Chapter Four

Outer Reaches. Geonate New Time, Year 2402
Mission: Day 8
Venture Stranded: 3 hours

Piotr watched the stiff-backed captain walk to the portal of the cabin and wanted to ruffle her feathers. At first sight, he’d recognized her as leader of this ship. Proof had come soon after when, unlike him, she’d shoved aside the first brush of attraction and squelched her ardor. Piotr still wrestled with his, a losing battle at best. He couldn’t bed a human—disaster would follow. And he needed to find out why he’d tracked the enemy here, to her ship.

Though her short black hair, blue eyes, and lean, athletic frame beckoned to him, a kernel of doubt worried in the back of his mind, even as he tried to keep his eyes off her toned curves. This ship of humans had been thrust into a conflict between his race and another. Add to that, this woman’s face tugged at him—a nebulous memory that tried to surface, if he could reason past the low simmering passion she inspired. Her body shouldn’t create such a reaction in him. Not a human.

The captain’s backside lured him to follow, while behind him, the whisper of movement assured him his phoenix team stayed close. Glancing over his shoulder, he tried to view his friends as a human might. Their graceful necks arced and their tails swirled behind them with elegance, creating a river of soft flowing colors to extend behind. The combined radiance of their feathers lit the cabin, creating sparks of light where they touched. In the tight fit, the conflagration from continuous contact dazzled even him, used to the display.

Proud to be the leader of this phoenix unit, he smiled at the beauty of his kind. Then, he turned to keep up with the captain, and his smile froze. Her scent teased him. He inhaled deeply but couldn’t quite pin down what made her different than the others of her crew.

Even over the faint odor of grease, her essence held onto his senses while he studied her from top to tempting bottom. Long and willowy, though not as beautiful as many of his kind, the captain owned a freshness that gripped him. While her breasts were not fleshy or large, his hands fisted with the urge to test their weight. Her slim hips begged to be gripped, and it took all of his will to keep at a distance. Only one non-phoenix female had ever touched his tightly held emotions. And she was far from here, safe.

The captain’s firm derriere, outlined to perfection by her uniform, peeked from underneath her tunic, and his hands clenched tighter. He averted his gaze and determined to keep his eyes pointed above her head and to stop acting like an untrained boy.

She paused at a portal and spread her hand on a panel next to it. The door slid open. He stood next to her, oblivious to everything but the temptation of her scent which heightened when he stopped close enough to touch. An essence similar to his home planet’s wide oceans washed over him before a wave of homesickness for Sirin threatened him. The pang nearly stopped his beating heart before he pushed it aside. Better to focus on lust than give into the yearning for a home that no longer existed.

With a firm grip on his scrambling senses, he followed her into the cabin and motioned for the rest of his patrol to follow.

Team, wait a bit longer to leave your energy form. We don't want to overwhelm Captain Voron. I'll attain clothes for everyone, he ordered through their mindspeak.

Are you sure you just don't want her to see my manly attributes? Gregory laughed. You do seem to be quite taken with her. After Piotr's harsh look, Gregory continued. Maybe the little blond from the bridge would like to see my perfect form.

All seven phoenixes chortled. When Anna turned to stare, Piotr explained. “We are able to communicate telepathically. You heard laughter.”

“It’s lovely, like music.” Her low tone struck another dangling thread of a scattered memory. He recognized her voice, but even more, he wanted to seduce and claim that voice as his.

“Perhaps later I can introduce you to the seductive song of the firebird,” he purred, unable to stop the instinct to trill for her.

What was he doing, coming on so strong to a human?

Heat crept into her cheeks. He wanted to kick himself. While on duty, he should not be ogling a female, especially this particular human who, more and more, reminded him of the girl he’d saved once.

A girl who haunted his dreams.

Never distracted from his mission before, he certainly wouldn’t start now. “We've been in phoenix form for three days and need to change soon to avoid overexposure to ambient energies. We’ll need those clothes so we don’t cause you or your crew discomfort.”

“Of course,” Anna responded. Confusion flooded her face before she blinked slowly, as if she’d come to some decision. The flush to her cheeks faded instantly, and she straightened her uniform. She appeared to shrug off their fledgling attraction and transformed back into the commanding officer. While he should have been relieved, he wasn’t.

At that moment, a ship’s officer came in dragging a chest behind her. “This is what I found.” She waved at hand at her chest, and said to his team, still in their energy-forms, “I’m Len.”

Len turned to stare at Piotr. Her blatant, inviting look fell down his chest to his groin, but he didn’t respond to the obvious invitation. Never before had he risen to the occasion for a human, until this intriguing Captain.

