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  “I can hardly wait.”

  She got a glass of water and headed for her room. She would be able to sleep with Sneed in her arms. He was the best sleep assistant she had ever had.

  Chapter Four

  Dreams tormented her. Hot hands moving over her body, cool blasts of air caressing between her thighs while spectral hands gripped her hips and raised her to a waiting mouth.

  Freddy groaned, sighed and twisted as the dream urged her body to a fever pitch of pleasure. She jolted awake and blinked as her body was slowly lowered to the bedding. Her sex was trying to clasp and hold her spectral invader, but there was nothing there.

  She looked at her skin and could clearly see finger marks on her hips. The problem was that not only was there no one with her, she could still feel the warmth from his skin.

  Freddy got to her feet and put on a black version of her uniform. The dress swirled around her feet. She braided her hair up in a coronet and tied a gold cord around her and between her breasts.

  The moment she was out of the lav and in the closet, the maintenance bots sprang into action, straightening her bed and removing the previous day’s dress for laundering.

  Parts of her were still throbbing when she went to set up her morning meal.

  The sky was still dark as she moved around and got the bread and protein slabs heated up. The water boiled, and she set her tea service into position. With a smile, she fixed her tray and carried it to the table, sitting and having a leisurely breakfast in solitary silence.

  The base felt bizarrely empty. She couldn’t sense anyone, and normally, she had a feeling when she was within a few metres of someone. Now, there was nothing.

  She sighed. They must be on a mission. Suddenly, the post of Guardian didn’t seem so glamorous.

  Freddy ate her meal in silence and wondered what the hell had been in that stew to make her hallucinate getting oral sex from a disembodied mouth.

  She watched dawn creep in and got up, did her dishes and cleaned her hands before heading to work. There were futures to discern and lives to expose.

  Her first client was early, which was fortuitous. Freddy drank the tea, sat in the chair and took the hand of the petitioner. He asked, she answered and it set the pattern for the rest of her day.

  One day she was going to have to find out how the folks were let in. They all seemed to be vetted and fairly intent on merely learning their futures.

  She told them what they wanted to know, and when it was over, she suffered from reading the future of the chair she was sitting on the moment she touched the seat to climb off. How Rune was going to balance up there while she was in his lap was a mystery she was looking forward to solving, but she had no idea when they were going to start their relationship. It was a strange conundrum. She knew they were going to be intimate the moment that they met, but she didn’t know when that would start. Did it make sense to wait or should she just jump into it? She had no idea. Nothing like this had ever happened to her before.

  The Oracle was done for the day, so she put away her tea set and walked through the covered walkway back to the base.

  Freddy wandered into the kitchen for her meal and was unsurprised to find Axis working on the food for dinner.

  “Productive day?” He raised his brows and smiled.

  “More or less. I managed to take seven clients today. I am just going to make a sandwich and lie down if you don’t mind.”

  “Have at it. I promise to work around you.”

  She chuckled and opened the cooler, picking out what she wanted before seeking out a spot on the counter to drop the armloads of food. She ducked under Axis’s arm and then whirled with a giggle when he tried to catch her.

  When she pulled out a knife, he held up his hands in surrendered. She swiftly carved off two slices of bread and got to work in her sandwich.

  While she worked, he reached around her and stole one of the condiments she was done with. She elbowed him lightly in the ribs, and he pulled her back against him.

  “What the hell are you doing?”

  Axis held her lightly but turned to look at Rune. “I am making dinner, and Oracle is making a sandwich. What are you doing?”

  “Protecting my interests.”

  She looked around Axis and frowned. “I am not your interest. Not yet.”

  He growled and stroked the side of his neck. One of the glyphs rose from his skin and floated toward her. The mark settled between her breasts, and she was levitated through the air, pulled out from under Axis and toward Rune.

  A small gesture from him and she was hiked into the air at his level. The kiss was possessive, and her mind spun as a thousand images of him kissing her filled her thoughts.

  When he pulled back, her lips were throbbing. “That is cheating.”

  “Why are you so resistant to this?”

  She smiled, her feet still dangling off the ground. “I am not sure when it starts.”

  “What?” He blinked rapidly as if having difficulty with that detail.

  “We will be intimate, lovers if you will. I just don’t know when that portion of our relationship starts. My mind skips over immediate future and reaches for a few years from now.”

  He looked like he wanted to strangle her. It was a fierce expression. A calculating look came to his features. “What about right now?”

  She looked over at the counter. “What about my sandwich?”

  “Axis will put it all away. Come with me.”

  She didn’t have a choice. Whatever was suspending her was also pulling her through the hall like a balloon on a string.

  “This lacks dignity and decorum, Rune.”

  He chuckled. “If you would simply give me your agreement, I would let you walk like the woman you are.”

  She frowned. “Agreement for what?”

  “To become my lover. Today. Now.” He opened his door, and his talent pulled her into his room.

  He held her suspended and slowly untied the cord that held her gown in place.

  “If I may ask...” She looked at the rapt expression on his face, so contrary to his previous attitude.

