Gaze (6 page)

“All good choices for a companion. I understand.”

Gaze grinned. “It was a lovely wedding.”

Mrs. Nashti smiled and began to chat with her about the arrangements that had brought the event to fruition and the amount of people they had had to call to get General Korwait back to their home.

Hargu had simply refused to be married without him, so he had to be brought.

Four hours, nine dances and several examinations by intoxicated healers later, she was ready to call it a night. She had spoken to both sets of parents, a number of relatives and several co-workers and well-wishers. Gaze was exhausted.

Her body ached, and while Shiver’s mist was helping, her dead suit wasn’t. She was in desperate need of a controlled environment.

The happy couple made their departure to cheers and laughter, and Gaze sighed in relief. According to her etiquette lesson, she could leave.

She sought out Shiver by following the mist attached to her and tapped him on his shoulder. He was in deep conversation with another general of Agathon. She tapped him again and sighed. He looked down and held up his hand for her to wait.

She couldn’t wait. She was hot, tired and not thinking clearly. It was time to leave. Gaze headed to the skimmer racks, and she pulled one out, keying it up and heading for the landing area. She could make it, even without his help.

* * * *

He felt the snap as Gaze moved out of his reach. He turned his head to find her, but she wasn’t there.

“So, with a few more reductions, we should be back to a representatively mixed government in a matter of five years.” General Thoiak smiled.

“Please excuse me. My companion seems to have left for the evening.”

“So, you have plenty of women to choose from here, Korwait.” The general clapped him on the arm.

“She was the woman wounded in the ceremony. I have to make sure she is all right. Excuse me.”

He left the political conversation and charged for the skimmers. He grabbed one off the rack and throttled it high to get him back to the
Blue Fairy.
He had no idea why the urgency was riding him so hard, but he listened to it.

He couldn’t see her ahead of him and that worried him. Images of her crawling across the deck plates haunted him.

He pulled up next to her ship and scanned his palm for entrance. The hatch opened for him, and he rushed inside, tripping over the supine form of Gaze on the floor.

“Damn it!” He lifted her in his arms, surrounded them both with heavy mist and carried them up to her private quarters. “I need to get her hydrated,
Fairy
, please allow me entrance into her quarters.”

Lights flashed as he lifted her up, step by step, and when they were on the command deck, a door was open that had been sealed to him before.

He carried her into her bed and placed her carefully on the covers. Her eyes opened blearily before they closed again.

Bots trundled in with a series of hypos and a drip bag. Apparently, this was not an uncommon thing.

He kept her wrapped in mist while he worked on her body. A scanner was held out for him, and it showed that her entire body was out of balance and her suit was to blame. The damage was tampering with her electrolytes and her brain had been shorting out. No wonder she had wanted to leave.

He quickly removed her dress and then worked on the bodysuit, peeling it off and casting it aside. Her sandals clattered to the floor.

Her skin was a hot pink, healed tissue with the marks of a burn. It was a serious contrast in colour and texture to the silk of her cheek.

He was going to put a call in to Guardian dispatch when he had her stabilized. What the hell had happened to her?

* * * *

Gwyn woke with the glowing blue light of the ship staring down at her worriedly. She sat up and blinked. She was naked. She did not remember being naked. She remembered crawling into the ship and then nothing else.

Rubbing her face, she swung her legs out of bed and walked to the lav. There was a strange mist coiling along the floor, and the fog reached to her knees. It felt cool and refreshing, but she had to ask, “Baby, did you blow an environmental system?”

The coils of mist wrapped around her legs and moved up her body. Recognition clicked in. “Ah, Shiver. Good morning.”

The mist thickened and formed a column, leaving her in a room with a naked Kozue. “Good morning, Gaze. You have issues.”

She snorted at the understatement. “Yes, I do. Please excuse me for a moment.”

She walked into the lav, used the facilities and took a sonic shower. She was clean and a little more alert when she returned to her bedroom where Shiver was in earnest conversation with
Blue
.

