Chapter Eleven
Two hours later, they stood together in front of the pillar, watching as the swarm inched closer and closer to the bombs. The fluctuating energy levels in the net seemed to mirror his damned headache. He rubbed his eyes, wishing human drugs worked on Sentries.
“I can’t believe they made those weapons and got them out there so quickly,” Amy murmured, not for the first time. “I’m glad they put them a little further out from the shield net than originally planned, though. It’ll give us more time.”
“Motivation is not lacking. Time, though? That is something we have too little of,” Bruno replied, pulling her closer to him. She felt like heat and light and hope. Her emotions held a great deal of worry, but she lacked the edge of terror he felt that he’d been trying so desperately to keep from her. He didn’t want her last hours to be filled with his lack of self-control.
Amy leaned against him. “True that. Will we be able to tell what’s happening when the swarm hits them?”
Bruno grimaced. “We will likely be able to sense the energy surge. I wouldn’t be surprised if even humans could feel it. The amount of power in those bombs is considerable.”
“If it doesn’t work, we need to fight anyway,” she said, fierce as always. She squeezed his arm with her fingers. “My mother doesn’t even know what’s coming.”
“I sorry you couldn’t contact her on the phone. I wish that you could have—” He broke off. That she could have what? Said goodbye? It would only have panicked her mother. He inhaled deeply, letting Amy’s sweet scent soothe him. “No one knows the Spiders are coming,” he finally said. “Even the military doesn’t seem to realize what is happening.” He’d checked his contacts a few minutes ago, and it seemed the President was too busy not believing what he’d told the man to bother alerting the troops. Just as well. They’d only be fodder for the Spiders.
“I know.” Amy sounded sad, for the first time.
Bruno swallowed, then turned her around and pressed her up against the pillar. “If this is how the world ends, I want to be inside you one last time before we have to fight.” He waited for her to understand what he meant. His cock hardened against her softness. Even now, in the midst of catastrophe, he wanted her. He would always want her.
Amy’s eyes went wide, but then she nodded. “Yes.” She wound her arms around his neck. “Yes, of course.”
That was all Bruno needed. He leaned down and kissed her as though his life depended on it. And maybe it does, he thought, nibbling at her lower lip until she gasped. What else is the point of living, if not to love?
“Bruno,” she said, breathless. “You make me crazy.”
He smiled against the soft skin of her neck. “Good.” He pulled off her sweater, and undid her lacy bra before she could protest. When he leaned back, her brown eyes gleamed with heat. He groaned, then dipped his head to her breasts, licking first one nipple, then the other. He went to his knees and unbuttoned her jeans. “You are so damned beautiful.” He eased her pants down, and then kissed her bellybutton. “And I am so angry that I don’t have time to savor you.” He slid his hands around and cupped her ass, inhaling. He scented her arousal and slowly eased her panties down and tossed them away.
“God, Bruno. What are you doing?” She slid her hands into his hair.
“I am losing myself in you,” he growled, dipping his head in. He slung her right leg over his shoulder and licked her pussy, savoring the sweet tang of her. She moaned, shaking. He licked her clit, then gently bit the tip. She jerked, and he smiled, then slid two fingers inside her body. She felt hot and wet, and suddenly he couldn’t stand it anymore. He needed to be inside her, with nothing between them. He stood up. Before he could take off his shirt, Amy unbuttoned his slacks and shoved them down.
“Hurry,” she said, pulling at his shirt.
Bruno took hold of the edges and ripped it off. Buttons scattered. Amy shuddered and grabbed at his shoulders. He kicked off his pants and then picked her up. Her back hit the pillar and energy zipped through them.
“What the hell is that?” Amy asked, wrapping her legs around him.
“Energy. The net. It doesn’t matter.” He tipped his hips and slid inside, groaning at her delicious heat. “Amy. God, you are everything.” He gripped her ass and thrust.
She trembled, digging her fingers into his shoulder. “Harder.”
Bruno jerked his hips, grinding into her.
“Faster,” she gasped.
He nodded, pushing inside. His head still hurt, and he couldn’t believe he could be so fucking turned on and still feel pain. “I am so damned sorry,” he muttered, face in her neck.
“For what?” She kissed his temple. “This is perfect.”
