Tethered (16 page)

The regret in his voice made her breath catch. “It will.”

He let her go then, his fingers sliding free with apparent reluctance. “Stay.”

“What?”

“I’d like you to stay with me, Tyree. For the rest of the night, that is. I shouldn’t ask, after all I’ve said, but I am. I understand if you say no.”

She faced him fully. She wasn’t sure what he was asking of her. “Just to stay tonight? Nothing more?”

“If you would.” He shook his head. “I’m asking too much.”

She considered it. That he had asked warmed her, but she knew it meant nothing more. The transport back to Refuge was already waiting for her. It was the first time her return had been unlonged for, and the unfamiliarity of that feeling left her even more confused than Zander’s mixed messages. What did he really want of her?

“Only to stay with you tonight? No Communion? No sex? Nothing beyond a last night of companionship?”

“Yes.”

So, he wants nothing of me.

The hurt made her want to refuse, yet she couldn’t. She ached to touch him. Could she keep herself from wanting more and just appreciate what little he could give of himself for tonight?

“Then I’ll stay.”

The tension in his body eased. Whatever nightmare had tormented him, the shadow of it left him at her words.

“Thank you.” He took her hand, and the heat of his aura jolted into her. As he led her to the bed, her legs shook. Really a human shouldn’t have this effect on her. But he wasn’t like any human she’d ever known.

He climbed into bed and lay on his back, his torso propped up on the pillows. Tyree hesitated. Should she undress? Should she touch him? Bewildered, she kicked off her stealth shoes and crawled onto the bed. She kneeled at his side and waited for guidance.

“Here.” Zander stretched out his left arm. She wriggled around and lay beside him so that his arm curled around her. When he tugged her closer, she rolled onto her side and tentatively put her arm around his waist, her head on his shoulder. Zander pulled the cover over them, and laid his other arm over hers. “Are you comfortable?”

It was awkward. And yet, at that moment, she wouldn’t have chosen to be anywhere else. “Yes.”

“Good.” He sighed into her hair. “Sleep well, Tyree.”

Chapter Ten

To awaken in the arms of another was the strangest thing. The initial panic of being held almost snapped her into combat mode, but she soothed her heightened state into calmness with slow, deep breaths. She wasn’t being restrained against her will. Zander’s arms cradled her like a blanket of firm muscle, and for an instant she let that seep over her awareness, trying to memorize it. The sensation was something she was unlikely to ever encounter again. Inc-Su never shared a bed other than for Communion and sex. Afterward, each would return to their own lonely cots, emotionally sufficient in the shared auras of Refuge should they need that comfort.

This was different. Completely. It seemed so alien to find contentment in such a physical sensation rather than the bonding of auric energy. In spite of its strangeness, she had no desire to break that feeling.

Despite herself, she couldn’t resist stroking her fingertips down his bare chest. The contrast between smooth skin over muscle and the scarring delighted her in a way she couldn’t put into words. She traced the path where they met, a zigzagging trail down his torso.

The rhythm of his breathing changed, his chest expanding as he drew in a deep breath then let it sigh out. He touched her fingers. Taking it as a reprimand, she let her hand drop.

“Tyree,” he whispered.

She smiled. For an instant she’d wondered if he’d mistake her for Mirsee again. The fact that he hadn’t warmed her. His head moved and his lips brushed her forehead in a fleeting kiss. Sudden heat stirred in her abdomen, but he’d already said he didn’t want that. She wouldn’t violate his wishes again.

He stroked her arm, the long fingers trailing tantalizingly along her skin from her shoulder to the back of her wrist then up again. Her pulse quickened. The caress seemed deliberately provocative—his touch lingering and stirring sparks beneath her skin. As he reached her shoulder, he circled the curve of it with one finger. She tilted her head back so she could look at his face.

He was frowning, his gaze very intent. He opened his mouth as if to speak, and then closed it as though he’d been unable to find the words.

Uncertain herself, Tyree raised a finger to follow the line of his lips, silently questioning. Had he changed his mind? Did he want her as badly as she wanted him right at that moment?

“Tyree.” He said it as if in pain. Silver shards edged his aura, and a thread of fear. “I shouldn’t have fallen in love with you.”