  “Please, ask me anything. If you beg, I will give you whatever you like.” His tone was a soft growl.

  She blushed as he finished removing the cord and slowly eased her dress from her shoulders.

  “How does your talent work? Why is this thing between my breasts controlling my body?” She bit her lip as the dress snagged on the tight points of her nipples.

  He lifted her slightly without touching her, elevating her until he could take one nipple between his teeth. She caught her breath and held it as he moved from one to the other while his fingers tugged the gown down and away from her body.

  She could see the sharp point of his ears as he bent toward her. Surrendering to the moment was a definite option, but she was on the fence until he drew sharply on one breast. A moaning sigh escaped her, and she reached out, threading her fingers through his hair.

  He pulled his head back, and her breast showed the marks where he had sucked and nibbled.

  “My talent is a focused psychic projection. It works on animate and inanimate objects.” He stroked the curve of her waist.

  She shivered and clenched her hands in his hair. “Do you want this?”

  Rune stared at her in surprise. “Of course. This is my reason for being here. Nothing else could have gotten me so far from Admar.”

  She leaned toward him and kissed him slowly. He lowered her to the floor and pressed her against him. The tingling pressure between her breasts eased and dissipated.

  She smiled and kept her hands in his hair, forcing him to bend at a sharp angle toward her.

  He alternated touching her and pulling at his clothing. It was awkward, but it seemed to be what he wanted. Soon, his bodysuit was peeled open and shoved down his legs, and he had to sit to remove the boots that were keeping his suit on.

  He groaned and stared at
her while he pulled at the leather that encased his lower legs. When the boots were free, he pushed the fabric from his limbs, and he was nearly as naked as she was.

  She thought that he was nearly naked because his body was covered with symbols from ankle to elbows with some of the marks creeping up his neck.

  Freddy reached out and touched one of the marks. She could feel it humming against his skin and her own. She shivered when she imagined the feel of his skin against more than just her hand, and with a few steps, she made it happen.

  She ran her hands up his chest and across the width of his shoulders.

  Rune had his eyes nearly closed, and with a slow motion, he wrapped her in his arms. “You feel amazing against me. Soft and strong with an undercurrent of power.”

  “You definitely don’t feel soft.” She smiled slightly and let herself continue her exploration of his tense form.

  “Thank goodness for that. It wouldn’t work if I was.” He smiled and ran a hand down her back. The rough pads of his fingers woke every nerve near her spine.

  His room was similar to hers but that was all she registered as he lifted her and turned, placing her on the edge of the bed before coaxing her to sit as he parted her thighs and knelt between them.

  She shook as he pulled her toward him. She tipped back and thudded to the bed a moment before he pressed his lips against her sex and parted her folds with a long stroke of his tongue.

  The live version outstripped the fantasy of her early-morning dream. She moaned, shifted and grunted when he inserted two fingers, stroking while he tongued her clit. His free hand gripped her hip and held her as he worked her with long thrusts of his digits.

  She felt the climax rushing toward her and heard her cries rising to a high pitch. When her body clenched on his fingers in rhythmic pulses, Freddy froze in place. Heat rippled through her in heady waves, and Rune forced her to experience every one. The moist, wet sounds that his fingers continued to draw from her were enough to heighten her embarrassment, but the sweet release that pumped through her was enough of a distraction so that she didn’t comment on it.

  When she slumped to the bed, panting and covered in a fine sheen of sweat, he pulled his fingers out of her and sucked them into his mouth.

  Embarrassment flared again, but the enthralled look in his eyes burned it out.

  He stood, and she could see the column of his cock wrapped in the same tattoos as the rest of him. He held his erection in his hand and slowly stroked it.

  She squirmed back so that her ass wasn’t hanging off the bed, and he moved so quickly, she barely saw him shift position. He wrapped an arm under her and lifted her to the centre of the bed, following her with an intense focus that was slightly unnerving.

  “I would love the chance to kiss every inch of you, but I can’t manage it today. Being devoted to the idea of a Terran has spoiled me for all other women.”

  She smiled and stroked his cheek. “There will be other times. There will be thousands of other times.”

  He grinned. “I love the sound of that.”

  Rune shifted against her and slid into her, rocking his hips in short undulations to work inside her.

  Her mind’s eye filled in the image of his buttocks clenching with each short thrust, and her skin tingled from the inside out.

  She gripped his back and clawed at him as her second climax rushed toward her without warning. She bucked upward, taking him completely, and Rune shuddered in response.

  Freddy shook and jerked under him until her body stilled again. This time, he withdrew and slid completely into her in a long, deep thrust.

  She inhaled sharply as he started a slow and deliberate rhythm that activated every nerve in her body. Her hands and feet were hot. She wrapped her legs around him and clutched at him as her pulse took over her thoughts and actions.

  He leaned in and kissed her, biting lightly at her lips.

  His hips shifted, and he increased his tempo until nothing mattered to her but the friction of his skin on hers and the wild tingling that ran through her everywhere they touched. Even his cock was giving off a peculiar static-like charge. She held on as he pounded into her, and when he bucked and pressed his hips into hers, her nerves were still singing with energy.

