The Space Colonel's Woman (Dragonus Chronicles Book 1) (6 page)

“Found your radio.” Hayden grumbled, an undefinable emotion deepening his voice further.

Mark spared Hayden a sympathetic look before turning his attention back to Stephen. “So time’s running at the same rate here as back home?”

Julia flinched at the mention of
home
and looked up to see Anora watching her with understanding in her kaleidoscope eyes.

“So…ah…” Stephen glanced at Julia, his eyes skittering away just as quickly. “I can get us back.  Phoenix’s coordinates are stored in the glider’s console matrix.”

A tense and heavy silence descended around the island, too solid to be easily broken.  It seemed as if eons had passed before Hayden spoke. “We should go.  Light is fading.”

“Give us a minute.” Mark barked, each word a razor blade slashing his throat on its way out.

He got to his feet, helped Julia up and led her by the hand across the few meters to the other edge of the island.  They stood together, away from the others who were talking amongst themselves in an attempt to give the new lovers privacy.

“It’s my place, my time, I belong there.” He murmured; agony a bitter undertone that cut deep. “I have to go back.”

“I know.” Julia ducked her head into the crook of his neck to hide her eyes and whispered.  “But you belong with
me
, too.”

Mark tangled his fingers through her hair, lifting it off the back of her neck and nuzzling his face behind her ear; inhaling the scent of her skin. “Sure do.”

Julia ran her own hands up his back and crushed her body against his.

“Mmmm.”  Mark’s lips crashed down like he was starving and blocked any further thought; only to beg breathlessly when they came up for air. “Come with me?”

How stupid.  His leaving was not the only outcome for the situation.  If he couldn’t stay, then the obvious solution was for her to go with him.

“Yes!”

She clung to his biceps while her heart thudded with the same joy she saw flaring in her colonel’s eyes.  There was no hint of hesitation, no desire to change her mind.  She would be with him, and he would be with her.  It didn’t matter where they were, as long as they were together.

With ridiculous grins on their faces, Mark and Julia walked hand in hand back to the others.  When he told them she was coming with them, Hayden gripped Mark by the shoulders and shook him like a rag doll, before thumping him on the back.  Anora stepped in front of Julia, grasped the underside of both her forearms and squeezed tight, before placing a kiss on each of her cheeks. “I am exultant for your union.”

“Well…” Stephen pocketed his reading glasses and tugged his shades from his nape.

“Garrett, she’s coming.” Mark growled in a
not up for discussion
tone. “I can’t stay, and I’m not leaving her behind.”

Then looking back at Julia, he asked. “Where’s home?”

She wanted to say
wherever you are
, but she knew what he meant. “Five minutes that way.”

Mark blinked. “Head back to the glider, meet you there in twenty.”

Hayden acknowledged the order with a nod and Mark took the earpiece Anora held out to him before stooping for the backpack. 

Anora, Stephen, and Hayden headed for the cave when they reached the sand.  And Julia ran for the footpath with Mark hot on her heels.  Ten minutes to pack.  What would she take to start her new life?

Unlocking the house, Julia ran to the hall closet and dragged down her duffel, throwing it on her bed.  She packed a sketchpad and charcoal pencils, her black leather boots, sneakers and a pair of fancy heels.  Four pairs of jeans, her only evening dress, a short black flirty skirt, six tops, a swimsuit, her sweats, and the entire contents of her underwear drawer, all followed in quick succession.

“Sexy and practical, gotta love that.” Mark chuckled, watching her from the doorway.  “What can I get?”

“Camera bag, please.  Oh, and the battery charger.” She gestured to the second bedroom as she ducked across the hall and into the bathroom for her toiletries and hairbrush.

When he returned with her camera bag slung over his shoulder, she had sent a text to Andy at work and was tapping out a second one to Jase.  There were enough funds in her account to cover maintenance.  It wasn’t ideal, but there wasn’t time for more.  Her phone bleeped
Message Sent
and she tossed it into her duffel; zipping it closed before shrugging into her leather jacket and shouldering her backpack.

“All done.” The smile Julia offered was a touch wobbly around the edges and Mark stepped forward, cupping her face in his hands as he read the sheen in her wide eyes.

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely.” She tiptoed to peck him on the lips. “It’s just a little disconcerting.  We spend our lives collecting stuff, but when it comes down to it, all I really need is one duffel, a camera, and you.”

He kissed her hard and fast before reaching for her duffel and heading out the door.  She locked up after him and slipped the key in her hip pocket.

