Hunting (The Nine) (5 page)

She weaved slightly as she tried to balance against braces that weren’t there. With her lower lip between her teeth, she slid one foot forward then another. Nik grinned and quickly jumped up, spinning in the air to face the other direction. She hooted with triumph, but her reflexes weren’t up to snuff and she ended up face down on the bed. It was a small price to pay for mobility.

A slow applause brought her around with a jerk. Dr. Meevin was there with several pieces of fabric over one arm.

“I see you are testing my handiwork.”

Niika grinned. “It is very good. I can move freely again.”

“Excellent. Now, let’s get you showered and dressed then back to medical for a check. I am not letting my son in until you are clothed. He is close to the edge of control as it is.”

Niika blushed and didn’t mention that he had already seen her naked and it didn’t seem to matter.

The mysteries of the solar shower were explained to her, and a bright flash later, her hair and skin was squeaky clean.

“You have four daughters, Dr. Meevin?” Niika was tugging on the tight amethyst trousers that were the first layer of the clothing she had been brought.

“I do. Cavos is an excellent caretaker. He was wonderful while Whyander and I worked. Of course, when I came here, my husband had to remain with our daughters. I will be off rotation in another four months, and then, he will come to the Mother ship while I handle the last days of their childhood.”

Niika pulled on the long emerald chemise, the sapphire tunic that ran to mid-thigh and the elegant and peculiar ruby coat that was cut to the waist in front, exposing her legs but covering her arms and backside in a swirling flow of fabric that reached her ankles. Everything had gold and black embroidery on it but allowed complete freedom of movement.

Dr. Meevin was impressed. It was obvious in her gaze. “Well, he was right about the sizes, and you do look enough like one of the giant Stone Folk to pass in dim light.”

“Why aren’t you the same shade as Cavos?”

“The women aren’t grey, dear. The men did the mining and the women, the science. The joke is that they have the stones, but we have the brains.” Dr. Meevin grinned and offered her an arm.

It was easy enough to move, and when they entered the outer room, she asked about footwear and was told that it was a little advanced, but when she was better balanced, socks and boots were waiting.

Another Gaian was waiting for them outside the door, and while she had not met Signy before, Niika knew who she was looking at. “Hello, Lady Rothaway.”

“Call me, Ziggy. Welcome to the Mother ship of the Nine. I see you are in good hands. Good day, Dr. Meevin.”

The doctor inclined her head with a smile. “Good day, Potential.”

“Call me, Niika or Nik.” It was most peculiar, the doctor didn’t pause but kept going right past the Gaian in the lovely gown, hauling Nik along.

Nik was able to keep up with the rapid pace and that alone made her grin and skip a bit. She lengthened her stride for the first time in what felt like forever and imagined what she could do when she was able to run free.

Inside medical, she took a step toward the table, but Dr. Meevin directed her to a strange half cylinder against one wall. “Stand there and don’t move. The scanner will close around you but relax. It is going to measure your progress.”

“With my clothing on?”

“It works through clothing.” The doctor gently pressed her into the scanner, and behind the tall woman, Ziggy gave her a thumbs up.

The cylinder closed around her, and to her surprise, it tilted horizontally before a light ran up and down her body.

Before she could work up a good case of nerves, the machine tilted once again and let her loose.

“I will need to analyse these findings. Lady Rothaway, would you care to take your planet-mate to lunch?”

Ziggy grinned. “Of course.”

Cavos appeared in the doorway. “I have prior claim on her time, Lady Rothaway. If you do not mind?”

Ziggy looked from Niika to Cavos and back again. “No, of course. I understand. You probably want to compare notes about…something or other.”

Ziggy winked. “By the way, I love the outfit. The Stone Folk certainly are snappy dressers.”

Ziggy turned in a swirl of skirts and left medical.

Cavos extended his arm to Niika. “Well, Nik?”

She inclined her head in thanks to Dr. Meevin and walked to join the grey man who had eyes only for her.

