Hybrid's Love (8 page)

“I don’t want to see you hurt... and as
selfish as it sounds, if something happens to you, I have nothing.
I’m worlds away from everything I know.”

There was nothing for him to say to that. She
spoke the absolute truth and no matter his training, there was
always the possibility that things could go wrong. “When we make it
out of here, I promise you that I will make sure you are taken care
of regardless of what happens.”

Wren didn’t say anything else. She trusted
him more than she’d ever trusted anyone, but it petrified her to be
dependent on him. “Let’s just go... before I lose my nerve
completely.”

Kyr went first, keeping her behind him as he
slipped into the hangar. It wasn’t guards near their shuttle, but
the three Aldacyians they had encountered on Earth. Kyr kept them
to the shadows, slipping between smaller ships and other
spacecraft. By the time they reached the shuttle, Wren felt as if
her heart was beating so fast it would simply fly out of her chest.
Rather than use the main door of the shuttle, Kyr led her beneath
it. There he accessed a service hatch and helped her inside. Once
she was on familiar ground, Wren began to feel that escape might
actually be possible. No sooner had the thought occurred than the
Aldacyians began to charge the ship.

“Buckle up. We’re going to be moving a lot
faster leaving than we did coming in,” he warned her.

Wren took the same seat in the control
area and buckled the harness. Through the thin fabric of the flight
suit, without the protection of the jacket, it bit painfully into
her skin. To distract herself from the discomfort and also from her
own negative thoughts, she watched as Kyr began to flip switched
and buttons on the control panel of the shuttle. The engine
suddenly roared to life, but it didn’t drown out the hue and cry
from the Aldacyians outside as they raced to their own ship. As
Wren watched, Kyr initiated the onboard weapons and fired a single
round at the Aldacyian ship. The explosion rocked everything in the
hangar.
The sense of dread that had overwhelmed her hadn’t
been something she’d tuned into psychically, she knew. It had
simply been fear and a long history of Murphy’s law applying itself
to her life.

Kyr’s mouth was drawn into a thin, tight line
as the shuttle lifted off the ground. Wren suppressed a terrified
cry when the shuttle suddenly shot backwards at a speed that made
her vaguely ill. Kyr was gripping the yoke, moving it with the
precision of a surgeon. The ship did a one eighty turn and was
cruising out of the hangar and away from the bay at breakneck
speeds. He fired another round at the bay as they left, destroying
the airlock that allowed ships to dock and takeoff without sucking
all the available oxygen out of the station. It had been too easy,
Wren knew, which told her more than anything else that the worst
wasn’t over.

They had barely cleared the hangar when the
first shot was fired. Kyr turned the small shuttle sharply to the
right, the strange projectile hurtling past them. Again and again,
the dodged each of the missiles, Kyr maneuvering the ship with a
skill and precision that she would only be able to appreciate
later, when she wasn’t petrified. When they had managed to get far
enough away from the station, Kyr entered another series of
commands and the shuttle’s speed increased with enough force to
push Wren back in her seat. She knew they were being pursued, but
the other ships, if the little blinking dots on the display were
any indication, could not keep up.

“This shuttle has been custom designed for
retrieval and recon,” he explained. “It’s intended purpose has
always been rescue missions which could require swift getaways.
Their are few ships in the galaxy that can compare with speed, and
none in Sector F9.”

“How do you know this?”

“Because I designed this ship myself. I had
to petition the council for permission as it was perceived as a
possible threat to their authority. It would seem they were correct
in fearing it.”

“So, the Commander is part of the
council?”

“He works for them, ruling the neutral zone
in their stead. But he is not the ultimate power. There are others
to whom he must answer.”

“And can they be trusted?” Wren asked as she
surveyed the fading blips on the screen in front of them.

Kyr was quiet for a moment before he
answered. “At this point, I fear no one can be trusted. By slipping
away from the Commander, and by leaving Sector F9 without
appropriate clearance, we have made ourselves fugitives of the Core
7 Alliance. But it is necessary if he is guilty of the things you
suggested. We have to get the VID file that Amri gave us to them,
and that is not going to be easy.”