Though Captain Voron had shut off her own response to him, at her officer’s reaction, she stepped in the path of the woman’s vision. Piotr resisted the urge to smile.

Anna moved back and bumped into him. Tension shot through her body and the aroma of fear clouded him before she lurched away. He stepped back, eager to put her at ease. Her shoulders hunched, but he didn’t touch her as he wanted. Before the awkwardness could transmit to the others in the room, she’d fully recovered.

“Thank you, Len. Please stay to help me get our visitors settled,” the captain said.

“Yes, ma'am.”

Already Piotr had given more thought to desire than he had in half a century. To regain his bearings, he bent to the large container Len had dropped at his feet. The trunk held many sizes of uniforms, all of the same style. After he had sorted through several, he picked one, and started to dress.

*

Anna couldn’t help but stare.

Piotr’s uniform was too small. Several inches too short, the slacks were tight across his hard thighs and displayed the cut of his muscles under the cloth. The tunic remained unbuttoned, showing his tantalizing bronzed skin, at odds with a space dweller’s usual pallor. The red markings of his chest tracked all the way down to his navel. From there, a trail of hair led past his unfastened waistband.

The other phoenix flashed into human form and began to dress. To the last, they were all beautiful and athletic and large—all over six feet tall, even the women. The uniforms were too small, exposing much of their toned, flawless skin.

The visitors had the same tree-like impressions on their chests. Their skin varied from a subtle, almost gold tone to light brown.  They fell into two categories—the first were like Piotr, with bright crimson markings and red eyes. The others had dark brown branches and more subdued eye colors: brown or blue, outlined in red. The four with the less fiery coloring paired up, and she assumed they were couples by the way they touched each other.

Piotr began the introductions, “These are mated pairs Sasha, Catherine. And Alex, Tatyana.” He pointed to the remaining three, “And this is Gregory, Ivan, and Nadia.”

“Welcome aboard.”

“Thank you,” he said. When Piotr smiled at Anna, her heart thumped against her ribcage, hard. He looked at her from head to toe before he continued. “We were patrolling from our ship, the Firewalker, investigating an unusual energy trail when we saw your ship in distress. There were no indications that this star was nearing implosion at last check. This is an unusual development. Why are you here, so close to a star ready to collapse?”

“We’re here to meet with a ship on behalf of the Geonate. We were investigating vids with proof of your existence, actually, though he claimed you are energy vampires. Convenient that you should be here at the coordinates for our meeting.”

“Energy vampires?” He laughed. “We are no vampires. I don’t know of the other ship, but we’re here to help you.”

“Still, the coincidence is lucky for us,” Anna responded.

Despite her doubt, Anna found herself fascinated with the idea of a race of beings that could change shapes and fly in space. Feeling as eager as a girl listening to a fairy tale, she urged him to continue. “Why were you tracking the signature?”

Piotr’s face hardened. “We track unusual activity to protect our outlying system for energy theft. By a renegade named Koschei. He is not a vampire in the terms of tales to scare children but he reaps energy that is not his.”

Anna straightened. “What about this Koschei?”

“For centuries we have been at war with the followers of Koschei. They siphon energy to power their shifting, but greed drives them to take more than they need, draining naturally-occurring resources. Unlike us, they become drunk on excess energy. We were concerned that the activity at this star meant they were behind the spikes.”

“Okay, you need the energy, so you’re attracted to solar activity, and you watch your enemies to be sure they are not robbing all of the energy?” Anna watched Piotr intently, anxious to learn more of the phoenix.

“Yes, we both need energy, but they have become decadent. It’s a waste and abomination. They also collect extra energy to give Koschei longer life. He is their dictator, king, and god. These readings point to some of his minions in the area. Koschei's forces are dangerous.”

Forehead furrowed and eyes glowing brighter red, he grew impassioned as he continued. “They will stop at nothing to net the power of an imploding star. They have destroyed ships of phoenix, as well as altered systems enough to endanger entire planets. We have not seen them here, yet. But, they cannot be far. A supernova is a great temptation, and we have tracked them to this quadrant.”

She tamped down her unaccustomed attraction to him, willing herself to act as the captain of the ship, rather than a blushing girl.

“He is not to be trusted.” Piotr’s expression was earnest. “He has no use for humans, other than in his perverse schemes. We’ve only begun contact with Geonate, so I am aware that you may distrust what I say, but believe me, Koschei has ulterior motives. He will target your worlds.”