  Rune pressed his forehead to hers, panting to catch his breath. As his chest rose and fell, it pressed her breasts until she was nearly screaming with the urge to orgasm again.

  He stayed inside her and shifted so that he could reach between them. Her clit got the attention it desperately needed, and a quick shiver ran through her from head to toe and continued to ripple through her for what seemed like hours.

  When she was finally still, Rune gathered her in his arms and kissed her temple. She smiled and rested her head against his chest. She licked her lips and tried twice before she was able to whisper, “Okay, so it started now.”

  He chuckled. “Has the future changed?”

  She closed her eyes and smiled. “No, this is what was destined. Nothing has changed.”

  “Perhaps in our future. My day has definitely looked up.”

  She giggled and peeped at him through lowered lashes. “Excellent. Now get me my sandwich.”

  Chapter Five

  The Guardians en masse were happy about their shift to lovers. Ember and Axis were especially relieved.

  Late that night in the gym, Freddy asked Ember what was going on.

  Ember grinned. “Well, Rune is notoriously temperamental. He uses the edge of acceptable violence on those we apprehend. I am thinking that he will be slightly more temperate now.”

  “Because he has gotten laid?”

  “For the first time in centuries. Yes. The Admaryn sleepers took their vows seriously. With all the Guardian groupies here, it has been the work of severe self-control that has kept him from ending up in a local’s bed.”

  Freddy looked across the gym to where Rune was working out with some of the others. Ember had loaned her a bodysuit, so Freddy was working out. Life as an Oracle was not exactly an exertion of the physical sort. She had to keep her body up or it would atrophy.

  “So, do you get your share of offers?” She smiled at Ember.

  “Now and then. It is always awkward to sleep with the untalented. They don’t know what to expect or they expect too much. I consider it a success if I don’t scorch them.”

  “That would be awkward.”

  “And hard to explain to the emergency medical personnel. I am waiting until a flameproof female is posted here.”

  “Do you think one will come along?”

  Ember smiled. “Can you tell me?”

  Without hesitating, Freddy reached out and looked into Ember’s future. “Oh, dear.”

  “What? Is it a Nyal? I would hate that.”

  “No, that isn’t what it is. Based on the timeline, there is a connection coming to you quickly.”

  Seeing Ember tangling with a woman with bronze and black skin was a visual that was going to haunt her.

  “Will you tell me what you saw?”

  “I would rather not. It will unfold shortly, and I don’t want to influence you. I influenced myself enough already.”

  “Is it someone with powers?”

  Freddy smiled. “It is. Don’t worry about it.”

  “That is very cruel of you.” Ember settled on a machine and started doing presses.

  “It isn’t cruel. You aren’t a client, and it will be better if you don’t force anything. It will happen in its own time, or at least that is what I am guessing. It feels right.”

  Freddy focused on her workout for the next half hour until Rune came to her and quirked his lips. “My lady, you need to rest.”

  She made a face. “I am not sleepy.”

  He wrapped an arm around her waist. “You will be.”

  Freddy had to admit that after he worked her over and loosened all of the tense muscles in her limbs with a spectral massage, she was sleepy.
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  She cuddled against him and held onto him for a few minutes before the fidgeting started.

  He sighed. “What is it, Oracle?”

  “I need Sneed.”

  He stiffened. “Who is Sneed?”

  She squirmed. “He is my stuffed toy. When I am in an unfamiliar bed, he helps me sleep. I used to use him on business trips.”

  “Where is he?”

  “On my bed.” She started to get up, but he pulled her back, and then, he stroked one of his markings. Two minutes later, the door opened and Sneed floated in.

  “You have a toy Drai?”

  “Sort of. Dragons are mythical back on Earth, sort of like elves.” She smiled and plucked Sneed out of the air, cuddling him against her and breathing in his familiar scent.

  “Well, I am far from mythical.”

  “Well, you are pretty fantastic, I can tell you that.” She smiled and then yawned.

  “Your fuzzy beast seems to be doing the trick.”

  She nodded and yawned again. He pulled her against him, his chest to her back. A light sheet made up for the lack of blanket, and the heat he put out was more than enough for her purposes. She fell asleep in his arms with Sneed cradled in hers.

  A kiss to her temple woke her slightly.

  “Sorry, love. I have to go to work. Sleep tight. Sneed, keep her safe.” He stroked her cheek and left her alone.

  She thudded her head back to the pillow and slept. Sneed was on his own.

  Breakfast was silent once again, but this time, she knew that the Guardians were gone.

  She headed for her station as soon as she had managed to put all the dishes from breakfast away.

  Her first client wanted to know the fate of their children and she told them.

  It was the beginning of a very long day.

  When she finished her shift, she had done nine readings and her head was pounding.

  Ember was waiting on the other side of the walkway, and she was smiling. “Happy weekend!”

  “What?”

  “You get two rest days. Back to back.”