“I imagine that the Commander has many
powerful allies... and those three Aldacyians are not the only ones
who will be looking for us.”

“It will take them a few hours at least to
get the secondary airlock up and running. By that time, we’ll be
well away in another quadrant, but you are right. There are others
and this ship is very identifiable... If all goes well, Lexian
should be able to meet us in about twelve hours. We just need to
lay low until then.”

Wren settled back into her seat. “You lead,
Kyr, and I’ll follow.”

Kyr’s smile was dark and lacking humor. It
wasn’t as if he’d given her much choice. For the first time, he’d
begun to wonder if perhaps Wren wouldn’t have been better off on
Earth. Since he’d brought her aboard the ship, they’d faced nothing
but danger. He couldn’t help but feel responsible. He could have
protected her from the Aldacyians, helped her hide, kept her safe
on Earth. Instead he took her away from everything she had known
and he recognized that he’d done it because he didn’t want to give
her any other options. It had been subconscious, but still he could
see now what had prompted that thought process.

“Do you want to go back, Wren?”

“To Sector F9?”

“No. To Earth.”

Wren noted the strange mood that had settled
over him. “I didn’t think that was an option.”

“I didn’t either. But I think that’s simply
because I didn’t want it to be. If you want to go back, I can make
it safe for you there.... New identity, new location, but it can be
done.”

“Would you be with me?” she asked.

He couldn’t. Not for a long time, if ever. He
had a responsibility to the other Sentinels, to help them find
their mates and hopefully not screw it up as badly as he had. “Not
at first. Once the others have been found and my duties to the Core
Alliance have been fulfilled, perhaps.”

Did she want to go back? No, Wren thought.
She didn’t have anything to go back to, nothing but a job she
hated, a family that had locked her up in one mental hospital after
another. She could stay with Kyr, with the only person who had ever
made her feel accepted and valued, or she could go back to her
nothing existence. Another thought occurred to her then, one that
left her feeling hollow and weak. “Do you want me to go back?”

“No. Never. But I don’t want you to stay just
because you think you have to.”

Wren unbuckled the harness and rose from her
seat. She crossed to him and settled herself on his lap, cupping
his face in her hands. The stubble that adorned his cheeks rasped
against her palms. Pressing against him, her breasts flattened
against the hard wall of his chest, Wren kissed him. Her lips
molded to his, tasting, teasing. When his hands came up to grip her
hips, tugging her more tightly against him, she smiled against the
firm curve of his lips.

Easing back, Wren met his gaze earnestly,
everything she was feeling for him shining from her eyes. “Earth
isn’t my home. It’s just a place where I lived.... a place where I
never really belonged. I belong with you.”

It humbled him as nothing else ever had. “I
want you,” he said.

Wren stole a glance at the screen behind
them. There was no sign of anyone in pursuit. “Is it safe?”

Kyr tugged at the flight suit, baring her
satiny skin to the cool air. “It’s worth the risk.”

Wren might have protested, but his mouth was
at her breasts. His lips and tongue tormenting each pebbled nipple
in turn. She uttered his name on a sigh. He closed his lips over
one nipple, tugging sharply, his teeth scraping the sensitive bud
before capturing the other and subjecting it to the same sweet
torment. The line between pleasure and pain blurred, every pull of
his mouth creating an echoing contraction deep in her core.

The harsh grip of his hands on her hips
lessened, and then he was tugging at the flight suit again,
slipping it over her hips and down her legs. When he touched her,
his large, callused hand sliding between her thighs, she moaned.
Two fingers slid deep inside her, spearing through the soft, damp
folds while his thumb coasted lightly over the pearl-like nub of
her clit. Needing to be closer to him, Wren tugged at the buckles
of the harness he still wore, finally managing to free him. She
tugged at his jacket and the tunic he wore beneath it until her
hands touched naked skin. Her nails scraped over the firm flesh of
his chest, skating over ridged abs until she reached the waistband
of his pants.