Anna sensed the truth in him. She could not help but see the frustration and anger in his visage. Yet, she’d be careful. She’d not seen Koschei’s ship, nor heard his side of the story. They knew nothing of either the phoenix standing before her or of Koschei.

Although she wanted to believe Piotr, she needed a logical reason to do so, at the very least, to convince her crew. Piotr's rich voice interrupted her musings.

“Is your ship incapacitated? We anticipate this star to begin its death throes soon.” Taut muscles at his neck and shoulders easing, he visibly released the tension from his body. Anna wished she could force herself to relax as quickly. She anticipated an hour in the gym to work off this stress.

All of the avian people watched her, waiting for her reply. Not for the first time, she was amazed at how well they’d learned the Geonate language, and she hesitated to give them tactical information on their status. But with her ship stranded, these people were their sole hope to beat the clock. Time was running out.

“Our Casimir engine malfunctioned during a solar flare. We're running systems from battery backup, but have lost propulsion. We also have solar sails that we could use for propulsion, but the flare short-circuited the rigging to extend the sails. We’re stuck until we can repair the engine or the sails.”

Despite the decision to ask for help, she implied their situation was less vulnerable by adding, “We should receive a reply to our distress signal soon.”

Refusing to feel guilty, she told herself it wasn’t a lie. She did hope to receive a reply to their distress signal, but she prevaricated. They were unable to send the signal long-range to reach another Geonate ship.

“Good. You will not be in danger from the star or Koschei.”

Anna felt compelled to add, “The nearest ship may not be here before the supernova. We could still use help to move out of range.”

“We would never leave until you were safe. It is our duty to protect. Our ship, the Firewalker, is only a week away at your propulsion speed and is scheduled to rendezvous with us at these coordinates.”

“And they can help.”

“They will help. I assure you.”

Anna tore her eyes away from wandering down Piotr’s chest, yet again, then realized she’d been standing in the middle of the room while the others dressed instead of inviting them to sit. As she turned she ran into one of his men, standing so close to her that she couldn’t help but collide. She stepped back, and looked up at him, dismissing the soft growl she heard from behind her as her imagination.

“Captain Voron, I am Gregory Volk of the Talon semja. I'd like to offer my services with your engine.”

The phoenix named Gregory gave her a hesitant smile. Darkly handsome and the tallest of the bunch, he towered over all at almost seven feet tall. He held an open-faced appeal, boyish in his enthusiasm.

Another of the men joined Gregory. “Greg here prides himself on the services he offers to ladies.” The man chuckled good-naturedly, betraying a friendly competition between them. He reached for her hand, but she backed away. Only a flicker across his face daunted his flirtation.

“My name is Ivan.” The young scalawag bowed his head.

Rising tension thickened in the air when Piotr stepped between Anna and the two men. His voice was gruff when he spoke. “Gregory is a gifted mechanic. I am positive that if it can be fixed, he can do it.”

“That would be appreciated.” Anna ignored the muscular men jockeying for position around her. “Gregory, this is First Officer Len Tarasova. She is our chief engineer. She can show you around and see if you can contribute to the repairs.”

“Let's go, Gregory, those repairs can't wait.” Len motioned him to follow, but stared at Anna, her look broadcasting her intent to watch the man closely.

Gregory fell into place behind Len and grinned at Ivan.

Ivan followed them to the portal. “Maybe I should go. I'm pretty handy with my services, too.”

Ivan raised his brows at Gregory, who shot him a scowl.

“Just get the job done, boys.” Piotr’s tone demanded obedience.

They both sobered, responding in chorus, “Yes, sir!”

Their seriousness lasted to the door, where they both tried to walk beside Len, elbowing each other out of the way.

“Boys.” One of the phoenix women laughed.

The woman had poured herself into a uniform that displayed more than covered her lush body. The dark-complexioned phoenix smiled, confident in her beauty, and approached Piotr. Anna’s brows rose when the female plastered her body against Piotr’s side, rubbing her hand up and down his arm.

She had no claim on him. Correction, she didn’t want a claim on him.

Piotr looked down at the curvy brunette and smiled absently. “Nadia.”

Men were men, whether aliens or not. Anna had not wanted a relationship in years—or in all honesty, ever. This not-so-subtle message from the other woman came with good timing. She’d get the help her crew needed, and she’d never see this man again.

Why did she ache at the thought?

*

Piotr didn’t need Nadia’s reminder—a breath of thought as she’d rubbed his arm—that sexual attraction to a human was a dark, dark road. Or perhaps he did.

