The Choosing (The Pruxnae Book 1) (23 page)

“Every…” He blew
out a breath. “You don’t have to.”

She laughed and
scooted down, trailing kisses over his chest, licking, sucking, nipping his
skin with her sharp, white teeth. Her hand slid up his erection and her thumb
rubbed across the moisture gathered on its tip, and his hips shot off the bed
into her touch. “Alna said you had to spill into me. She didn’t say where.”

“By Wode, Ziri,
are you trying to kill me?”

“No, Ryn. I’m
trying to love you.”

Love
. His heart
tripped over itself and thudded against his sternum. It was too much to hope
for, too much to ask, but there she was, performing such an intimate act, he
would never have asked it of her, no matter how much he wanted it.

And he wanted,
her mouth and hands, her body, her mind, her sweet laughter and light. Her
tongue flicked into his navel, in and out, mimicking the way he longed to love
her, and he moaned as desire tautened his muscles and his skin tingled. Ziri.
He wanted Ziri, had since the day she’d turned her smiling face into the sun
and he’d decided to take her.

And now she was
so close to being his, it was almost a fact. Three times he had to spill into
her, and if what she said was true, the first time would be in her perfect
mouth.

Her fingernails
scraped along the skin between his navel and his erection. “Do you like this?”

His breath
whooshed out of him. “Do you really need to ask?”

She laughed
again, and then her mouth skidded down his skin and engulfed him, sucking him
into her sweet beauty. Her tongue laved the knob of his erection, teasing the
slit at its head, and her fingers slid up and down the length of his shaft,
harder, faster. He fought to keep his hips still, wanted so much to enjoy her
touch as long as she wanted to taste him, but he was too close. The heat
licking along his skin morphed into a raging inferno, consuming him so quickly,
he only had time to gasp her name before it broke over him and he came in her
mouth. His seed lashed across her tongue over and over again, and she swallowed
him down, lapping up every single piece of him, exactly the way she’d said she
would.

Ziri crawled up
Ryn’s body and stretched out on top of him, a satisfied smile on her face. He’d
been helpless under her touch and so responsive, she hadn’t been able to hold
back. How could she when his hips arched and his muscles tautened under her
fingers, and he’d gasped her name again and again as he spilled into her mouth?

Ryn’s breaths
panted out of his chest across her cheek and he swallowed hard. “I’m doing that
to you as soon as I catch my breath.”

She skimmed her
fingers along his sweat-soaked skin, just because she could, because he was
hers now and it pleased him to be touched, and her to touch him. “You don’t
have to.”

“Yes, I do, a
lot.” He skimmed his hands up her ribs and wrapped his arms around her. “And
you’ll beg me to let you come, I swear, and I will. When it suits me.”

She laughed and
kissed the side of his neck. “I’ll remember that the next time.”

“Next time?
Tyornin’s hammer, Ziri, I barely survived the first time.”

Her laughter
morphed into giggles.
This
is what she’d missed, the gentle teasing, the
comfort of his presence, the knowledge that no matter what happened, he’d be
there waiting to catch her, the way he’d been before he’d left with Gared.

And she could
love him, was so close to it she could almost feel it, and she was sure he felt
the same way. If he didn’t, would it have hurt him so badly to know another man
had kissed her? No, surely not. Ryn closed himself off from the world sometimes,
but nobody could close off feelings that strong. He was going to love her, just
as she was going to love him, and they’d build a life together. She sighed and
snuggled closer to him. Yes, they’d build exactly the life she’d always dreamed
of, working side by side, having a family, and always, there would be love.

Her computer
chimed a harsh, insistent alert, startling her. She pushed off of Ryn,
scrambled across the mattress, and tapped the darkened screen. A red,
holographic disembodied head popped into the air above the computer. Though
Ziri had never seen one in person before, its computerized form was easily
recognizable to anybody who’d studied the history of humanity’s spread across
the galaxy. It was the hairless, androgenized head of a Net telepath, one of
the mysterious guardians of the information network used by most of the
civilized species in the galaxy. They never appeared unless something terrible
had happened, or was about to.

“Ziri Mokuru,”
the head said, its digital voice flat and neutral. “You are listed as missing,
presumed dead, high priority alert. Contact Tersi Prime immediately with your
whereabouts or risk permanent disconnection from the network.”

The head wavered
and popped out of existence, and Ziri’s heart leapt into her throat. She tapped
the screen again, zipping through information windows, and opened her mail.
Message after message appeared on the tablet, from her parents, from relatives
and friends, and a small letterbox scrolled across the lower portion of her
screen, a news feed. Tersi attacked. Hostile aliens suspected. Thousands dead.
Power outages and communication disruptions and destruction on the scale of a
once-in-a-century violent weather event.