Even as she undressed him, Kyr didn’t stop
the sensual onslaught. Again and again, he dove his fingers into
her exquisitely tight channel, painfully eager to sink his cock
inside her instead. With his thumb, he artfully stroked the
hardened bud of her clit, ratcheting the pleasure to new heights.
By the time she’d freed his rampant erection, she was panting for
breath, soft moans and cries echoing throughout the cabin. He
tugged her closer, until she had to draw her knees up and drape her
legs over the arms of his chair. The position opened her even more
to his questing hands and he delved deeper. She cried out, her head
falling back, her neck arching in pleasure.

“Touch me,” he urged her. “I want to feel
your hand on my cock.”

Reaching down, Wren clasped his cock in her
hand. He was so thick, her fingers wouldn’t close around the shaft.
With her thumb, she gathered the drop of pre cum that glistened at
the crown. The moisture allowed her to stroke him more easily, for
her hand to glide over the steel-like flesh until he was also
groaning in ecstasy. The groan ended abruptly when he claimed her
mouth again. The kiss was hard, bruising, with a touch of
desperation in it. His tongue delved into her mouth, sweeping over
hers masterfully, claiming her. Then he was moving lower, his teeth
scraping over her neck followed by the soothing sweep of his
mouth.

“Please!”

“Please what?” he asked before kissing the
soft valley between her breasts.

“I need you... I need to feel you inside
me.”

There were no coy games to be played, no
challenges to issue. Wordlessly, Kyr slid his fingers from the
welcoming heat of her cunt. Grasping his cock with one hand, he
guided it to her entrance. The heavy tip nudged into the soft
folds. He bit back a curse at the exquisiteness of the sensation.
He pressed deeper, sliding an inch at a time into her tight sheath,
until he was seated to the hilt. She gripped his shoulders, her
teeth scraping against the corded muscles there as she sobbed his
name. Cupping her bottom in his hands, he lifted her up and then
lowered her onto him again. Her inner muscles clutched at his cock,
that gentle resistance pushing him even closer to the precipice. He
lifted her again, this time guiding her hips down onto his faster
and more forcefully. It wasn’t enough. He wanted to drive into her,
to fuck her with the desperation that was burning in him.

Rising from the chair, he rested her bottom
against the console and hooked his hands behind her knees.
Wordlessly, she lay back, offering herself up to him. He drew her
legs up, resting her ankles on his shoulders, gripping her hips
tightly as he drove into her. His balls slapped against the lush
curve of her behind with each thrust. The sounds of their
lovemaking; the wet slap of skin against skin, harsh breathing and
soft, desperate cries; echoed throughout the cabin.

Kyr watched her. The glimmer of sweat and the
soft flush of her skin was so beautiful. Her lips parted as she
called his name and it was simply the sweetest sound he had ever
heard. Her belly trembled against him, her thighs quivering as the
rapture of her orgasm took her. With her back bowed, and her
breasts thrust skyward, he’d never seen anything as beautiful or as
erotic. He simply couldn’t hold back any longer. Driving into her
one last time, a harsh growl rasping from his throat as he came
inside her. Her body clenched around him, the walls of her sex
clasping him, milking him as he spilled his very essence inside
her.

“I love you,” she said, her voice still
shaking and winded. “I don’t know how or why, but I do.”

He pulled her to him, pressing against her,
chest to chest. “I don’t know what love is. I’ve never experienced
it, never defined it. But I need you,” he said. More softly, he
repeated it again, “I need you.”

With the massive warrior still trembling in
her arms, Wren smiled. “I think you just defined it.”

He chuckled softly. “Perhaps I did.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

The following morning, Wren woke alone. Kyr
was already at the helm. Climbing from the bed, Wren wrapped the
sheet around her and approached him. He glanced over his shoulder
at her. “You may want to get dressed.”

“Oh? What’s going on?”

“We’re approaching Lexian’s ship. I’m not
sure who is on board. Any contact other than a locator ping from
the transponder was too risky.”

Wren went to the small cupboard and retrieved
one of the simple flight suits. Dropping the sheet, she shimmied
into it and then took her seat beside him. She was intrigued to
meet Lexian, the man who had shared so much of Kyr’s life, who had
shared his body. Any lingering jealousy had faded for her. Every
time she and Kyr made love their connection to one another
deepened. She couldn’t doubt that they truly were made for one
another, nor could she doubt that their feelings for one another
were real, in spite of how they had come to exist.