After Gregory and Ivan left, and Nadia moved back to speak with the other phoenix, Piotr stepped closer to Anna, so close his thigh burned, though he did not touch her. The near contact sizzled and spread from his leg to his extremities. Her face reacted instantly, and a delightful blush spread up from her throat. He wished her tunic did not cover her so well, wanting the neck of the garment to plunge into her cleavage, where he could picture his tongue tasting her milky flesh. Small compared to phoenix women, her body carried a lithe grace. Eager to find out if there were even more intimate differences, he wanted to delve into her mysteries and find out.

His too-small pants grew more constricting, but his discomfort served to remind him of the irresponsibility of being with a human, not to mention one who held a certain familiarity. Those suspicions dissipated when she hugged herself around the waist, and her hand brushed tantalizingly close to his aching need.

Grinning, he asked her softly, “Do you cross your arms because you are cold?”

Without thought he reached for her hand, but she flinched.

“Don’t touch me.” The blush from moments before drained to leave her face stark and pale.

“I won’t touch you,” he said gently as if he spoke to a youth before his first shift. “But perhaps you would like to feel the heat of my markings and see for yourself how we can help your crew.” Touch me, please. He didn’t voice the plea, but leaned toward her slightly as if he couldn’t help but be near her. The corners of her mouth slanted down before she tentatively lifted her fingers toward his chest. His internal warnings to keep her distant sounded in his head, but his body responded to her nearness. “Go ahead.”

With the lightest touch, the tips of her fingers brushed over the glowing lines on his torso. With that mere feathering that lasted perhaps a second, his markings surged with electricity, undulating over the ridges of his muscles. His responses roared through him, but he kept from clutching her against him. He should be concerned that his body had reacted so forcefully, but he couldn’t seem to hold onto his apprehension while she stood so near.

She licked her lips, fanning his low sexual fire into an inferno, and his markings blazed like molten lava running underneath his skin.

“Why are the lines on your chest so hot?” She took a step back. Her eyes remained wary with a touch of fear. That fear kept him in check and prodded the deep recesses of his memory. He knew her.

“We are able to store energy there to empower our shifting.”

“Like a battery?”

He chuckled. “Yes, much like a battery, but I can feel it running through me, like a lifeline.”

“I felt it running, too.”

He wanted her to feel him all over. Definitely a mistake, encouraging her to touch him, even that small amount. He didn’t trust his self-control around her. Pointing to his companions, he added, “We all have them.”

“I see.” Anna blinked. Perhaps she’d needed the reminder as much as he that they weren’t alone. She pulled back another step and rubbed her arms. “Is there a way to block that power or block your shifting?”

“There are ways to do so. I do not have any of those kinds of limiters here.” He cocked his head and his brow creased. “They are uncomfortable for us.”

“Just needed to know. For security. In case there’s a problem.”

“There will be no problems.” He blinked and seemed to shrug off the unease her questions seemed to have caused him. “We’re here for the opposite, to push our abilities to their utmost. Now, you’ve felt the residual power that allows us to shift, but we can store more energy by pulling it from the star. We'll have enough to temporarily power your ship. If we take shifts, we can keep the engine running at a regular pace.”

“You can power the ship?” Anna shifted into command mode before he could blink away his mounting desire. “Our safety protocols come from the Geonate to protect workers from accidents in space—we always work in teams of four. I would like for your team to split into two teams of four, with everyone working with at least one partner. How soon can you start?”

He chuckled again, and she stiffened her posture even straighter. “Do you think you can start within the hour?”

“We can start after we organize our shifts, but not in teams of four. You may have noticed, but we do not need the same safety precautions as humans. In our energy state, we can maneuver in space without oxygen. I’ll handle my people, and you can handle yours.”

“I'm responsible for everyone on this ship, so your people are temporarily my people,” Anna returned.

“I have no doubt that you are a good captain, but the members of my unit are under my command. Not yours. Any requests you may have, bring them to me.”

She stared at him a moment with emotions flitting across her face, confusion and frustration the most apparent. Anger seemed to gain the upper hand when she replied through her clenched teeth, “They are still aboard my ship and will abide by my command.”

“As long as your directives do not interfere with my orders, then I agree.” He wanted to pull her forward and run his hands over her and use his mouth to stop the arguments coming from her lips. Two spots of color formed high on her cheeks, and her chest rose and fell rapidly. What would she look like if he kissed the grim line from her mouth?

The immediate and uncontrollable attraction between them continued to puzzle him. As had the ease with which she’d accepted them. She had to have seen their kind before or know of them. Again, a nagging thought preyed on him but he couldn’t make it surface.