“For not having more time with you.” More energy zipped through them, and it speared into his skull, making him shudder. “Fuck.”
“Bruno?” Amy lifted his face to hers. Her brown eyes glowed with energy. “What’s happening?”
He blinked, and shook his head. The pain intensified. “I don’t know.”
She frowned, but she kissed him, twining her fingers into his hair. “Bruno, I hate to see you like this. Let me help.”
“I don’t know what you can do. Healing does not seem to work.” He groaned, realizing that he’d dropped his mental wall. She could feel everything he felt. “I am sorry.” Maybe he was losing his mind. Maybe this was the first step onto the road of madness that ultimately killed his father. It does not matter. We will all be dead in a matter of hours, anyway.
“Talk to me,” Amy demanded.
There is nothing to lose. I should tell her everything, he thought, fucking into her slowly now. He wanted to savor her, even as the pain worsened. “I kept something back when we paired.”
Amy trembled. He could feel her pleasure, but also her worry for him. “What?”
“My father went crazy. The dementia in his mind was caused by the mutations in our DNA. The Others must have known it would happen, but they never told us.” He made a sound in the back of his throat. “Maybe they thought it would not matter, since our lives are so much longer than the normal human span. I don’t know. My brothers have no idea. No one knows except me.” He dropped his head to her shoulder. He wanted to climb inside her and never let go. His weakness shamed him. He was the leader of the Sentries. He needed to be stronger than this. “It doesn’t matter now.”
“You told me that pairing required complete trust. Why didn’t you tell me?” Amy asked him, voice breaking.
Bruno thrust into her. He couldn’t believe they could still talk, when he wanted her so badly he could barely stand up. “I did not want to burden you.”
“You thought I’d say no to you, if you thought I knew that I’d eventually lose my mind to dementia,” she said.
He nodded, once again stunned by her intelligence. She may be two hundred odd years younger than I, but she is far wiser.
“Oh, Bruno.” She cupped his face and kissed him softly. “You’re an idiot.”
That pushed a laugh out of him. “You are the only one in the world who would say so, but you are right. I should never have come for you.” Regret that they were all going to die filled him. “Not that it matters now.”
She frowned, and then shook her head. “No, you’re an idiot because I would’ve gone with you anyway. I went with you out of duty, Bruno.”
The words pierced him to the soul. He shuddered. “I know,” he whispered, hurting even more now. His skull burned from the inside, and the thread of their bond was all that kept him from screaming.
“I went with you for duty.” Amy cupped his cheeks and kissed his forehead. “But I stay with you now out of love. How could I not love you? I know every inch of your heart, Bruno.”
Bruno went still. Her eyes told him she meant every word. Her emotions crashed over him in a wave, both violent and soothing, and he felt her sincerity. Her passion. I truly don’t deserve her. He sucked in a deep breath. “I love you.” Those three words felt wholly inadequate for the maelstrom of desire rushing through him. “I have always loved you, from the first moment I saw your face in a vision hundreds of years ago.”
Amy kissed him again, on the mouth this time, then leaned back, eyes gleaming. Abruptly, Bruno’s mind opened. Scenes from his father’s death surged through his brain, and from Amy’s gasp, he knew she was living his memories. He saw his father crying as he realized his mind was shattering. He saw his father begging him to take over the Sentries, to let him die. Bruno watched his parents reunite after his mother’s kidnapping, and he watched them disintegrate into strangers in the weeks that followed. His brothers thought the extended separation between their mother and father caused their deaths, and it certainly didn’t help, but the mutation in their DNA was what ultimately killed them. The pain of this knowledge nearly killed him once, and now he had to relive it. He cried out, anguished.
“Bruno, no! Don’t let go of me,” Amy said, sounding like she could barely talk through her tears. Bruno held on, determined to get to the other side of this insane repairing of their minds. He fucked her harder. Somehow, they’d triggered a second bonding, and he felt her grief overtake them when the news of her father’s death reached her. And then, shockingly, he saw the scene where her father was killed, though Amy hadn’t been there. She’d been home, with her mother. Their gift of vision stretched beyond their memories, showing them events they hadn’t witnessed, and then the power pushed them forward, into the future, and flames descended all around them.
