Juanita listened to the voices of a couple dozen men and one or two women as she approached, her hand clasped with Orion’s. In her other hand, she still carried the weapon he had given her. It had been easy to aim, though the targets she’d shot hadn’t been that challenging. Both had been close to her, neither moving quickly at the time. It was a good thing the weapon was easy to fire, because her shoulder was aching even more after tramping through the marsh. She didn’t imagine she could handle some big rifle or one of their bow weapons with a lot of recoil.

She felt proud of shooting the giant bird that had been attacking Orion. She was less proud of shooting the man and was relieved she hadn’t killed him. She’d just felt this protective surge of anger toward the guys attacking the Star Guardians—and Orion. She hadn’t considered shooting the men he’d been tangled up with, being certain she would end up hitting him. But the other had paused so nicely in front of that flare.

“Watch out for that area over there,” someone told the arriving group. “There’s a huge sinkhole of mud. It’s at least six feet deep.”

“I’d ask how you know that, Mikolos,” Treyjon said, “but the fact that your armor is brown instead of black tells the story for you.”

“I wasn’t the only one to fall in,” the man grumbled.

Juanita spotted the speaker as they drew closer. He was coated in brownish-green mud, the gunk hardening on his armor, with a spattering of leaves and fronds and moss added for decoration. He looked more like the Trash Heap from Fraggle Rock than a fearsome protector of humanity.

“You just fell the most in,” someone said.

“Just be glad Jax was there to rescue you.”

“Make sure to stay away from the areas where there aren’t any trees,” a woman said, waving toward such an area to the side of the group. “That’s where the sinkholes are.” A few boulders poked up from the leaf-strewn ground she indicated, but nothing substantial grew up from it.

“Did I see one of those women?” the captain asked as Juanita and Orion stopped behind the four Star Guardians. He didn’t sound pleased, and Juanita wondered if she should hide behind a tree again.

Treyjon shifted his weight and didn’t answer. Neither did the other Star Guardians in their group.

“Yes,” Orion said with a sigh. “We got locked out of the ship when the power went out. Was that part of your master plan, or did the algae take over your fire falcon?”

Juanita was fairly certain he’d asked the question in the hope of deflecting the captain’s attention from her.

“How did she get outside to start with?” Sagitta asked, undeflected. He stood in the middle of a group of men, everyone wearing armor, though he and a few others had their helmets off as they spoke.

“She fell out a hatch actually,” Orion said. “I happened to be nearby and caught her.”

“I bet he did,” someone snickered.

“And got a nice squeeze at the same time,” came another mutter.

“She fell,” Sagitta said flatly.

“I was trying to take some pictures,” Juanita said, stepping forward. She didn’t want Orion to take the brunt of the captain’s irritation. “I’ve never been to an alien planet.”

“How are you finding it so far?”

“Muddy. The green sky is neat.”

“Green skies are fairly common on habitable planets. All right, Miss Juanita, was it?”

“Uhm, yes, sir.”

She was surprised he remembered her name, especially when all he could be going on in the dark was the sound of her voice. At least he sounded far less irritated when talking to her than he had when talking to Orion. That made her glad that she had stepped forward.

“There’s going to be more fighting before the night is through. Your family back home would appreciate it if you kept your back to a tree and didn’t attract attention.”

“Yes, sir.”

Juanita had never been in the military or sirred anyone, but it felt right with him. Besides, she didn’t want to get on the bad side of the person commanding the only ship out here that wanted to take her home rather than sell her to aliens. Sort of, anyway. Sagitta had been planning to first return to their headquarters when all this started. Could she truly count on him to get her home? She believed Orion would get her home—he was the only one who had promised to do so. But the idea of Orion dropping her off and then her never seeing him again was distressing. How many Earth boys were there who wanted to hold her muddy hand on an alien planet full of slavers and giant, man-eating birds?

“Want me to take her back to the ship, Captain?” Treyjon asked.

Orion tensed beside her. She was fairly certain she caught a growl emanating from his throat.

“The ship is busy being bait right now,” Sagitta said.

“Do the people inside know that?” Juanita asked.

