Determine (3 page)

“Yes. When we leave, another contingent will come and occupy this facility for six months. We all try and leave a little something. I added the gym and Tangle arranged the gardens.” His chest was puffed out with pride.

“What did Breaker contribute?”

The woman in question came forward, no mask, no uniform, only a soft dress and slippers with her dark hair flowing down her back.

“Breaker kept her mouth shut, which is very hard for her to do. Welcome to Guardian Island, Hydra.”

“Thank you, you look very nice today. Casual suits you.” She smiled, and Warp urged her up into the building with a hand on her back.

“Warp is in a hurry to get into more comfortable clothing as well. Those suits are impressive, but they are heavy.” Breaker came with them, her skirt swaying with every step. “So, did Liskey ask about me?”

“Today? I haven’t seen her, but she seems to think she is just a rest stop for you, so she isn’t pinning her hopes and dreams on being swept away.”

“You are direct, aren’t you? I read it in your mind and it is the same thing that came out of your mouth. You still haven’t done research on the Guardians, though you did want to. You are holding to your personal business being separate from ours. Admirable. Futile but admirable.” Breaker skipped along ahead of them.

Hydra looked around at the huge vaulted ceilings, the giant kitchen, large dining room and huge social pit. Outside, she could see a stone deck and the beginnings of an amazing yard and garden.

“This way. All of our private quarters are arranged by our rank. Starburn’s is this way.” She nodded and followed to the room that had Starburn’s name on a plaque.

“The doors here don’t lock. Just go on in, be there when he wakes up. You offer more than you know.” Warp’s solemn words were stated before he turned and left her in front of Starburn’s room.

She reached for the handle and eased the door open as quietly as she could. Wishing that she were wearing something pretty for once and not her uniform, she slipped inside.

S
tarburn had a very nice room. It was huge, with the same vaulted ceiling as the main areas. It took a bit of searching to find the invalid that she had come to see, but when she found him, she sat at his side, holding a gasp of pain inside. She could smell the burn before her eyes were willing to fix on him.

Starburn’s features were scorched, his skin was hot to the touch and he was wearing nothing but a sheet. He was lying on his back and was completely motionless.

Not knowing what else to do, she took his hand. His palm was one part of his body that wasn’t scorched.

He shifted as she touched him, a slight twist from one side to the other that she would have missed if she hadn’t been staring at him.

Looking down at the hand she was holding, a wave of healed flesh was working its way up his arm. She blinked and wondered if her eyes were playing tricks, but the smooth skin worked up over his elbow, to his bicep and up over his shoulder.

She tried to see if she was giving him any of her energy, but she felt fine. Her concern for him swamped her senses as the wave of healing crept up his neck and worked its way over his dark mocha skin.

She sat in the room with its curtains drawn and watched him with what little light was available.

Hydra was so busy watching the cascade of healing that she missed it when his eyes opened.

“What are you doing here?” Without his mask, he was striking, all hard planes and angles.

“Warp came to get me. He seemed to think I would be useful.” She continued to hold his hand as the wave of healing crept down his other arm.

She could feel his gaze on her features. “How far does the burn go?”

A sly look came to his eyes. “Take a look.” She pursed her lips, reached out and yanked the sheet up to check his feet. There was some scorching on his calves, so she held onto him until that was healed as well.

Starburn chuckled. “Spoilsport.”

“You were eighty percent covered with scorches and blisters, and you are joking about it?”

He shrugged and squeezed her hand. “Well, my lower body isn’t in pain. For some reason, the sheet isn’t touching it anymore.” She glanced and closed her eyes as the image of the silken tent he was pitching burned into her mind. “Juvenile.”

“Just enjoying the moment. I have heard a few tales of women first brought to the Guardian base. They didn’t simply walk into a room and try to help the person they were brought to see. Almost all went exploring the moment they found their patient asleep. We do tests from time to time.” He shrugged but didn’t release her hand.

