Bad Boy Romance: Nick (Romantic Suspense Alpha Male Romance) (New Adult Rock Star Contemporary Short Stories) (Hard Rock Star Series Book 2) (32 page)

The female Hyppo smiled at Umi.
“And you two are bonded now, I see? Does that mean you’re keeping her?”

Caden’s heart pounded and she closed
her eyes part-way.
What?

“That’s up to her, of course,”
Umi said, his voice bashful. “I didn’t know they were sending her with me to be
in my detail, and she didn’t either.”

“Well, Earth only recently
decided to lend us help,” the female Hyppo said. “Most of the cypeople probably
don’t know they’re being reassigned to us.”

“Most of them don’t know
something is wrong on our planet at all,” Umi said, and his tone was dripping
with misery. “They’re coming into the situation totally blind. What if none of them
can really help us? What if we’re only sending them to their deaths?”

“Umi!” The female Hyppo’s tone
was one of admonishment. “You know better than to doubt our predictions. The
High Council is infallible.”

“The High Council is all,” Umi
said, but his words sounded empty and automatic, utterly without feeling. “The
High Council says we’re all helping each other. I feel like we’re all missing
something.” Caden hadn’t heard him sound so bitter before this. It bothered
her.

“That may be,” the female Hyppo
allowed. “But I think that’s a matter for another day. Our soils need to be
replenished. Our people are starving. Our very suns are freezing over. We must
do something.” The Hyppo turned her head and smiled, and Caden’s eyes snapped
shut, but it was too late. “And I think your cyborg is awake.”

Caden opened her eyes as Umi
twisted around to peer through the doorway and into the stark white room. His
face lit up as he smiled, and he slipped into the small room and closed the
door as Caden sat up.

“Are you ok?” he asked, kneeling
before her on the bed. His cerulean eyes were peering into hers, and he took
both of her strong, slim hands in his. “You saved me, Caden.”

“How did we get here?” She felt
no pain as she sat on the foamy mattress, and her hair was unbound around her
shoulders. She let the sheets fall to her waist as she reached forward to press
Umi’s shining face between her palms, and a current of something she couldn’t
quite name passed between them. Her body was naked, but she was healed from the
injuries she knew she should have died from. She slipped her thumb over the
fullness of Umi’s mouth, and he shivered, smiling as she gazed at him in silent
wonder. “How did you save
me?”

“I ran,” he said softly. “When
you ripped out one of its neural sacs, the fluid got all over you and starting
eating through your skeletal frame.” His eyes were dark with fear as he spoke,
and Caden realized she could hear the quick pounding of his hearts. “I ran. You
were screaming, and…I thought I was dying, Caden.” He laughed, and the sound
was bittersweet---like the windchimes she used to see on Earth outside some
houses when she was leaving a patrol to go back to the hub. It made her sad
without quite knowing why. “I was healing you while I ran.”

Caden gasped. “I didn’t know you
could do that.”

Umi’s eyes burned into hers.
“Neither did I.”

The silence stretched between
them, and Caden’s mind burned with questions-- she wanted to ask why he tried
so hard, why he kept running for what must have been two or three hours while
carrying something twice as heavy as he was, how he was even standing up and
conscious, even though it surely couldn’t have been more than half a day since
the meeting had passed. The words were there in her mind, but like earlier, she
found herself answering them as soon as they had been formed—and the answers
were all the same. It was the same reason he had found himself unable to deal
with the idea of leaving her dying body behind if something went wrong, the
same reason that she squared up in front of a beast that very nearly killed
her—the same reason she found herself unable to look or pull away from him now.
She could hear the thudding of his twin hearts, and it was far faster than it
should have been; she began to wonder why, and again the answer came
immediately, and was the same as the others. She felt her lips curl upward
slowly, and saw Umi’s beautiful face light up in response. They—and their
energies-- were entwined, like two separate particles spinning thousands of
micrometers apart in space but still inexplicably bonded together in rhythm.
They had been, ever since their energies mingled and Umi healed her body; it
was the reason for the warm, gently tingling feeling wrapping around her heart,
her sudden clarity in the face of death. She let herself feel it before she
opened her mouth to speak.