Ziri sank into
the bed, her eyes glued to the screen. “Onu’s breath.”

Ryn knelt behind
her, surrounding her with his strength. “What is it, Ziri?”

“My parents.
Tersi.” She swallowed down the horror clawing at her throat and tapped open a
message from her parents. “An alien attack.”

His arms
tightened around her. “When?”

She shook her
head, sent a quick message to her parents letting them know where she was and
that she was ok, and opened the first news vid she found. It had gone live less
than a week ago, but it was just a recap of the attack and recovery efforts.
Ziri listened to it anyway, gleaning as much information as she could, then dug
deeper into the Net, searching for the exact date of the attack. Eventually,
she stumbled across a vid taken the day of the attack, and what she saw there
stole the warmth from every cell in her body.

“Sweepers.” She
hissed in a breath and twisted around, facing Ryn. “Three days after you took
me, maybe less. They hit mostly outlying settlements, but the damage seems to
be widespread.”

He cupped her
jaw and touched his forehead to hers. “Your parents?”

“They sent
messages after it happened, so maybe they’re ok. I don’t know.”

“What did the
Net guardian say?”

Her mouth
opened, closed, and she shook her head again. “Right, sorry. I forgot for a
second that you don’t speak Tersii. It said I was reported missing and that I
need to contact Tersi.”

“Do that while I
get a meal together.”

“Ryn.” She
caught one of his hands and met his gaze. “I want to go home. I need to see
what’s happened for myself.”

“I know, Ziri.
Don’t worry. As soon as we eat, I’ll clear the
Yarinska
for take-off. We
can leave tonight.”

“We can’t leave
yet. We haven’t even had time to load the first piece of cargo.”

He turned his
hand over and grasped hers, comforting her with his raw strength and the
determination glittering in his dark eyes. “It’s more important for you to get
back. We can take the cargo another trip.”

“No, we need
that cargo now. Not just for us, Ryn, for Tersi.” Her gaze slid to the news vid
looping into repeat on her computer. “They’ll need that wood to rebuild.”

He inhaled a
sharp breath. “It’ll take at least two days to fill the hold and another four
or five days shipboard to make it there.”

“I know,” she
said softly. “I’ll try to make a direct connection with my parents, let them
know where I am and when I’ll be home. I…”

Her voice failed
her, lost in the storm of sorrow rising out of the depths of her heart. Had
Arden Hollow been hit, the nearby towns? Were her friends ok? Were Mag and Book
Ends and the master potter and…?

Ryn bent and
captured her mouth with his, kissing her gently. “No worrying. There’s nothing
you can do until we get there.”

She nodded,
accepted another kiss, clinging to him. He was right. Worrying wouldn’t get her
home faster. It wouldn’t solve the problems Tersi faced and it wouldn’t
reassure her parents of her safety. Ryn dressed and slipped out of the room,
and she set up a vid link with her parents. Nobody answered on their end, but
she refused to let it bother her. Maybe the satellites were still down or maybe
her parents were away from their connection to the Net.

She flipped
through pre-programmed apps and options, automatically set for her local
language and home world based on the set-up information she’d provided. Thank
Onu she’d taken the time to enter it into the computer before Ryn had driven
her into Hrelum that morning. Otherwise, the Net guardian would never have
tracked her down and forwarded the alert to her, and they would’ve arrived on
Tersi unprepared for the damage.

She found the
right Net address, contacted Tersi’s main diplomatic office with a message that
she was alive and well, then copied the message and sent it to the primary,
planet-wide law enforcement agency, just in case.

In spite of her
intentions, worry knotted low in her gut and a queasy ache roiled through her. What
if her parents weren’t ok? What if they’d automated the messages and something
had happened since, and one of them was badly hurt? And Ryn had tried to
contact them, too. Why hadn’t they answered?

She yanked on
the first set of clothes her hands landed on, one of Ryn’s sweaters and a pair
of work pants he’d scrounged for her, and carried her tablet into the cabin’s
main room. Ryn was at the sink scrubbing vegetables, his broad shoulders encased
in a near twin to the sweater she was wearing. Her heart thumped hard and her
lower lip trembled. She didn’t have to face this alone. With Ryn by her side,
she never had to face anything alone again.

* * *

It took every
bit of the two days Ryn had thought it would to fill the
Yarinska
’s hold
and ready it for departure. He and Ziri packed bags and slept on board, leaving
the care of their home and farmstead to the capable hands of his second
parents.