His healing sped up dramatically, and she sighed in relief when he wasn’t wearing any additional marks on his skin. She flicked the sheet back over his long, well-shaped feet and turned to him. “Well, you are better. Do you think someone will give me a lift back home now?” He didn’t answer. He pulled her down to him and kissed her. Being held in his arms while he was naked and in bed was a far cry from his armour and her outerwear in the diner. While there were no locks on the doors, she was not sure that Breaker was above eavesdropping.

When Starburn broke their kiss and cupped her chin, his red gazed burned into her blue one. “The loveliest, most open-hearted, generous female I have met in years. Why hasn’t anyone swept you off your feet?”

“Usually, I am standing on them and have no urge to fall. The other thing is that I am under behavioural restraint at the Academy. Apparently, that does not fall into the category of stress relief for Guardians. I could screw the whole base and no one would care.”

He scowled. “I would. It would be very difficult for me to continue to work with anyone once I turned them into ash.”

Hydra blinked, and she tried to determine if he was serious. He was.

“Um, as interesting as this day has been for me, I think I should be getting back to the mainland.” She tried to remove her face from his grip. His fingers tightened.

“I don’t think you realize the situation you are in. You have seen the Guardians unmasked. You are now a security risk. You aren’t leaving this island.”

“What? I came here because I thought you needed me. I am not going to be a prisoner.” He smiled at her outrage. “I have never had a woman in my bed who was not pleased to be there.”

“You yanked me into your bed. I didn’t enter it voluntarily.”

He leaned in and his lips were less than an inch from hers. “You are correct, but perhaps I should put more effort into making your presence here voluntary.”

The door to his quarters opened, and Breaker walked in with a data pad in her hands, her uniform and mask in place. “Starburn, we have a call.”

He cursed and gave Hydra a quick kiss before flipping back the covers and pulling on a clean uniform.

Breaker took a look at Hydra and smiled. “We are close to the same size. You can find some less-than-ugly clothes in my closet until we can bring your things from the mainland.”

Hydra was sitting on Starburn’s bed and staring at them as it dawned that the entire group had orchestrated her visit to their secret base.

“Tangle didn’t want to participate. He stayed out in his garden when Warp went to get you.” Breaker read the mission report while Starburn covered his newly healed flesh with the armour.

Feeling like an idiot, Hydra looked to Starburn as he set his mask in place. “You would have healed just fine if I wasn’t here.” Breaker snorted. “He had to stop his body from healing to do this.”

“Breaker! Shut up!” Starburn was finally catching on to Hydra’s mood.

She got to her feet and backed away, irritation and anger at being manipulated were riding high in her mind. “I want to be returned to the Academy.”

Starburn walked up to her, every inch the captain of a group of deadly super-beings. “We will talk when I get back. The base is at your disposal.”

He opened the balcony doors, grabbed Breaker by the waist and flew up and out of his rooms. A sleek shuttle was waiting for them and Hydra was left by herself in the lair of the Guardians.

Part of her was in awe, the other part of her wanted to wrap the whole place in toilet paper.

R
ummaging through Breaker’s clothing brought an unexpected dividend. She found an elegant white gown and ballet slippers with straps. The gown was simple enough for evenings and far more comfortable than her instructor uniform with its knee-length vest that pulled every time she moved.

For the first hour, she played dress up then, wearing the gown, she took a seat in the conversation pit, watching the newsreels about the residue of the meteor storm and the Guardians’ efforts to take out the remains of the falling rocks while helping protect the infrastructure of the town in the pathway.

Long-range images of Starburn effortlessly flying from rock to rock, blowing them to hell made Hydra unaccountably nervous. From what she was seeing, he had a protective shielding that kept him from the back-blast as he struck meteor after meteor.

She got so agitated that she went for a walk on the beach. Light faded and the stars came out, but the Guardians didn’t return. Hydra listened to the waves beating against the shore.

Without something to do, she felt at loose ends.

She had just made up her mind to go inside and try her less-than-successful cookie recipe with Nyal ingredients when a bright light focussed on her.