Turning her back to him, she took a deep breath before she slipped her communicator from the front pocket of her tunic. “Andrews, could you report to the crew lounge?”

For a moment, Anna kept her back to Piotr, and he followed her stare through one of the few window portals on the ship. Located in the cone, the meeting room was shielded by solar panels which deflected powerful solar rays. Tucked under the edge of a panel, the window allowed a direct view into space. Ice formed on the underside of the ship’s ledge. In the distance, a gas cloud rose from BSG33. Anna shivered before she turned back to Piotr, the vulnerability on her face striking a chord within him.

He knew her. He’d been pushing aside the knowledge but he couldn’t any longer.

A flash of memory. A pale face with dark hair. A bruised body, prone on the floor.

Before he could ask her how she’d been, how she’d recovered, if she remembered him, she spoke first.

“The eight of you can stay here, in the meeting room. I'll have someone bring you bedding and whatever else you require. After we get your unit started in shifts, would you join me at dinner to tell me more about Koschei?”

Any thoughts of teaching her to respect his command scattered when he could not deny the excitement at the prospect of being alone with the captain. Although normally comfortable in his nudity, he didn’t understand his unruly reactions to the captain’s nearness. He gave in to a need to prod at her now-stony attitude.

“Thank you for your offer of bedding.” He chuckled when her eyebrows slanted down in anger. Her mouth formed that line again before it opened to, no doubt, scold him.

Interrupting her torrent over his outrageous suggestiveness, he turned to his remaining group and instructed the couples to begin taking shifts to pull power from the star to the engine room.

“Nadia, we can pair up later to give them some rest.”

Nadia nodded. Piotr continued his instructions after one of Anna’s crew entered the lounge.

“And, Nadia, please help this crew member get our supplies in order.”

Everyone hustled to follow orders, soon leaving Anna and Piotr alone. The room shrank. She’d put a little distance between them during their conversation, but he needed to be near her again. Perhaps she’d touch more than his chest. Perhaps she’d let him kiss her, a bad idea that he wanted so badly a strange hurt pulsed in his chest.

As the silence grew heavy between them, he moved closer, his hands itching to run through her hair.

“Do you feel this, between us?” Piotr's voice thickened with lust. Her eyes glistened at his question, and her breath caught. Once again, she turned her back on him. He couldn’t let her do that, but before he could reach for her and turn her to face him, he remembered her battered body on the floor of her prison. His hand fell to his side. “Look at me.”

She turned slowly. Clear blue eyes looked up at him, and dangerous urges gave him pause. She stared at him with blurred eyes and a puzzled expression, perhaps contemplating her own reactions.

Phoenix could not have relationships with humans. From infancy, his race was raised with that prohibition. Piotr had always assumed it was for secrecy. Geonate had been unaware of them, though in their energy forms, they’d kept watch over them. Now, he wondered if the prohibition served to save his people the pain of experiencing a fierce attraction to someone who could never be a life-mate.

He looked at Anna, hands fisted at her side, and wondered if she knew how much he wanted her, despite the reasons to avoid her. Even if she didn’t see his lust, could she see how he’d dreamed of her and thought of her for the past three years? Still, even in those dreams, he’d only worried over her, not lusted to touch as he did now.

With clouded blue eyes, she looked into him, through him. The hair on his arms stirred as if he’d touched a conduit. She finally replied to his question, posed to her what seemed like ages ago. Her voice was husky.

“Right. Well, after this is straightened out, you’ll return to your world, and I’ll continue in mine. There is nowhere for us to take this, so it would be best if you’d keep your distance.”

“Yes,” he whispered.

Tears threatened in her eyes, and he held his breath until she’d subdued them. Perversely proud of her control, Piotr reacted as if they were indeed lovers ending a commitment he’d had in his dreams for the past three years.

The sadness in her expression cleared, and she cleared her throat as if making a decision.

“I remember you,” she began.

His heart thundered so loudly, he almost didn’t hear Nadia and Hailey return to the lounge.

Anna jerked her head toward the two women before she fled the cabin and left him behind, locking his knees to keep from running after her.

They had to face the past. They had to face the forbidden attraction between them. Most importantly, they had to face the possibility that they’d been set up. Why else would he be here on this ship with the woman he’d rescued from a filthy hybrid? This captain had recovered from the battered girl to become the only human who’d ever gotten more than one glance from him and made him want to throw his eternal life away to spend a few moments in her arms.

He shivered at the pang that went through him. His duty would never allow him to touch her.