“You are moving more easily.” His first words were uttered when they were several dozen metres from medical.

“I am. You can increase your stride if you like.”

“Would that bother you?”

“No. I really need to stretch, and a little soreness tomorrow is worth the increase in mobility. Your mother tells me that I can even upgrade to shoes if I don’t fall over today.” She chuckled. “Well, fall again.”

He smiled, and the next words out of his mouth shocked her. “Will you be my bond mate?”

She almost fell on her face. “What?”

“Will you be my bond mate? I am drawn to you in a way that I have never been pulled toward a woman. I couldn’t leave your side while we waited for you to wake, and you held my hand the entire time you were asleep until my mother pried your fingers from mine and banned me from your bedside.”

She blinked. “May I think about this?”

He swallowed and nodded. “Of course.”

She knew that he made her smile, knew that he was good for her and protective of her. That last one was going to be annoying once she got her full mobility back. She had avoided men since her incident and had been too young before it to really get serious about someone. Cavos was the first man in her orbit since that moment. Did she really want to throw caution to the wind and make him the only one?

Divorce among the Nine was not possible. It was a bond that went deeper than blood from what she had heard from Daphne. If she said yes, it would be a forever yes.

They walked to a café, which seemed odd on a star ship.

Cavos ordered for them and was looking forlorn when she said the word that sealed her fate. “Yes.”

He blinked. “What?”

“Yes. I will be your bond mate. I want to live on Gaia for as long as we can, though. Is that agreeable?” She bit her lip, knowing that it was now beyond her control. Her agreement had been given.

He frowned. “Can I continue my research at the city?”

She blinked. “Of course. I will continue running my courses as well.”

“I am not sure how I feel about that.”

“Tough. I have to hunt, and teaching folks to see the woods the way I do is something that I love to do. More than that, I was born to do it. After a standard course with me, even the average citizen can feed and shelter themselves for weeks at a time. We might never face an attack by the Tokkel again, but it would be foolish to be dependent on agriculture when it is such a delicately balanced thing. It is better to always know how to find the means to survive when your entire world goes crazy around you.”

He looked at her for a moment and nodded. “If it is important to you, it is important to me. Now, shall we formalize our agreement?”

“Like, paperwork?”

He grinned and got to his feet, lifting her from her chair and kissing her in full view of the café patrons and the startled server.

Niika wrapped her arms around his neck and held on as his skin went through a series of textures and temperatures under her touch.

When she leaned back, his eyes were glowing like the firestones in the hearth and her heart was pounding. A roar of applause came from the other patrons, and she sat back down with a thud and a silly smile.

Cavos took his seat, and he had a smug grin on his lips.

She blushed and nodded to the server who poured a cup of tea for her. She lifted the cup and inhaled the scent of herbs. “This is a Gaian tea.”

“Of course. Lady Rothaway is working hard to bring fresh ingredients to the ship. With her connections in the florist industry, she knows where the farmers are that grow the plants. The medics here check the plants for uncomplimentary compounds and allow the new items to be introduced in measured amounts, carefully regulated.”

She smiled and sipped at the tea. The rest of the meal passed in a daze.

When he said, “So, you would prefer to bond on Gaia?” She jerked out of her stupor.

“Oh. Yes, please. I have to ask, is this clothing standard for the Stone Folk? It is very comfortable.”

Cavos smiled shyly. “I am glad you like it. Yes, the style is standard for daily wear. My sisters picked it out via long-range communication.”

She winced. “I was a family project?”

He chortled. “Everyone, including my father. He was consulting with my mother on your estimated recovery. There are going to be papers written about your physiology, I am not even joking. You should never have survived the initial burst.”

She sighed, “I know. The miracle of Gaia, I guess. She is making us better than we were before. Or at least very different.”

“So, you are aware of the changes?”

“Of course. We are all aware, though we don’t like to talk about it. This generation has begun to show marked increases in psychic anomalies in the population. We are not changing physically, our minds are altering and most are doing so along specific tasks.”

