ReEmergent -Guardians of Vesturon [4] (10 page)

She would put a forkful of one type of food into her mouth and smile and either elicit a sound a pleasure, or her face would scrunch up in horror and she would pronounce loudly, “Ick!”

Xarrid laughed silently to himself for a few minutes until he couldn’t stand it any longer.

“
Can I join in on the fun?”

“
Xarrid! Would you?”

“
Only if you close your eyes and let me feed it to you.”

She looked at him skeptically. He saw her fist tighten ever so slightly. “May I hold your hand?” he asked softly.

“
Yes.”

He reached out and took her hand in his, lacing their fingers together. “Sweetheart, I would only give you a little taste. No forcing, just plain old fun. Trust me?”

“
Yes, I trust you.”

He rubbed her knuckles with his thumb and felt her relax. “You’re so beautiful Saylan.”

She lowered her eyes and her lashes fanned the tops of her cheeks.

“
Now open your mouth.”

He put some chocolate ice cream on a spoon and slipped it into her mouth.”

“
Mmmm.”

He began to think this might not have been such a good idea because the temptation to kiss her became nearly unbearable. He started thumping his leg up and down.

“
More please.”

“
Open up.”

Next he slipped in a strawberry dipped in whipped cream.

“
Mmmm. I like that too.”

He reached out and wiped her lower lip to catch the whipped cream that remained behind. She grabbed his hand, surprising him, and opened her eyes. Then she brought his thumb to her mouth to lick off the cream.

“
Er, Saylan. I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“
Oh, I’m sorry. I just didn’t want your hand to be messy.”

He grabbed a napkin and wiped her mouth for her and then his thumb.

“
Is something wrong Xarrid?”

He let out the breath that he’d been holding and shook his head. Then he smiled.

“
Saylan, before, when we were together, we had planned to be united. Soon, like if this hadn’t happened to you we would already have had our ceremony. Being with you like this is...well, it’s difficult for me. I don’t want this to sound bad or to scare you but I want to hold you in my arms and kiss you. When you went to lick that whipped cream off of my thumb, it did something to me. Saylan,
you
do something to me. My heart and soul are so tangled up in you. I know I should be patient with you and I shouldn’t tell you these things, but I want you to understand the reasons if I act strangely. It’s not that I’m angry or upset with you. It’s just that you effect me in ways that I can’t explain.”

“
I’m glad you told me that. I would rather know those things than to think you were angry or upset with me.” She squeezed his hand. “Will you feed me some more?”

He did. He laughed so hard when he got to the spaghetti. He put a large wad of noodles on the fork and she had great difficulty slurping them up. Noodles were everywhere. It soon deteriorated into a food fight. They were slinging noodles at each other, along with a stream of other things. The worst was the red and green flavored gelatin. Saylan was competitive. She refused to let Xarrid one-up her. Every time he thought he gotten her, she’d come back at him with a vengeance. When she smeared the chocolate pudding all over his face and hair, he had to retaliate with ice cream. It was cold so it made for an especially great come back. He held her down and straddled her and took a scoop in his hand and smeared in on her face. He took a second scoop and unbuttoned the top button of her shirt. He stuffed it inside and squished it down until she was laughing and screaming with tears rolling down her cheeks.

They both called a truce and took a good look at their surroundings and collapsed into fits of laughter again. They were laying on the floor next to each other, gooey and sticky with food, when she crawled up and straddled him. She put her hands on his chest and gave him a serious look.

“
Did we ever love each other Xarrid?”

“
Of course we loved each other,” he said, wrapping his hands around her wrists.

“
No, that’s not what I meant. I meant physically. As in the act of making love.”

He closed his eyes because if there were one memory he wished he’d had, it would’ve been that one.

“
No sweetheart, we didn’t. The Vesturions take a vow of celibacy and we don’t break it until we unite.”

“
I should like to break it with you.”

Xarrid’s eyes flew open locking onto Saylan’s as his breath became trapped in his throat. His heart thrummed and was near to exploding out of his chest.

“
Saylan. You are my heart and soul.” He sat up and was now face to face with her. Tucking a piece of hair behind her ear, he said, “I would do anything for you, but that’s one thing we can’t do. We would both regret it. I want you to love me back, with or without your memories, before we do anything such as that. And I want you as my mate.”

He put his hands in her hair and kissed her. She opened her mouth to him and tentatively tasted him with her tongue. He pulled away from her then, not because he didn’t want to continue on this journey, but because his heart was hammering so loud in his ears he wasn’t sure he’d survive her kiss.

His chest rose and fell rapidly, like he’d just run for a hundred miles, and he touched his forehead to hers.

“
Xarrid, I...”

“
Sshh. I know Saylan. I want the same thing too. My body wants you with everything I have. But my self control isn’t at its all time high right now.” He cleared his throat. “You have undone me, you know. Do you understand what I am telling you?”

“
I guess so,” she said, looking down. “I want to please you.”

“
Oh, sweetheart, you do please me. More than you know. Please look at me.”

She lifted her eyes to his. He saw they were filled with uncertainty.

“
Saylan. I want what’s between us to be pure and right. I don’t want you to make any mistakes. There are things you may think you want, but until you know for sure, it’s best that we go slowly.”

She looked at him for the longest time and suddenly something shifted in her eyes...in her expression that wasn’t there before.

“
Your eyes,” she said in a voice filled with awe. She reached out her hands and with fingers that trembled slightly, she traced his brows and ran her thumbs tenderly across the space beneath his eyes.

“
What about them?”

“
I remember your beautiful eyes.”

The group of minions shuffled the cargo from the spot on the old runway to inside the empty building. The Xanthian leaders would occasionally scream out orders to get them to pick up their speed or to place the items in new locations.

