Mission (3 page)

Scrubbing herself from head to toe only took minutes, and she felt better when she dipped in and out of the water for her final rinse, and she saw Stormyo waiting for her with a wide towel.

Jewel exited the water via the steps, and she stood as Stormyo swathed her in the absorbent fabric.

He sniffed her and chuckled. “You smell like my shampoo. I never thought that the scent would arouse me, but I am proved wrong.”

Jewel blushed. “I do not know how to respond to that.”

“You do not have easy access to emotional responses, do you?”

She wrinkled her nose. “No. I can see them but am never sure what to do with them.”

He stroked his hands over her back and buttocks, drying her with even strokes of his palms.

“You had blood on you. Where did it go?”

“I took a solar. There is another lav off the bedroom.” He chuckled.

He was careful not to tangle his horns with her hair as he knelt to dry her legs. She didn’t know what species he was, but he seemed to have no trouble making rounds in her vicinity.

His braided hair swung as he moved around her, getting all of the tiny water droplets with the edges of the towel until she was dry. He worked at her hair with a corner of the towel, and her scalp tingled as he combed her hair with his fingers.

“There is a brush at the dressing table.”

She nodded. “Ah, but is there a dress?”

He chuckled. “Something I believe you will enjoy more.”

Stormyo walked out of the room and returned with a tube filled with fabric. “Here you are. Something that fits you a little better than the gowns.”

She opened the canister and pulled out two large wads of fabric. One was a set of low-slung tights in a rippling pattern. The top was snug, long sleeved and left her abdomen completely bare.

“They are adaptable. Choose the colour and they will change.”

She ran her hands down the tights and the colour changed from grey to blue to red. Jewel smiled. “Aside from the bare midriff, it is like my uniform clothing.”

“That is the idea. I want you to feel comfortable at all times. This was as close as I could get.”

“Thank you for your efforts on my behalf. What do you wish in return?” Getting things out in the open would make things easier for her to adapt to.

“I believe that I would ask for you to be my companion, and when my rut occurs, I ask that you help to mitigate the effects.” He inclined his head and his horns dipped with the motion.

“You want me to keep you calm?” Jewel wanted to make sure that she had the right idea.

“By whatever means necessary.”

She cocked her head and stared into his eyes. His gaze was completely accepting of whatever he saw.

“Come with me. I have ordered a meal for you.”

Jewel nodded and followed him out of the huge bathing chamber. He settled her at the table and went to get her food.

“I can do that.”

“Please, allow me to be a host. I get so few opportunities.”

She sat back when he put the tray in front of her. “Thank you.”

He put a pitcher of water next to her and provided her with a glass. He poured for her and smiled as he took his own seat.

She looked at his arm, exposed as it was by the sleeveless wrap shirt in a chocolate brown that made his skin glow. “They healed you completely.”

He looked down at his arm. “That is what they do.”

“Did they kidnap you as well?”

He chuckled. “No. I am a free man. I chose this life as a means to travel and meet other races.”

“Lucky.” She faced her meal and started in on the delicately arranged food.

“Not luck, desperation. I am a throwback to the genes of an ancient ancestor and I do not fit in with my own people.”

She felt her lips pull down in a frown. “I know that feeling.”

Jewel looked at him. “Aren’t you hungry?”

Stormyo nodded. “I am, but I want to make sure you are comfortable before I call for my own meal.”

“I am. Thank you.”

He smiled and got to his feet, returning to the food dispenser. “Tell me about how you came to be here.”

She blinked. “How far back do you want me to go?”

“Begin at your home world and tell me what happened next.”

Jewel sipped at her water and started her story while he selected his meal and returned to the table in a relay that covered half the surface with plates and trays.

She kept talking as he ate and occasionally filched a tempting tidbit off one of his plates. “So, I did six months on Frekiad, mining world, as a peacekeeper and now I am here.”

“Why were you selected? I am not complaining, but you are not an obvious choice.” He smiled.

