Mandate Read online

  Wren blinked. “Like what?”

  “I have a few ideas that will grow with your skills. We have some time before you are to leave. Let’s work on getting you proficient with everything you have in that head of yours.” Wendalyn grinned.

  Wren felt remarkably better after a meal. “Tell me what you want me to become and I will do my best.”

  Her instructor leaned back and gave her a considering look. “What do you want to be, Wren?”

  “Useful. I have always endeavoured to be useful.”

  “You are beginning at useful; I want you to fulfill your promise to become extraordinary.”

  “I don’t know if I can do that.”

  Wendalyn sat up and inclined her head. “You already have the tools; I am here to show you how to use them.”

  Her confidence glowed in her mind, as did her optimism. Reading Wendalyn was easy, which scared Wren. How was she going to deal with crowds when she could read the woman across from her so clearly and the others in the room were emotional static, even in her exhausted state?

  “Don’t worry. You are fresh out of the tank, Wren. Control will come, but you know what your job will be to some extent. You are to become the bodyguard and companion to another Terran who is in need of some stability.”

  “If she needs me, shouldn’t I be on my way there?”

  Wendalyn laughed and rubbed the back of her neck. “That is one of the seer issues. They know where you need to be so that you can be prepared, but they can’t stop you from going early. Right now, your charge doesn’t need you. She is about to embark on the early stages of a relationship and as that develops, you have to get yourself in gear.”

  “Is that an order?” Wren raised her brows.

  “If you like. You will be graded on your obedience.” Wendalyn raised her teacup. “Drink up. You have studying tonight, and tomorrow, you will be on fine control of lightweight objects.”

  “What?”

  “If your ability to move objects does not need a day to rest, you will be putting puzzles together while I lob pompoms at your head. It looks to be a fun day.”

  “Why am I beginning to suspect that your version of fun and mine are markedly different?”

  “Because you have good instincts. Drink up.” Wendalyn winked.

  Her life spun in a strange combination of using parts of her she didn’t know she had and deep thought about her future. Wren studied the medicine of W’lyn as well as the birthing practices of the Vimpyr and the Admaryn. It seemed the thing to do, and Wendalyn told her to focus on her instincts.

  Her final day on the base rushed up before she knew it. Wendalyn met her in the greenhouse and handed her a small, flat box.

  “What is this?” Wren smiled at her instructor.

  “It isn’t a going-away present; it is a welcome to your new life present. You will be leaving here with a mandate to be a companion to the Terran on W’lyn, and I know you will carry it out to the best of your abilities and beyond.”

  As Wren opened the box, her friend continued.

  “It is to remind you that the world isn’t black and white and you know that better than anyone else. It is a suit that will protect, insulate and support you until you are ready to put it aside.”

  Wren took out the folded fabric and the large black and white blocking was easily apparent. “I love it.”

  “It suits you. Your hair is the shade of silvery grey that is missing from the two and I hope that you remember that you are the balance. It will come easily to you but never doubt your importance. You have a destiny to become a key part of the Guardian team on W’lyn. Let it play out as it was designed to.”

  Wren looked at her instructor and sighed. “Why do I get the feeling that you know far more than you are telling?”

  “Because this isn’t your first time meeting me. Now, get into that suit, get your bag and get on your shuttle. Your launch window comes up in an hour.” Wendalyn hugged her and wiped away a tear. “I wish I could go with you.”

  Wren touched the gem at her neck. “Don’t worry. Emily will report everything to you the moment that she meets a psychometrist. She is looking forward to it.”

  Wendalyn laughed and escorted her to her quarters and waited for her. The walk to the launch bay was bittersweet.

  “I have learned a lot, Wendalyn.”

  “So have I. Never underestimate yourself, Wren. Leave that to others and use it to your advantage.”

  “I will.” The bodysuit fit like a second skin, but Wren didn’t expect anything else of a suit made at Morganti and designed to take any kind of weapon blow that could be aimed at fabric and still bounce back.

  With a final hug, she was on her way to the ship, strapped in for a long journey and sedated to keep her mind from trying to anchor itself in the jumps. They knocked her out for her own safety and she would wake on W’lyn. It had better work smoothly or her client was going to be in for a rough ride.

  Chapter Three

  Water was essential to waking after the long sleep, but the Guardians were nowhere to be found. She sat up and asked the nearest tech. “I am supposed to be picked up by the Guardians.”

  He looked at her in surprise. “There is a volcano erupting on the far side of the world. I believe that takes precedence to meeting their new caretaker.”

  She sat back and sighed. At least her identity was on record. On W’lyn, you could easily get lost in the paperwork if they weren’t sure who you were.

  A knock at the door brought her around and she saw her client. “Beryl?”

  “You have the advantage of me. I was just told to come and pick someone up and take them back to base.”

  The pink hair complemented the soft silver skin that the woman wore with dignity. Her clothing was softly elegant and swirled around her in graceful lines. Her belly hadn’t begun to show yet, but Wren could make out two distinct energy patterns within the body.