Her breath caught. “What did you say?”

“I think you heard me well enough.”

She leaned back, met his gaze. Those dark eyes, the color of capprey, so serious. “You...love me?”

“Yes. I believe so.” He frowned, stroking his long fingers through her hair. “Do you even understand what that means?”

“I...” Her mouth had gone dry; her chest squeezing tight. “I know what the word means. I just don’t know if that’s what I feel.”

“What do you feel?”

Things an Inc-Su should never feel. The need for another person. The need for something more than Communion. Something more than she’d ever had in Refuge, or ever wanted. “I don’t want to leave you. I don’t want to go back to Refuge and never see you again.” There. She’d said it.

“Tyree—”

“But I have to go back.” The thought hurt worse than any injury she’d ever suffered.

“I can talk to the Assembly. To the council.” Eagerness warred with an edge of desperation in his voice. “There must be some way.”

“No. The council will never let me go. And definitely not to a human. Only the flawed leave Refuge for good.” She was crying now, the ache in her chest a terrible pain consuming her.

But Su don’t cry...

Zander kissed away her tears, burying his hands in her hair. He captured her mouth, the depth and ferocity of his kisses increasing as she matched him, silencing her sobs. His tongue swept inside her mouth, possessing her. There could be no doubt of his intentions this time.

She trailed her hands down his chest; one side ridged and scarred, the other smooth. The hard muscles of his abdomen. The seal in his pants parted easily as she pulled at it, and he helped her as she tugged them down over his legs. The scars continued over his right hip and into the firm musculature of his thigh, stopping at his knee joint, and she ran her hand up to his waist.

Zander mirrored her, caressing up her leg, along the curve of her thigh, and then slid beneath the edge of her shift at the hip. He continued up to her waist, brushing his thumb across the flat of her belly, and then stroked the curve of her breast. Her breathing stuttered as he circled and grazed across her nipple with his fingertips.

“Wait,” she whispered, and he drew back. Tyree sat up and shrugged off her slip, but before she could move, Zander was lacing kisses around her throat, both hands to her breasts. She arched her back then collapsed into the bed as he kissed his way down her body to her belly, his hand sliding between her thighs. The long fingers trailed over the super-sensitive skin from knee to groin, taunting her as she whimpered into his kisses. She pressed her body into the hardness of his.

“Zander,” she sighed, pulling him tight against her. His fingers glided into her, and his thumb circled gently in just the right place, taking her quickly to the verge. Moaning, she bit her lip to hold herself back, grabbing his hand. “No. Not like that,” she whispered. “Please, Zander. Now?”

His mouth moved down her neck. “Tyree,” he breathed, and slid his muscular body between her legs, pressing her hard into the bed. She had never allowed any man to take her like this before. To possess her and take control. Always, even with one of her own kind, she had been the one on top, the one commanding. To give that up so completely was almost like reclaiming her innocence.

With a groan, he entered her, and her body bucked in response, before he withdrew almost all the way. She clutched at him, not wanting him to go, afraid that sudden regret had prompted his move, but he drove into her again and again, each time pulling right back. The slow, long thrusts took her to the edge and held her there, so close and yet not quite reaching the brink as he teased her with his body. She moaned into his mouth, arching herself to demand her release, and to share his. The kaleidoscope of auric energy surged through her body, her mind, a maddening swirl that tormented her almost as much as Zander’s restraint. Had he learnt that from Mirsee? Even Incu never showed so much control.

As if sensing her need, he quickened his pace. White fire raced up from her groin and blazed across her vision as the pressure increased.

“Zander,” she gasped, and they both came in an explosion that blinded her, tore a scream from her mouth and his as mutual ecstasy ripped through their bodies.

He collapsed into her, shuddering, and she wrapped arms and legs around him, wanting to keep him there. Wanting to keep him forever. Knowing she couldn’t. The pain of it stripped the euphoria from her shaking body and made her want to scream in agony.

He buried his face in her neck, and she felt dampness seep over her skin in a trail that tickled.

“Zander?” She pushed at his shoulder, forcing him to lift his head. Tears glistened in his eyes, even the cybernetic one. “Oh, Zander.” She reached up a hand to brush them away.