“The ones in charge do. The women staying in the rec room shouldn’t be disturbed at all. Those who wander off and fall out of the ship, however, may have a different experience.”

Juanita snorted, for the first time suspecting the captain of having a sense of humor buried down deep.

“How pathetic would it be to fly all the way to a different solar system and see nothing more than the rec room inside a spaceship?” she asked. “There’s not even a porthole in there.”

“Maybe when all this is over, we can arrange an escort for a short field trip,” Sagitta said. “Not that this is that nice of a planet to visit. The fish in that lake will take humans under if they get too close to the shore.”

Juanita lifted her chin. “I’ll shoot them if they dare.”

“She did take down a big bird that was trying to eat your brother, sir,” someone said. Onyx, she thought.

“And one of the slavers,” one of the other Star Guardians blurted.

She blushed. They didn’t sound like they were teasing her. They actually sounded like they thought she’d done something useful. She had been lucky and nothing more. She’d better stop shooting at things while she was ahead.

“Did she,” Sagitta mused. “Huh.”

Orion patted her on the back.

“Treyjon, Lieutenant Coric, and Bexxer, to me,” Sagitta said. “I need scouts. You three find out who’s out here in the woods with us while Matthok and I climb the hill and check on the ship. The rest of you, stay put and rest if you can. I expect there’ll be fighting before morning.”

A “Yes, sir” chorus sounded.

“Rest?” Juanita wondered, speaking softly, since she didn’t want to bother the captain again. He was walking off with the men he’d called over. “I just woke up a couple of hours ago.”

“Ship’s time and planet times rarely line up,” someone said.

“You can come over here and sit by me,” another man said. “I’m sure we can find something to do.”

Orion growled again, not so softly this time.

Juanita stepped closer to him, a bit uneasy as she realized Treyjon had gone off with the captain, meaning she didn’t know any of the men around her except Orion.

Since the Star Guardians were supposed to be noble, from what she’d gathered from Orion, she hoped she didn’t have anything to fear from them. Nonetheless, she was glad he was here. She wouldn’t have felt comfortable alone in the woods with all these big men. Having a weapon made her feel slightly less vulnerable, but not much. She imagined those big, muscular, trained fighters could disarm her easily and that she wouldn’t be able to get away from them if they tried to capture her.

She shivered a little as a chill breeze swept in from the lake.

“Are you cold?” Orion murmured.

“A little,” she said, though the breeze hadn’t been the reason for her shiver.

He drew her a few steps away, toward a thick tree that rose up at the edge of a flat moss- and leaf-covered area, a big sinkhole, perhaps. It had grown fully dark, but a moon seemed to be coming up behind the trees, so she could make out his outline. The other men were indistinguishable from the shadows.

Orion leaned his back against the tree, moved his bolt bow to the side, and pulled her against him, her chest to his. He grunted and shifted to the side to avoid a huge knot sticking out at head height, then he wrapped his arms around her, one high and one low, as if he could turn himself into a blanket to cover her fully.

She smiled and leaned contentedly against his chest. The heat of his hard body blazed through his vest, and she had no need for a blanket. She slid her fingers over the bare muscles of his arms, pretending her hands were cold and that she needed to warm them up. In truth, she barely noticed the cold, especially now.

Memories of their kiss from the day before came to mind, heating her even more than the closeness of his warm body. She was tempted to tilt her head back to see if he would kiss her again. But it had grown very quiet, the sounds of those other spaceship engines disappearing—or more likely nearby and turned off. She could hear the murmured conversations of the Star Guardians only a few meters away, and the occasional crunching of a twig. If she and Orion started kissing, the men would hear it. And the captain would come back and hear about it. And then he might once again berate Orion. As if she didn’t want to be right here. In his arms.

“Tell me more about that comic book you were reading,” Juanita murmured. “Or graphic novel, if you prefer that term.”

He chuckled. “Are you really interested? I haven’t met many women who wanted to read about Herakles battling evil aliens.”