Ziri contacted
the passengers they’d originally agreed to ferry to other worlds on their
journey to Tersi and helped them make other arrangements for travel while cargo
was loaded and a fleet of mechanics gave the
Yarinska
a pre-flight
shakedown. As soon as Tyelu found out about the attack on Tersi, she insisted
on going with them. Ryn pulled her aside and warned her not to irritate Ziri,
not now, but couldn’t figure out why she wanted to go in the first place. She
refused to give her reasons, and he finally quit trying to pry them out of her.

Others were more
open. On the evening before their scheduled liftoff, Enel tracked Ryn down at
the spaceport outside Hrelum, travel bag in hand. He met Ryn’s hard gaze
evenly. “Sigun asked me to represent Abyw in trade negotiations.”

Ryn flagged down
a passing mechanic and handed the job of checking the
Yarinska
’s landing
gear off to her, then pulled Enel aside. “We could’ve handled that.”

“We’re looking
to trade more than wood, Ryn. Abyw needs women and soon, or the Pruxnæ will die
out. We’re just not getting enough in the raids to keep pace with the number of
boys born. Our population is starting to dwindle to a dangerous low. You know
this.” Enel shook his shaggy head and glanced away. “I want another family. I
want a wife to mother my son and a chance at having daughters. I want my son to
be able to find a wife born on Abyw, not have to risk his life in a raid
halfway across the galaxy.”

Ryn fished a
spare rag out of a pocket of his coveralls and wiped grease and dirt off his
hands. “And you think you’ll find these women on Tersi.”

“Their
population was already unbalanced before the attack. Ziri told me so, how it
was getting harder and harder for women to find mates, and now with so many men
killed?” Enel shrugged his broad shoulders. “There have to be women willing to
resettle on Abyw for a chance at a good, stable life. We’d like to offer that
to them.”

Ryn tucked the
rag back into his pocket and crossed his arms over his chest. “This isn’t just
an excuse to get close to Ziri and challenge me for her?”

“She chose you,”
Enel said flatly. “Only a fool would fight a woman’s heart.”

And Enel was no
fool, though Ryn doubted Ziri’s heart was entirely his yet. He jerked his chin
toward the open cargo hatch. “Ziri should be on the bridge, if you want to run
this by her. I’ll get a cabin ready for you.”

“Thank you,
Ryn.”

“Don’t thank me
yet. Ziri manages the
Yarinska
now. You still have to persuade her.”

Enel nodded and
entered the open hatch, winding around cargo pallets weighted down with lengths
of raw wood and seasoned lumber. Ryn followed at a slower pace, detoured
through the living quarters, and selected a cabin for Enel’s use, well away
from Ryn and Ziri’s quarters. He checked the room’s supplies, more to give Ziri
and Enel time to hash out an arrangement than anything. Ziri had already scrubbed
four cabins down from top to bottom in a nervous burst of energy the day
before.

When he was
satisfied he’d given them enough time, Ryn headed toward the bridge and stepped
through the open hatch. Ziri was sitting in the pilot’s chair, her hands
occupied with the scarf she was knitting. Enel sat next to her in the
co-pilot’s chair. They swiveled around when Ryn entered and their quiet
conversation ground to a halt.

Ryn settled himself
next to Ziri, one hip against the side of her chair. “Will we be taking Enel
along with us, beauty?”

Ziri stored her
knitting in its bag and turned a wavering smile on Ryn. “He and Tyrl Sigun have
come up with a way to help both our peoples out. At the very least, I’d like to
give them the opportunity to present it to the premier.”

“It’s a good
proposal, solid,” Enel said. “The women have very little to lose. There’ll be
no Choosing for them to train for. If they can’t find a man within a reasonable
amount of time, Sigun has agreed to pay the bride price himself and return them
to Tersi at his cost.”

“They’ll find
husbands.” Ziri’s hands clenched into fists in her lap and her voice held a
hard note Ryn seldom heard from her. “There’s more, though. I’ve gotten
requests from the women who were taken from Tersi the same day as me. They want
us to check on their families, and two have requested that their families
resettle on Abyw, if they’re willing. I’m trying to figure out how we can
temporarily refit the cargo hold to accommodate them.”

Enel clapped his
palms to his thighs and stood. “I’ll leave you to it, then. If you need me for
anything, Ziri, you know where to find me.”

She stood and
kissed his bearded cheek. “Thank you, Enel. For everything.”

He nodded and
left, and Ziri sank into the pilot’s chair. Ryn dropped into the co-pilot’s
chair and clasped her chilled hands in his. “It sounds like you’ve got a plan.”