“Let’s go.” He grinned and offered his hand. 

Julia placed her hand, and her heart, in his care, and never looked back as she ran with Mark to meet their future.

“Holden, come in.”

Mark let go of Julia’s hand to tap his earpiece. “Garrett?”

“We’ll pick you up, we’ve got you on screen.”

A moment later the air shimmered and a glider, with metallic corrugated wings rippling out from either side of its sleek body, materialized before them.  Julia couldn’t believe her eyes.  The desire to caress her palm over every silvery contour, and feel the little ship thrum to life at her touch, was something she wanted more than her next breath. 

Mark grinned at her.  The same light in his eyes as Julia suspected was flaring in her own.  He squeezed her hand and tugged Julia up the ramp; Stephen closing the hatch behind them.  Mark put Julia’s bags on the bench seat in the rear cabin, and strode into the cockpit to take over the flight controls. 

Julia sat down in the back out of the way.  Her choice, so newly made, was creating nervous flutters in her stomach; so much that she startled when Anora sat down beside her.

“Do not concern yourself.” She met Anora’s gaze with a tentative smile, appreciating the other woman’s frankness. “You hold much affection for Colonel Holden, as he does for you.  It is clear to us all.”

Anora gave the back of Julia’s hand a reassuring pat before getting to her feet. “All will be well.”

Julia watched Mark’s back as he flew the cloaked glider over the island toward the cave and out through a glider-generated portal - out into the inky purple of an alternate reality space.

Chapter 7

Mark descended the glider through the apex of a colossal nineteenth century glasshouse.  The titanium structure with its etched glass panels blended practicality with time-worn elegance; a masterpiece of creativity and wonder, and a far cry from the military hangers on Earth.   Julia followed Anora, Hayden, and Stephen down the ramp, and looked up, but it was impossible to make out the roof design as it began sliding closed, so far above her.  The support columns stretching beyond the limit of her sight and up into the cloudless realm of a new sky.

“You’ll get used to it.” He said, as he took her duffel and entwined their fingers together.

Julia closed her mouth when she realized it had been hanging open like one of those fairground clown heads you threw ping pong balls into.  She swallowed, hard, and ducked her head to his shoulder.  “Not sure how.”

Mark chuckled and squeezed their joined hands in reassurance, before leading her across the access bridge and further into the alien city that was to be her new home.

Colonel Sarah Archer stood up from her desk when Mark walked into her sparse silver-on-white office, with a wide-eyed Julia at his heels and clinging to his hand as if he was all that anchored her in the fantasy she’d found herself in.

“Glad to see you back, Colonel Holden.” Colonel Archer nodded, the tension easing out of her small frame, as if she’d needed to lay eyes on her military commander before she could believe he was safe. “And almost in one piece.”

Mark placed the duffel at his feet and offered a casual salute. “It’s good to be home, Colonel, Garrett saved the day again.”

“I think it’d be best if that piece of Intel remained between the tw-three of us.” Colonel Archer walked around her desk, a polite smile doing little to disguise her annoyance. “Doctor Garrett mentioned you were bringing back a guest.  He seemed concerned about security protocol, or lack thereof, with regard to bringing an alien back to Phoenix.”

Julia startled at being called an alien, even if it was technically true.  She did, after all, come from another planet in an alternate reality.  

“Colonel, this is Julia Swift.” Mark let go of Julia’s hand so she could shake the one his fellow colonel was offering.  “Julia, Colonel Sarah Archer, Commander in Chief of Phoenix City.”

“Pleased to meet you, Colonel.  Thank you for allowing me to come here.”  The moment of awkward silence stated clearly how little choice Colonel Archer had had in the matter.

“I’ve reassured Doctor Garrett that all reasonable precautions will be taken.  Colonel, you will see to it that Miss Swift remains confined to your quarters until such time that Doctor Peyton can perform the necessary tests and report their results.  Are we clear, Colonel?” 

“Yes, ma’am.”

Colonel Archer gave a sharp nod and pivoted on her heel, only to turn back before she’d completed half a turn. “Once the red tape has been successfully negotiated, Miss Swift, I hope you will think of Phoenix as your home.  It’s a beautiful city, despite its rather austere décor.”

Julia looked over at Mark to find his gaze on her.  “I already do.”

It wasn’t until Colonel Archer cleared her throat, that Julia realized she’d been staring at Mark to the detriment of everything and everyone around them.

“Colonel Holden, show Miss Swift to your quarters, then get down to the infirmary and have Doctor Peyton check those ribs.”

