Colliding Worlds Trilogy 01 - Collision (11 page)

With that, he kissed her forehead, spun on his heel and walked out of their room.

Her jaw dropped. “Legian?” she whimpered through the closed door, not really expecting a response. After a minute of standing there in a daze, her legs gave out, and she fell back on the couch in a heap of frustration.

Suvaste
. Men. They just didn’t get it.

The mission began like all the rest, although it felt different. More excitement in the air. Like something big was going down. It was exactly what the Sephians needed. They had been growing progressively antsy over the past several weeks. Inactivity didn’t blend well with hardened military folks. It was common to see at least one argument in the Commons daily. The training room had become packed.

Sienna couldn’t find peace even in the gardens. Normally serene, they were buzzing with activity. With everyone out and about across the base, she felt claustrophobic. A big mission couldn’t have come at a better time.

Like usual, Apolo’s briefing was closed to everyone but his trinity, which meant she wasn’t allowed. She’d found herself in the mood to destroy something. And so it was back up to the training room to take out her frustrations at the shooting range. She’d picked on Jax for needing to let off some steam, but the truth was she had more than a little steam to let off herself.
Kettle, meet Pot.

As she hefted the laser gun in her hand, Sienna couldn’t help but appreciate Sephian technology. She could shoot the hell out of a target without ever having to reload. And that was exactly what she did. She didn’t know how long she fired. All she knew was that by the time she released pressure on the trigger the target was nothing but smoking black ash. A burnt-metal scent and haze filled the room. And her mood hadn’t improved. Not one stinking bit.

On the bright side, now she could actually hit the target every time. Huge improvement. To her credit, shooting laser guns was completely different than regular guns. Give her a twenty-two and she could nail a beer bottle from twenty yards. You’d think Sephian guns would be easier to use, but they weren’t. They were much more sensitive and overly precise, even without the kick, making it nearly impossible to hit a target more than several feet away. Good for a sniper, bad for wild shooting, hail-of-bullets Sienna “Shotgun” Wolfe.

Even practicing a full hour every day, she still didn’t have as good of aim with a Sephian gun as she had with a regular gun. Three months ago, Sienna’s first target practice session knocked Legian to the ground with tears in his eyes from laughing so hard. It pissed her off and was also a great motivator to get some mean shooting skills. Legian wouldn’t laugh now if he were here.

Dammit
. She stomped a foot. Right when she was getting peacefully distracted, why did she have to go and think of that big lug again? With a sigh, she slid the gun into the holster on her thigh.

“I never thought you had it in you.”

She snapped around and grabbed at her heart with one hand and the gun with the other. “Jeezus, Lea. Stop doing that. I could have shot you.”

Nalea pursed her lips. “That would have been a bitchy thing to do. I don’t think I would be your friend anymore if you did that.”

“Yeah. Because you’d be dead.”

“Doubt it. Your aim’s getting better, but you’re not that good yet,” she retorted.

“Better than your clichés.” Sienna tried to look serious and couldn’t help but smile. And they both laughed. She leaned back against the way and eyed her friend. “So, how’d the briefing go?”

Nalea ran a finger down a line in the wall. “Fine.” Her eyes narrowed as she looked at the target — or, at least what had been the target. “I wondered if you might be here. Legian seemed out of sorts tonight. Everything okay?”

Sienna shrugged. “Fine, I guess. We’re taking a breather right now. That’s all.”

Nalea’s eyes widened. “I have never heard of
tahren
taking ‘breathers’ before.”

“I bet you have also never heard of a human
tahren
before now, either, have you?”

“Good point,” Nalea conceded.

“So are you going?”

“No, I’m just coming off rotation. However, nearly all troops are going. Over two hundred total. Only troops going off shift and the tecs are staying behind. We hit the jackpop. We received intel with the location of their primary camp.”

“First, it’s ‘jackpot,’ which further proves my point that my aim is far better than your clichés. Second, that’s great news. If we could take a camp that big, we could handicap them in one blow. They’ll never see us coming.”

“That’s the plan.”

“How fresh is this intel? Has it been verified?” Sienna asked.