“I love you,” Caden whispered.
Umi was silent, and she was afraid she was wrong, and was ready to recoil in
shame; then he surged forward and kissed her, pushing her back onto the bed
with his powerful body as he tore away the sheet from her naked flesh. He knelt
back, and Caden could feel the weight of his gaze taking in her small, tight
breasts, the curve of her stomach, her strong, slim thighs and the shock of
dark hair between them. She saw his eyes brighten until they were almost white,
and her pussy clenched with desire when she saw his cock rise from his curly
green pubic hair, thick and long, as his kilt dropped away.

“I love you, too,” Umi said, and
his voice was rough with desire. Caden spread her legs wide, and her hand moved
to pass over her vulva automatically, relishing how sensitive she was now that
each of her nerve endings and circuits were buzzing with activity. Her lips
were already slick with her juices, and her hips were moving slowly, almost
imperceptibly, against the weight of her hand. Her other hand was pulling on
her nipple, twisting the nub until it puckered and grew erect.

Umi lowered his mouth to her
breast as he pressed the head of his member on her hot, wet opening. He sucked her
nipple between his lips, teasing it with his teeth until Caden cried out in
pleasure, pressing her hips upward in an attempt to pull him inside. He left
her nipple and kissed the soft skin of her neck, raising his eyes to meet her
gaze before he slowly pushed himself into Caden’s wet pussy.

It was like a door opening
inside her--- she could feel the force of his love, his passion, his
unbelievable need to stay inside her as long as he possibly could, and the
desire to make it last forever. Every inch of her velvety walls were being
massaged by Umi’s steely member, and she wrapped her legs around his strong
hips, gasping as he pulsed deep inside her soaking pussy. She gazed at his
gorgeous features as he slowly drew his cock out and rushed back inside, marveling
at the exquisiteness of his expression, even in the throes of passion. His eyes
were glowing softly, moving across her features and lowering to take in the
bounce of her perky breasts as he thrust between her legs. His strokes
intensified, and Caden felt the first stirrings of euphoria start to build in
her core. She wanted to stay like this, being pounded by his beautiful,
powerful body until she couldn’t move or speak from the mind-blowing pleasure.

“Umi,” she moaned deliriously as
his cock moved faster more forcefully inside her. Every stroke brought another
streak of incredible pleasure ripping through her body, and she tried to focus
on meeting his passionate strokes with the motion of her hungry hips.  He
kissed her lips roughly, burying himself as deep inside her as his body would
allow. Caden shrieked in pleasure, wrapping her arms around his broad shoulders
as he thrust against her hips frantically. Her body was starting to tighten
around him, and his moans were growing higher and more frenzied. One of his
hands fisted in her silky red hair, and Caden looked down at his lean body as
he propelled himself between her slick walls, pounding against her g-spot so
hard that the air was sapped from her lungs. His mouth opened, and a low moan
poured over her body like molasses, triggering an orgasm so violent she felt
her nails rake down Umi’s muscular back before she could stop herself.

“Caden!” Her name left Umi’s
lips as a passionate cry, and she felt her walls clench around his thickness as
his cock twitched and spasmed, emptying inside her. He kept thrusting against
her, and his weight rubbed against her swollen clit, provoking another slow
wave of ecstasy that tightened the muscles in her thighs and inner core. She
bucked against him weakly as he kissed her again, and he moaned with
satisfaction. Then he pulled back and slid off of her, and, to her dismay,
found his kilt to dress again.

