Chapter Seven
“My father was a good man,” Amy murmured, thinking of her dad as Bruno headed towards the kitchen area. She felt foolish about counseling such an experienced leader. Who was she to tell Bruno Day how to act? She thought about the turmoil she’d sensed behind Bruno’s solid wall of self-control.
I can’t help him if he doesn’t let me in, she thought, wondering for the first time if she’d actually be able to help. Sure, they’d paired, whatever that really meant, but what about the deeper problems she sensed from him? He needed help. More help than a single assistant could give him. More than she could give him.
“One step at a time,” she murmured, taking a deep breath. If there was one thing she knew, it was that trying to change everything about Bruno’s life would be an exercise in futility. She’d simply have to approach things more obliquely and hope for the best. It wasn’t like she had much choice. She was stuck with him now. She knew that much.
She snorted. “So much for allowing myself one night of indulgence.” She thought she’d be able to make love with Bruno and move on, but after the crashing cascade of his memories hit her mind, she knew that she’d never be able to leave his side. Hell, she didn’t want to leave his side. His life was a long stretch of centuries punctuated with intense loneliness and insane responsibility. No man should have to live like Bruno, yet he persisted, stubborn and honorable. He kept the world safe, and asked for nothing. His humility in the face of such an overwhelming duty amazed her. She rubbed her eyes as exhaustion pressed into her muscles. Between the pairing and the incessant hammering of minds against her newly built mental wall, she knew her reserves of energy were dangerously low. Not that it mattered.
Get up, girl. You’re not going to be able to help him if you don’t get up. Summoning a last shred of determination, she stood up from the bed and stretched, wincing as a few more sore muscles announced themselves. Riding on a motorcycle was fun and exciting, but she wasn’t used to it. Riding Bruno, on the other hand, had its perks, and was worth every painful bruise and stretched tendon. She grinned through her tiredness and headed for the bathroom.
****
After eating, Amy let Bruno tuck her into bed with him. Neither of them mentioned the Spiders. Neither of them mentioned the pairing.
Which is just as well. I’m not sure I can carry on a conversation at this point, she mused, yawning. She traced her fingers along Bruno’s arm, enjoying his warmth. Night had just fallen over the city. The twinkling lights beyond the windows looked like something out of a fairytale against the darkening purple of the horizon. She had trouble imagining that the Spiders were really coming for them through such a beautiful sunset. She stared outside until a glint of green against the glow flared brightly.
“It’s our camouflage net. It distracts any stray Spider, disguising the planet,” Bruno murmured.
“I didn’t know I’d be able to see it,” Amy said, still staring. It looked like a weird curtain of distorted light against the deepening orange of the night sky.
“Only Sentries can see it.”
Amy tilted her head, then blinked. The green disappeared. If Bruno hadn’t said anything, she’d have thought she’d imagined it. “Where are Saige and Isaac now?” she asked him, tracing a line from his thumb to his wrist.
He shrugged. “Just beyond the Kuiper Belt.”
Amy had no idea how fast the Sentries’ starships could fly. For all she knew, they’d be in space for the next two weeks. “And that means they’ll be home…” She trailed off questioningly.
“They should be here sometime tomorrow,” Bruno said, stroking a hand down her hair. “You should try to sleep. We will have a lot to do in a few hours.”
Hmm. It’s interesting how he told me to sleep, but didn’t include himself in that suggestion. He needs rest, too. Amy pursed her lips, then deliberately relaxed her body, enjoying the way he felt against her. “None of this seems real.” She’d gotten better at maintaining her mental wall after she’d eaten, and could distantly sense the buzz of minds out in the city. When she concentrated, Bruno’s emotions drifted up, but didn’t solidify. The man had such iron self-control it was hard to tease anything out of his calm emotional wall. “Aren’t I supposed to be able to read your mind?”
Bruno tensed, then relaxed. “No. We can’t read each other’s minds. Just our emotions.”
“I can barely sense your emotions.” Amy yawned again. “Maybe I’m doing it wrong.” She remembered Saige’s migraine after her friend had paired with Isaac. And she remembered Saige’s almost inhuman intuition, honed even further after she’d admitted to pairing with Isaac. Amy didn’t feel anything nearly so dramatic with Bruno. “Wait, does your head still hurt?” she asked, curiously. It had been bothering him right after they’d made love earlier, but then she realized that his pain had faded enough that she couldn’t sense discomfort from him any longer. Is that just because he’s getting better at walling me out? Or because the pain is gone? She concentrated, focusing her empathy. It felt a bit like trying to grab onto water, but then she sort of relaxed as she focused, and she received an echo of lingering achiness from Bruno’s temples.
“I am mostly fine now,” he murmured, confusing her.
“Saige had a splitting migraine after pairing with Isaac, and it didn’t go away for a while. Maybe something similar happened with you.”
