Broken Vision (36 page)

Her own body began buzzing with crazy little tingles as the look in his sapphire eyes left
no doubt as to the meaning of his words. She almost caved right then and there, but someone had to
be responsible for his health.

"Can't you zap him with something?" she demanded to the woman beside her. "You said
another cycle at least."

"Another cycle would be beneficial," the medtech responded, not bothering to hide her
amusement, "but the commander is past the point in his healing where we can require him to
stay."

"Did you hear that?" Alerik's voice was muffled as he bent to open a cabinet, and treated
both women to a spectacular view of his muscled bare ass and dangling male parts. "They can't
require me to stay, therefore, I'm leaving. Because we have unfinished business." He straightened.
"Where in blazing starpits are my clothes?"

"I'm calling your mother."

"Someone might want to give me my clothes first. It's been a few years since she's seen me
without them."

The medtech snickered. She crossed the small chamber to open up a panel on the other side
of the cabinet. "In here, sir."

The triumphant gaze Alerik sent in her direction contributed to Maegan's growing
suspicions. Gone was the cold, unemotional lack of recognition. "Have you remembered
stuff?"

Alerik was pulling on his tunic, which of course he had to select as the first piece of
clothing, instead of his breeches.

"Think so."

His head emerged from the neck opening. The look in his eyes sent shudders racing
through her body. "Which is why we have unfinished business."

"Stop saying that," she snapped. She tried desperately to build her defenses, and not think
about his intent. "How much have you remembered?"

"Don't know." He yanked on his breeches. "But I'm about to find out."

She should be happy. She was happy. Gods, this was all so complicated. It had been
complicated even before he lost his memory. Part of her wanted to jump on a shuttle and head into
the vast unknown, but her traitorous body was screaming for what would happen next.

He shoved his feet into his half boots. "Thank you for the care, ma'am," he said politely to
the medtech. To Maegan, he said a lot less politely, "Let's go."

He took her arm and hustled her from the healing chamber into the core of the small, quiet
medical center. From there, he unerringly picked the set of doors that led into the MagnaStar's main
corridor.

With the main mess hall at one end and communications at the other, there was some
traffic in the corridor. Alerik, still gripping her firmly, took several steps toward the mess hall. He
paused and looked down at her.

"Where to?"

"Where are we going?" It was equivalent to baiting a sanddog, but she couldn't help
herself.

He grunted and backed her up against the wall. "I was hoping that memory of how
contrary you can be was fabricated, but evidently not. I can do this just about anywhere, including
back in there." He jerked his head at the medical center. "But I'm guessing you'd prefer a little more
privacy."

"If you're just going to yell at me, we can--"

"Not what I had in mind. You have two nanonans."

"And then?"

He sighed. "Then I'm calling my mother. But I really hope you won't make me do
that."

She pretended to consider as anticipation built within her and his eyes turned smoky with
warning. "All right. Follow me."

She led him to the lift tube and keyed in the level to the cabins for the Mariltar party. The
first person they saw as they stepped off the tube was Joanna Chase, Alerik's mother. The second
was Maegan's, who emerged just then from one of the cabins. Both women were dressed for the
evening in knee length tunics and wide-legged, soft trousers.

"Pormiam's breath," Alerik muttered. "If I didn't know better, I'd think you'd arranged this.
Our cabin had better be on this level."

Maegan choked back a nervous laugh and drew a deep breath as their mothers
approached.

Gorgeous in emerald green, Joanna smiled with delight as she spotted them. "Feeling
better, dear? Have more of your memories returned?"

"What?" Outraged, Maegan turned to her mate. "How did she know your memories were
coming back and I didn't?"

Alerik gripped her arm a little tighter. "My thanks, mother. You might have kept that to
yourself a little longer."

"It's best not to keep secrets." Joanna was unrepentant. "Will you be joining us for the
evening meal with the captain?"

Melissa, eye-catching in her signature rainbow colors, laughed. "I think you can see the
answer to that, Joanna. Stop causing trouble. Come along."