He sat back. “I am sure that most of your population is not aware of it, so how are you?”

“My aunt and uncle are biologists. They are not stupid, and they ran a very quiet research project on my generation. Unusual intelligence was the most found symptom in men and women. After that, the more pronounced traits struck fifteen percent of the population. Daphne’s ability to hide in plain sight is well known, and there are many more that have skills with a specific focus, like me.” She smiled brightly.

He paid their bill with a swipe of his hand. “So, tell me about how it works.”

She took his arm, and they walked along a winding pathway that led to a garden area. “I get a fix on my target, and it glows red in my mind. The closer I get, the hotter the colour.”

“What happens when you lose your target?”

She pulled him to a halt. “What do you mean?”

Cavos looked into her eyes, and he asked softly. “What happens when you can’t track your target?”

She smiled slowly and slid her hand up around the back of his neck, pulling him down to her. She whispered, “I never lose my target.”

She let him go and skipped along ahead of him, enjoying the feel of the faux wind on the ship.

Chapter Nine

Nervous was not the way to describe her feelings. Panicked like one of her own prey was more like it. Niika Baker stood in the Nine Embassy and watched her aunt fiddle with her hair.

Daphne was standing nearby with a sly smile on her face. “You know, we have never had so many people of the Stone Folk in residence.”

“Well, his mother is here, so it stands to reason that there would be a few more than usual.” Niika bit her lip, and her aunt grinned.

Her gown was burgundy and gold, a sweeping span of silk that wrapped her torso and flowed freely around her legs. One week since her surgery, and now, her knees were going weak.

Daphne suddenly grew solemn. “It’s time, Niika.”

Her Aunt Emaline took her arm, and they walked to the stairway that led into the ballroom.

Emharo and her husband, Rivvin, were in the group of people lining the walkway that would take her to Cavos.

Niika went through a dizzying round of hugging all her friends and family then greeting the cousins, clan reps and the mother of her bond mate.

The moment she took Cavos’s hand, her nerves faded. She walked with him through to the mating gardens and followed the protocol for the Stone Folk by taking a crystal from the attendant and holding it in her palm.

She didn’t remember the words they spoke as the blade came up out of the stone. She focussed on slipping the crystal into the hilt of the knife and then flicking it with her finger. She sliced his wrist with the humming crystal dagger.

He lifted her wrist to his mouth and bit down with sharp, pointed teeth that he had been careful to hide from her until now. Her blood coursed down the dagger, and she slipped it back into the registration stone.

Wound to wound, they sat for a moment before he lifted her wrist to his mouth and licked the bite closed. She followed on his wrist, the shallow cut sealed slowly but surely as she lapped at him. It was appalling to her sensibilities but actually not horrible in the execution of it.

When they were finished with that portion of the ritual, they kissed and Niika felt heat running through her body. She broke the kiss suddenly. “Is that what you have been dealing with?”

He smiled and kissed her again. “Just wait, it gets worse as you synch to me.”

“You always give me something to look forward to.”

He chortled and helped her rise to her feet. “It is a very ancient custom.”

“Yeah, I am not falling for that one again.”

His grin was delight and endless smugness. He had her right where he wanted her.

The reception was hours of fun, but Niika missed most of it.

The harmonics of the crystal had let her cut his skin, but the rest of him was still hard as stone when they tumbled into bed and he stroked her from neck to knees until she twisted against him.

He was careful as he moved between her thighs, delicate and deliberate as he shifted inside her, and she felt like a cherished treasure as he took her to heights that her cousin had only whispered and blushed about.

Niika had been excited to be able to sit cross-legged again, but it didn’t even come close to the delight of being able to wrap her legs around her bond mate.

Curled up against him, she stroked his chest slowly. “So, when do you think we can get back into the forest with Morro and Tidae?”

“I think we should take at least one more day to rest and recuperate from the stress of our families being in attendance.” He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her palm.

“Stress, hmm?”

“It is an ancient custom. Trust me.”