Bruno shook his head. “That is only because they didn’t stay together. Separation increases the effects, especially in the beginning. We have never separated,” he said, running his hand through her hair. “Both Isaac and Saige suffered from severe headaches until they reunited.”
Amy twisted her lips together, thinking. He wasn’t quite lying, but she could sense he wasn’t telling her everything. I’m too tired to figure it all out tonight. I’ll nag him in the morning about it, she decided, feeling his reticence. His fingers in her hair soothed her deeper into drowsiness.
“Does your head ache?” he asked quietly.
“No,” she replied, relaxing further. I would probably know if he was truly suffering, right? And he’d know the same about me. Except he’s really good at walling everything out. Amy frowned, trying to get her sluggish brain to function. Surely, she’d be able to feel his pain, even with his phenomenal emotional control. She concentrated again, and another echo of distant pain shivered through her empathic sense.
“My head does still ache a bit,” he murmured after a long pause.
Could he feel me focusing on him? Amy wondered. “It does? Why didn’t you say so?” She pushed away the drowsiness that had begun to cloak her thoughts and concentrated more intently. The pain echo intensified. “I can feel it, Bruno. How are you going to sleep like this?”
He shrugged. “I will manage.” He waited a beat. “I didn’t wish to worry you.”
Amy frowned, and tried to sit up. “I can get you a cold compress.” The comforter slid off her shoulders and she shivered as the cool air of the apartment hit her bare skin. A light tank top was not enough to keep her warm in bed without covers. “Or a pain killer.”
“No, I am fine.” He pushed her back down onto the warm spot their bodies had made in the mattress. “Sleep.”
Reluctantly, Amy settled against him, letting his skin chase away the shivers from the cold air. “I’m worried about you,” she whispered.
“No need.” He sighed. “Pain pills don’t work for Sentries.”
Oh. “That kind of sucks,” she said, thinking about her future. “Does that apply to me, too, now?”
He nodded.
“Well, shit.” So much for dental work. Let’s hope I have good teeth, she thought, half-disgusted, and half-resigned.
“You will not suffer. We can heal each other. In fact, you’ve already healed me. Your energy soothed my headache,” Bruno said, unexpectedly.
Amy really did sit up this time, clutching the comforter around her shoulders. She wanted to see his face. “What? Are you serious?”
“Indeed.” Bruno nodded, blue eyes clear as day in the dark.
He is telling the truth. Amy realized she already knew about the healing. His memories surged forward in her mind, and then receded when she didn’t need them, like waves on a beach.
“When Lucy suffered from a severe Spider laceration, Solomon took her to his home and healed her,” Bruno continued. “You did much the same when you ran your fingers over my temples. It’s one of our gifts.” He touched his face. “Of course, we can only do rudimentary healing on humans. The true gift is what we can do for our paired mates.”
I healed him? Amy stared at him in the low light, remembering how she’d stroked his temples just a few short hours ago. “Are you serious?”
He nodded, piercing eyes dark. “Yes. You are a Sentry now, so don’t fret about pain. We have our own way of dealing with it.”
“Fret” isn’t the word I’d use to describe my fear of the Spiders. Amy tried to imagine fighting off the inhuman aliens and shuddered as she imagined the pain that Lucy must have felt. She knew that the Spiders burrowed into human flesh, and that it felt like an acid burn. And then they eat you, she reminded herself. “If we’re immune, how did the Spiders injure Lucy?”
“They attacked before she and Solomon bonded. She is immune, now, as are you,” Bruno continued.
“Immune? To the Spiders?” Surprise chased the last of her drowsiness away. “I don’t understand.”
“In order to fight the Spiders, the Others changed our DNA so that we wouldn’t be as susceptible to their corrosive exoskeleton.” He tugged on her hand and pulled her back down in the cocoon of his arms. “The Spiders can’t break our skin. And we can use our energy to push them away, and dissolve their molecular bonds. We use the same energy to power the Stronghold net, and the shield rings, and other pieces of tech like our energy grenades.”
“This is a lot to take in,” she said, rubbing her forehead. Every explanation opened another door in her mind, and Bruno’s memories slid out, showing her the truth of his words. “It’s like I know all the stuff you’re telling me already.”
“You have my memories,” he said simply.
“I remember Lucy and Solomon diving into the Stronghold net to repair pieces of it.” She couldn’t imagine how they did that. It was as if they’d merged their brains with the technology.
“We could do that, too, but Solomon would be peeved with us,” Bruno said, smiling against her shoulder.
Amy shuddered. “I don’t think I want to do that.” She’d never been very good at math, and she had a feeling that she wouldn’t be able to pick up the necessary analytical skills without a lot of mental work.
“We have other gifts,” he replied, cryptic now.
Amy swatted him, immediately annoyed. “Stop that.”