"Your cabin is very nice, dear--and it's right across from the one your father and I have.
Your mate's parents are on the other side."

"Good grief." Melissa rolled her eyes at Maegan as she tugged Joanna toward the lift tube.
"They're not sixteen anymore and they are bonded. This dinner could last a half cycle, children.
Enjoy yourselves."

Mortified, Maegan wondered if the entire vessel knew of Alerik's plans.

"They're both equally bad," her mate growled, as he propelled her down the corridor. "I
don't know why our fathers allow them to associate with each other."

That did it. Her frayed nerves couldn't take anymore. "Allow them?" Maegan yanked her
arm from his grasp and poked him in the chest. "Allow them? Guess what, Neanderthal?" It was an
ancient Earth term, and she didn't know where it had come from, but it sounded good. "As old as
my father is, there's respect and equality in their partnership. He doesn't blindly subscribe to
customs that are as ancient as Sagar himself. My mother has an equal say in her marriage."

"That's just one of the things we're going to talk about. Eventually." The slap of Alerik's
hand against the cabin's access panel was sharp and loud. Nothing happened.

Someone cleared his throat. "That's mine, son. Yours is across the hall."

Maegan jerked around. Not again. Their fathers had clearly just come out of the
neighboring cabin, which belonged to her parents. Their faces bore expressions of polite
interest.

Her father showed no inclination to intervene as Alerik gave an impatient tug that made
her stumble across the corridor. He stood calmly beside the Neanderthal's father and commented,
"Old? Do you feel old? I don't feel old."

"Children do have odd ideas about their parents, don't they?" she heard Alex Mariltar
respond, just as his son managed to get the right cabin door open this time.

He pulled her inside and sealed off the outside world.

Alerik crossed immediately to the storage cabinets and began rummaging through the
clothes inside, muttering under his breath. He emerged holding a pair of her thin leggings. As he
scanned the room and twisted the garment in his hands, his intent dawned on her.

"Oh, no." She made a beeline for the door.

He was faster. He positioned himself in front of her and bared his teeth. "Oh, yes. After
two cycles in a pod, I have to clean up before we do anything else, which means you get tied up.
Because if I don't, you'll have jacked a shuttle and be halfway back to Pallas Four by the time I'm
done, given your history."

His temple mark and eyes turned smoky. "On second thought, you can clean up with
me."

"What if I promise not to go anywhere?" It was worth a chance that he'd believe her.

His grin got wider. No chance. "That's the thing about us Neanderthals. We're not very
trusting and we don't know how to compromise."

"I liked it better when you didn't have a memory," she lied, as he turned her and marched
her to the small bathing chamber. "There's no room in there, anyway."

"Huh." He stood at the entrance, blocking any escape, and began to remove the clothes he
had put on just nans ago. "You may be right, but we Neanderthals can get very creative."

His boots were already off. He unfastened his breeches.

"Why is it your tunic is the first and last piece of-- Oh, never mind," she said in
exasperation. "I'm guessing you don't even know what a Neanderthal is."

"My mother's from ancient Earth as well," he pointed out. He bared his lower half and
revealed a full, hard erection. "Heard the word, looked it up, know what it means." He yanked off
his tunic. "Now you're about to find out."

"Blazing starpits." She rolled her eyes.

"You get that from your mother, don't you?"

"Can we stop talking about our parents?" He had backed her against the cleansing stall.
She had nowhere to go. All that hard muscle and smooth skin and pure male was a touch away, yet
still she denied herself.

"Now that," he said, and he slapped his hands against the wall on either side of her head,
and brought his body up against hers, "is something we can agree on."

Gods, he felt good and she had too many clothes on. She inhaled the warm, male scent of
him and nuzzled her cheek against the smooth skin of his chest.

He grunted again. His hand captured her chin and nudged it up. His soft lips slid across her
forehead, down her nose and found her mouth. And she was lost. Every last shred of resistance was
devoured by the onslaught of emotion that slammed into her with just a glimpse of the expression
in his sapphire eyes. His mouth held her captive. His body supported hers. He still hadn't touched
her with his hands, and she craved that as much as she regretted her clothed state.

