Devin quickly gathered his gear and headed for their best shuttle. The Moira was powering up as he tossed his pack behind the pilot’s seat and strapped in. Greg Roland didn’t bother to acknowledge him, just flipped a few switches to bring the pilot’s boards active. Devin ran the sequence checks then ordered the bay depressurized, and the bay doors opened. The Moira rose a scant six inches from the deck and the Stargazer slid out from under her.
It didn’t take long for the call from the Avery McKenna to come. Rose had followed protocol to notify other orbiting ships of a shuttle launch and if a ship’s captain was onboard. Devin grinned wolfishly as Corri’s voice filled the shuttle.
“What do you think you’re doing, Tremaine?”
“Well, hello, Corrine. Fancy meeting you way out here.”
“Listen, you son of a bitch. You land that shuttle on that planet and I will personally take you into custody.”
He didn’t think he’d mind that too very much.
“Your momma needs to go get her money back from that fancy finishing school she sent you to. Tsk, tsk. Such language.”
“You are not funny. Park that shuttle anywhere but back on that piece of garbage you fly and I’ll have to arrest you.”
“Show me your open authorization to arrest anyone on Adhara VII and show me your open warrant on me, in particular,” he challenged. The silence on the other end of the transmission was evidence that her bluff had been called.
“You keep away from Dr. Winston and his team. You stay away from my personnel. And you stay away from me, Tremaine.”
“I’d love to stay away from you. I have every intention of staying away from you. As for the rest of it, you’d better tell Winston to steer clear of my people. Cooperation is a two-way street, and if your people don’t respect mine I’ll personally order them to stand up for themselves.” Let her stew about that, he thought smugly.
“You idiot! You can’t give them permission to start brawls!”
“Sure I can. My people have brains, Dunn. The military hasn’t sucked the grey matter out of their skulls and replaced it with rhetoric. They can actually think for themselves. And they’ll know if they’ve been insulted.”
“This is serious, Devin. You stay away from Winston or I’ll have to take appropriate action.”
“Your actions are always appropriate, aren’t they?”
“You bastard.”
“I do lack parental units, that’s true.”
Devin grinned as the com link went dead. “That went well, didn’t it?” he said to Greg. Behind him, Meredith snorted.
“I don’t know, Devin,” Greg replied. “Did it?”
Devin ignored them and rose to check on the crew riding down to the surface in the cargo bay.
“What did I just hear?” Greg asked Meredith innocently as soon as Devin disappeared.
Meredith grinned at him. “Foreplay.”

Simple. She made the act of intimacy so very simple. Tor nuzzled her neck then trailed a stream of kisses to her breasts. The brown tips hardened in response. Lifting his mouth, he spoke. “It’s permissible to touch me and to tell me what pleasures you.”

“Kiss me again. It’s a feat I can’t accomplish on my own.”

Tor returned to her mouth, nipped at her full lower lip, and then licked it. Azari’s mouth parted. He darted his tongue into her moist mouth and tasted her unique flavor. Her tongue caressed his in return. The fingers of her hand entwined in his hair, pulling him deeper into her temptation.

Her innocence beguiled him. His need to be sheathed between her legs grew, as did his desire to surround himself with her openness and candor. In the paleness of his life she offered vibrant color.

Azari parted his robe, and then ran her hand down his chest. She grazed a nipple, and then fondled the nub, teasing him to an aching fullness he hadn’t known in a long time. He slid a hand between her legs. The warm entrance to her body was slick. “Has a man pleasured you here?”

“No. Only I have …”

“I would pleasure you until you thought you were on the top of the highest mountain known to man.”

“Yes. It’s what I want.”

He sucked the pointed nipple of her breast into his mouth. Beneath him she wiggled. “Can you feel where that sensation leads?”

“Yes,” she whispered. “Don’t let it stop.”