“You haven’t? You’re either looking for them in the wrong place, or the galaxy is incredibly lame. We still have Herakles, you know. Not so much in comic books, though I’m sure you could find some if you hunted around. We’ve got Spiderman, Batman, and Superman these days. Some women, too, but they usually wear bikini armor or cat suits or something stupid. You can tell guys draw them. My roommate and I made serious comics, but then we also did some where we put the men in our versions of scanty superhero costumes where you could totally see all their muscles and their packages.”

“Packages?”

“Did that not translate?” Juanita asked.

“Not… exactly. Herakles wears full combat armor. So do the female characters. You just can’t go into a battle with bolt bows in a bikini or loincloth, or something will get sizzled off.”

Loincloth? Hah, she’d known he knew what packages were about.

“That’s funny to imagine Herakles in modern armor, because our pictures from Greek mythology… well, it seemed your ancestors were actually quite fine with packages on display. But Herakles is great. We had a TV show about him. In your time, is he still doing his twelve labors?”

“In the early volumes, he does, but they’ve been adapted from the original stories. They all take place on different planets, and he travels through space in his flying chariot.”

“Awesome. Do you want to read one of our comics one day? I actually have them on my phone in digital format, though it’s awful reading them on such a small screen, but you could get an idea. Oh, but I guess the translator only works on verbal stuff, doesn’t it?”

He didn’t answer right away, and Juanita blushed. Maybe it was too early to try to foist her stories off on him. She’d learned early in her writing career not to share things with her parents or cousins. They thought her science fiction stories were weird and a waste of time.

“I bet the engineer, Hierax, could figure out a way to scan them and translate them,” Orion said. “I would enjoy seeing stories that you created. But maybe not the ones where the heroes have prominently displayed packages.” He stroked his hand through her hair.

“Wow, so prudish. You’re not at all what I expected from a descendant of the Ancient Greeks.”

“I’m not that prudish, I assure you.” Orion slipped his fingers through her hair to rub her scalp. “Now I want to share some of the Herakles story with you. It’s one of my favorites. Not here, since Sage would get grumpy if my logostec lit up the night, but maybe back on the ship. I could read aloud to you after…”

“After?”

“After we discussed packages.”

“Discussed them or explored them?”

“Both of those things, yes.” He kissed the top of her head.

Juanita melted against him, pressing her face to the front of his shoulder and feeling the contours of his body under the vest. The material was like leather, but softer, maybe more akin to suede, despite its sheen. She rubbed her face against it, against him, and inhaled deeply. After the trek and the fight, he smelled of sweat and earth and the woods, and she shouldn’t have found that appealing, but there was a warm indecipherable scent beneath it all, bringing it together, making it distinctly him. Appealingly him.

She ran her hands up his arms to his shoulders, feeling brazen in the dark, knowing the others couldn’t see. Only he would know what she did.

At first, he merely held her, but then his own arms shifted, hands moving across her back, rubbing her through the thin fabric of her blouse. Part massage, part exploration, his hands soothed her stiff muscles as they traveled up and down her back. She could feel the heat of his skin, the strength of his grip, and each kneading stroke lit her nerves on fire. An ache started to form deep inside of her, along with the need to have that ache sated.

This close, there were few secrets, and she grew aware of his penis pressing against her through their clothing. Again, that brazenness filled her, and she had the urge to rise up on her tiptoes so she could rub against him, to press her hot, aching parts against his. He sucked in a breath at the barest movement, and she smiled, delighted that someone like him wanted her. No, not someone. Him. Nobody else. Just him.

She shifted a hand to the back of his neck, brushing her fingers past the hair that had escaped his knot to grip him there. She brought her lips to the side of his throat and slipped her tongue out to taste him. He was warm and salty, and she instantly craved more. She nuzzled his throat, feeling the muscles and tendons beneath his skin.

He groaned softly and combed his hand through her hair, tugging some of it free of its ponytail and leaning in to smell it. To smell her. She couldn’t imagine she was anything but dirty and gross right now, but maybe against all logic, he found something alluring about her scent, the same way she did about his.

One of his hands shifted, moving down her back to cup her ass. He squeezed, pulling her up and more tightly against him, and this time, she gasped as his hard erection pressed not against her stomach but against her sensitive core.