She dug her fingers into his shoulders, hooked one leg around his thigh and tried to lift
herself higher against his body. A growl rumbled from deep inside his chest. He tore his mouth
away, grabbed the bottom of her tunic and tried to yank it off over her head. Made to be
form-fitting, it wouldn't clear her breasts.

With another grunt, he abandoned it, leaving the fabric draped over her head. His hands
slid down the bare skin of her torso, raising a storm of fiery tingles. His fingers hooked into the
waist of her leggings. With two hard jerks, he bared her to her ankles.

He left her feet still shod in slippers and tangled in leggings and separated her thighs as far
as they go. Hard hands grasped her bottom. He lifted and impaled her.

It was over in nans. He knew just where to touch her. The restriction of her clothing
frustrated her and excited her. In the end it didn't matter at all as he pounded into her and wrenched
a sudden orgasm from her just as he released as well.

His breaths heavy and fast in her ear, he let her slide. His flesh pulled out of her body and
he leaned into her, pressing her against the wall as her feet touched the floor.

Her face still obscured by fabric, she murmured an objection. The pressure lifted.

"Now this is an interesting state of affairs." Although she couldn't see, she could tell he'd
gone to his knees. He removed her slippers, and slid her leggings off. His hands worked their way
up her legs. They found the sensitive area right behind her knees and his touch drew a whimper
from her.

Once again, he pushed her legs apart. She would have resisted but he used his hands and
forearms to widen her stance. She could have pulled the tunic off her face herself at any time, but
the deprivation of her sight made what he was doing easier to accept and infinitely more exciting.
She kept her hands at his shoulders, clutching tightly.

His fingers touching her sensitized flesh made her gasp. His thumbs separated the folds
and his breath was hot, but his mouth was even hotter as he closed it over the small rise of
flesh.

She was too sensitive. She cried out and tried to move away, but he clamped a hand on her
bottom. All she could do was ride the fury of his passion out again.

His tongue lashed at her, punished her, soothed her, built up an unbearable brew of
pleasure, until she pleaded incoherently with him to stop. She didn't think she could achieve
another release, but she was wrong. The combination of his fingers and his mouth sent her over the
edge again.

He gave her no time to catch her breath. Pulling the tunic down again, he turned her,
searching for the fasteners. The technology was beyond his patience, because he ended up grasping
the neck of her clothing and ripping it.

"That was one of my favorites," she objected, as she tried to clamp down on hysterical
laughter. She didn't care about the unremarkable beige garment, but she'd never tell him that.

Alerik tossed the garment over his shoulder. "Huh. Borrow one of your mother's."

"What? You don't like my taste in clothing?" She was finally naked and glorying in it.

He shoved her into the tiny cleansing enclosure and pressed in behind her. "I like your
mother's better." He hit the control panel and a deluge of water soaked them both.

"Too gaudy." She sighed as his hands cupped her breasts.

"Then borrow one of my mother's." He grunted as she cupped his heavy balls and rolled
them in her fingers.

"I thought we weren't going to talk about our parents anymore."

"You're right. What was I thinking?"

His mouth settled over hers again, and she leaned into him. All was right and as it should
be in her world. For this moment, at least.

* * * *

A hand landed heavily on her bare bottom. Maegan's delicious, drowsy state was rudely
shattered. She rolled over.

"Stop doing that," she said into Alerik's grinning face. "And leave me alone. I'm tired and
sore."

"I can fix that." He began to slide down her body.

"No." She grabbed his hair and pulled.

"Yeouch." Surprisingly, he came back up again. "I'm hungry."

"What do you want me to do about it?"

"Since you ask..." He made to slide back down again.

She tightened her grip on his hair.

He winced, but stopped. "I checked. There's no food dispenser in here. What kind of
passenger vessel doesn't have an in-room food dispenser?"

"An older model, chartered with little notice because the council required you on
Magnilium. You'll have to go to the mess hall." She yawned and stretched. "Bring me back
something."