Hyperspeed Dreams by Anna Carven
Chapter Twelve
“Let’s go.”Nythian guided her into a room full of strange alien equipment and faintly glowing lights and indecipherable holos.
It occurred to her that Nythian was without a shirt. The only scrap of clothing on his body was a pair of light, loose black trousers similar to the pants Lodan had been wearing. Was this what passed for casual clothing in Kordolian culture?
His hair was disheveled.
He, too, looked like he’d just rolled out of bed… or something.
Oh, no. Did I interrupt something?
Alexis…? Sorry, sis…
Tasha could see how Alexis had fallen for the guy. He was a big, chiseled, dangerous specimen of a male. Many women on Earth would fall over themselves for him, but he didn’t do anything for her. He didn’t stir her arousal the way Lodan did… with his sneaky smoldering glances and quiet, hard-edged intensity…
Shit.
Realization dawned on her.
Maybe it wasn’t the withdrawals, after all…
Shit, shit, shit.
“Sit down,” Nythian ordered, guiding her into a soft-but-hard obsidian chair. Faint blue symbols flashed as a series of black tendrils attached themselves to her arms and legs and chest.
Her skin prickled as the black stuff came to rest upon it.
“You’re completely dependent on it, aren’t you?” the medic inquired from somewhere behind her, his voice cool and detached. It was the same tone the Praetorian scientists had used with her when they made all kinds of experimental tweaks and modifications to her body.
“Yeah.” With that simple word came a flood of relief.
Finally, she’d admitted it.
And strangely, she didn’t feel any shame.
“How old were you when they started you on it?”
“Do you know human years?”
“Of course.”
“I was ten.”
Zharek let out a hiss.
Obsidian tendrils went across her wrists and thighs and chest.
“Nothing to worry about,” Nythian said lightly. “This is for your own safety. Just keeping you in one place in case the ship goes nuts again. Lodan says you’re having some sort of medical problem, so we’re gonna get this done quick. Don’t worry, I know he looks weird, but you’re actually in good hands. Zharek even knows how to bring people back from the dead.”
The long-haired alien snorted. “Weird? Speak for yourself, you hornless bastard,” he muttered. He turned to Tasha. “Close your eyes,” the medic ordered. “Relax.”
“Relax? You expect me to relax? Here? Now?”While the ship sounds like it’s disintegrating in the background?
“Just try. Close your eyes and think of something pleasant.”
“Hmph,” Tasha snorted as she closed her eyes. She’d never heard anything so ridiculous. She didn’t have dreams and fantasies and indulgences like everyone else…
Something pleasant?
Her mind turned to sunshine.
Sunshine and warmth and the smell of the ocean.
She tried to hold the picture in her mind, but she couldn’t. It wavered and then fell apart, shattered by the presence of an intruder.
Him.
Lodan invaded her thoughts.
Impossibly controlled and infinitely dangerous; all hard-edged, silver-and-gold alien intensity, with just a trace of softness… in the form of his moonlight-colored hair and his sensual grey-silver lips.
She remembered the cold fury in his eyes as he’d looked at her one last time, standing perfectly still amongst the dark chaos of the violently swaying ship.
He was absolutely terrifying.
But instinctively, she knew his anger wasn’t directed at her. It was aimed at whatever mysterious force was causing the disturbance on the ship, and maybe, just maybe… she’d seen a glimmer of something else—the closest a creature like him could ever get to looking panicked.
What the hell is going on, Lodan?
The ship rocked again, the movement bigger and more violent than before.
Tasha’s eyes snapped open just in time to see Zharek and Nythian to grab ahold of the furniture as they tried to steady themselves.
Nythian was quick and graceful, like a big cat on his feet. Zharek wobbled a little, cursing viciously in Kordolian.
Tasha couldn’t do a thing, because she was strapped into her chair.
Well, at least she was safe…
Kind-of.
For now.
She thought.