It seemed wrong to jump back
into action after having such an incredible first time together, but Caden
realized she still hadn’t been debriefed. She pulled the white sheet around
her, watching Umi’s muscled ass disappear behind his green garment. Something
had changed between them; they were both smiling and meeting each other’s eye
far more easily than before.
It’s the bond,
she thought suddenly. It
didn’t seem like that profound a change, but it was there—in the he looked at
her, the way she wanted to be constantly touching him, and the jab of pain in
her heart when she thought about when she might need to leave him again.
This
is love,
she thought, and it surprised her; Caden had assumed love would be
a weakness. A sort of Kryptonite, she liked to think. But it had enabled her to
take down a monster she never thought she could take down while clear-headed.
Love had done that, and it made her happier than she’d ever been; who needed to
be fearless when love could teach you to use it as a weapon?

“What’s next?” Caden mused
aloud.

“Well, now that you’re awake, we
need to go meet with the High Council.” He smiled when she didn’t react, and
Caden blushed. “I take it you overheard us speaking. Lia will be there, and
she’ll explain it better than I can.”

“Is something wrong?” Caden felt
fear trickle into her bloodstream, remembering that she was millions of miles
from homes. “What am I here to do?”

Umi looked embarrassed. “Well,
you’re here to protect me while I help my planet try to stop its impending
doom.” He laughed. “You look surprised now. I’m just kidding. Kind of.”

“Umi, be serious!” Caden stood,
and was satisfied to see that he was very distracted by her naked body. “Eyes
up here.”

His light brown skin took on a
bluish tint, and Caden realized he was blushing. “Sorry. I’m trying to think of
an easy way to explain it before you have to get dressed to meet them.” He paused,
and his eyes closed again as he accessed his memory banks. They opened again a
moment later, and he smiled excitedly.

“Superman’s planet was destroyed
by natural forces? It imploded because of internal forces, and he never knew
his home planet because of it.”

Caden nodded slowly. “This isn’t
making me feel better, Umi.”

“It’s not like this yet,” Umi
said. “There’s at least a handful of ways to stop it. One of those ways
involves going down into the crust of our planet where only machines can go, in
order to destabilize a pocket of energy that is threatening life.” He
hesitated. “But the machines get too hot for us to pilot, and remotes stop
working at a certain distance.” He gazed at her, apparently unwilling to go on.

Caden frowned, wondering what it
was that he wasn’t saying. Then the answer came a moment later. “You need us to
go down for you,” she said slowly. “You need cyborgs to pilot the machines.”

Umi nodded. “But I won’t make
you, or anyone else, do anything you don’t want to. I won’t make anyone do
anything until they’re informed.”

“I’ll help,” Caden said quietly.

“What?” Umi’s voice was laden
with panic. “Caden, it’s dangerous. We don’t even know how dangerous. A cyborg
has never done this, not on this planet.”

Caden smiled impishly at Umi. “You
mean I get boldly go where no cyborg has gone before?”

Umi blinked his lovely
blue-green eyes. “That’s not from comics.”

“Star Trek had comics, too,”
Caden insisted. “That’s not the point. I want to do this.” Her heart was
pounding in her chest, and she took hold of Umi’s hands as she spoke. “I’m
awake now. I can do this. For the first time ever---even though I was created
for a specific task—I feel like I have real purpose.” She pulled him toward her
and kissed him gently, and she felt him soften against her lips. When she
pulled back, he was smiling, too. “Let me do this for you,” Caden said. “Let me
help. I’ll do whatever the council agrees is best in the end. What do you say?”

Umi seemed to battle with his
emotions for a moment, and his eyes closed again. When the opened, they were
clear and decisive. He smiled, and Caden’s hear skipped a beat. “My hero,” he
said, and leaned forward to pull her into his arms.

THE
END

Allie looked down at her worn tennis shoes as her right foot
tapped against the spotless tile of the ship’s cafeteria. She was waiting for
her best friend, Carter, to come back with her lunch so that she could dash
back to her quarters and eat alone before her mission— and not have to talk to
her ex-boyfriend before he came swaggering into the place. Allie knew that
dating a fellow shipmate who was infamous for his emotional side was a bad
idea, but she was willing to risk the fallout considering how good looking he
was. It shouldn’t have been surprising to her that their break-up hadn’t gone
as smoothly as she’d hoped. She even tried to spare his feelings by telling him
the main reason was their incompatibility, even though the truth was that his
strange emotional outbursts were more boring than anything else.