“One of the peacekeepers was wife to someone on this station. She was retrieved and all female officers with her. From what she told me, the others were ransomed back to the colony.”

“And you remained here?”

“As a gift to the station. Or something. She was lying a lot, so I am not sure why I am here.”

“I can’t be sedated. I am guessing that when she told them what your skill was, they thanked her for her honesty in the matter as peacekeepers are generally supposed to keep special skills to themselves when it comes to teammates.”

“You sound like you know about the protocols.”

He smiled. “I have not always been a fighter. I did five years as a peacekeeper on my home world before it was apparent that even protecting the helpless, I would not be accepted.”

She blinked. “Why not?”

“Are you familiar with the Dorrsooni?”

“Sure, tiny, little creatures about this high. Brown with freckles.” She held her hand out at her waist.

“My parents are Dorrsooni. I am obviously not.” He drank something blue with a violet tinge.

“My family is all emotionally normal. I am obviously not.”

He chuckled. “You are. You just have your protective instinct first then cognition then emotion. You calm the room so you can examine it and act once you have a grip on the situation.”

“How do you know that?”

“You are not the first broadcasting empath I have met. You are the first to have a setting locked on calm though.” He smiled.

She narrowed her eyes. “So you know what I am. Why did you bother with bringing me here?”

“To get any medical treatment, I need psychic sedation, and I sensed that you were in danger going back to the cells. They would either starve you or begin to rent you out to fighters to punish you and reward them.”

“Why punish me?”

“You spoke to me, frankly and openly. They are worried that I will leave and I will take a good portion of their income with me. The fighters here are all free men and women. It is the service personnel that we run into the issue. We get attached to them and they are used against us. I thought to avert that by simply claiming you.”

“Can you do that?” She leaned forward and snitched a piece of fruit from one of his plates.

“I did. Now, we need to see what the fallout is. I have a fight in sixteen hours. I am inviting you to come and watch the bout. It will be safer for you be in public and out of their grasp.”

She bit her lip. “That might not be a good idea. I can cast a pretty wide net if I have to, but I have a bigger problem with pulling it in.”

“You are afraid you will calm me out of a killing frenzy?”

“Well, yes.”

“I fight calm. If you can keep from revving my opponent down, that would be appreciated.”

“I will try. Will you get tapped for cheating if I am there?”

He shook his head. “No. Emotional manipulation is acceptable in the rules. Men will often try and use women to gain the upper hand on their opponents. With you that is unlikely.”

“Why?”

“I don’t think you are susceptible to a pheromone based seduction and certainly not a psychic interference. You are a woman with a strong mind and enough skills to look after herself.”

She blinked. “Um. Thank you.”

He grinned and finished his meal. She helped him clear the broad spectrum of plates and put them into the recycler.

“What would you like to do for entertainment?”

Jewel looked around. “A vid? Do you have anything that isn’t porn?”

He stared for a moment before he burst out laughing. He pinched the wide bridge of his nose and his shoulders were still shaking when he took a seat on the couch and he patted the spot next to him.

“I will do my best to find something that meets with your viewing standards.”

Jewel smiled brightly and settled next to Stormyo, letting the bright images on the screen blank her mind.

* * * *

Stormyo looked at the woman asleep on his shoulder. The moment she relaxed, she slid over and landed against his skin. The soft feathering of her breath against his shoulder was distracting as hell.

She might specialize in calming people, but when she was around, calm was the last thing he felt.

He eased his arm around her and lifted her in his arms. He walked through his quarters to his bedroom and settled her on the covers. He folded the blankets from his side over her and stroked her hair.

She was a calm exterior and a wave extraordinary abilities beneath it. A true treasure had been hauled out in front of him, and he was not stupid enough to ignore it. If she was here, she was here for a reason.

Jewel felt hands caressing her skin, rubbing up and down her back and stroking her inner thigh. She jolted upright and looked around. She was all alone in a bed large enough to use for gymnastics.

