Hyperspeed Dreams by Anna Carven

Chapter Four

“We’ll go ahead,”Lodan said softly to Nythian in Kordolian as the females regarded one another warily. They stood slightly apart, their eyes locked, some silent communication passing between them.

Tch.Humans and their strange ways. Always full of conflicting emotions. He shared a look with Nythian, who was standing just beside Alexis, ready to pounce if the newcomer tried anything foolish.

Lodan understood.

She was dangerous… for a human.

They needed to watch her very closely.

You can stay,he indicated to Nythian with a subtle hand signal. No doubt Alexis would want to spend some time in the house that she grew up in. “Do what you need to do. I’ll escort her to the ship.”

He didn’t care if this human was Alexis’s long-lost sister or something or other. She was trouble, and there was no way he was going to let her disrupt his battle-brother’s happiness, especially after everything Nythian and Alexis had been through.

He’d seen the changes Nythian’s mate had wrought in him; he’d seen old wounds heal.

For once in his life, his brother deserved a little peace. Nythian shouldn’t have to worry about meddlesome little humans, especially those that showed up in highly suspicious circumstances.

Lodan gave him a pointed look. I will deal with this one… alone.

The big Kordolian nodded. “We’ll see you back at the ship.” Nythian put a reassuring hand on Alexis’s shoulder as she opened her mouth to protest. “Lodan will take care of this. Don’t worry, he’ll be gentle with her.” Nythian’s expression was dead serious, but there was a twinkle in his eyes.

Lodan gave him a dark look. Amused, brother? Believe me, she is not the sort that would respond well to a gentle hand.

She was a killer.

It took one to know one.

Look at how she was staring daggers him right now, as if she could puncture his black heart with her eyes alone?

Her gaze shifted to Nythian. “The two you caught back there in the jungle—they’re our brothers. They’re no danger to any of you. They have nothing to do with this.”

“Tasha, they won’t hurt Felix or Kylian,” Alexis reassured her. “That isn’t what they’re about. They just want to make sure we’re all safe, and it looks like the boys might need a little extra protection for the time being. You’ll be fine with Lodan. He’s a good sort.”

“I appreciate your vote of confidence,” Lodan said dryly.

Tasha snorted in disbelief. “And Mama? You’re going to retrieve her from space… and then what?”

“The one that raised and nurtured my mate—her mother—is to be honored,” Nythian growled. “Do not make the mistake of misunderstanding us, human. We will do everything in our power to ensure her safety.”

“Let’s go,” Lodan snapped, growing impatient. He walked across to where Tasha stood and retrieved the small collection of weapons on the floor beside her—a pair of useless human-made bolt-guns and a knife made from soft metal. The blade was wiped clean, but he could still smell human blood on her knife.

He could smell something else, too.

Her.

Her scent had been bothering him since he’d arrived. It was the same mystifying scent he’d detected in the jungle earlier, amidst the fresh earth and the blood and the sweet fruit and flowers.

That unmistakable female scent.

Lodan made a holster-form with his nanites and tucked away her little weapons, not because he saw any value in them, but because he didn’t want to leave anything behind for some hapless human to discover.

“Those are mine,” she muttered.

“You don’t need them anymore.” Lodan nodded toward the door. “Let’s go.”

“Don’t worry, Tasha,” Alexis called after her. “I know it’s hard to believe, but they aren’t our enemies.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Tasha said softly, giving Lodan a wary look. Then she walked right past him and out the door, into the fading light of the late afternoon. Her scent trailed past Lodan, threatening to yank him into insanity.

No.

He schooled his mind to icy stillness.

He would not allow himself to be even the slightest bit curious. This human was an unknown quantity. He didn’t trust her at all. She was no idiot, either. He could sense her wariness; her well disguised fear of him.

Some humans took a very long time to recognize his kind for what they were. They didn’t comprehend the danger until they were about to take their last breath.

Not this creature, who moved with unnatural stealth; who had strange machine-made markings on her arms and a set of characters imprinted on her left wrist.

Lodan hadn’t missed those details.

He had a knack for noticing the small things; the hidden things. It was part of the reason he was the most feared natural pilot in the former Kordolian Empire.

And this human…

She had many hidden details.

Lodan followed her outside, squinting as the daylight streamed across his sensitive vision. He sent a mental command to his nanites and formed a visor across his eyes, leaving the lower part of his face uncovered.

Tasha didn’t slow down as she walked across the garden toward the jungle’s edge. She didn’t look back at him, not even once.

Stubborn, aren’t you?

Lodan’s gaze traveled up her figure, taking in her lithe, sculpted legs, which were encased in supple boots and tight black trousers that accentuated her toned ass. Her arms swayed gracefully as she walked, each movement measured and precise and perfectly balanced. She navigated the terrain with ease, stepping over fallen branches, walking across uneven ground, dipping her head as she evaded a low-hanging vine. His eyes fell upon the slender nape of her neck, which was just visible beneath her precisely cropped golden hair.

For some reason, he found that part of her body immensely pleasing.