“We fight more than anything else,” she remembered saying to
him in his apartment the month before. Allie was sitting on her couch, staring
pleadingly at Bobby, who was pacing the floor.  “And about pointless things—you
get upset over dry cleaning, and the color blood-orange, and bicycles. I just
can’t be moved by any of those things, and it’s clearly upsetting you. It’s
been half a year, Bobby, and the only time we seem to like each other is during
sex. ”

Bobby had thrown his hands up in exasperation, showcasing
the natural flair for drama Allie had grown so weary of. “That’s because that’s
all you ever want from me! Sex! You’re never interested in my knots! Or my
workouts! Or my model planes!”

Allie resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “I wasn’t
interested in that stuff to begin with, Bobby. I told you we were going to be
more…casual…from the get-go. You got a little too invested. That’s exactly what
I told you not to do.”

But Bobby didn’t want to hear about what he’d promised not
to do, only what he felt he deserved from Allie. Though they were incredibly
physically compatible, she couldn’t find enough common ground to keep the
relationship going for more than six months—and she was unashamed to say that
even this was a triumph. Six months was actually rather long for Allie, who
preferred to keep labels away from her partners, less they try and bind them
together with it, and being in the Navy made this preference even easier.
Deployment was an easy excuse to not get close to someone, and no one bought
this excuse more quickly than other Navy officers—until Bobby.

Now that he was insisting they have a third heart-to-heart,
Allie knew the best course of action was complete avoidance. He wouldn’t be
back from his appointment for another hour—plenty of time to eat and get down
to the bay in time for her own solo submarine mission. As she bounced from foot
to foot, her jet black hair swung from side to side like a horse’s tail, bound
with an elastic tie and still damp from her shower. Finally, Carter pushed open
the door the kitchen’s back entrance and held out a brown paper bag that was
bulging at the seams with goods.

“I threw in a few extra things,” he said in a low voice. “I
know how hungry you chickens get.” He winked his real eye, and his glass eye
twinkled under the fluorescent lights.

Allie smacked him on his beefy arm as he laughed. “I’m not a
chicken! I’d just prefer not to be cried on right now. I didn’t join the Navy
to have my emotions exhausted.”

“No, you joined to you have yourself
physically
exhausted,
and possibly killed.” Carter crossed his arms over his apron and leaned back
against the door, eyeing Allie’s wiry frame nonchalantly. “Have you figured out
what you want to do yet, by the way? About your next go around?”

Dread started to pool at the bottom of her stomach. “No,”
she admitted, and left it at that, hoping Carter wouldn’t press the issue.

But she’d spend so long dodging the subject that he wouldn’t
let it slide. “It’s been two weeks. You’ve always been so decisive about
everything in the past—you know what color toothbrush you want even if there’s
fifty options— yet you’ve let this decision sit this long. What’s changed?”

Allie shrugged. “I guess things are just…different now.”

“Yeah, but what things?” Carter asked.

She shrugged again, but she knew the answer:
she
was
different now. When she’d joined the Navy five years before, no task ever
failed to come with a rush of exhilarating adrenaline and a host of new things
to learn; what was better, this excitement bled over into other areas of her
life, until she was eagerly pushing herself to experience everything to its
maximum potential—and having the time of her life while doing it. No rescue or
retrieval mission was too difficult, because it always brought a rich new
square of experience to add to the quilt of her life. New countries meant new
languages and fresher, bolder cuisines than the ones she’d sampled before. Even
the people she met seemed better than the ones in her old life: kinder, wiser,
more open and honest, beautifully vibrant and unique in a way she’d never
noticed before. But in the last year, she started to realize she was feeling
stuck. The same things that used to move her failed to keep her attention; the
same foods weren’t as flavorful as they’d once been; even sex was different
somehow, less meaningful, less alive. The melancholy mood had, strangely,
coincided with the start of her submarine missions—what should have been an
opportunity to explore a whole new world was now just a bi-monthly chore.

