Page 22 of Guardian's Destiny

"You think the comm distorted theirevilness?" I could hardly believe we were talking aboutaurasandevilnessin the middle of the night. Having contact with aliens I thought would have been all about tech, not some spiritual shit.

"We're sure of it. It was the same for the others."

I still wasn't convinced. "Didn't Tharaax say other Space Guardians are guarding the Ohrurs? They are meeting them in person, so why don't they see it?"

"We've asked ourselves the same questions, trust me. But we haven't figured it out yet, other than that all those Space Guardians still seem to be in training. Maybe they haven't developed that sense yet?"

"Maybe," I allowed. "When did you start having it?"

He blinked a few times. Then cradled his head as if it was hurting.

VRAAX

Of all thethings I hated about the Ohrurs, I hated these damn headaches the most. They were a distraction. Every time I tried to remember something from my past, they would start, like millions of little picks hammering against my skull from the inside.

"What's wrong?" Sloane asked.

"Headache," I pushed out, taking a deep breath. "They always come when we try to remember."

"We?" Sloane prodded.

I nodded as the headache slowly retreated because we were changing the subject. "All of us Guardians." I clarified.

"Interesting," she mumbled. "You wake up with them, too?"

"Whenever I dream of Darlam," I admitted.

"We might be able to work on that."

That female was just full of surprises.

"How?"

"Let me figure that out. First, tell me about your training. What kind did you have?"

That one was easy, or should have been easy. The problem was the memories didn'tfeelright. "We all have memories of bunking together, training on computers, ships, weapons andthings like that," I said carefully, feeling my way into my mind hoping to keep the headaches at bay, but one was already tugging on a nerve ending inside my brain, warning me not to dive in too deep.

"You don't sound convinced," she picked up on my reluctance.

"Not really. They're fuzzy and… indistinct. Like, I can't remember any of their names or faces. But I must have learned it somehow, right?" It was actually kind of nice talking to her about this. I had held back when the others shared their dreams or memories, mostly because I hadn't been convinced then that the Ohrurs truly were this evil force they were making them out to be. That, at least, had changed.

"You think they implanted wrong memories into your brain?" She suggested.

I scooted a little closer to her, liking how smart and perceptive she was and, yes, I admit, testing the waters. When I tried to comfort her earlier, and she pulled her hand away, it had stung.

"We've considered that possibility, yes," I admitted, remembering one of the many conversations with the others I had mainly listened to without much input.

She didn't scoot away from me, but, by the nebulas, she was as tight as a drawstring, making me wonder if this female ever allowed herself to let her guard down. One of the things I had liked about being a Space Guardian was the solitude, being alone on my ship, knowing nobody could get to me. Not like when I was planetside or on a space station, where danger lurked around every corner. I wondered if she had ever felt this way. I knew she had been a soldier before she came to us and worked in the intelligence community, which was probably not that different from all the other intelligence agencies across the universe. I had already noticed that she liked structure, the waymost military professionals did. She also liked to be in charge, I chuckled. That hadn't escaped my attention, either. I wondered what title she had worn, nothing under Commander, I was sure of it.

Still, in her line of work, she must have led a fairly solitary life too, just in a different way, surrounded by others, never being able to trust anybody. Her words about her boss came back to me. Yeah, that had to have been a pretty hard blow, just like it had been for me when my eyes slowly opened to the Ohrurs' betrayals.

The dim lights softened her features; by the seven suns, she was a beautiful female. The urge to touch her, hold her, arose inside me, just as my cock hardened at her nearness. My hands itched to bury themselves into her red hair, dishevel it, just the way when I had seen her for the first time, before she started putting it into a tight knot at the back of her head. It wasn't in a knot right now; she had twisted it into a braid that reached past her shoulder blades. Two of my fingers twitched, drawn by the urge to give it a tug, to make her head bend backwards, to press my lips to hers…

"So, what did you dream about?" She changed the topic and brought me back right before I would have actually tugged on her braid.

"It's always the same; I'm running through a forest, and something is behind me, above me… I need to get somewhere, protect…" I stopped as a pain shot through my head that felt as if someone was driving a spike through my brain cells. "Frygg." I cradled my head.

"We should try to get some sleep," she suggested, sending a meaningful glance toward the padded chair.

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