What in the Nine Hells are you doing, idiot?Lodan shook his head, clearing the fog of curiosity that threatened to engulf him. As soon as they were well out of sight of the house—out of sight of Nythian and Alexis—he swiftly caught up to her.

Lodan struck.

Her reaction time was impressive—for a human. She raised her arm to block him as he went for her wrists, and for a moment, he found himself locked in hand-to-hand combat as she spun and went on the counterattack. Lodan played along, blocking her blows, throwing in a strike here and there, testing her.

He wanted to know what she was capable of.

She fought back. His eyebrows rose in surprise.

She was faster and stronger than any human he’d ever encountered. She was able to sustain his strikes, which would have brought down any other human.

Impressive. What kind of human are you, hm?

Lodan decided to end it. He’d seen enough. He blocked a particularly vicious blow with his forearm and grabbed her wrist, restraining her. Then he swept his foot under her legs, destabilizing her.

She was fast, but he was faster.

She was strong, but he was infinitely stronger.

She had no idea.

He was First Division.

He could take down any challenger in the Universe.

Well, with the exception of Tarak, probably.

Tasha cried out in frustration as he grabbed both her wrists and pinned her against a wide tree trunk. She brought up a vicious knee, aiming for his groin. Lodan twisted his hips, evading her. Not that it mattered. His exo-armor would protect his balls, but still…

He couldn’t help it. It was a guy thing.

Her knee crashed into his upper thigh instead, and he suppressed a shudder at the sheer force of it. She was rather strong. If she’d connected with his junk, surely it would have hurt… just a little… even though he was wearing his exo-armor.

Crazy human.

Lodan swiftly maneuvered his grip on her wrists until he was restraining both her arms with only one hand. He grabbed her thigh with his other hand and raised his knee, pressing it against her other leg so she was completely immobilized. “Stop. You know you can’t win. Why are you still trying to fight?”

“I was just following your orders… walking ahead… minding my own b-business,” she gasped. “You’re the one that snuck up on me and pinned me to a tree. What did you expect me to do? Just submit? Oh, right. You probably would. You’re Kordolian.” She thrust her chin out defiantly. Her blue eyes were cold and hard and full of mistrust.

Lodan ignored her little taunt. “Four dead humans,” he hissed. “One with his throat slit, two shot in the back of the head, and one with a crushed windpipe. With your scent all over them.”

“What are you, a freaking bloodhound?”

Lodan didn’t know what that was. Something insulting, probably. “I’m the one that has to clean up your little mess. You are going to keep this little incident from Alexis. I don’t want her or my brother to be bothered by any of this.”

Her eyes widened a fraction.

Something about that seemed to surprise her.

Lodan kept up the pressure on her wrists; on her legs. Underneath the exo-membrane of his armor-gloves, he could feel her thighs, which were toned and powerful; taut with barely restrained violence.

“You will tell me exactly what I need to know so we can deal with this little chaos-situation of yours. I don’t want any more trouble.”

Her death-glare was as powerful as ever, but he realized she was trembling ever so slightly.

Trying to hide it.

But nothing got past Lodan.

Beneath her hard exterior, he could sense fear… and something else.

Something about her was off. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

Lodan let out a small puff of exasperation and relented, easing his grip ever so slightly. “As long as you aren’t a threat to us or ours, we have no reason to see you as our enemy.”

For a moment she just stared at him, her expression perfectly blank, as if she possessed no emotions at all.

Then her face crumpled ever so slightly. Her jaw quivered. It was as if she wanted to express something… only she didn’t know how.

“They were going to kill my family,” she said at last, speaking Universal with a distinct Earth accent. “If I didn’t kill them first, they would have slaughtered three innocent people. They would have killed two good men and one of the sweetest old ladies on the planet.” Suddenly, there was real emotion in her voice; fierce protectiveness and anger and a hint of despair.

“Why?” Lodan demanded, unable to contain his curiosity; unable to fully believe her. This female was a walking paradox; delicate looking but outrageously strong, a ruthless killer like him, cold and hard… yet fragile.

Why did he get the feeling that underneath her controlled exterior, there was something wild and volatile?

“To punish me,” she said simply.

Punish?Something dark began to stir inside Lodan, but before he could understand it, the feeling was gone.

As quickly as it had slipped, her mask settled back into place. Everything about her was precise and elegant again, even the delicate tilt of her chin. Lodan’s eyes went to the slender column of her neck, where two faint, identical silvery lines ran down each side, from her jawline to her collarbones. Clearly, she’d been artificially modified; enhanced…

Just like him.

Her skin was a pale shade of brown, soft and delicate and almost translucent in places—he could see the faint blue threads of her veins; the rapid beat of her pulse.

Now why was he suddenly so obsessed with her neck?

She took a deep, shuddering breath.

Lodan became acutely aware of her warmth; of the pent-up tension in her body. She was a small bundle of tightly coiled energy.

And yet there was a brittleness about her, as if she could shatter into a million pieces at any moment.

He’d never encountered anything so mystifying.

Then there was her scent.