“I guess I just need different things,” Allie said finally.
“I don’t feel fulfilled anymore. I don’t feel challenged. I don’t feel that
rush of excitement, that dizzying high, that…spark.”

Carter laughed. “You sound like you’re breaking up with the
Navy, Allie.”

Allie was shocked to find that it was true; it
did
feel like she was winding up to back away from the whole thing. Had she already
decided for herself? Was this the end of her marriage to the Armed Forces?

She groaned and covered her eyes. “Carter, what’s wrong with
me? I’m literally sent down to the bottom of the ocean twice a month to check
on ancient ruins and potentially dangerous wreckage. It’s the coolest job in
the world. Why don’t I love it? Why isn’t it blowing my mind? Why don’t I want
to do this for the rest of my life?”

Carter moved away from the wall and brought her hands away
from her eyes, holding them in his own as Allie took a deep, shaky breath.
“Maybe you just need some leave. It’s ok to take a break if you’re not ready
to…break away. Then you’ll be ready to make your choice. I know you’re not
going to relax about this, but just trust that the decision will be clear when
it’s time. And then come talk to me, and I’ll tell you that you’re crazy, and
you’ll do it anyway. And everything will be fine.” His blue eyes shone with
love, even though one was a little glassy.

Allie laughed and felt a little of her dread drain away at
her best friend’s reassurance. “Thanks, Carter.” She pulled her hands away and
picked her bag of food up. “I have to get going, though. I have less than an
hour to get down to that sub.”

“Ah, yes, I heard you’re still scouring the seas for the
treasure-strewn Spanish ship. Have fun!”

Allie blew him a kiss and trotted away. She waited until she
rounded a corner to break into a run, letting the sudden sprint relieve a
little of the tension in her long legs. The halls were deserted, so she made it
into her room without a hitch, and it only took her ten minutes to wolf down
her sandwich and the greasy curly fries Carter piled on top. Allie saved the
cookies and stashed the carton of milk in the mini-fridge in her dorm, happy
that her best friend knew her habits so well. Carter had been the closest thing
to a sibling she’d ever had; Allie had grown up the odd girl out, and hadn’t
developed close friends until college. She’d been by Carter’s side since their
second year when he had the surgery to remove the mass in his ocular cavity,
and talked him through his depression when the Navy insisted he take on a
domestic task, and leave active service for the remainder of his time. He
helped her through her first major heartbreak, and helped her stay calm when
she thought a fist-fight might end her three-year Navy career. They’d both been
through a lot in their five years, and he was the main reason Allie wasn’t
considering walking away; without Carter and the stability that being in the
Navy gave her, she didn’t have much reason to be anywhere at all.

I’ve got to try to be more positive about myself,
she
thought as she changed into her submarine gear and slipped on her backpack.
You’re
your own person, you know.
She forced a smile for a shipmate who was
strolling by as she started down the hall to the submarine bay, hoping that her
cheeks didn’t look as stiff as they felt. Allie was used to being seen as odd and
unpopular, but few people ever said she was anything but nice. This had been a
concentrated effort from the eighth grade onward, but by the time she’d
enlisted at the age of 21, Allie’s warm, peaceful nature was so reflexive that
she had to try harder to put people off. Bobby was one of the two people on the
ship who didn’t feel positively about her, and this was more than fine for
Allie; drama was usually refreshing, in fact, except when it was romantic. You
could never make everyone happy, but she would gladly settle for 99 percent.

Her boots clunked against the floor as she finally entered
the loading bay and signaled to the tech and that she was ready to depart.