Amy screamed, and Bruno hung onto her, grimly determined that they would die together.
****
Amy had never wanted to feel those flames again, and she certainly didn’t want to watch her father die, but Bruno’s gift didn’t care what they wanted. She saw his father die, and felt the madness of his mind as if it were happening to her. She felt Bruno’s entire life rush through her again, and then the future flared out, and she saw the flames again. She screamed, angry at the universe. All she wanted was one last moment with her love, a moment without pain and duty. She hung onto him, praying for respite, and then as suddenly as it had flared, the fire disappeared. Blue ocean waves crashed against a beach, and the sky gleamed blue with green highlights.
What the hell? That’s the camouflage shield, she thought, confused. She stared up at the blue, blue skies, willing the cool air to soothe her flame-scorched skin.
Bruno sucked in a hard breath, arms still tight around her. “Amy?”
“I’m here,” she croaked, fingers digging into his biceps. He moved in her body, and she gasped as pleasure zipped through her spine, but before she could enjoy it, their shared vision zoomed out. She saw the continents, and puffy clouds, and beaches. She saw deserts and snowy mountains. She tipped her head back, and the sky shimmered, and she realized that a dark shroud had covered the horizon. There were no flames.
“The shadow is dead Spiders. They are disintegrating against the shield net,” Bruno muttered. “How is this possible? This is a future vision.”
“You said the future isn’t set. That it changes,” Amy said. Hope flashed through her like a cool drink of water. She grabbed onto it, and hung on. She wanted time with him, even if it meant their brains eventually turned to mush. She wanted a hundred years, and more. So what if the mutation caused dementia? If she could just have more than a day with Bruno, she would accept that, but she wanted years. I want more time. Bruno deserves more time after all he’s done for humanity.
Bruno let out a long, slow breath, and Amy sensed his slowly growing hope. She pushed down her fear and focused on him. She touched his face, and then his hair, grounding herself in reality. Their vision faded. Pleasure spiked through her as his hips moved, pressing her into the pillar. She groaned, tipping her pelvis so that he could push into her even deeper. Energy tingled along her back.
“This is impossible.” Bruno kissed her. “You taste like the sea.”
Amy nodded. She could feel the tears slipping down her face. “I love you.”
“And I love you.” He thrust faster, and her pleasure surged. Her orgasm flowed through her in a huge wave, bright and joyful. Bruno’s cock jerked as he climaxed, and heat spread inside her body. He clutched her tightly enough she knew she’d bruise, but she didn’t care. Energy flashed through them, and the pillar suddenly lit up like a star.
“What—” she began to say, but Bruno jerked them away from it, stumbling to the ground. He went to his knees, and Amy grabbed his neck. The light brightened even more, and she felt the Stronghold net reach out to them. “Bruno.”
“The net is stabilizing,” he said, turning with her still cradled in his arms.
His cock softened and slipped out, but Amy still felt him all around her. Inside her. The energy flared more, and she felt her mind reach out with his, and they were inside the pillar. She saw stars and threads of light, and it was the easiest thing in the world to reach out and rearrange it until the energy flowed better. Bruno’s mind brushed hers, and together they fed more energy into the pillar. Bruno plucked a thread, and it coalesced into the shield net.
“The anchors…” She pointed with mental fingers, and the anchors lit up like shards of light. Energy poured into them, and the entire shield flexed, then strengthened.
“The Spiders are here.” Bruno touched another thread, and Amy saw that the bombs hadn’t worked. The Spiders had obliterated the energy devices while they’d made love, hours ahead of when they thought the aliens would arrive.
It doesn’t matter now, she told herself, holding on to Bruno’s brilliant mind and heart with all of her strength. She sensed his brothers and their paired mates via the net, waiting for the end of the world at Solomon’s Stronghold, in the bunker beneath the mountain, where they’d gone after the bombs had failed. They didn’t know that she and Bruno had energized the shield. They didn’t know they would all survive. She didn’t know how to explain what was happening to them, but she sent them a wave of reassurance. She felt Saige’s startlement, but couldn’t respond. They had more work to do, yet.
“Just a bit more,” Bruno said to her, touching another thread with his mind.
