Lady (5 page)

“Will you keep me warm?”

“I consider it my solemn duty, wife.”

She blushed and pressed her face to his chest. She had been upgraded from bride to wife.

He ran his hands over her back in a soothing pattern until she relaxed and slumped over him.

It was only a few hours’ sleep but she felt calm and rested when she woke.

“Are you up for breakfast?” Devnin’s voice was hoarse with sleep.

She chuckle. He was thick and heavy inside her. “Breakfast? Does it have to be right now?”

He lifted his hips, sliding more deeply inside her. “I suppose not. No calls so far today, so there is time to work up an appetite.”

She winced at the friction, but as he continued to move, her body responded accordingly. She sat up and he went deeper. He slipped a hand between them and caressed her clit as she moved against him.

Her hair slid forward as she leaned in to rest her hands on his chest. It was hard to keep a rhythm while her clit was being stimulated. She rocked harder and faster, feeling the drag within. His free hand cupped her breasts and appreciated each of them in turn.

She groaned when release struck her, heat flaring inside her once again. With effort, she kept moving until he gripped her hips with rock-steady fingers and pulled her onto him in half a dozen short thrusts. His shout rang in the room and she shivered but finally relaxed against him.

After he started stroking her back again, she uncoupled them and slumped against him, boneless and warm.

“That is a wonderful way to start the day.”

She smiled against his chest and bit his skin gently. “I always wake up cold, but I might not have the nerve to come in here again.”

“Would you object if I came to you?” He caressed her neck and shoulder.

“I believe that it is entirely plausible I would not object, but I am new here and in an adaptation phase. It would be best to check first or keep an eye out for any signs I might not be amenable.”

He chuckled. “Like you trying to freeze my groin?”

“Oh, that would be a good hint, wouldn’t it? I will add it to the roster of horrible things to do to a man.” She snickered.

“You have a roster?”

She leaned back and looked him in the eyes. “Every lady needs a hobby.”

He laughed and rolled with her until they were on the edge of the bed. “I would be delighted to be your hobby.”

“I will consider this your application, but now, I do need a shower and some breakfast. I might be able to drink some caf this morning without you warming it up.”

He leaned in until his lips were touching her ear. “I look forward to warming up whatever you need whenever you need it.”

She shivered, and for once in her life, cold was not a factor.

After her shower, she put on a tank top and flippy skirt with some sandals. Now that she knew that skin exposure cut down on how cold those around her got, she was willing to sacrifice dignity for cotton.

When she entered the common space, Devnin looked up from the plates he was piling.

He blinked. “I thought you needed that other fabric.”

She smiled. “Not today. If my temperature changes, I will go and change. For now, I feel normal, so I want to look normal.”

Rowen came in wearing a bodysuit and her belt. “I know that feeling, but if you are an Irudan woman, you need to dress like one. Pleska would be happy to take you shopping if it will injure Devnin’s masculinity.”

She rubbed her neck. “I can’t go shopping. I can’t pay.”

Rowen grabbed a cup of caf and walked around Devnin to fill her own plate. “You have an account as a Guardian. Yesterday’s assignment should have earned you enough for a decent wardrobe. Skorin should have set up your account if Devnin didn’t.”

Devnin walked around the kitchen, and he set the plates down at the table. “It slipped my mind.”

Rox headed for the table, and she sat next to him in the chair he held out. The fabric of the seat was cool against her thighs and she rethought her skirt length.

“Did you want to go shopping today? I could arrange it?”

Pleska came around the corner. “Did someone say shopping?”

Rox sipped at her cup and lifted her head. “I need Irudan clothing, but I need it made out of thermally reactive fabrics. I don’t think that can be arranged in one day.”

Rowen laughed. “You haven’t met my mother-in-law. I will call her once I have finished breakfast and ask her to get in touch with the research division with the file for uniform requirements that came with you.”

“I came with a file?”