Francine slipped out the side door of the dining room when Heicke turned his back.  Less than confident, she walked alone across the silent, black golf course.  Her imagination played tricks as the tree branches swayed in the cool breeze, casting spidery images of boogie men in front of her.  She looked up at the sky, praying the clouds would clear and allow the moon to give off more light. 
 Dammit.  Her shoe caught, yet again, in the wet grass.  The damned expensive things were being ruined with every step she took.  She wiggled her ankle, only to sink further into the mud.  The only option left was to take off the shoe.  Gathering her skirt so it wouldn’t get soaked, she bent over. 
A twig snapped. 
“Holy shitta.” 
A hand clamped over her mouth.  Jack the Ripper, Charles Manson, and every bloodcurdling creature Stephen King ever wrote about had joined together to attack her.  She’d never been so scared, even when she had lived in her old car and been dumb enough to park it overnight at a drug house. 
She jerked around, flailing her arms.  Crack.  Teetering as the heel broke off her sandal, she smacked into a solid wall of muscle. 
“Shush, Pixie.  It is me, Heicke.”  He wrapped his arms around her and she choked back a sob. 
“Are you crazy?”  Her heart pumped faster than a jet engine during take off.  “You scared the living hell out of me.” 
“It was not my intention.”  He rubbed his hand rhythmically over her back, easing out her fear.  She snuggled into him, grateful for his warmth.  A spicy scent enveloped her as he pulled his coat around her shoulders.  “You were very beautiful in the mirror and I became curious as to why you would leave without me.” 
“I figured you’d get around to that eventually.  After we were, ah, driving back from the shed, I forgot all about the charity donations.”  Even to her the truth sounded stupid. 
“And you thought it best to come out here alone?”  She couldn’t see his face, but his suspicious tone said it all.  “In the middle of the night?” 
“What?  You thought I came out here to lay some guy?” 
Jerk. 
He tapped a gentle finger on her lips.  “No, perhaps I do not understand because of the idiosyncrasies of other languages.  At least I hope that is my problem.  Please explain about this laying of the golfers and why you did not wait for me.” 
“Oh you have problems, all right.”  She tried to pull away, but he tightened his grip and her heart skipped a couple of beats.  “And there’s no help needed, Pup.  I’m perfectly capable of surviving on my own.” 
“So I see, and may I add you are making a fine job of it.”  Lucky for him, his tone seemed to hold humor.  “I know you, Pixie, better than you realize.  Logic tells me you are not out here to have sex with someone.” 
“Thank you for noticing.”
 

Zebadiah LaCroy refused to flinch under his captain’s steely gaze. He knew the regulations as well as anyone and he knew what he was asking. He also knew that exceptions were made every day. He pressed his new bride closer to his side to stop her from squirming. 

“She won’t be any trouble, sir. She understands that she has to stay in my cabin, unless I’m accompanying her. By the time we reach Saturn, her papers will have cleared.” 

“LaCroy, do you know what you’re doing? Once she sets foot on Earth, there’s no turning back.” 

He couldn’t turn back no matter where his feet were planted. . He had bonded to Semele, and she to him. They were one in ways a simple marriage could never achieve. They would need a marriage certificate, however, for her to have full citizenship on Earth. 

“I appreciate your concern Captain, really I do. I know what I’m doing. If you would just perform the simple civil service, sir, I’ll get her settled in and then log in for duty.” 

His captain rolled his eyes. “You’re a romantic, aren’t you, LaCroy. I think we can give you a day or two for a honeymoon. Stowe your gear and report to my cabin in five minutes. It will be short and sweet, but it will be legal.” 

Semele tugged at his sleeve. The unusual words had piqued her curiosity. He knew it like he knew her left ankle hurt, and she was thirsty. 

“Thank you, sir.” Zeb turned, gathered up his mate’s one bag, wrapped an arm securely around her waist and moved her along down the corridor.  She made a grab for the bag, strengthening his conviction that it held more than met the uninitiated eye. He had a firm grip on it and her, and he wasn’t going to let go of either her or that bag until they were safely inside his quarters. She bowed her head meekly. 

Uh-huh. He was right. The bag definitely held something odd in nature. He’d been a fool not to question her more closely on the space station. He tightened his grip around her waist as he guided her along. She was just too sneaky to let go. 

“You’d better tell me now what you have in this bag.” 

She seemed to be concentrating on her little slippered feet as they peeked out from under her robe as she walked.  

“Semele. Tell me. Don’t make me have to spank you.” He sent of the image to her of her lying across his lap, bare bottom in the air. 

She stopped dead at her tracks. Her gorgeous emerald eyes narrowed to slits. “You should reconsider this action, Zebadiah.” 

“You should confess what’s in this bag.” 

“Everything I need.” 

That’s what scared him. She could, to some degree, manipulate matter. The problem was he didn’t know, for sure, what that degree was. He needed to ask the right question with just the right wording to get an honest answer. It wasn’t that she was deliberately lying, it was the quirky way she processed the English language. Talking telepathically was still new to him. He was far from mastering it, but improving fast. He’d eventually get a straight answer from her.

“This region has many…ancient spirits.  They…feed upon the weaknesses that all people possess.  Most do little harm, but some are dangerous, even deadly.  It is my task to drive these spirits from the injured and ill.” He snorted and his gaze turned away from her.  Manara’s heart cracked at that motion, and knew her future was in jeopardy.  He proved it with his next words.  “That’s just ridiculous superstition.”

 She would have felt betrayed, except for the hint of wary fear in his expression.  Whether he chose to admit it or not, Matthew Raleigh believed in more than he claimed.  There was still hope that she could reach him before it was too late.
 “Is it?”  She drew herself up, prepared to be brutally honest with him.  She had nothing more to lose, now.  “That ridiculous superstition, as you call it, was all that saved your life, Commander Raleigh.”