  “I am Wren Silverberg of Terra. I have been assigned as the Guardians’ caretaker and your companion.”

  Wren could feel her emotional state building. She used a trick that Wendalyn had taught her and sent a trill of laughter along the emotional buildup.

  Beryl paused. “Did you do that?”

  “I did. I am here to keep you calm, comfortable and safe.”

  “You don’t look Terran.” Beryl scowled and came closer.

  “Neither do you. I am imagining that the genetic alteration is a little hard on the system.” Wren flipped the covers back and slowly got to her feet. Her suit was still as starkly black and white as it had been at the moon base.

  “My change came when I first mated with my…with Toyo.”

  “I was given an altered serum of W’lyn material so that I would not stand out in any particular fashion.”

  Beryl’s lips quirked. “You smell like Drovin.”

  “What?”

  “He is one of the Guardians. You don’t smell particularly like him, but you carry a scent in your blood along with your own and that scent belongs to him. Where did they get the material?”

  Beryl was tilting her head as she asked the question, and she came close enough to touch Wren’s arm.

  Wren could understand what she meant by scent. Under the body heat of her client, there was a wrapping of masculine musk that came out through her pores.

  “I don’t know; it was classified and beyond my authorization.”

  Beryl smiled. “That won’t do. Come with me. We are hitting a terminal. I am going to find out what they did to you, and you are going to have an idea what is going to happen when you hang around with the Guardians with that scent. Drovin is the most timid of the bunch but that is not saying much. He just defends more than attacks.”

  The medical team gave Beryl a wide berth as she linked arms with Wren and hauled her to the exit. Wren’s first few steps on a completely alien world were engaged in while the medical staff eyed her companion with fear and Beryl moved wit
h single-minded intensity.

  “I guess I am cleared to leave.” She chuckled.

  Beryl snorted. “I will send one of the guys here to officially transfer your custody, but for now, you are with me and no one is currently messing with me.”

  “What do you do?”

  “Anything I like, which is kinda odd, but I will take it. Throw a Guardian through one wall and suddenly everyone stays out of your way.” Beryl chuckled and led her to a low, flat platform with seats for eight.

  “Who did you throw?”

  “Toyo. He was objecting to my wanting to remain on active duty as an analyst while I am pregnant.”

  “Oh, when was that?” Wren sat next to the pilot’s seat and strapped in.

  “Two days ago. I am only four weeks along. Since you are here and ready to keep me company, I am guessing that someone got worried.”

  Wren smiled and did not tell Beryl that she had been in the works for two months. It was a conversation to be had when they were not flying over a city with a vulnerable population beneath them.

  Once they were over water, Beryl turned to her. “So, how precisely are you going to control me?”

  Wren chuckled. “That isn’t my mandate. I am here to protect and keep you healthy and safe. I have been given the skills I needed and trained in the ones I lacked. I know about your supplements and will keep you up and running with minimal interruption when you work. I am here for you. I am your caretaker.”

  Beryl let go of the controls and leaned over to hug Wren. Absently, Wren kept the controls aimed straight and their heading toward an island in the center of the bay.

  Wren hugged the other woman awkwardly and smiled when she quickly brushed her cheeks and resumed control of the skimmer.

  “The guys were threatening to have one of them stay with me, and I think the guilt would have been devastating.”

  “I am here so that they can continue with their duties and so that you can live with as little stress as possible. That is my duty.” Wren smiled.

  They landed smoothly on the flat pad next to the large building with the new addition.

  “They just built that last week. The contractors were in and out under guard every day and I still nearly broke one in two. I don’t know how I am going to stand eight more months of this.”

  Wren put her arm around Beryl and rubbed a small spot under her shoulders. The woman immediately sighed and relaxed, visibly. “I know that it will be difficult, but I will be here to help in whatever way you need. For now, let me make some cookies that will suit your current cravings and get dinner started.”

  “Are you an angel?”

  Wren smiled and ushered her inside. “I am just trying to make myself useful.”

  Three months earlier, baking cookies using alien ingredients would have freaked her out, but now, Wren got the baking underway while Beryl went to freshen up.

  She came back smirking. “They used Drovin as your blood donor. I wonder how that will go over?”

  “They said that our lines were compatible but that they had subdued the mating response. In theory, he should recognize me as a sibling, as mating would be pointless. I am sterile.” Wren smiled as she finished the meal prep and slid it into the roaster.

  “What?”

  “Childhood injury.”

  “That is horrible.”

  “That is nature. I take my nurturing out on others.” Wren laughed. “It is fine. If Drovin makes any moves, I will set him straight. There is no point.”

  “It doesn’t really work that way, Wren. You will see.” Beryl inhaled deeply and smiled. “Those smell amazing. What is in them?”

  “Eat them and you tell me.”

  Her mind counted down, and she pulled the cookies from the baking oven. The pan was displaying dozens of golden-brown crisps with a tantalizing darker brown edge.

  She scraped them onto a platter and put a defensive barrier between them and Beryl while she loaded the dishes in the washer.