Devnin nodded. “We all do. We all begin with a file, and then, we see what we can make of ourselves. My suits are thermally resistant, so I know that there are fabrics out there that can do the job.”

“We can probably use the same fabric.”

He blinked. “There is a point. Both of our fabrics are designed to contain and modify heat. You could probably go to my designer for your work uniform.”

“Does he or she design for women?”

“I will make a call.”

“Lots of calls going on on my behalf. I like it. Step one, fix the money.”

Skorin came in on that note. “I started the account last night. I should be able to finish it in a few minutes and get you a payment chit to wear with you at all times. It will be rigged to your biometrics, so you will be able to authorize it in a number of ways.”

Uadon was the final arrival, and he didn’t talk in the morning. He overfilled a platter and put it in front of him, going to work on it with aggressive determination.

Breakfast at the Guardian base was silent, and aside from the stabbing of breakfast foods, completely peaceful.

Rowen bumped into her while reaching for the carafe of caf, and she commented. “You are so much warmer than you were yesterday.”

Devnin puffed up proudly.

Rox sighed, “I got some heat therapy last night and this morning. If I am lucky, it might just change my baseline temperature into the normal range.”

Devnin put his hand over hers. “There will be adaptation on both our parts. I feel delightfully cool myself this morning. No hour under the shower to drop my temperature.”

Rox blinked. She hadn’t realised that Devnin might have the opposite containment problem to hers. She sucked in heat; he emanated it. They might be a better match than just fire and ice, hot and cold. They each had what the other wanted.

A bank robbery underground at a seed vault required all of their efforts, and for Fire Fall to steer clear of the actual seeds.

Rox put on her uniform as quickly as she could, and when everything was in the right place, she grabbed her trident and joined the others as they piled into the shuttle. Jump seats folded down and allowed them all to take part in the briefing while Devnin flew the ship.

The seeds in question were high value and being sent to a world beginning its own stages of planet development. They were literally power plants, and that made them exceptionally valuable.

The bank members were identified, and those holding the hostages until they could get into the seed vault were equally easy to spot. Ideas for an attack were held, and finally, it was decided that Rock Wall would seal them all in, Pleska would coax her insects into breaking the lights and environmental systems down, which would allow for Lady to cool the temperature dramatically to force folk to sleep, and Walking Darkness would take care of those working to break into the vault.

Fire Fall was there to bring everyone around the moment the coast was clear. He would counter Lady’s cooling and everyone would wake up.

They all had emergency duties if anything came up, but Lady really didn’t want to do it. She wanted everything to go smoothly.

They landed on the meadow near one of the few surface structures on the surface. Peacekeepers surrounded the main and rear entrances and that is where their small group of armoured and costumed warriors headed.

Walking Darkness took point and led them into the building while Rock Wall sealed the entrance behind them.

Lady looked into the building and found all the living beings. With two taps on her shoulder from Fire Fall, she stepped forward and pulled the heat out of the beings in the building.

They were all adults or she wouldn’t have been so aggressive with it. When they huddled together for warmth and the ambient temperature in the building started to rise because someone had fiddled with the settings on the heater, Pleska made a small sound and sent the gnawing beetles she had carried in a case into the wall.

When the temperature of the building started to drop, it was time to move. Pleska stayed back to control her creatures and Lady moved with Fire Fall and Walking Darkness into the dark and cooling structure.

Fire Fall kept his hand on her shoulder, and they moved quietly through the building.

She continued to consume the body heat of those within until they all slumped over and were immobile. “They are down. We only have a few minutes before it will do damage.”

Walking Darkness dropped the shadows around them so they could move at speed. They moved into the gallery that overlooked the main lobby, and the hostages and villains alike were slumped down and breathing softly.

Walking Darkness gave the signal to let the peacekeepers into the lobby and Fire Fall warmed the hostages.

Walking Darkness looked over at Lady. “Are you ready?”