Gwyn blinked at the portrait that was leaning against the wall. It was her perfect-match portrait. “What are you doing with that?”

“Admiring the artist’s handiwork. She managed to capture me with great detail. Nishans usually are not so favourably depicted in modern art.”

“Are you sure? I can’t read its aura in the image.”

She shivered a little, and he reacted immediately, wrapping her in a column of body-temperature comfort. Her skin felt normal and relaxed. She looked down and the mist started to move against her.

“Um, what are you doing?”

“The healers I consulted informed me that your skin needs to be gently abraded to trick it into regenerating itself. You have not done it yourself, because it was already an improvement over what you had previously.”

She shivered as the columns of air slid over her breasts, and she jumped as it parted her thighs. “What are you doing?”

He put an innocent look on his features. “I am testing the tensile strength of your skin.”

“I am not burned down there.”

“Really? The tissue feels very sensitive.”

She moved to slap him, but the step she took opened her up, and he took advantage of that. “What are you doing?”

She felt something slip inside her and move slightly.

“I am pressing my advantage. While you are excellent at hospitality, you have ignored all my attempts at gentle seduction. I am taking matters into my own hands, so to speak.”

She blinked as her knees quivered. The mist was stroking her sex, parting her, slipping inside and rubbing at her clit. She stayed locked in place while her body rioted from within.

Tension tightened inside her, and she stared into his eyes as she gasped when it reached critical and the tension eased with a sensory snap.

He remained looking at her while she went through the slow internal clasps that didn’t connect with anything. When the pleasure faded, an ache remained.

Shiver stepped toward her. “Thank goodness. I was afraid that your nervous system had major damage.”

He placed his hands carefully on her elbows and stroked upward to her shoulders. The compressed air was between them, but it didn’t reduce the effect of his touch.

“Why does it matter?” she could feel the bar of his erection against her lower belly.

“Because I was given a more detailed portrait months ago. You have no idea how hard it is to arrange pickup when I could and do fly myself. I had to beg your dispatcher for a chance, so she set a time limit on my courtship.” He stroked his hands down her spine.

“Courtship?”

“Well, yes. We are in a strange situation, Gaze. You can fly into danger at any moment, and I strut around on strange worlds in politically tense situations. Sure, I am only vulnerable to fire, but you would be surprised at how many folk are willing to try anything to get their way.”

She let his hands ease her completely against him. “So, you are saying that we should grab any opportunity for happiness?”

“I am saying that we have finally found each other, and I have thirty-two hours to confirm it with dispatch before they part us again.” His words were warm in her ear.

He kept stroking her skin lightly, using the cushion of air to press against her sensitive new tissue.

“Well, Shiver, I am willing to try if you are.”

“Durz.”

She turned her head and met his gaze. “Durz?”

“My name. Durz Korwait. I chose it so that I could blend in a little better with the standard bipeds.”

“In that case, address me as Gwyn.”

He chuckled. “Gwyn then. Is that your only name?”

“Gwyn Gwendolyn. My father was so rattled when filling out the forms that he did the last name first and the first name last.” She was speaking quickly as he stroked his hands down her spine.

He felt right. Not one inch of her wasn’t relaxed and excited by his touch. There was no fear, no panic and no hesitation. While their five days together previous to this had been polite conversation and Guardian chitchat, the switch from the banal to the sensual didn’t surprise her. It seemed the most natural thing in the world.

“Your father named you?” He cupped her buttocks and lifted her against him.

She wrapped her legs around his waist, and she rocked her moist sex against the heated length of him.

“He filled out the paperwork. They had just been told that I was blind, so he was processing. So, my parent’s last name was Gwyn and mine was Gwendolyn.” She pressed her lips to his neck and licked at him.

He tasted like the seaside. Mist, rain and a hint of salt. Working on instinct, she kissed her way up his neck, to his jaw and, finally, she pressed her lips to his.