Unbeknown to them, two unseen streaks of light flashed by countless times, assessing the activity of the group. The streaks then soared off into the distance, only to return again that night and every day thereafter.

********

The troop of Guardians teleported to Earth in teams of four. Each team was assigned a quadrant of the old city of Atlanta. Their first goal was to find a place to set up as their headquarters and then communicate it to the other teams. They would only meet up every other week, unless instructed otherwise by the Command Center on Vesturon.

They were dressed to fit in with the bedraggled residents of Earth. Torn and dirty clothing, worn boots, and faces smeared with dirt, they looked like they belonged there. Unlike the humans though, they had unearthly Powers that allowed them to move with incomprehensible speed if necessary. They carried no communication devices, but would only rely on their Powers of Telepathy. When it was necessary, they would also employ their Powers of Command, if they were gifted with it. Command was something that was used judiciously because it was paralyzing and controlling. If used inappropriately, it could cause irreparable damage to the one it was directed upon. It forced the person to do things against his or her will, confess things he or she didn’t want to. But in this instance, it could be invaluable.

Sharra was in charge of her group, which included Maddie, Zander and Rafe. They were collectively known as Team Beta. They were assigned to the south side of the city, near the old airport. Jurek’s team was feeding them information on who the Xanthian’s were sending their supplies to. Team Beta would try to intercept the leader of the group that the Xanthians were dealing with. Their hopes were to establish some kind of link so they could identify the target. This target would then be relayed to the leader of the newly established rebel force.

The other Guardian groups--Teams Alpha, Gamma and Delta were all responsible for helping to establish a rebel force. The Guardians would remain on Earth until this force was in place and had enough members to begin the fight to regain control of Earth.

Sharra was setting up their Compsys so they could establish a veil around their headquarters. It would keep their existence a secret from others so they could go about their work without fear of discovery.

“
Okay, we’re all set up and secure now,” she announced. “Thanks heavens Xarrid passed on his knowledge of this stuff to me. Here are the coordinates but don’t set them in your teleporters. And make sure you don’t teleport here. I don’t want any Xanthians following the trail your molecular paths leave behind. I don’t think they are that technologically advanced, but I don’t want to take any chances.”

They all agreed with her.

“
Any news from Jurek’s men?” Maddie asked.

“
Not yet. I was thinking we might split up into pairs and check out the area. I’d like to have an idea of where we stand versus that area where those minions are staying.”

“
Okay. How do you want to do this?” Maddie asked with laughter in her voice.

Sharra rolled her eyes and said, “I was thinking you and I need to split up since we both are familiar with this city.”

“
Right, and that’s your only reason,” Maddie said as her eyes drifted over to Zander. He was busy dragging some gear to the back of the room, so he didn’t hear their conversation. “You want to know what your brother thinks?”

“
About what?”

“
Dang Sharra. Are you intentionally trying to be evasive on this topic?” Maddie eyed her friend and sister-in-law and wondered what was up with her.

Sharra looked at Zander out of the corner of her eye, just to make sure he was far enough away for her to speak freely. “Okay,” she said in a whisper. “Yes, I want to know. What does Rayn think?”

Maddie giggled. “He likes him and thinks he’s very honorable. He ran a check on him.”

Sharra bristled and her mouth hardened. “He did not!”

“
Oh calm down. You would do the same thing. In fact, it was my idea. I didn’t want you to get hurt.”

Sharra stood up and moved to Maddie’s side. She and Maddie were nearly the same height, about five feet nine inches, so they stood eye to eye. “Don’t interfere again. I mean it Maddie. I love you; you are my sister. But I am capable of taking care of myself where he is concerned.”

Maddie fidgeted under Sharra’s chastising. “I’m sorry. You’re right. We shouldn’t have done that. But we are both impressed with him, so ease up, okay?”

Sharra stared at Maddie with narrowed eyes for a moment longer and then nodded.

“
Is everything okay here?” Zander had come over to them but they were so involved in their discussion, neither of them had heard him.

“
Fine. Everything is fine,” Sharra replied in a clipped tone.

Zander looked at both of the women and realized he’d interrupted something. So he wandered back to where he’d been and busied himself with something else.

“
Don’t be mad Sharra. I can’t stand it when someone is angry with me.”

She shook her head. “Look, let’s just forget about this, okay?”

Maddie nodded as she pushed her sleeves up. “I haven’t worn clothing like this in a while. I always used to love jeans, but dang these are uncomfortable.”

“
I know, correct?”

“
Oh no!”

“
What?”

“
Your Sharbabble is coming out. What is it about Earth that does that to you?”

Sharra looked at her friend and asked in a squeaky voice, “What did I say?”

“
You said, ‘I know, correct’ and you should have said, ‘I know, right.’”

Sharra threw her hands up in the air and walked away, leaving a giggling Maddie behind. Sharra was known to butcher American slang and unfortunately, it had already started.

********

Rafe and Maddie walked through the streets and looked for anything unusual. It was dark so humans were scurrying about, much like rats, not wanting to be seen or to be the focus of anyone’s attention. Maddie wondered if they should be scurrying too. Maybe they would blend in better if they did. She put that out in a thought to Rafe.

He agreed with her so they began to dart from one dark spot to the next. In each darkened area, they would visually scan their surroundings, searching for any type of clue that would lead them to a connection. The night was uneventful so when the sun began to rise, they took off for their home away from home.

They slept in cots in the rear of the building. Everything had been carefully arranged to give the girls as much privacy as possible. Of course there was no running water, so bathrooms were out of the question. Sneaking off to find a place to go was a huge pain, but they managed.