injection before departure.”

Cara slogged past him and collapsed onto the steely table, grateful to find it pre-warmed.
She ignored Jaxen and glanced at the medic, a senior she recognized as one of Elle’s
classmates.
“Speed sickness,” Cara said in L’eihr. “I’m deyhdr—”

“Oddly, your stubbornness has always appealed to me,” Jaxen interrupted. “It shows
mental fortitude.” He turned to the medic and locked eyes with the girl. After a few
seconds of Silent Speech, the medic nodded and began gathering supplies.

“What did you tell her?” Cara eyed him suspiciously. Knowing Jaxen, he’d ordered the
medic to slip her a roofie.

“Nothing of concern.” He gestured toward the girl, who filled a syringe with milky-colored
fluid. “Simply to administer the standard antiemetic drug, followed by
electrolytes.”

The medic wasted no time in carrying out Jaxen’s commands. Cara gritted her teeth
when the needle pierced her skin, but relief was instantaneous and definitely worth
the pain. The roiling
inside her stomach stilled, allowing her to drink a vial of syrupy fluid. Within the
span of five minutes, she felt human again.

Cara hopped down from the table, keeping hold of the ledge until her legs proved seaworthy.
Or rather, spaceworthy. When her knees held firm, she thanked the medic and took a
step toward the
door, but then her brain spun a double pirouette, forcing her to clutch the wall.

Whoa.

Was it her imagination, or had the floor just tilted thirty degrees? She blinked a
few times, and suddenly she was in Jaxen’s arms. He scooped her up like a bride and
strode into the
hallway as if the ship hadn’t done a reverse barrel roll.

“What just happened?” Cara rested her head against Jaxen’s chest. The act was too
intimate for her liking, but her neck muscles had gone slack and left her no choice.

“I also told the medic to administer a sleep aid,” Jaxen confessed as he carried her
toward her room. “Clearly, you need rest.”

Oh, God. He
had
slipped her a roofie!

After all the years she’d waited for the right time to play her v-card, she was going
to lose it to a creeper like Jaxen? Hell, no. She tried to scream for help, but all
she could manage
was a garbled slur.

Think, Cara. Don’t panic!

She closed her eyes for a moment to focus, and when she opened them again, she was
lying on her cot with Jaxen kneeling by her side. Panic flashed through her, but a
quick inventory revealed her
uniform was still intact, all the way down to her boots. She released a sigh of relief.
Maybe she’d overreacted.

Jaxen covered her with a blanket and sat on the edge of her mattress. “Sleep well,”
he whispered. She felt a pinch at her wrist and glanced down to find a flash of silver
and blood.
Then Jaxen swiped at the wound with something resembling a fountain pen before tucking
it inside his tunic pocket.

What just happened? Had he given her another shot?

Cara didn’t ponder the question much longer. Her twenty-pound eyelids slid shut, and
she drifted into a dark, dreamless sleep.

Aelyx used a sweater sleeve to dry his dewy forehead. He hadn’t felt this nervous
since his
Sh’ovah
hearing at age fifteen, when the Aegis panel had
debated for an hour before finally deeming him worthy of the sacred rite of passage.
Tonight, the cool spring breeze did nothing to halt beads of sweat from forming along
his upper lip. Aelyx
scrubbed away the moisture while staring at the shuttle’s hangar door, cast in shadows
from the setting sun.

Any minute now…

David stood back ten paces, leaning against the armored car to give Aelyx some room
when he greeted Cara. But he shook his head in sympathy and shouted, “Dude, chill.
You look like your
heart’s about to explode.”

That’s precisely how Aelyx felt.

The week had practically gone in reverse waiting for Cara to arrive. Now she was here—finally—a
mere twenty yards away with nothing separating them but the thin metal walls of the
hangar. But he didn’t know what to do when she stepped outside. Should he run to meet
her and sweep her into his arms? Hold back and give her some space? These past few
months, they’d
spent more time apart than they’d ever spent together. Cara might need a period of
readjustment. But he only had one night with her before the military whisked her away
to Midtown, where
she’d stay until the alliance ceremony.

And Aelyx had high hopes for tonight.

He brushed back his hair, not yet long enough for a ponytail, and smoothed the wrinkles
from his sweater. He’d worn the cream-colored pullover Cara had always liked, paired
with the jeans
she’d once said made his posterior look “crazy hot.” Ironically, she would be wearing
the L’eihr uniform, their roles reversed. He didn’t care if she was dressed in a
hemp sack; he simply wanted her near.

The hangar door swung open and a group of passengers filed outside, mostly uniformed
soldiers and the shuttle crew. Aelyx’s eyes moved over them until they settled on
a cap of braided red
hair. He locked on to Cara’s blue gaze, and his heart gave a painful leap. It took
all his strength to stand in place and not bolt across the tarmac, knocking down the
soldiers in his path
like bowling pins.

Cara’s smile was timid, her gaze unsteady as she strode toward him and fidgeted with
the strap of her shoulder bag. When she reached him, she stopped just outside his
personal space,
blushing and clearing her throat.

Aelyx extended his hand and recited the same words he’d used during their introduction
last fall. “
Cah
-ra, your name is the Irish word for friend. I hope you and I will be
great friends.” Funny how last year he hadn’t meant it. Now Cara was his whole world.

Her lips curved into a warm smile. She placed her tiny palm inside his and gave it
a hearty shake. “Your name means ‘son of Elyx,’ which doesn’t give me much to work
with, but it’s nice to meet you, too.”

“Get over here.”