Kaiin’s Hells.Despite his best efforts to ignore it, he couldn’t help but inhale deeply and savor it… just a little.

She noticed.

She recoiled.

The reaction was so tiny that it would have been imperceptible to most, but Lodan saw it.

Ah, shit.His curiosity was too obvious. Inwardly, he cursed, annoyed that he’d allowed his self-control to lapse.

After all, no matter how strong she was, she was human, and he was Kordolian. Of course she feared him.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, going very, very still. “I don’t care what happens to me. Just don’t hurt my family. If your brother really cares about Alexis, he’ll want to make sure they’re not harmed.”

Lodan shook his head. “We are not what you think we are. Understand this, human. Alexis is my blood-brother’s mate. His mate. Her clan is now our clan. And we always protect what is ours. This threat you have brought to them… we will destroy every last trace of it.”

The tension drained from her body. Her shoulders dropped ever so slightly in resignation.

It wasn’t the reaction he’d expected.

Her reason for being here wasn’t what he’d expected.

If what she was saying was true, then her motives were actually… honorable.

Abruptly, he released her and stepped back. She regained her composure with impressive speed, bringing her arms down by her sides, taking a deceptively relaxed stance.

Above them, the sky rumbled.

Wind whipped through the thick canopy. Tiny leaves swirled around them in a wild torrent. The wind caught Tasha’s golden hair, scattering it across her face.

Tiny droplets of water began to fall from the sky—liquid precipitation from the clouds that humans called rain.

Tasha didn’t move. She stood perfectly still amidst the chaos, staring at him with a challenge in her eyes, as if to say: what are you going to do now?

Lodan still didn’t know what to make of her, and that bothered him, because he liked to account for every variable in a situation. That’s what good pilots did.

Her left eye began to twitch. A pained expression crossed her face—quickly hidden—as she tried to control it.

“What is wrong with you?” Lodan demanded.

“Nothing,” she said, but Lodan sensed a lie.

His comm buzzed. “Lodan.” It was Nythian. “We’re done here. Alexis is worried about her mama. She wants us to go get her right away. It should be straightforward, but you know how these things can end up getting complicated, so we’d better be quick. I need a favor, brother. Can you obtain the location from our new friend and co-ordinate the retrieval? I want you and nobody else to do it. This elder is important to my mate, and unpredictable is not an option.”

“That will not be a problem,” Lodan said lightly, never once taking his eyes off the human.

“And our mysterious little guest... she is containable?”

“By you or me, yes. I have tested her. Just watch her knees.” His tone turned wry. “She fights dirty.”

Nythian snorted. “Dirty? Sounds like she nearly pulled one over on you.”

Lodan scoffed. “She might be strong for a human, but she is nowhere close to our level.”

“Does she need to be restrained?”

Lodan gave Tasha a long, hard look. He intentionally switched to Universal. “Not at present. We will only consider restraining her if she tries to be stupid.”

The human rolled her eyes.

“Fair enough,”Nythian chuckled, apparently finding the whole thing funny. Since when had his fearsome brother had such an easy sense of humor?

Since he’d found his mate, of course.

“We will meet you back at the ship,” Lodan said curtly, terminating the comm. He inclined his head sharply at Tasha, pointing through the forest in the direction of the cloaked stealth cruiser. “Let’s go.”

She gave him a dark, insolent look. Strands of wet hair were plastered to her face. Her loose shirt had become soaked through. It clung to her body, revealing her figure.

She possessed the lithe, athletic shape of a fighter, but there was also an undeniable softness to her that no amount of hard training could erase.

Her breasts were small and pert and perfectly round.

Her curves were subtle and pleasing; narrow waist, gently rounded hips.

His eyes traveled upwards, taking in the sublime lines of her collarbones, her delicate neck…

Her face.

She was scowling.

He nearly—nearly—got a hard-on.

Kaiin’s Hells. Where did that come from?

But Lodan was good at keeping his impulses in check, and he suppressed the temptation to let his thoughts wander.

No. Not quite.

He did have an erection.

Shit.

Lodan said a silent curse to the Death-God for his momentary weakness.

He did not need this right now.

He had other problems to deal with—the small matter of his growing addiction to the Sylth was one of them.

He couldn’t afford to be distracted by a human female right now, especially one who was such an unknown quantity.

Lodan didn’t like surprises.

He was a planner, an anticipator, a stickler for detail.

And this female… she was unstable, unpredictable, chaotic.

With an artful twist of her fingers, Tasha flicked the hair out of her eyes and looked at him with a strange half-lidded gaze. Then she turned and walked off into the jungle without saying a word.

Lodan stalked after her, annoyed at how easily she’d been able to distract him.

This little slip of a human?

No. She would not trouble him.

As soon as he was back into the pilot’s seat, he would forget about her.

Nothing to clear the mind like a bit of flying. As always, he would take it out on the ship, pushing her to her absolute limits.

Just because he could.

And he would lose himself in the cold, dark oblivion of space, because that was where he felt most at peace.

Where he was in perfect control.