He lowered his head, his goatee scraping her cheek and sending delightful shivers through her and down to that need growing within her.

“This is not the time,” he whispered, his mouth right beside her ear, his warm breath creating more shivers inside of her. “Not the place.”

But he didn’t let her go. He nipped at her earlobe, and a charge of electricity zipped through her. She knew she should be quiet, but she couldn’t hold back a gasp of pure pleasure.

His other hand slid down, so he could fully cup her ass. Her toes barely touched the ground now. She gripped him by the back of the neck and one shoulder and started to rock into him. He ground right back, and she could hear the hitch in his breath, the desire. He must want to turn around, to jam her back against the tree, tear her pants off and thrust into—

He froze. Leaves crunched behind Juanita.

Her heart hammered against her rib cage—and his. Was it the captain?

“You want some company?” a husky voice asked from a few feet away.

Juanita’s heart went right on hammering as she tried to figure out what that meant. She didn’t even recognize the voice.

“No,” Orion snarled, his voice hard, dangerous. Possessive.

It sent a weird, excited shiver through her. She didn’t quite know what the other man was implying, but she felt safe from him. Orion had his arms around her. She was his.

Leaves crunched again, the man coming closer. “You sure?”

“What do you think you’re going to do in your armor?”

“I can take parts off.”

Juanita could hear the man breathing behind her, breathing hard. Had he heard her and Orion and gotten excited? She had no idea how to feel about that. She wasn’t the kind of person that people spied on through peepholes and used in their fantasies.

“Back off now,” Orion said, “or I’ll knock you on your ass.”

“Shit, brother, why’re you doing that so close to everyone else then?” The man sounded hurt and disappointed rather than belligerent. Like he’d truly believed they would say yes and invite him into some threesome? Did these people do things like that often?

Orion didn’t answer the man, instead locking his wrists behind Juanita’s back, creating a protective embrace for her. But he didn’t go back to rubbing her, and she moaned softly with disappointment.

Whoever the man was, she heard the crunch of leaves announcing his departure. She wanted Orion to grab her ass and pull her against him again. They would rock and grind together, or even better, they could take off their clothing and truly lock their bodies together. He could thrust her against the tree, grab her hips, and dive into her as she gripped him, fingers digging into his taut flesh, crying out at the pleasure of having him fill her again and again.

Orion chuckled and rested his face against her head. “Definitely not the time and place,” he murmured, but his voice was husky, and she sensed the longing in it, his need as great as her own. He was tense under his clothing, as if he had to consciously lock down his muscles to keep from doing the very things she had been imagining.

She wondered if there was anything she could say to convince him that there was nothing wrong with this time and place. But even as she had the thought, she realized how ridiculous it was. There were probably more of those slavers out here, maybe sneaking up on their group right now.

“When will be the right time and place?” she asked softly, tilting her head back to gaze up at him, even though it was dark.

“When you’re… not anybody’s prisoner or unwilling guest.”

“I’m not an unwilling guest now.”

“And when we have a bed,” Orion said.

“A bed? Is that truly necessary? I was getting excited about this tree.”

“Just the tree? Was I involved?”

“A little bit.”

“Huh.”

She grinned, rose up on her tiptoes, and kissed him. Knowing how close they had been to tearing each other’s clothes off, she kept it gentle and sweet. When he returned it, she also sensed his restraint. She also sensed a sweetness to the kiss. A gentleness. Almost as if he was letting her know that he appreciated her and that he would be happy to be with her whether they were able to have sex or not.

Maybe all that was her imagination, but the kiss filled her with longing rather than lust. A desire to do things with him in the future, to see the galaxy and walk across strange planets and distant space stations, hand in hand with him. Would he want to do those things with her? To be with her for more than the few days it would take for her to make it home?

Home. A place she was expected to return to. A place where her parents were, where her novels were on submission, where she volunteered at the animal shelter. Where her life was.

