Page 20 of Guardian's Destiny

She shook her head. "No, let's go. The sooner we leave, the sooner I'll get to Astrionis."

"What's so important there anyway?"

"You wouldn't understand if I tried to explain it."

"Try me," I challenged, somewhat hurt that she thought me not intelligent enough to understand whatever was going on in her little human head.

SLOANE

I would have lovedto at least say goodbye to Nova. The Tuck thing was still bothering me, but given a choice, I voted to leave. Tuck had always been close-mouthed, especially about his family, and it had bugged the hell out of me. Still did.

The sooner we left on Vraax's ship, the sooner we would get his mission accomplished, and I could be on my way to Astrionis. His ship wasn't quite as nice as Luph's, but it gave us everything we needed. I had no intentions of abandoning Vraax or the others on their mission. My curiosity was awakened, and I couldn't simply give up, mainly because I couldn't overlook the similarities between their mission and mine. I was sure Emperor Daryus would agree that it was worth investigating, which at the same time should give him the answers he had been waiting for. This wasn't just some secret agent shit, this was a lot more meaningful. This could answer all the questions about life, death, and the universe.

Unfortunately, this also meant my curiosity about Nova would have to wait until we saw each other again.

First, I had to find out what Vraax knew about the Arkhevari and if I could trust him; then, maybe, I would fill him in onmy mission. If everything failed, I would take him prisoner and force him to take me to Astrionis.

I liked that plan. I could live with it.

In the meantime, we had to deal with the Soulweb Glyphs, who had once again decided that we couldn't be more than twenty feet apart and forced us to sleep in the same room.

Vraax's bed was comfortable enough for me to stretch out, hug my pillow, close my eyes, and ignore his groans as he adjusted himself on the large beanbag chair in the corner by the window. His antics didn't faze me; I knew from experience that those beanbags were the height of comfort. They adjusted to any person sitting or lying in them perfectly and even changed the temperature to what they sensed would be the coziest way to sleep. He might have been larger than me, but the bags were also plenty big enough to give him room. I wasn't about to share this bed with a stranger. I was trained to take out pretty much any threat, but I wasn't so sure I could take the Space Guardian down, definitely not easily.

I ignored the groans coming from him and closed my eyes to allow my nightly ghosts to come visit me. They would hunt me for a while and eventually allow me to go to sleep. A sleep filled with nightmares, but that couldn't be helped either. The only question was which ghosts I would meet tonight.

Turned out it was Ash.

No one was more surprised than me when one day she showed up unannounced at one of the last surviving military compounds on Earth, in San Antonio, Texas.

I smiled into my pillow at the memory of us getting shitfaced drunk and talking about our experiences. I continued to fully ignore Vraax, who huffed out loud, pounding at his chair, probably with his fist.

This nightly ritual was a way to decompress and deal with the past. I was grateful tonight that it was Ash keeping my mind company instead of some of the nastier memories.

The big man on the beanbag chair must have finally fallen asleep since he stopped huffing and puffing. I took a deep breath, wishing I could follow his example. But I was used to needing an hour or two just to lie here and allow these memories to roll over me until my mind was finally too tired to keep up any longer. It was a nightly battle, and I had long ago learned that it was easier to just lay there and take it for as long as it took before I fell asleep than to fight it by watching TV, scrolling through a comm, playing games, or whatever. A stiff drink helped now and then, but I had been too close to turning into a full-blown alcoholic to give in to that particular demon.

I was surprised when my thoughts turned tohim. I had no idea what it was that turned me on about him. Well, I had some idea, because that body of his? That was exactly the type I preferred. Hard, in shape, and huge. It was his cocky attitude that turned me off. I had seen it too many times, and yes, his type was fun in bed, but as soon as they figured out that I wasn't the clingy type, that I was actually exactly the type they should prefer, who not only let them go but wanted them gone, things changed. Suddenly, they wantedmore. Some people might have called itkarma; I just called it a nightmare and tried to stay away from it as much as possible. When the need arose, I made damn sure that several hundred miles would soon separate us, to stop any kind of nonsense that might develop into another long drawn outtalk.

As regretful as it was, the big silver alien hunk was off limits. The Soulweb Glyphs were already bad enough. He didn't need any other ideas put into his head thatwemight become some permanent thing. As soon as this was over, I would find a way to get rid of those tattoos, even if I had to have them cut out.I didn't gave a damn. I didn't need that kind of complication in my life. A husband had never been even a vague figure in my future plans. Hell, I never even had a long-term boyfriend. Some of it was because of my job. It wasn't unusual for me to have to leave at a moment's notice to parts unknown. Even when I knew where I was shipped to, I was hardly ever at liberty to share that information with anybody. This wouldn't have been fair for any kind of relationship. There wasn't any type of man who would put up with that kind of shit. Most women didn't. I watched relationships grow and break too often ever to want any part of that emotional mess.

The other part of it was the type of men I liked. I like the alpha assholes. A lot. And they sure as shit would have never allowed me to pursue my career. They were like my father in a lot of ways. They might have let me have a career as a doctor, a teacher, or in retail, but nothing that would have put my life in danger.

I probably could have put up with a man like Xandrox; he never tried to reign Ash in. Unfortunately, he was taken, and I was pretty sure he was a once-in-a-universe type of man.

The last thought on my mind before I dozed off was that maybe Zapharos would know how to get rid of the mating marks. Then, finally, I felt sleep pulling me slowly under. My body became heavy, and I even felt a few slight jerks as my muscles relaxed. I was almost out when…

"Frygg!" Vraax yelled, jumping with astonishing ease out of the chair and kicking it across the room.

"What?" I sat up with a start, irritated that I had just wasted two hours or so trying to fall asleep and now would have to start all over again.

Vraax rubbed his face with his hands and began pacing the room.

"What?" I repeated. I was awake, so I might as well find out why.

"Nothing, go back to sleep."

It's not that easy, buster.

"Bad dream?" I guessed.

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