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  Twist stepped forward with his hand extended. “I will take it. I have a system that will do the job.”

  She set the crystal into his palm, and he whisked off with it. Jianne looked around at the opulent bedroom and blinked, “Well, this is an improvement over my little underground hole.”

  Cowl laughed. “This was originally supposed to be the Guardian base, but it wasn’t done in time, so the first teams took up residence at the more utilitarian base while this one was quietly finished and used as a resort for Guardians in the vicinity.”

  Jianne blinked. “I thought that was a myth.”

  Roil chuckled. “No. This was designed by the Cadar government to thank us for our protection.”

  Flare grinned, “Even the Cadar aren’t sure where this base actually is. We have a shield that extends down the coastline. Nothing gets in or out without authorization.”

  Roil stepped forward, knelt in front of her and pressed a kiss to the back of her hand. “We are very glad that you came out of the skirmish none the worse for wear. Cowl was worried, and he is a bit of a bear when he is upset.”

  Flare executed a graceful bow, and he and Roil followed Twist out of Cowl’s bedroom.

  Jianne got to her feet and started exploring while Cowl watched from his own desk on one side of the room. Floor-to-ceiling windows showed a lovely view of the bay, the white sand and the brilliant blue water.

  A deck outside connected all of the bedrooms, and Jianne itched to put on a sundress and feel the breezes, but she was on duty. She was always on duty.

  “Why do you look so depressed?” His hood was back, and he was looking down at her with concern.

  “I was just thinking about how nice it would be to have a day off.”

  Sarnvil caressed her cheek. “You are officially off duty until we get to the bottom of who is trying to sabotage you.”

  Her mind grappled with the idea of having time to have a vacation. “So, I can really just run around the base with nothing to do?”

  He grinned. “If that is what you want, by all means. When was the last time you had a day with nothing to do?”

  Jianne thought back to a time before part-time jobs, full-time jobs and the endless training of the Alliance. “I think it was eighteen years ago.”

  “Then, you are overdue. Enjoy yourself. We are taking turns on dispatching the Guardians. My shift is later this evening if nothing else goes wrong. Would you care to join me for dinner?”

  She smiled shyly and went up on her toes to press a kiss to his cheek. “I would like that. When would that be?”

  “You have five hours. Have fun and call if you need anything.” He pressed a light kiss to her lips and caressed her neck before he left her alone.

  With a silent squeal, she ran over to the wardrobe and found her clothing. A Cadar sundress was more fitted than what she would wear at home, but it was definitely breezier than a bodysuit.

  She left her feet bare, and the dress swirled around her calves as she exited the door to the deck and sprinted for the beach.

  The dress was made of gold mesh folded over itself in a crisscross pattern over her torso. The skirt was a matching fabric, and the gauzy stuff caught the breeze, flipping up as she walked and cavorted out in the bright daylight.

  * * * *

  Cowl stared at the woman who had come so close to death just a few hours earlier. She was running around in the sand like an exuberant child.

  “Twist, what have you found?”

  “They meant to incapacitate her as well as boosting her signal so that she would be easily tracked. She would have been locked in place with no ability to move her own body.” Twist was irritated by the situation. “The code was incredibly complex. If Cyber did create this, then she has been compromised.”

  Cowl nodded. “I will take care of that. Damn! I had hoped that he wouldn’t get here so quickly.”

  “Your brother?”

  Cowl snarled. “Who else? She saw him, and he acted very pleased to see her. I think he is trying to steal my mate before I can convince her that we are meant to be together.”

  Flare sighed, “Are you absolutely sure about that, Cowl?”

  Sarnvil looked at the man who had been his friend for eight years. “I am sure. The moment I touched her, I started to key to her. It has grown stronger with every touch, every kiss.”

  Twist nodded. “Sounds like a true match to me. I would feel lucky if I could find a woman who put half that smile in my voice.”