“Yes. And over here.” Amy helped him, and another flare of energy pulsed up from the pillar. She realized that it was anchored far below them, down inside the planet. Each of their pillars was connected to the others, as if they were Earth’s spine and blood and nervous system all in one.
“It is self-sustaining,” Bruno said, touching a few more spots with energy. “The shield will protect us.”
“That’s what we saw, in the new vision. The blue skies and the planet,” Amy said.
“Yes. And the shroud of dying Spiders.” Bruno’s mind stepped back, tugging her with him.
Amy let him pull her away from the Stronghold’s core. From here, the threads gleamed like the most beautiful mosaic she’d ever seen. She stared, and then Bruno touched her face.
“Darling, open your eyes.”
She blinked, thinking, they’re already open, but then Bruno kissed her and she gasped. Her eyes flew open. She lay on top of him on the floor. The lack of tension in his body relaxed his face—he looked like a young man. She touched his cheek with shaky fingers. “What just happened?”
Bruno grinned at her, kissing her fingertips. “We just saved the planet.”
Amy looked up at the pillar, blinking away the tears in her eyes. It gleamed with energy that she could almost taste. A viewer screen showed them the status of the shield, and she let out a breath when she realized how many trillions of Spiders were dying. “That’s incredible.” She looked outside. The sky flickered green as the shield flexed, and the shadow she’d seen in the vision darkened the horizon. The Spiders flung themselves at Earth, and died.
“It is,” Bruno murmured.
Amy glanced at him. He looked tired, but it was an honest weariness, not a strain born of too much responsibility and an intractable headache. “Will there still be Spiders to deal with? After this?” Amy asked, glancing at the sky again. She couldn’t even imagine the sheer mass of aliens currently flinging itself at the shield if she hadn’t seen the numbers for herself. The shadow on the horizon deepened, and then began to glitter as the Spiders disintegrated into dust. It looked weirdly beautiful.
“Most likely.” Bruno shook his head. “We can’t assume that this one swarm, as large as it is, is the only infestation in the galaxy.” He turned to her. “We will send out sensors and starships, and we will protect the planet, as we always have.”
“No one is going to understand this.” She pointed to the sky. “Most of the people I know don’t even consider the Spiders to be real. They’ve never seen them.”
“We will have years to explain it to them.” Bruno helped her to her feet, then pulled her into his arms. He was trembling. Bruno. Leader of the Sentries. A man over two hundred years old, was trembling.
Amy gripped his arms. “Bruno.” She almost couldn’t believe the emotions flowing from him into her: love and relief and hope. The thought that he’d been bereft of those things for centuries nearly broke her heart.
“We will have years together, Amy,” he said.
She leaned into him, and pressed a hand to his heart. “You know I don’t care about the dementia. We can live a long time together before that ever happens.”
“We will have to tell the others, though. My brothers, and their paired mates.” Bruno said.
“Maybe they can help solve the mutation problem, and prevent the dementia. We have so much technology here,” Amy said, glancing at the pillar. “And we can heal each other. Who can say what we might accomplish together?”
Bruno tilted his head. “I had not considered that. I should never have tried to keep that from you. Our initial bonding suffered because of my fear. I’m am so sorry.”
“Hush. I forgive you. You aren’t just a Sentry, Bruno. You’re a man, and sometimes mistakes happen.” Amy smiled. He listens to me. The most powerful man in the world listens to me. Her heart tripped as he kissed her.
“So intelligent. So beautiful.” He shook his head. “I thought I would be protecting you by keeping away, and instead, I only hurt myself. If you had not agreed to help me—”
Amy put two fingers on his lips. “No, don’t.” She felt all of his regret, and worry, and love. There were no longer any walls between them, now that their bond had matured. “We are alive, and we have each other.”
He kissed her fingertips. “True.”
“And you will stop feeling guilty about corrupting me. I happen to like being corrupted,” Amy told him, grinning.
He smiled, but shook his head. “Not even you can cure my sense of responsibility, my darling.”
“I can try.” Amy drew his head down and kissed him until she felt his emotions ease into something more simple and infinitely powerful: love. “I love you, Bruno Day.”
“I love you, Amy Day.” Bruno picked her up and headed for their bed. “And I intend to show you how much, every day, for the rest of our lives.”