“I don’t want you to go,” he whispered, his voice trembling as he did. “But there’s no choice. After today you’ll leave. I will complete my mission. And then...”

“And then?” A terrible fear drove the last of the ecstasy from her. She knew what he intended. She knew what he planned to do.

Soft chimes snatched them back to reality.

Zander groaned. “That will be Pevanne.” He hesitated, and then captured her mouth in a long, deep kiss that said more than any words before levering himself out of bed to answer the summons.

Chapter Eleven

They sat in silence, with breakfast filling the table before them. Zander ate in small, slow mouthfuls, long fingers playing with his food. Tyree had no appetite for any of it, even the cup of capprey steaming at her side. Instead she watched his hands move, remembering the touch of them over her body.

“You should eat,” he murmured at last, but she shook her head.

“I don’t think I can stomach anything.”

He took a large red ziah fruit from his plate and sliced it, revealing the pink and white flesh within. Placing it on the corner of a spiced wafer, he offered it to her. “Eat.”

Torn between irritation and amusement, she leaned over to take a bite. The sweetness prompted her to eat a second before she snagged the entire wafer from his hand and finished it.

“I would have thought your profession would urge you to keep your strength up regardless of the situation,” he scolded.

“Is that your philosophy too?”

“It’s something I learned in the G-Comm Wardens, yes.”

“We’re hardly going into combat.”

Zander raised his eyebrows. “I wonder.”

“You don’t seriously think there will still be an assassination attempt?”

“I think there’s a chance right up to the moment we put our palms to the treaty. But it’s not just that.” He reached over to caress the back of her hand with his thumb. “I wonder now why we wasted so much time.”

She squeezed his fingers. “I need a shower,” she said. “Join me?”

For a moment he looked startled, perhaps even embarrassed. Then he smiled and nodded.

***

She shivered as their meeting point expanded across the viewing port. A small space station in the middle of Neutrality.
Singularis
—a gray metallic shape hovering in the darkness.

Another craft, of the Tier-vane, also approached the long metal cylinder that was their mutual destination. Each ship mirrored the other as they both maneuvered in a slow, synchronized dance. She watched it slink toward the docking array. A pointed snout-like front in lurid orange shaded into a violent crimson body. The rear of the craft separated into a cluster of fearsome spines. It looked like some kind of poisonous sea creature let loose in space, the colors stark warning of its venom.

Zander touched her shoulder, and she flinched. “Tyree?”

“I’m fine,” she responded, a little too quickly.

He settled his hand on her shoulder again, squeezing reassurance. “Another hour and it will all be over.”

His voice sounded hollow and she took no comfort from his words. With their mission completed she would be free to return to Refuge, when she would rather stay with Zander. And he… She turned to look at his profile. His eyes were fixed on the meeting point, his jaw clenched. Fear wound through her heart and made her breathing falter. For once he stood with the scarred side toward her, as if to remind her of his other mission. When that task was done...

“Zander.” She couldn’t say it. She couldn’t ask what he intended. Her heart shriveled at the prospect. And what would she do if he really did commission one of the Inc-Su to end his life? What if he requested
her?

He seized her suddenly, and crushed her against his chest. He kissed her forehead. “We’re almost there,” he whispered as he held her, and she looped her arms around his waist, burying her face in his neck until their ship docked.

***

Zander took her hand, his fingers warm. She felt so cold. The transport quivered as mooring snares pulled it in. They swayed with the sudden, slight jolt as their craft jerked sideways to lock into the bay. A faint hiss meant the docking tube pressure had equalized, and the door slid open.

A draft of air enveloped them. A white corridor lay ahead, curving upward so they couldn’t see directly down it to wherever it led.

“Welcome to Neutrality.” The Monitor’s voice, cold and echoing, sounded more like a prison sentence than a greeting.

“Thank you,” Zander said. Tyree shivered.

“Please walk forward.”

They obeyed, although Tyree would rather have retreated back into their transport and fled to the other side of the Territories. Her breathing sounded above the rustle of her dress and their soft footfalls no matter how hard she tried to silence it. This would be so much easier if it was just a kill.