  The glass of cold, tart juice was on the counter next to Beryl in a moment and the barrier came away from the cookies. “Go nuts.”

  Beryl dove for the platter and was groaning with delight as she ate one after another of the little treats.

  Wren smiled and prepared a platter of vegetables and sandwiches to store in the cooler. Half an hour after Beryl had destroyed the cookies, the second batch was in a container and the Guardians were landing on the pad outside.

  Four grimy men staggered into the base, and Beryl ran to the one with the scarlet hair, kissing him passionately. The other three looked at Wren with raised brows.

  She reached into the cooler and pulled out the snack and sandwich tray. “I am Wren, the Caretaker. Dinner is in half an hour. This is a snack to keep you from chewing your own arms off.”

  They smiled brightly, and the one with gold hair muttered, “Welcome aboard.”

  She knew their files. Rand, Drovin and Loesh were the Guardians not mated to Beryl. They were the unfortunate victims of her temper when her husband could not get in between them.

  Wren was there to protect the Guardians as much as they were there to protect the population. When Beryl mated with Toyo, she gained his power for strength, and lately, there were episodes of flight involved. This made her a danger to herself and those men around her who needed a space where they could relax and not fear for their safety.

  Toyo was grinning when his wife slowly slid down his body to stand next to him. The height difference was amusing, but he didn’t seem to have a problem lifting and holding her where he needed her to be.

  Beryl had smudges on her face and her clothing, but she kept her arm around her husband as she urged him toward the food. “Wren is an amazing cook.”

  Wren met his gaze and smiled. “Pleased to meet you, Toyo.”

  Toyo extended his hand, which surprised the other men. It showed in their features.

  Wren shook his hand calmly, recognizing an assessment when she saw one. When he released her, he nodded as if he had come to a conclusion.

  “You are the same species as Beryl.”

  The other three engaged in various choking levels.

  Rand squawked. “What?”

  Loesh raised his head, and then, he shook it from side to side. “I don’t sense it. With Beryl, we were almost insane.”

  Wren lifted the huge roast out and set it to cool on the counter. “I have been treated to avoid any issues.”

  To her surprise, Beryl didn’t mention the blending of Drovin’s blood with hers. Drovin was the only one who didn’t seem surprised.

  When she met Drovin’s gaze, he smiled slightly and inclined his head. “It is good to meet you, Wren.”

  “It is good to meet you, too. Well, twenty-five minutes until dinner. It will be on the table but you won’t be sitting there unless you have scrubbed off whatever you have covering you. It looks like a combination of swamp slime and soot, but I don’t want to investigate.”

  Toyo piled up food in one hand and Beryl in the other. “See you in twenty minutes, Caretaker.”

  She grinned and raised her brows to the others. “Not kidding. The clock is ticking.”

  Loesh and Rand left without another word, but Drovin paused and stepped toward her, reaching for her hand and lifting it to his lips. “I am very glad you have come, Wren.”

  A wild tingle ran from the spot where his lips had pressed against her way after he had let her go and made his way down the hall.

  With wide eyes, she began to assemble the rest of the meal as efficiently as she could. His gaze had been knowing and very relieved when he looked into her eyes. It was as if an eternal wait had ceased and something had clicked with his soul. The emotions coming off him were hard to sort, but his only exhibition of surprise had been at Toyo’s ability to assess her actual species.

  She got the feeling that he knew something she didn’t, and since Beryl had access to all files, it might be prudent to see
precisely how involved Drovin had been with her transformation.

  Chapter Four

  The table was set and Beryl had a question. “Wren, what did you put in that juice? I haven’t had a supplement in ten hours, but I haven’t gone crazy yet.”

  The men all turned to stare between her and Beryl in nervous shock.

  Wren poured more juice for Beryl and smiled. “It isn’t in the juice. It was in the cookies. The chassa larva have all the supplements that you were slugging down but in a low-calorie format that your body can more easily and readily absorb.”

  She shrugged. “The craving for gashki was my first clue. I went looking for the same chemical profile and found the larva. A little experimenting and I managed to figure out a way to bake them into a form you would enjoy eating.”

  The men looked disappointed.

  “The rest of the cookies I made are plain gashki and candy pieces. Anyone can have them.”

  Beryl frowned. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I wasn’t sure how far your time on W’lyn had taken your tolerance for eating insects. Now that you know what is in them, how do you feel?”

  Beryl grinned. “They were good. How much chassa larva did you put in?”

  “Half a teaspoon in the entire batch. It doesn’t take much, and it will give you a day of moderation. Toasted, they can be put in just about anything. My instructors at the moon base had a strange combination of fear and anticipation when I approached. Eventually, I won them over, but the men had a more intense reaction to the chassa, so I will keep them locked up for now.”

  Rand scowled. “How did we even get chassa larva? I don’t recall seeing them.”

  “They were marked Feminine supplies. Store in kitchen. They came in on your last supply load. No wonder you didn’t see them.” She grinned.

  Rand winced. “I just put them away and tried not to think of what they could be.”

  “That was the idea.”