  Cowl chuckled. “It does give me a lightness of spirit, though I am still trying to figure out how Sarlok found out about her.”

  “Maybe you should ask Charm’s woman about that. I don’t know if she keeps the Guardian portraits hidden, even from other Guardians.”

  Sarnvil nodded, and he turned to watch Jianne playing tag with the surf. “I think I am going to make a call.”

  * * * *

  When she felt the skin on her nose crinkling, she stopped playing and walked back to the base. From this angle, it was an amazing structure built with huge panelled walls of plexi facing the sea. It was bright and faceted like a diamond.

  She felt the slight resistance of the shielding as she walked through it. It would keep out casual predators and could easily be boosted to be a far more effective defense.

  Jianne sat on the edge of the steps that led down to the sand and brushed the sand off her legs. She heard footsteps behind her and looked up to see Cowl crouch at the top of the steps. She got to her feet and climbed the five steps to sit beside him. “So, how bad would it have been to have installed that patch?”

  He shrugged. “It would have been exceedingly bad. You would have been a fixed target, just waiting for them. I am guessing that you realise that one of the intruders was related to me.”

  She twisted her lips. “There is a marked resemblance that goes beyond species.”

  “My brother is hunting for a mate just as I am, but I have found you, and he feels that you are close enough to suit him. He was expecting you to be helpless when he arrived.”

  “So, this goes beyond sibling rivalry, right? I mean, he doesn’t want me just because you do.”

  Cowl chuckled. “No. We have a population problem. All unmated males have to leave by their thirtieth year, females by thirty-five. Those who remain were fortunate enough to find matches, but the ones who take to the stars have to deal with the little problem caused by the nature of our very race. Our skin and scent hypnotizes.”

  “I gathered that. It explains the cowl and why you don’t use a sealed suit. Even if you don’t intend to enthral your enemy, you can still prime them with the pheromones.”

  He shrugged, not denying it. “Well, in any case. Instead of finding a female of his own, he has come after mine, and I am not going to let him get you.”

  “You are that sure?”

  “Contact Rhoda on Yacaro and find out for yourself. There is still time before dinner.”

  He was smiling, she could tell. “Fine. Which way to the com unit?”

  He surged upright and extended his hand to help her up. “Allow me to show you. Twist is on duty, but he knows all my secrets.”

  He twined his fingers with hers, and together, they walked into the glittering gem of a base and down the hall to the com centre.

  Seeing a Terran face made Jianne smile. “Hello, Rhoda.”

  “Greetings, Jianne. It is always good to see a familiar face.”

  “I know what you mean. As pretty as some of them are, they just aren’t quite right, are they?”

  Rhoda chortled, “You get used to it when you are married to one. Now, what can I do for you?”

  “What is the deal with you and the paintings?” Being blunt seemed the best approach.

  Rhoda rubbed the side of her nose with one finger, her white hair gleaming in the evening light of Yacaro. “Ah, that. Well, it is a kind of precognition. I am a seer, but I paint what I see in a sort of fugue state. When I come out of it, there is the picture.”


  “Do you have to have a sitter for the portrait?”

  “It sometimes helps, but if I have any kind of attachment to the person, I can usually make it work. That is what I have been doing with the Terrans in the Nyal Imperium. There aren’t many of us, so I have been doodling whenever I get the urge. I have three of you, all with Cowl.”

  “How can you tell? His brother is very similar.”

  Rhoda wrinkled her nose. “Well, if he has a birthmark or scar in pale silver on his left side that is the man who is your destiny.”

  Twist coughed slightly and gave a short nod when Jianne looked at him.

  She turned back to the screen. “How detailed are these portraits and does free will enter into it?”

  Rhoda grinned. “The detail varies with the question. If someone asks who their perfect partner would be, the image may be both of them working together. If it is the love of their life, they may be in a clinch, but if they want to see their ideal lover or perfect mate…mating is what appears on the portrait, but I have not been wrong yet.”