“What?” He caught her hand and kissed her palm. His eyes twinkled at her.
Amy put her palm against his face and warmth seeped into her bones. “Sometimes you go all cryptic on me,” she said, cupping his cheek. “You don’t answer the question directly, and by the time you’re done talking, no one realizes that you’ve avoided answering at all. I know diplomats have to do that, but you need to be honest with me.” She held her breath, waiting for his response. At the edge of her new empathic sense, she could feel his uncertainty. She ran a thumb over his lips. “Talk to me.”
“Paired mates often share gifts, and they grow stronger once the bond is solid,” he said after a long moment.
“You’re still avoiding something, Bruno. I can feel it,” she said, challenging him. If I’m going to be any help to him, I need him to treat me as his equal.
After a barely perceptible pause, he spoke. “I told you I sometimes have visions of the future. I don’t know what that means for you, and I do not want to see you hurt.” He drew her hand away from his face.
Amy bit her lip as he settled their clasped hands in her lap. “Oh.” What more did one say to that? “How does it happen?” Now that he’d said it, she could sort of remember visions he’d had, but they were blurry. Indistinct. The visions themselves overwhelmed the beginning of the process. His memories of them felt painful.
“Usually, when I dream, I wake up, and the vision begins seamlessly. I feel as if I’m still dreaming. Sometimes I wish I was still dreaming.”
“You have no current visions that haven’t happened yet,” Amy said, thinking back over what she’d learned of him.
“No. The last vision to come true was of meeting you.” He sighed. “Sometimes, I can go years between visions. Sometimes, I can talk myself into believing that I don’t really see the future, but I’m inevitably disappointed.”
Amy suddenly sensed the wall he kept over his emotions thinning. His frustration bled through into her, and she gripped his hands tighter. “But maybe what you see will help us survive.”
“Yes. I’ve always believed that, but now when I need it most, I have no guidance. No vision shows me how to deal with this massive swarm we’re facing.” He rolled his shoulders, but she felt his discomfort as his muscles remained tense. “This gift is a curse, not a comfort.”
That’s one of the most truthful things he’s said to me, Amy thought. Her heart hurt as she understood the depths of his devotion to duty. His entire life had been given up to keeping Earth safe, and now that he faced the biggest threat, he had nothing to show him what to do. And it’s difficult for a powerful man to admit such a thing. So many people depend on him.
“You must understand,” he said, leaning his forehead on hers before continuing. “Unlike my brothers, I have no control over my ability. It isn’t a skill. It’s a malady that comes and goes, willy-nilly.”
The most controlled man on Earth can’t control his power. How frustrating that must be. Amy chewed on the inside of her cheek, wanting desperately to say the right thing. What could she do to help? She’d barely lived twenty years. Bruno was over two centuries old. And I thought I could be his equal. Shame flicked at her, but she shoved it down. She didn’t have time for that. What would her father say to him? “I do understand.” She took a deep breath. “But maybe the more you poke at it, and the harder you try, the more elusive it becomes. Like chasing a yolk with your finger.”
He closed his eyes. “When I most need a vision that shows me what’s to come, I often can’t sleep, yet sleep triggers the visions.”
Amy put her arms around him. “I can at least help with that, I think,” she murmured, kissing him softly. She kept at it until she felt the quivering tenseness of his muscles abruptly relax.
Bruno groaned and seized control of the kiss.
Amy shuddered. He tasted sad. She slid her fingers into his hair and hung on, willing him to feel her support. The wall he held over his emotions cracked a little more, and a cascade of frustration and anger slid through her. She bit at his bottom lip, determined to get him out of his head. This man deserved a fucking break.
“Amy,” he said, voice shaking.
She couldn’t reply. He’d eased her tank top off and had his hands on her breasts. The moment he bent his head and bit her right nipple was the moment she lost the ability to form sentences.
“You are so sweet,” he said, hands sliding down under her ass. His cock pushed at her hip, hot and thick. “I want to taste you.” He nibbled down her neck as he laid her on the pillows. “I want to lose myself in you.”
Amy shuddered as he pulled down her panties. His hands cupped her breasts, then flicked her nipples. She’d meant to give him pleasure, but instead, he rocked all of her good intentions completely into pieces. “Bruno. Wait.”
He lifted his head. “You don’t want me to wait. You want me to suck on your clit,” he murmured.
His words sent a shockwave of heat through her. “God, Bruno. You’re making me crazy.” She shoved at his sleep pants. “I want to taste you, too.”
He pushed off his clothes, and then slipped down between her legs. “You will.”
“God!” she gasped, when his mouth closed around her clitoris. He sucked lightly, and then harder as she writhed beneath him. Foreplay? Who needs it? she thought incoherently as he brought her right to the edge and then stopped. “What? No,” she protested, grabbing at his hair. “Why are you stopping?”