The Sephian shook her head. “We’re going off Apolo’s intel from his scout, and he’s never let us down before. Unfortunately, we don’t have time to check it out. Word is they’re planning to move the camp soon. It was a risk we all decided was well worth taking.”

Sienna scuffed the floor with the toe of her shoe. “Wish I could go.”

“You’ll join the troops in no time. You pulled off the meeting with the human military with flying collars.”

Sienna snickered, imagining a flurry of collars flying like origami in the sky.

“What?”

“Nothing. Never mind.” She covered her mouth with her hand until she could keep a straight face.

Nalea eyed her friend strangely. “But seriously, Sienna. It’s better you stay behind on this one. Having a
tahren
is still too new for both you and Legian. He needs his wits, and if you were with him, I fear he would worry too much for your safety and not focus on the mission.”

Sienna paused a moment, then snapped around and fired a quick succession of shots at the already demolished target. “I hate this,” she said without looking at her friend. “I’ve been training for three months. That’s as long as or longer than any basic training camp.” She slid the gun back in her holster, turned to face Nalea. “I’m ready. I can do this. I know I can.”

“I know you can, too. It’s amazing how much you’ve learned. But remember, most of us have been training our entire lives.” Nalea stepped closer, invading Sienna’s personal space. Then she surprised Sienna with a hug — a clumsy but full-on hug. At first she didn’t move because her body was in utter shock. Nalea was notorious for her need for personal space, and her awkwardness showed that. Then Sienna hugged her right back, and they both relaxed into the embrace. It was the contact they both needed, and so they remained, unmoving, for several moments.

“Don’t worry,” Nalea whispered in Sienna’s ear. “You’ll get there. Maybe next time.”

“It’s just that I’m not used to getting left behind. I
need
the action.” Sienna paused as a thought hit her. “Does Apolo hate me?”

Nalea frowned. “Why would you think that?”

“Every time I’m around him, it’s like he can’t get away from me fast enough. Like I’m some kind of Typhoid Mary or something.”

“I don’t think he hates you. I think the bond you and Legian have remind him of his
tahren
. The pain of not being with Krysea nearly cripples him. I know he never wants to see Legian go through the pain of seeing his
tahren
hurt. Apolo nearly died when Krysea was injured at Xetul, and he couldn’t reach her.”

“Then why did he leave Krysea to come here? I always figured they had a bad bond or something.”

Nalea let out a sharp laugh. “I’ve never heard of a bad bond. Krysea asked Apolo to lead the mission here because of its importance. A chance to destroy the Draeken once and for all as well as make our first
voluntary
connection with another planet. Everyone knows there’s no one better than Apolo when a mission needs to be successful. He’s the greatest military leader our people have. Krysea has always put the Sephian people first. Even before her
tahren
. Apolo knew that before they bonded. I don’t think any other male could handle it except him.”

“I’m surprised he doesn’t bang the stress out of being away from his mate.” Sienna couldn’t imagine being away from Legian like that. Geez, she would be a bitch on Sketchers.

“Who’s to say he hasn’t?”

Sienna’s eyes widened. “I had assumed … are you saying that you and he …”

Now Nalea’s eyes widened. “Apolo and me?” She bent over and burst out laughing. “Good gods, Sienna. Don’t get me wrong. Apolo is very fuckable and probably a bull in the sack, but he’s not my type. We’re close friends. Besides, I’m on his trinity. I would never betray that trust. Literally. Me and Apolo … that is wrong in so many ways.” She gave an exaggerated shiver.

“If not you, then who?”

She shrugged. “I have no idea. I’ve never seen any signs. Maybe he’s faithful. He is more loyal than those domesticated beasts you talk about. But I couldn’t blame him. After all, his
tahren
is several thousand light years away. And you know how
vigorous
Sephian males can be, especially during their season.”

“Good point.” Sienna turned, walked up to the wall, hit a couple buttons, and a whirring noise filled the room. The old target disappeared into the floor and a new target rose in its place. If she got any more points added to her name in the training room, she was going to be barred for a week. Again. Doing a quick check that everything was cleaned up, she turned back to Nalea.

“Well, we can at least make the most out of getting the base to ourselves tonight. I have some wine in my room. Want to help me drink it?” Sienna asked.