  “Dare I ask what Cowl asked for?”

  Rhoda laughed and gave her the hint, “You don’t have any birthmarks and you are remarkably limber.”

  “Oh god.”

  “Don’t be embarrassed. I have painted far worse. At least you aren’t into anything too weird.” Rhoda’s eyes showed the wisdom of experience. She yawned delicately. “No offense, but is there anything else? I need to get to bed before Charm finds out I have snuck away.”

  Jianne winced. “Is he tall, silvery and butt naked?”

  Rhoda cringed. “He is right behind me, isn’t he?”

  The man walked up behind his mate, placed his hands on her shoulders and kissed her neck. Rhoda closed her eyes and sighed before she sat upright again.

  Jianne waved farewell as Rhoda did the same. They disconnected the call and Jianne chortled. “Well, it seems that destiny has spoken.”

  Chapter Eight

  Dinner was peculiar. Roil was cooking, Flare was serving and Cowl was sitting on one side of the small table while she occupied the other.

  “When you invited me to have dinner with you, I thought it would be a more intimate setting.” She smiled and sipped at the wine that Flare had poured. It was a lovely vintage and a charming purple-blue.

  “We are living in a Guardian base, this is as intimate as it gets.” Cowl’s voice was amused, but she couldn’t see his features.

  “Do people eventually develop a tolerance for exposure to your skin? I mean, can Roil, Twist and Flare ever see your face?”

  He shrugged. “We have never experimented like that. We can’t have a team missing members.”

  “You have one over the standard team already. Why not experiment on a volunteer, and if there is an emergency call, send three instead of all four.”

  He stared at her as if she had just told him to gut his team.

  She sighed. “I mean, if they would be willing to volunteer. I don’t mean that you should pin them up against the wall and scream look into my eyes.”

  Flare chuckled. “That would work for me but not in the way you intended. Carry on.”

  Jianne grinned. “The other option, if you are controlling them, is to tell them to act normal. I am pretty sure that that is what the other guy was doing. His companions didn’t move right.”

  The first plate was slid in front of her, and it contained a shredded salad. Jianne waited until Cowl had his own portion, and then, she lifted her eating prongs and tucked in.

  Dinner was a delightful affair with Flare attending them and glowing softly to illuminate the room as night fell.

  Jianne asked Cowl about his home life, and he described a set of parents that she envied. “How many siblings do you have?”

  “I am one of five. My eldest brother is mated with two children. My younger brother you have met, and my two sisters are betrothed. They will remain at home, and if they don’t follow through on their betrothals, they will have to leave our world and travel abroad in the hopes of finding a mate.”

  “So, this is a cultural thing?”

  “We believe that unmated males and females are nothing but trouble. Our home world is for families.” Cowl shrugged as he worked his way through his meal.

  “That is kind of harsh.” She sipped at her wine.

  He shrugged. “It is the way we are. Our males and females get highly competitive when they can’t get laid.”

  Jianne sprayed the wine out over her fingers. She blotted her dress with a napkin, and she could hear Cowl laughing, Flare snickering and Roil coughed alarmingly from the kitchen.

  “Sorry about that.” She tidied up and smiled brightly. “I have never heard it stated so baldly.”

  “How are your people in competitive situations?”

  She wrinkled her nose. “Fidelity is not the strong suit of many of my people. I sometimes think that the only reason we were picked as Volunteers was because we had a strong sense of home and family. We tend to make it up as we go along.”

  Cowl placed his elbows on the table after Flare removed his empty plate. “That sounds both encouraging and discouraging. You don’t think you would be faithful to your mate?”

  She sat back and scowled at him. “Of course I would! What kind of woman do you think I am?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. I am trying to find out.”

  Jianne crossed her arms and rocked her chair back on two legs. “Ask a direct question and I will give you a direct answer.”

  He cocked his head. “Are you sure? We are not alone here.”