 He froze, and she watched panic cross his hazel eyes.  “What do you mean?”

 “When I found you, you were beneath a pile of canyon rock and sand that would have crushed the life from any other man.  There was so much blood that I feared there was not a drop left in you.  I dug you out of that rubble anyway, because the very thing that you despise brought me to you.”

 His eyes widened, and the panic skyrocketed.  “A demon?”

 “No.”  She smiled sadly.  “The spirit world.  I could have left you to the darkness that prowled that canyon and you would have died a very terrible death, I guarantee you.  There were maskims and ghùl on prowl there and you were easy prey.”

 She had his attention, she could tell by the stiffening of his shoulders even before he slowly turned back toward her.  His eyes were shadowed with uncertain memory.  “But I was alive, right?”

 Fear hit her.  She couldn’t tell him the truth.  She wouldn’t.  “What do you mean?”

 “I had these really strange dreams-at least I think they were dreams-after things went dark.”

 Manara closed her eyes and fought for even breaths.  This was the moment she hoped to avoid.  Now that it finally arrived, she couldn’t halt the small spark of relief in her chest.

 “You were all but dead, Matthew.  Had I waited even a moment longer, you would have been beyond even my skill to save.”
 His face went ashen and for a panicked moment, she thought he might faint.  She even moved a step closer to him to act as support if he needed it without being obvious.  But he didn’t need help; he didn’t even waver.  Instead, he went very still, his eyes turned dark and as unfathomable as the Underworld, his silent regard focused so tightly on her that she felt it burn through her.

 Time stretched like a taut cord between them and uneasiness settled heavily in Manara’s stomach.  She wished she could put an end to the silence, but she wasn’t sure how.  She wasn’t sure how to judge his reaction.

 Then, in a voice so quiet it shot fear through every cell of her body he finally broke the silence.  “You mean I was dead.”

“Swim with me, Maggie-Pie.” Fighting to keep her nose above the inky waves, Margaret paddled with all her might towards the voice that held her heart.

“Mama,” she sputtered as water surged into her mouth. Straining, she pulled through the choppy current and called again, “Mama wait for me, not so fast.” Stop whining, she gritted her teeth and forced her tired arms and legs to keep propelling her through the water. In the distance, she could see her mama’s head above the dark breakers.But how? There was no moon in the sky. Margaret stopped pushing forward to tread water. Her clothes were waterlogged, heavy and cold from the late spring chill of the inlet they were swimming and pulled at her body. There on the bank, Margaret spied two torches burning, lighting the way. Arms and legs numb from exhaustion, she pushed herself on, swimming towards the dim outline of her mama’s head and the bright lights.Bright lights, cold nights, dark frights…her mind started a singsong chant to push the dark and exhaustion away. Why did mama get her from bed to go swimming? Father would be so mad. Water plugged her nose and she floundered, thinking about how angry he had become when he discovered she’d learned to swim. “We’re going away, sweet pea,” the words had been whispered in her ear as sleep tried to keep her snugly in bed. “We’re going to take a boat and ride the sea of winds,” The words had sounded like a lullaby. Margaret was so tired. Mama kept getting farther away. Why couldn’t she wait? “Come on now,” even mama’s voice sounded strained, “almost there, go to the lights, baby, go to the lights.”Her world narrowed to the orange-red burning orbs. Tread water. Paddle and swim. Stop and cough. Tread water. Her body moved of its own volition but her eyes never left the burning torches as they danced before her, always just out of reach.

His eyes opened and she stared into the most beautiful sapphire blue eyes she’d ever seen. Something hard poked her in the hip and she blushed, finally remembering their state of undress.

“Can you breathe?” she asked as she jumped off him. Men! They get a damned hard-on over anything. Less than two minutes ago, his life hung in the balance. Now he’s aroused. Well, that figures, doesn’t it?

Keeping her distance, she kept her gaze on his face. Big mistake.

He stared back at her through half-closed eyes. God, he was potent. Even half-dead. Just a look left her melting. She felt it. Her insides turned to jelly. Heat pooled in her womb and her nipples hardened when his gaze dropped to her chest.

Sexual energy rolled off him in waves. Something told her to run. He was definitely fine. He had to be. Anyone who could stare at her with such intensity had to be okay. She backed up a step, mindful of her nudity. God, she wanted nothing more than to crawl into a hole and hide. Whether she would be hiding from him, or her own sexual appetite, she had no idea.

Cammie tried to keep her gaze locked above his waist. The last thing she needed was to see the part of him that pushed so insistently against her hip a few short minutes ago. The thing felt huge.