Collin nodded and pushed his wire frames up the bridge of
his nose. They never seemed to slip, but he always fidgeted with them anyway,
and Allie guessed it was a nervous tic he could never let go of. “Hey, Corporal
Hames. I’m ready to resume mission
Isadora.”

“Hey, Sargent Roberts.” Collin grinned, lighting up when
Allie stopped to log herself in for the mission. She wasn’t sure what she’d
done to endear herself to him, but he seemed to like her, and that meant he
didn’t mind if she took a little extra time to herself. “You’re all set, just
follow protocol to seal the hatch before trying to start up this time.”

Allie felt heat rush to her cheeks, and chuckled weakly.
“Gotcha.” The last time she’d been down to look for the sunken Spanish ship, it
had been the same day she was informed that she could now select from one of
three new positions in the Navy, one of which meant less ship time and more
pay. Allie was so shocked at her sudden invitation for promotion that she’d
bungled the whole take off, and she was delayed for an hour.

Collin seemed to notice he’d embarrassed. “I’m sorry, Ma’am,
I meant no offense.”

She groaned inwardly;
see what happens when you’re not
positive all the time?
  “No, Collin, it’s fine! I’ll be sure to keep my
eyes open this time.”

He laughed, and relief swept over her. Allie walked over to
lower herself into the hatch of her sub, annoyed at her constant urge to
people-please. It was never enough to not offend—she had to make every
interaction the best possible. It was part of the reason constant drama was so
exhausting, but it made life, exhausting too. Sometimes she felt like one of
those wind-up toys—tiny animals in circus hats crashing cymbals or banging on
drums.
Maybe I just need a new battery.

She made sure to pull the hatch tight and seal it before
turning to the control panel of the sub. Allie turned and stowed all of her
materials beneath her seat and strapped herself in tightly, relishing the heavy
sense of peace that always washed over her at the start of submarine missions.
They’d been looking for the
Isadora
for three months, but Allie never
cared especially about the reason they sent her down, just that she was allowed
to man the partially-automatic ship as it crawled the ocean floor, slipping
past the strange and terrifying beauty that lived around the sea floor.

Allie slipped on her communication device, and Collin’s
voice came into the cockpit as the heavy ship started to detach from its dock,
dropping slowly through the crystal blue waters until the engines clicked on
with a faint
hum.
“So, what do you think’s in there?”

Allie smiled; that he’d waited this long to ask about the
ship meant he was specifically asked not to. “I assumed it’s gold, or something
equally valuable. Why else would we care so badly?” The waters around the ship
were darkening, a school of silvery fish slipped by. In the distance, Allie caught
of a glimpse of something nebulous and ghostly white, with long tendrils like
smoke trails in the sky.

“I don’t know,” Collin said finally. “Something historical.
Some books, somebody’s skeleton, an artifact—“

“That they can sell,” Allie said. “Or otherwise profit
from.”

When Collin spoke again, he sounded surprised. “Wow, I had
no idea you were so cynical.”

Allie laughed, and when she spoke again, the sub had started
to move forward, its SONAR and other detection fields sweeping the waters in
search of the galleon. “Not cynical. I just know what drives people. It’s
always money and power, and power always comes back to money. And vice versa.”

“I guess you’re right,” Collin allowed. “Picking anything up
yet?”

Allie watched the field, but there was nothing significant.
“Nothing yet,” she said. “I thought I saw some jellyfish, but they must have
swam out of here by now. I hope I see a whale again, they’re so—” something
caught her eye on the screen, and she froze.

Collin waited a beat before speaking again. “Allie? Are you
okay?”

“Fine,” she said, shaking her head. “I just thought I saw
something on the screen.”

“The ship?” Collin asked, his voice hopeful.

“No, something moving.” Her eyes scanned the detection
screen, and a few blips of movement were indicated below the ship.
There,
she was about to say, but something bigger appeared just in front of the
ship—something wide and heavy, and much bigger than the ship itself. Allie
gasped, fear coursing through her body as she braced for whatever it was to hit
the submarine.