  She shrugged. “When you live with a Guardian team, the fewer secrets you have the better. Ask away.”

  “When did you last have a lover? I am assuming that you have had sex before.”

  Jianne blushed and reached for her wine but was forthright. “Three years. One year before I was arrested.”

  “Nothing while you were in Janial?”

  “Nope. Despite my riveting good looks, when it comes to my own sex, I was able to defend my honour against the few persistent admirers who tried to press their interest.” She snorted and sipped at her water glass.

  “How is it that you are still sane?”

  “My sanity is debatable. Now, one question for you, why is the timing a concern if virginity isn’t?”

  “Well, I am going to be hitting my sexual prime very shortly, and it will be a matter of biological urgency that I have a female who can keep up.”

  Flare disappeared and Roil set their desserts in front of them before he left them alone.

  “What will I need to keep up with?”

  “Mah-Duh-Sai are cyclical breeders. Every five years after the age of thirty-five, we couple at every opportunity, hoping for a child. I do not expect you to bear an heir, if that is a concern.” He casually rubbed the stem of his wineglass.

  “Well, it is now. Why not? My people are the Swiss army knives of the reproductive arena.” She couldn’t believe that she was defending what she and several other Terrans considered an embarrassment. The ability to blend genes with many other species was a little awkward when it came to dealing with species that only bred once in a lifetime.

  He chuckled and flicked his hood back. “What is a Swiss army knife?”

  She blushed and focussed on the layers of pastry and cream dotted with fruit. “It is a utility knife with a number of blades and attachments in a confined unit.”

  “I see. How many species have your kind successfully cross bred with?” He raised one dark eyebrow.

  She twisted her lips and did a quick count. “Over fifty at last count. A few required slight gene therapy or alteration due to size issues, but there are a lot of little half-Terrans running around the Alliance.”

  “That is both impressive and intriguing. What do you think our child would look like?” He drew in the air with his eating prong.

  She blushed. “I wasn’t…I didn’t…I suppose that it would have your skin and my sense of self-pres
ervation, which is not a lot.”

  He chuckled. “No, I can see that you are a very forthright sort of female. It is nice to see that honesty isn’t subdued by embarrassment.”

  “How is it that so many of the species out here have wide reproductive cycles? It seems to be a very common theme in Nyal Imperium species.”

  He shrugged. “This area was very free with its genetic manipulation of local populations. One of the base species used in the transitions was Iutchko. They contributed their limited cycle in exchange for a little bit of immortality in the form of their passed-down genes.”

  She finished her dessert and sipped at her wine. “It is a sound plan. Are the Iutchko still around?”

  “No one knows. They donated their genetic material and their entire planet disappeared.” He shrugged. “Would you care to take a walk in the moonlight?”

  Jianne blinked and narrowed her eyes. “Are you going to put the moves on me?”

  He got to his feet and extended his hand. “Let’s find out.”

  She liked those odds.

  Chapter Nine

  The moonlight was romantic, and she was enjoying the bliss of the dinner and the walk on the beach.

  “Courtship rituals between species are difficult.”

  It was all the warning she got before he turned her in his arms and kissed her savagely. She tasted him, and with the lingering aftereffects of the dessert came the slight tang of blood. It wasn’t the taste of her blood but that followed shortly as the sharp canine scraped her lip.

  She yelped into his mouth, and his tongue slipped between her teeth to stroke hers in a flickering pulse that caused a surge of wet heat between her thighs. His hands stroked her spine and cupped her butt, lifting her against him.

  Jianne wrapped her arms around his neck and wove her hands in his thick, dark hair. She held on and followed his wordless encouragement, lifting her legs to wrap around his waist. He stroked the backs of her thighs, his hands sliding easily under the dress and against her bare skin.

  He groaned, she sighed and murmured as his fingers caressed the dark shadows between her thighs, slipping his fingertips against her lower lips until they parted for him.