Bruno evaded her fingers. “Here. Sit up, darling,” he said, pulling her to the edge of the bed.
Amy swallowed, hard, when he got out of the bed and stood up. His erection bobbed right in front of her face.
“Is this what you want?” he said, stroking himself. “You want to taste me? I am right here, waiting for your lips.”
Amy trembled, staring. His eyes had gone bright with arousal, and she felt his desire throb against her empathic senses. He wanted her, desperately, but he held back. Waiting for her to touch him. Waiting for her mouth. Tentatively, she opened her lips, and he pushed forward. The tip of his cock sat on her bottom lip, hot and shocking.
“Open up, baby,” he said, fingers on her mouth. “Open up for me.”
She slid him into her mouth, and the heat of him burst across her tongue. She moaned and put her hands on his hips. He pumped gently, then grasped her face and slid himself in further. “Relax your throat,” he rasped.
Amy sucked in a deep breath, and did as he asked. He groaned, and pushed inside, bumping the back of her throat. Just when she felt her eyes start to water, he pulled out.
“Bruno,” she croaked. The lack of air made the pleasure rushing through her feel sharp and desperate. “More.” She dug her fingers into his ass, pulling him forward.
Bruno smiled tightly, and slid back inside her mouth, pushing harder this time. Amy tried to suck, but couldn’t. He was already too far inside. She wrapped her arms around his hips and hung on, savoring the muscles sliding beneath her palms. Sparkles danced across her vision as the intense pleasure he felt pushed into her mind. He smelled like heat and spice and danger. His cock swelled in her mouth, and she dug her fingers in as she swallowed around the crown. He sucked in a harsh breath and pulled out again, panting.
“Hell.” Bruno bent over her, hands in her hair. “I want to fuck you until we both die from it, Amy.”
Instead of answering him, Amy gathered his cock in her hands and used her teeth on him, soothing the sting when he growled at her. She sucked him in, scrubbing the underside with her tongue. Her fingers found his balls and she rolled them across her palms. Bruno’s hips jerked, pushing him back into her throat again. She was ready. She swallowed around him. Pleasure shot through her and Bruno, and then back into her. She squirmed, her free hand going to her pussy. She needed release so bad. Her fingers bumped over her clit, and she gasped.
Abruptly, Bruno jerked out of her mouth. “No. That’s for me,” he said, suddenly tossing her up the bed. He flipped her over, then swatted her ass.
Amy gasped from the sting, still grappling with how easily he’d picked her up. He swatted her again, and the heat of it spread across her skin. She moaned. “Jesus, Bruno.” She got her knees under her, and it must’ve been exactly what he wanted, because he surged inside her with one rough thrust. Amy grabbed onto the comforter and hung on as his erection filled her until she thought she might break. “Fuck.”
“No. No fucking. I am going to own you,” Bruno said, voice rough. He slapped her again. He must’ve been able to feel how much she liked it, because he started to alternate his slaps, keeping it up as he fucked into her, hard.
Amy buried her face in the mattress, gritting her teeth. She’d been on the edge of orgasm forever, it seemed, and Bruno wasn’t letting up. Her ass burned with heat and pleasure, and Bruno’s arousal swept through her. He held back, not letting either of them climax. When he put a finger to her anus, she keened, desperate for release.
“I am going to put my fingers in here,” he said, swiping at her cream and spreading it all over her hole. “And then I’m going to fuck you some more, and you’re going to take it.”
Amy nodded, her brain on fire. His insane need for her burned through every last bit of hesitation until all she wanted was for him to surround her. “Do it,” she mumbled. There was no way he could hear her, but he clearly felt her acquiescence. He rubbed at her hole until the tease of it sent her thrusting back at him. His cock inside her swelled even thicker, and then he slid a finger into her ass.
She gasped, holding her breath as he stroked inside her body with fingers and cock. When he began thrusting again, her spine went rigid.
“God, that’s it, Amy. Let it go for me,” he growled, thighs tight against the back of hers. “Fuck!” He slapped her again, and that was it.
Amy screamed as her orgasm shoved through her like a wave of light. She writhed beneath Bruno, mind white with pleasure. Bruno groaned, and pushed into her one last time as fire spread inside her body. His cock jerked, and she felt his climax rip through them, triggering another one for her. She stopped breathing and rode the wave. When he finally collapsed, she sucked in a huge gulp of air, and then another, sinking into the soft mattress as if it were a gentle pool of water. Her bones felt soft. Her skin flushed, and she sensed Bruno’s climax rippling away little by little, until he let out a long, slow breath and slid out of her body.
A long time later, Amy felt him get out of the bed. When he returned, he gently wiped her with a soft cloth, and then climbed in beside her, pulling the covers up over them both.
“Dream well, my darling,” he murmured.
Amy sighed, and sleep pulled her into the darkness.