The shuttle glided in soundlessly and settled to one side of the base. Out of the four Guardians that exited the ship, three figures headed inside, but one walked toward her.

He was grubby and curls of smoke still emanated from his suit, but he crushed her too him the moment he was within arm’s reach, and his kiss was as hot as his costume.

Hydra had her mouth open to ask him how he was, but he took advantage, and his tongue thrust inside as he held her to him.

She wanted to be mad that he had trapped her here, wanted to be furious, but instead, she wrapped her arms around his neck and surrendered to the wild assault on her senses.

He cupped her ass and pulled her high against him, groaning as she let one thigh ride his hip.

A strident voice broke their moment. “You know, that
was
a white dress.” Breaker was standing with another loose gown in place, her hair wet from a shower.

Starburn turned to snarl at Breaker. “You couldn’t have waited until tomorrow to say that?” Hydra was plastered to him, and she blinked dazedly, realizing that the slit in the skirt exposed her entire right thigh to not only Breaker, but also Warp and Tangle. They had come out to enjoy the view.

She slowly lowered her thigh and eased back from Starburn. “I think you should put me down.” His lips tensed, and he leapt upward, taking her with him. He flew around the base, landed on his balcony, and once he put her on the floor, he moved to jam the door shut.

Starburn ripped off his mask. His uniform flew in all directions as he stripped with a power pulse.

Hydra felt her dress flutter in the aftershock of the burst, but by the time she had come to grips with Starburn’s nudity, he was on her.

Breaker would never have a chance to get the stains out of the dress, a quick move from his hand and the centre of the dress was wide open and her skin was exposed to the heat of his hands.

She tried to whimper, but his mouth was on hers, and he was lifting her against him once again.

Hydra kissed him back and welcomed his touch on her body as she counted off all the spectacular
once in a lifetimes
she had had.

The first was being chosen as a Terran Volunteer. The second was being allowed to educate herself in any manner she wanted and the third had been being selected for a teaching position on Deyfell 4.

This was the fourth
once in a lifetime
for her, and she was going to enjoy it.

She wrapped her hand around the erection pressing against her belly, but Starburn pulled her hand away.

They tilted, and she felt the slick surface of his bedding against her back.

He pinned her hands over her head as he gnawed and nipped his way down her body, his touch leaving a trail of heat on her skin that didn’t fade. Each stroke of his tongue created a line of fire that built in intensity until she was squirming against him, begging for more.

He released her hands, but she gripped his shoulders, so he left her for a moment, tying her hands to the headboard with a length of soft fibre.

Hydra pulled at her wrists in consternation, but Starburn parted her thighs and his tongue spread the fire to her opening and stroked up to her clit.

He lapped at her feverishly as she twisted against him.

He snaked his tongue into her, delving and sucking with ferocious intensity. Hydra shivered violently and raised her hips to meet his tongue.

The heat from his mouth took her close to the edge, and when she felt the tension inside her snap, she shrieked and tried to jerk away from him.

He held her tightly, flicked and swirled his tongue against her until she slowly relaxed in exhaustion.

Hydra stared up at Starburn as he moved over her. His skin and eyes were glowing brightly as he settled the head of his cock against her, and he pressed into her with slow, relentless motions.

She whimpered, and he leaned down to take her lower lip between his in a soft kiss.

The gentle kiss relaxed her and that was the moment he was waiting for as he surged into her.

She gasped, and her arms yanked on the bindings as she squirmed to either get away or beat him.

She didn’t have a chance to fight her way free, and as he rocked inside her, her channel slowly got used to the length and extreme girth that she was dealing with.

How he managed to get inside her was a mystery for the ages, but now, with the heat of his body moving within her, the friction was causing an increasingly tight fit.

When he was well and truly stuck, Starburn rubbed at her clit with his thumb, and she felt her body ripple around his. He groaned and shifted into her a little more. His thumb thrummed circles around her clit over and over, moving more completely into her with every move.