With a rough tug, he sent her colliding into his chest, then wrapped both arms around
her waist to crush their bodies together. She relaxed into him and rested her cheek
near his shoulder, then
made a sound of contentment that was satin to his ears. Sacred Mother, she felt so
good, all soft curves and heat, the sweet scent of her hair filling his space with
oranges and cloves.

When she tipped her ivory face toward his, he brushed her mouth in a gentle kiss.
He took her lips tentatively at first, just a light, inviting sweep that let her set
the pace. She rose onto her
toes and hooked her arms around his neck, then tilted her head and ratcheted up the
passion by a thousand blistering degrees. She kissed him like he was a soldier heading
to war, never to return.
It went on for several heart-pounding minutes until their breathing turned choppy
and they broke for air.

“Gods,” he said with a groan. “I missed you.”

Clutching his sweater, Cara panted and licked her swollen lips. “Me, too.”

“Show me.” Aelyx took her face in his hands, relaxing his focus to experience her
rush of sentiment for him. He had to feel it; he craved it more than he could stand.

Cara shook her head, glancing around them in an unspoken message that there were too
many witnesses to risk Silent Speech. Then a mischievous twinkle gleamed in her eyes.
“Take me to the
penthouse, and I’ll show you a lot more than that.”

His lips parted while a jolt of excitement lit him up inside. Did that mean what he
thought it meant? Was she finally ready? He lifted his brows in a question.

“We only have ten hours together until I leave again,” Cara said in a voice that made
her intentions clear. “I can think of better ways to spend our time than kissing in
the
parking lot. How fast can you get me to your place?”

The answer: twenty-three minutes and thirty-seven seconds, a new land speed record
set by David, for which Aelyx was infinitely grateful.

In an epic display of restraint, Aelyx managed to keep his hands to himself long enough
to get Cara behind his bedroom door, and then it was a free-for-all as they clawed
at each other in an
unchecked compulsion to get closer. They stole clumsy kisses while tugging off shirts
and shoes, pants and socks, tossing their clothes to the floor in a haphazard trail
toward their final
destination.

Once there, they fell to the bed in a tangled heap.

The sensation of Cara’s body beneath him, her heated skin fused to his own, was the
purest form of pleasure Aelyx had ever known. He didn’t think it could possibly feel
any better,
but then she used her hands to explore him, sparking to life a thousand nerve endings
that had once lain dormant.

He touched her, too, discovering the secret places that made her breath catch and
her muscles tense. It was heaven. Lacing their fingers together, he pinned both hands
above her head, then
whispered against her lips, “You still have the implant, right?”

She drew a shuddering breath and nodded, so flushed and beautiful it almost hurt to
look at her. “You won’t get me pregnant.”

“And you’re sure this is what you want?”
Gods, please let her say yes.
If she changed her mind now, the pressure building inside his body might actually
cripple
him.

Cara squeezed their linked hands. Her face glowed with the certainty he’d hoped for.
“I’m sure, and I love you. I want you to know that.”

He nuzzled the tip of her nose and murmured, “Show me.” He wanted to connect with
her on every level, body and mind, to share their sensations and create a unified
memory. Their
first time together might not be perfect, but it was theirs.

But instead of meeting his gaze, Cara slid her mouth over his throat and wrapped both
legs around his hips. He tried to catch her eye, but with each attempt, she arched
and shifted against him
while hiding her face. Aelyx kept her hands fixed on either side of the pillow and
rose onto his knees, beyond her reach.

“Why won’t you look at me?” he asked.

Cara squinted her eyes shut, shaking her head. “Not now. After, okay?”

Something was clearly wrong. Cara had rarely shied away from Silent Speech.

“What’s the matter?” he asked. “What aren’t you telling me?”

Slowly, she opened one eye, then the other, but stared at his exposed chest instead
of his face. “Nothing. I just want one perfect night with you. After everything we’ve
been
through, don’t you think we deserve it? Let’s talk in the morning.”

Aelyx didn’t like the way that sounded. The desperation in her voice implied this
“perfect night” would be their
only
night. He reminded her of what she’d told
him months ago when he’d struggled to reveal his own secrets. “If we can’t be honest
with each other, we’re no more than strangers.”

She met his gaze, pleading with her eyes. “I want to be with you. Please? I swear
I’ll tell you everything after—”

“No,” he insisted. “Or I won’t be able to stop thinking about it.” When she hesitated,
he promised, “You can trust me.”

She sank into the pillow as if to disappear. “I’m afraid you’ll hate me.”

Hate her? Fear snaked its way up the length of Aelyx’s body and settled in his heart.
“Did you meet someone else? At the Aegis?”

“No, nothing like that.”

“
Elire
, you have to show me, or I’ll imagine the worst.”

After several long seconds, she gave a resigned nod and locked her watery blue eyes
with his. A single tear spilled down her temple, disappearing into her hair as she
opened her mind to him.
Aelyx lowered to his elbows and peered deep inside, holding his breath in cold fear.
When he felt the swelling of her love for him like a billow of heat inflating his
lungs, he sighed in
relief.

But right on the heels of relief came a chill of dread.

Now he understood what she had tried so hard to hide. Cara had changed her mind about
the colony. He would return to L’eihr after the alliance ceremony, but she planned
to stay behind. The
certainty within her was almost tangible. Cara was no happier on L’eihr than he was
on Earth.

Which meant they couldn’t be together.

When Aelyx had first learned to play sticks, an older clone had knocked him flat on
his back to the unforgiving ground. More than pain, Aelyx remembered the panic of
not being able to breathe.
He’d opened his mouth and gaped for air, his eyes bulging and face throbbing for what
seemed like an hour. He felt that way now, breathless and aching and utterly terrified.