“Will do.”

Mark took the order for the dismissal it was and led Julia down the back stairs, and into a maze of bright lit corridors; each one just as identical in its silver and white décor as the one preceding it.  She held tight to Mark’s hand, fearful that if he let go, she’d be lost forever.  How long it had taken Mark, and the rest of Phoenix’s residents to familiarize themselves with the layout of the eons-old city they occupied?

By the time they reached a set of closed double doors, Julia had felt the curious glances of many people, all wearing uniforms of varying color schemes and sporting a collection of shoulder patches.  Some she knew from
Phoenix Rising
, others she didn’t, but for the most part the show’s producers had nailed it.  She couldn’t help but wonder just how they’d done their research.  It seemed strange that so much information could be garnered from what must be a top-secret military base.  She’d ask Mark about later.  For now, Julia was more interested in seeing where the man she’d chosen to be with lived.

Her heart thudded against her ribs as the doors hissed shut behind her.  She shrugged off her backpack, dropping it next to the duffel left by the door.  The room was silent; a cocoon of isolation.  They were aware of every breath, every heartbeat, and every movement of each other.

Mark looked at her, and closed the distance between them; crushing her against the length of his body, one hand wrapped around her waist like a steel cable.  The other tangled in her hair, cupping the base of her skull while he devoured her mouth.  Julia kissed back with the same insatiable hunger she’d felt surge through her the first time Mark’s lips had met hers.  The dominance and strength, with which he held her, fueled her need to have him inside her again.

It was difficult for Julia to get her jacket off because he refused to release her.  She managed, eventually, and began tugging his tee from the waist of his BDUs.

“Please?” She gasped on a ragged exhale.

He growled and scooped her up into his arms.  No one had done that to her before, and the rush of
strong male helpless female feelings
made her blood sizzle beneath the surface of her skin.  Everything about her situation was unbelievable, and yet, here was Mark, hot and hard and undeniable beneath her hands.  He carried her to his bed and laid Julia back like she was something to be cared for.  His heated gaze fixed on the heavy rise and fall of her breasts as he stripped out of his clothes and boots.

Julia did the same; wriggling free of top and bra, panties, jeans and boots.  The soft scrape of military-issue wool wrinkled under her back as she stared up at Mark.  But nothing mattered more to her in that moment, than being able to look at him the same way he had looked at her. 

It was the first time she had seen him completely bare, and her breath caught in her throat.  A hard lump of desire, and disbelief, that the man who stood naked before her was hers.  His sweet peach of an ass, the long toned legs, his cock jutting proud and eager from his groin, lean edible flanks and a chest with enough dark hair to rasp against her nipples, was being offered to her.  Julia stretched her arms up and Mark joined her on the bed, spread her thighs with a shift of his hips and thrust deep in one smooth slide.  He kissed as if he were taking possession, growled when Julia lifted her chin up and away to give him access and trailed his lips down the arch of her neck.

With each roll and grind of his hips, Mark gave as much as he took and more; pushing them closer to a climax she both feared and craved the power of.  He grazed his thumb in a circle over her clit, insistent and impossible to deny.  She clung to him, nails cutting sharp crescents in the muscles of his back, her thighs tight over the small of his back.  His face crushed to the soft mounds of her breasts as she cried out her pleasure.  Her name was the last thing she heard, a delicate whisper of heat against her ear as her lover followed her into bliss.

Mark lay over her, his weight anchoring her beneath him while his fingers scribed gentle circles around each of her nipples.

“Wow.” She whispered; no other word able to be conjured. “What came over you?”

“You.”

“Oh God.” Julia clapped a hand over her face and groaned. “That’s the
worst
joke.”

“Ah yeah, I guess I should’ve warned you, but they’re a specialty of mine.” He pressed soft kisses along the stretch of her collarbone. “Not a deal-breaker, I hope?”

“Don’t be daft.” She yanked on his mussed hair until he lifted his head and she could kiss him.

Julia looked around the room for the first time since she’d stepped across the threshold, taking in the small details that spoke of the Mark Holden she was yet to know.  It was clear
Phoenix Rising’s
set designers had made this part up.  Aside from the style of the furniture and the floor-to-ceiling windows that spanned the width of two curved walls, there wasn’t a single thing replicated from life.  She liked that.  The conversation would come when they talked about how a woman from an alternate reality, knew so much about a military base in the Dragonus Galaxy, four million light years from an Earth different from her own.  But at least they would have the chance to learn about each other the way any normal couple would.