She could feel him smile, and his perfect lips twisted against her, his tongue sliding along hers while his hands gripped her hips.

He let out a low growl, and he turned with her, bending her back until she was staring up at him from something that did not feel like her bedding. She didn’t care. The home-court advantage was all hers. The
Blue Fairy
would make sure that nothing untoward happened. There was nothing like a friend who had your back when your back was otherwise occupied.

Gwyn shifted against him, thankful that she had agreed for the medical staff to remove her hymen years earlier. They didn’t want her virginity to be an issue if she were ever captured. In the imperium, it would make her a target as opposed to the simple removal, which made her unremarkable. She had always been a fan of being average.

Durz positioned his cock in her opening, and he eased into her, the slick channel welcomed him eagerly.

It was extraordinary. She could feel him changing shape, length and breadth as he eased inside her.

“Open your eyes.”

She opened her eyes, not aware that she had closed them to use all her senses to focus on his entry. She stared into the deep, dark orbs that were fixed on watching her, and she kept her gaze locked as he started to move.

The pleasure of him physically rubbing and twisting within her was surprising, and she was sure it showed in her expression.

Watching Durz as he thrust into her increased her pleasure, because she could see his. His focus on her sent waves of excitement through her with every thrust. Her body heated, but she was wrapped in the cooling mist again and was able to move back against him, sweating without fear for the first time in two decades. As soon as it appeared it was kept for chilling her, vanishing an instant later.

She thrust upward, planting her feet on the surface under her and arching to meet him as he rocked into her.

Gwyn clutched his shoulders and slipped her fingers down his back. His sweat made his spine slick, and her hands cupped his buttocks, pushing him into her with as much force as she could muster.

The friction grew sweeter, and finally, she arched back as her body clasped his in heavy palpitations. Her breath locked in her chest and only the smallest whisper of sound escaped her.

Durz kissed her savagely, thrusting deep and groaning as his cock flexed inside her.

Gwyn’s eyes opened in surprise as he exhaled into her at the same time his hips locked to hers. She inhaled in shock and felt him tremble.

He groaned and held her tight, his lips next to her ear. “Are you all right?”

She smiled and coughed a little. “Fine. What was that?”

“I had an idea, but if it doesn’t work, I will undo it.”

She stroked his cheek and neck. “What was it?”

“I put a piece of me inside you, it should be enough to provide you with an insulating layer no matter what you wear. It will also help you to expose your skin to the elements so that it continues its recovery.”

“We are tied together then?” She smiled slightly.

His skin coloured. “Perhaps. I can recall the gases if you are opposed to the idea.”

“Let’s see how this works out.” She laughed. “I am willing to try it if you are.”

He grinned and kissed her lips, cheeks, jaw and ears in a flurry of excitement.

She squealed as he rolled her, and they fetched up against a wall before he rolled them the other way. When he stopped, she was lying on top of him, clutching his shoulders for support.

Gwyn sighed and felt her heart pounding in her chest. “I am guessing that you like that plan.”

He grinned and threaded his fingers through her hair. “I am very enthusiastic about the plan. I love the plan.”

“I will have to tell my dispatcher.”

He kissed her cheek then her lips. “
Blue Fairy
already did. I showed her the scan of the portrait that I had done, and she agreed. I think she did anyway. She didn’t eject me.”

“She will wait until we are in deep space. No one will ever know.” Gwyn chortled evilly.

“Vacuum doesn’t bother me.”

“Damn. We will have to come up with something else.” She patted his chest.

He grinned. “I look forward to your efforts. Are you up for having dinner with the happy couple today?”

“Is there still time?”

“Of course, you only slept for four hours. It is just coming up to dawn.”

“Well, then, I should get up, get dressed and we should have some breakfast.” She smiled and tried to lever off him. He held onto her with his arms looped around her waist.

“I like where we are.”