But was it that interesting of a life? She’d hate to disappear forever without letting her friends and parents know that she was safe and she would be back, but was there any chance she could be allowed to stay out here? To see the galaxy? To walk it beside the surprisingly gentle man kissing her in a manner that made her think he’d like to go on doing it for a long time?

“Get ready,” a voice said in the distance. Was that the captain?

Orion broke the kiss and let his arms drop, though Juanita could sense that he didn’t want to let her go. She didn’t want him to let her go, either.

“We’ve got company on the ground with us that we need to take care of,” Sagitta said. “They’re getting ready to advance on the ship. We might not take them completely by surprise since they’ll be missing their men by now, but we’ll do our best to attack on two fronts and trust Zakota and Hierax to do their parts.”

Orion shifted away from the tree, and Juanita stepped back. He put his hand on her back and rubbed it gently, seeming to promise that they would be fine, that they would survive the battle.

“Where are our two fleshies?” Sagitta asked.

“Over there, humping against that tree,” one man said.

Heat scorched Juanita’s cheeks. Why did she end up blushing and being embarrassed so much around these men?

Sagitta made a disgusted—or maybe disappointed noise.

“We’re right here,” Orion said before his brother could call for him.

He shifted away from Juanita, and when Sagitta looked over, a couple of feet stood between them. Now, she was glad they were fully clothed and hadn’t given in to their base urges. Especially hers. She just hoped that combat armor didn’t come with night vision, or Sagitta, whose faceplate was pointed right at her now, would notice that her blouse was untucked, and her hair had fallen free of its ponytail.

“As much as it pains me to say this,” Sagitta said coolly, “I want you two to stay back here in the woods and well away from the ship. A battle is about to break out, and without armor, you’ll be at great risk.” His faceplate shifted toward Orion. “Mom would strangle me if I got you killed.”

“The real threats are Aunts Kalliope and Khloe. They have those pointy hiking sticks they wield like other old ladies wield knitting needles.”

“If you call them old to their faces, you’ll deserve to get pronged.”

“I usually do.”

Sagitta turned to his men and started barking orders. In seconds, the area was cleared, leaving Orion and Juanita alone. In silence, save for the garbled cries of something that might have been this world’s version of an owl. Juanita listened for the rumbles of engines, but no longer heard them. Had those three ships landed? Were they all full of slavers looking to take her and the others back? Would Sagitta and his men be enough to battle crews from that many ships? How had all these enemies come to know where the Star Guardian ship was, anyway?

Orion found her in the dark and clasped her hand again.

“We’re going to be good out here, right?” she asked, though memories of rubbing and kissing leaped back into her mind at the warmth of his touch.

“I would feel foolish if I died in the woods with my pants around my ankles.”

“Back in Ancient Greece on my world, men wore togas. Or was that the Romans? I know the Greeks wore something that didn’t involve pants.”

Orion chuckled. “Yes, the chiton. That’s mentioned in our historical documents, and there are ceremonial rituals where one is still worn. I believe Dethocoles is colder than where we originally came from. Socks, boots, and long pants have been the preferred garb for quite a while, as well as fur coats and hats. Too bad. It would be amusing to see the great Captain Sagitta run into battle in sandals with a chiton flapping around his knees.”

“His enemies would be tempted to shoot at his bare ankles.”

“Indeed. Let’s head up to that hill where they were looking down on things earlier. I’m not sure I’ll be able to do anything to help, or if they’ll even need my help, but I want to keep an eye on the battle.”

“I’m with you.”

He rubbed his thumb across the back of her hand. “I’m glad.”

As they maneuvered their way across the dark mossy ground, Juanita thought about sharing her earlier thoughts, of broaching the idea of staying, at least for a time. Would that be possible? And if it was possible, would he be amenable to that? Or did he simply want to have a few days with her and then continue on about his life? He’d promised to make sure she got home. If she mentioned staying, would that freak him out? It occurred to her that she had no idea if he had someone else out there, a wife or a girlfriend, in another part of the galaxy. Also, what would she do for a living if she didn’t return home? She couldn’t mooch off him. And she barely had skills enough to make money at home, much less in some galactic economy.

Maybe it was premature to be contemplating anything but surviving the night and rejoining the others.