She let her gaze drift over a red plaid shirt and the black leather jacket with the American flag and Phoenix shoulder patches, where they hung on the back of the desk chair.  Next to a white leather arm chair was a brass telescope on a tripod, aimed through a slit in the blue gauze curtains.  Dog-eared parchments, written in a language Julia didn’t recognize, were stacked on the nightstand along with issues of
Flight
, and
Sports Illustrated
,
Brain-quest
puzzle books, and what looked like a futuristic iPod with tangled earbuds. 

Julia had just noticed the surfboard in the corner, next to an acoustic guitar on a custom stand, and the collection of model aircraft each on its own illuminated shelf jutting from the wall, when she sensed Mark’s eyes boring into her temple.  His fingertips stilled over the pulse point in her throat, body a rigid line against hers.

“Make the right choice?”

“I made that decision back in the cave.  The very first time you opened your eyes and looked straight into my heart.” She ruffled his hair in fond exasperation. “I was just looking to see what things are important to you.  To see where I fit.”

“They’re just things.  And you fit…right…here.” He leaned close and kissed each word into her lips until she was kissing him back. 

“Is there a shower in here?” The idea of soap suds and steaming hot water pouring over her skin was an alluring thought.  Clean clothes would be a bonus too.

“Through that door.” Mark gestured to what appeared to be a closet on the same wall as the entrance.  “Good idea, I should have one before I report to the infirmary.”

“We could shower together, save time and water.”

His eyes crinkled at the corners, head tilting to look up at her from under a raised brow. “Or twice as long.”

He got off the bed, pulling Julia up after him and led her to the bathroom door.  When it slid open it was to reveal a room in the same pristine white and silver décor as the rest of Phoenix; empty, save for the basin jutting from the wall beneath an inlaid mirror.  Mark stepped around her into the room, and hot steamy water immediately flowed from the ceiling as if it were raining.  Only this rain spiraled in delicate ropes of beaded crystal that tinked on a square of silver floor tiles, before draining miraculously away.

“Where you going?”  He asked when Julia turned to search out her toiletries. 

“Soap’s in the water, just stay inside the silver square.” Mark explained and vanished into thin air, freaking her out.  She couldn’t help her bubble of shocked laughter when his disembodied head reappeared, mischievous grin splitting his handsome face. “Still here, nothing says
privacy
like a reflective holographic wall, right?”

The simple act of rubbing her skin conjured soapy bubbles instantly washed away, only for more to be made when Mark caressed her.  She’d never had a shower like it in her life.  Even the distortion from their bodies didn’t splash so much as a drop beyond the silver square.  The tape on Mark’s flank soaked through and he ripped it off to expose patchy bruises beneath the pale smooth skin of his flank.

“Had worse.” He assured her when she stroked him with gentle fingertips, a trail of bubbles rising in their wake.

“And I’ve seen worse.” She murmured, Mark stilling at her words. “SAR chopper EMT, twelve years.”

“Chopper?” His eyes were wide as he gathered her against his slick skin. “You’re a pilot?”

“Uh huh.” Julia pressed a kiss to the hollow of his throat. “Seems we’re a matching set, you and I.”

Mark’s fingers tangled in the wet ropes of her hair when he kissed her forehead. “Works for me.”

They stood under the caress of the spiraling waterfall, eyes closed and the feel of each other in their arms, until the water turned itself off and Mark had waved his hand over the wall beside the basin.  A compartment appeared and yielded two fluffy white towels, laundered with a soothing lavender-like scent.  Julia left Mark to shave and went in search of clean clothes.  When he joined her in the main room, his jaw was smooth, his hair soft and rakish, and his towel rode low on his narrow hips.  She was tempted to explore every inch of him, but if she did, they’d never leave the room.  And ignoring Colonel Archer’s orders wasn’t the best way to begin her new life on Phoenix.

So she settled for memorizing every minute movement he made as he dressed in clean BDUs, tee, and black fitted over-shirt with Phoenix shoulder patches.  She knew he was aware of her gaze, and no doubt, her thoughts as well.  The blush high on his cheeks told her how she was affecting him and the power buzzed in her shower-warm limbs.  But she wasn’t the only one with the power to arouse.  Mark’s expression when he stood from lacing his boots hit her with a physical jolt, deep down low in her belly.  If he hadn’t needed to go, Julia knew with absolute certainty she would’ve found herself flat on her back again; Mark ravishing her with his mouth and his body.  A pleasant thought, indeed.