Her skin was covered with goose pimples, she was still dressed. Whatever she had been dreaming, it had been fascinating and she wanted to get back in that dream to find out what happened next.

She got out of bed, tugged the bedding flat and noted that the other side of the bed had been slept in.

A slight noise from the open doorway had her shuffling down the hall and into the dining area. Stormyo was at the dispenser, and he smiled as he retrieved a platter that he brought to the table.

“Did you sleep well?”

She rubbed the back of her neck. “I think so. Odd dreams though.”

She glanced at his head. “I guess you sleep on your back.”

He chuckled and did another trip with more food. “I do.”

She patted the flat waist of her clothing and the high neck. “I slept in my clothing?”

“You did. We began watching a Nyal Imperium documentary on the legal system and you were out.”

“And you put me in your bed.”

“It seemed more comfortable than both of us staying on the couch. You tilted toward me, and the only way for me to move was to take you with me.”

They settled at the table and he forked some slices of fruit onto her plate.

She smiled. It was the same fruit she had been snitching off his plate the night before.

Jewel brushed her hand over her suit and a deep purple leaf pattern emerged on her top and the leggings.

“That colour makes your eyes green and gold.” He smiled.

“My sister was devoted to making me look like I could fit in. We spent hours with me learning how to look, act and dress to be unremarkable.”

“How could that be?”

Jewel sipped at her water. “Because, on Earth, having brown hair, brown eyes and a calm demeanour makes you blend into any wall you get near. Social interaction is difficult.”

He worked his way through the meal with enough speed to make her fondly remember her older brothers making all the food at the table disappear.

Her own meal was an organized mix of fruit and protein, with some bread twists on the side. She finished her plate at around the same time that he completed his ten.

“Do you always eat that much?”

He shrugged and started clearing up. “I burn a lot of calories in the ring and on the practice field. That means I eat a lot.”

She helped him gather the plates, and when they had all lowered into the recycling slot, she got a damp scrubber and cleared the table of crumbs.

“Will you come with me to warm-ups and the interviews?”

Jewel looked around. “Sure.”

He grinned and held out his hand. “Come with me. I will show you the fighter side of the station.”

She put her hand in his and walked with him out through the living area and into the hall. Another fighter came out of his own quarters, and he paused when he saw Jewel.

“Stormyo, I didn’t think you were the type to hang onto a companion.”

“She is a friend, Raffix. Jewel, this is Raffix. He is also a Champion but not a master.”

Raffix chuckled and bowed low. “Not yet, but by the end of the week, I will be.”

Raffix had deep blue skin with small white marks reminiscent of stars. His hair was white with a hot purple streak that waved back from his forehead. He shared Stormyo’s fashion sense in a sleeveless wrap shirt, exceedingly snug trousers just thick enough to hide contours below the waist and soft boots that laced up the front.

Jewel inclined her head toward him. “Pleased to meet you, Raffix.”

“Where are you two headed?”

Stormyo sighed. “We are headed to the practice floor. I am taking Jewel on a tour before my bout in three hours.”

“I will join you.” Raffix grinned.

Jewel looked at the other man as he fell into step with them. He was handsome enough, but he seemed annoying, like a puppy that was just about to make a mess on the floor. There was an excitement in him that she reached out and calmed down.

Stormyo snickered as Raffix calmed down. “You will release him eventually?”

“Of course. Or I could just move out of range.”

“Not quite yet. I am enjoying this.”

She laughed and blinked in surprise. Few things made her laugh. The spear of amusement was unmistakable; it came out of her soul and lit up her mind.

Stormyo squeezed her hand and they continued on their way.

Standing between two fighters was a good way to keep the guards away from her. They watched her intently, and she got the feeling that if she strayed too far from Stormyo, she would be back in her cell.

The practice arena was sparsely occupied, but their trio gathered enough attention to make her ease closer to her protector.