She nodded. “I am. Three took shelter in a sealed room. They are less affected then the others and might put up a fight.”

She led him to the door in question, and the heavy vault closure loomed in front of them. “Can you get that open?”

Walking Darkness activated his com. “Requesting authorization to bring down the vault door.”

“Authorization granted.”

Walking Darkness pointed at the door. “Do what you can.”

She looked at him and blinked. “Okay. When I say hit it, hit it.”

“I wait for your signal.”

Lady squared up in front of the door, lowered her trident and pulled the heat out of the metal. It took several minutes, but when she heard the crackling and there was nothing left for her to take, she stepped to one side, kept up the draw and whispered, “Hit it.”

Coil after coil of darkness hammered at the door, and under the quick barrage, it shattered.

She stood ready to knock the men out, but she had overreached a little and they were huddled together, barely breathing.

“Oops.”

“Fire Fall, please come at once.”

Lady went in and dragged the men out into the hallway. She didn’t want the seeds to be exposed to heat after cold. The sudden bloom might blow them and wreck their potential. The drawers they were in were insulated against heat and moisture but too much tampering might blow them wide open. It would be better if they came up to temperature slowly.

Fire Fall came running and picked up on the events in seconds. He removed the weapons from the villains and then set about warming them with cocoons of hot air.

When the heartbeats were steady and the core temperatures were nearing normal, the peacekeepers cuffed them and hauled them away on stretchers.

Lady watched the scientists run to the drawers and check them for viability. Lady sighed in relief along with the others when the seeds were pronounced viable and in good condition.

Fire Fall put his arm around her, and together with Walking Darkness, they left the way they had come in.

They collected their people on the way back and headed to the ship with the same compliment that they had arrived with.

Lady felt relief. She didn’t permanently injure anyone and they all made it out alive, even Pleska’s bugs.

Everyone was accounted for and Fire Fall took the helm on the way home to bring them all back to the base.

Pleska headed for the kitchen when they arrived. “I am making a snack. Just hold on and we will be eating in five.”

Devnin chuckled. “You can go put your trident away. I am fairly sure you are done for the day.”

Rox wrinkled her nose at him and headed to her room. A rack had been installed that was custom designed for her trident and a stand that was suitable to contain what there was of her suit. “Aw, how thoughtful.”

She slipped on her robes and headed back to the kitchen. She was hungry and she didn’t care what she was being offered. She was going to eat.

The food that Pleska had laid out covered the table. When she had finished putting out pots of tea and pitchers of juice, she whistled sharply.

Not one to ignore that kind of signal, Rox joined the rest of them as they sat around the table and started grabbing at the feast.

Most of the food was a spreads on pieces of flatbread with a variety of herbs embedded in it.

They ate in silence until the first of the feeding frenzy was over and then the stories began.

Skorin was laughing as he described the moment that the door shattered and her examination of the interior. “And then she said…
Oops
.”

The table at large cackled.

Devnin squeezed her hand and he was grinning. “We all overdo our use of talent now and then. It makes for good stories and critiquing with others who have struggled with their own control issues.”

“Oh, it makes sense.” She giggled herself. “I just can’t believe that I said,
Oops.
”

The table burst into laughter again, just as Rowen came through the door. She smiled and wandered over to sit in Skorin’s lap. “I am guessing that you had a good day at the seed repository?”

“We thwarted the theft and put the men in custody. Lady nearly froze three to death and upon discovering her overkill, she said,
Oops.
Then we returned here.” Skorin nuzzled at his wife’s neck.

Rowen smiled at Rox. “Nearly?”

“Devnin fixed them.” She made a face.

Rowen relaxed against Skorin and casually mentioned, “Since you are not on assignment this evening, we have that party that your mother wanted us to attend.”

Skorin’s nuzzling turned to a light bite. “You would have to remember that.”

“I am not going alone if you are available.” The steel in her tone was sharp enough to be audible.