Nalea smiled. “Now that sounds like a plan. I’ve got to grab a nap. I’ll stop by at seven. See you then.”

With that, her friend turned and headed out of the training room, with all the Sephian males in the room watching her with hungry eyes. Many of the females eyed her with jealousy. It was a regular occurrence around Nalea. She was sexy, strong, smart, and confident as hell. Shoot, if Sienna was a lesbian, she’d be all over that.

But Nalea never seemed to notice any of the looks. If she did, she never gave any sign. Sienna chuckled and headed back to her room. She didn’t make it more than ten feet down the hall before she bumped into Bente and Jax.

“Hey guys.” She gave a small wave, which froze in the air. “Why are you geared up, Jax?”

“Apolo ordered me to join him on this mission.”

“
Invited
,” Bente corrected.

She clenched her fists. “No effing way.”

“He thought it would be the best way to show Jax what we are up against so that he can bring first-hand intel back to his people,” Bente said matter-of-factly.

Jax took a step closer.

“You,” she retorted, pointing to Jax. “Stay out of this. And you,” she moved her finger to point at Bente. “I’ve been here months. Jax has been here for hours. That is so fucking unfair.”

“Jax is a trained soldier,” Bente replied.

“And what have I been doing? Playing Wii?”

“What the fuck is ‘we’?” Bente asked.

“Video games,” Jax and Sienna answered in stereo.

“Shut up,” she snapped, even more pissed off. “Fine. Go play your war games. You guys suck.” With that, she cut right through them, making sure she gave each one a solid thump with each shoulder.

Ignoring anyone and everyone on the way back to her room, she opened the heavy plastic-like door to her room and slammed it with extra authority. She leaned against the closed door and took a deep breath.

“Legian?” she asked into the dark. Nothing. “Full lights,” she said into the air and the room brightened. She took off her drades and looked around. Walking to the closet, she opened it to find his gear missing. She clutched at her heart. He went on a mission without saying good-bye? They may have had a misunderstanding, but nothing ever got in the way of the pre-mission good luck kiss before. Nothing.
Fuck
.

Sienna slid the drades back on and peeled down the hall in the direction of the ramp. Some grunt grabbed her arm, and she about fell on her butt stopping so abruptly. In a blur, she turned her back toward him, grabbed his arm, and yanked him over, sending him flying to the ground.

“Hey, why’d you do that?” he asked, rubbing his head. She could imagine. It made a pretty solid sounding whack when it hit. She winced, pretty sure she’d just given the kid a concussion.

“Why’d you grab me?” she asked and held a hand out to him.

He eyed her warily before accepting her hand. He took it, and she helped pull him up. He stood, a little wobbly, but at least he was on his own feet. “I wanted to tell you that Legian was looking for you. They’re gathering in the Commons. He was going to — ”

She didn’t hear anything else as she bolted back down the hall and to the Commons. When she got there, it had already been cleared out.

“Cookie,” she called out to the stout man dishing out some slop onto a tray. “Where’s Legian?”

The Sephian cook pointed his dripping spatula toward the ramp.

“Son of a bitch,” she muttered and turned on her heels. As she sprinted toward the ramp, she heard the sound of the engines starting. To be more accurate, it was the sound of a lot of engines pre-starting. Once they started, Sephian engines became silent. But starting up was a different story. Starting them was like strangling opera singers. Kicking it up a gear, she made it to the ramp in time to see all the ships’ doors beginning to close in slow synchronization.

Growing desperate, Sienna called out his name over and over, running onto the ramp and zigzagging from one ship to another.

“Sienna!”

She jerked around in time to see Legian through an opening growing smaller until the door to his ship closed, severing her view of him.

No.

The ships lifted straight off the ground. She collapsed onto her knees. She stared while the ships lifted out of the now open roof of the underground base. She didn’t even realize she was crying until she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up. Tears hampered her vision, and she wiped them from her eyes. Nalea watched her with concern.

“I didn’t get to say good-bye,” she mumbled, feeling faint.

Nalea helped Sienna to her feet and wrapped an arm around her. They walked back to her room in silence as Sienna’s mind wandered.