Warrior (11 page)

“Just illustrating a point about time travel for my friend here.” Galar released the little toy, which darted to its owner with a squeal.

Wulf caught it in a huge, surprisingly gentle hand as it instantly began to babble.

“She said she was going to go back in time and smash me! Evil, evil creature!” Its bubble eyes rolled toward her and narrowed. “Hurt her!”

“Shhhh,” Wulf said soothingly, stroking it between the eyes with one thick finger. “No one is going to damage you.”

“Evil!”

“You shouldn't talk that way about guests, Flybot.” The big man shot her a steely look. “You have no intention of breaking him, do you?”

Jessica swallowed, eying the size of those hands. “Wouldn't dream of it.”

“There. You see?” Wulf strode off, still cooing at his pet. “You're completely safe.”

Galar watched them go, his lips twitching.

Jessica eyed him. “You're just dying to give him a hard time about his toy, aren't you?”

“Yeah, but he'd break me in half. That man could bench-press a tank. The world he's from has five times Earth's gravity, and he was genetically engineered to be powerful even there.”

“Is
anybody
in this place a normal human?” Jessica asked drily.

“Just you.”

“Yeah,” she said. “That's pretty well what I thought.”

As if to illustrate the point, a slender young woman strode down the corridor toward them, a huge timber wolf trotting at her side. Jess had seen smaller Shetland ponies.

“Ah, Riane and Frieka,” Galar said to the two, motioning them over. “Could you give me a hand with something, please?”

“Certainly, Master Enforcer,” the wolf said.

Jessica's jaw dropped shamelessly. “He talks?”

The wolf gave her a contemptuous look, then glanced up at his companion. “Primitives. If she calls me a dog, I'm going to bite her.”

And it would hurt, Jess decided, eying his impressive fangs. A lot.

Galar shot the big animal a dry look. “Keep your teeth out of my guest, Frieka.” He turned to Jess and gestured in introduction. “My fellow Enforcers Riane Arvid and her partner, Frieka. He's a genetically engineered cyborg wolf, so don't call him a dog. He's a little sensitive.”

“I'm no more sensitive about that than you are about being called an overevolved ape.” Frieka curled a lip in another intimidating fang display.

Riane gave the top of his head a rap and smiled sweetly at Galar. “What can we do for you, Master Enforcer?” Like Dona Astryr, she was taller than Jess, with a lithely muscled build. She looked like the kind of woman who'd never had to watch her weight in her entire life. She also had a truly impressive tattoo running down one side of her pretty face in vivid blue and red, all swirls and intricate lines. One lock of her long red hair was braided and strung with gemstones.

“I need to find the chief and make a report, but I don't want to leave Jessica alone while I do it,” Galar told her. “Would you two take her to my quarters and stay with her until I get back?”

“
Your
quarters?” Riane blinked in evident surprise. “You know, we could probably find her another—”

“My quarters,” Galar rapped, his tone cold. Riane closed her teeth with a snap.

Frieka's gaze sharpened in sudden calculation. “You think the Xeran's going to come after her here?”

“Let me put it this way—I'd hate to be unpleasantly surprised. ”

Riane straightened to attention, half-lifting one hand as if to salute before dropping it hastily. “We'll provide any assistance we can, of course.”

He gave her a smile that radiated warmth. “Thank you, Enforcer Riane.”

Jess blinked, surprised by her own sudden green tide of jealousy.
Where the hell had that come from?

Jessica safely guarded,
Galar strode down the corridor toward the meeting he'd scheduled with Dyami. They could have conducted it by com channel, but he felt the need for a face-to-face discussion.

The Xeran situation demanded investigation, but he wouldn't be able to handle it himself if he were guarding Jess. The chief would have to either assign another security detail or send someone else to go after the Xeran.

Galar felt torn. He wanted to do both, but obviously that wasn't an option.

When it came to guarding Jess, he trusted Frieka and Riane more than anyone at the Outpost, with the exception of Dyami himself. After all, Riane was a Warfem, and loyalty was bred into Vardonese Warriors right down to the blood and bone.

From the standpoint of sheer power, Wulf was another possibility, as were Dona and Ivar. The couple might have been careless in combat practice earlier, but they were solid agents. Not Vardonese, of course, but trustworthy enough.

The memory of the combat practice debacle reminded him of that searing kiss. Galar found himself smiling in anticipation.

He was sick of denying himself. If today had taught him anything, it was that ignoring the attraction was not an effective strategy. It had been too damned long since he'd been with a woman, and his desire for Jess was too irresistible. He'd be better off giving into it instead of letting it distract him at some crucial time.

Such as when the Xeran showed up.

Besides Jess was a damned unlikely source of betrayal. She was too honest, too innocent, despite her smoldering sensuality. In any case, she'd be leaving as soon as they took care of the Xeran, headed for her new life as a celebrated artist.

All of which made her just about perfect for his considerable needs. Anticipation steamed through him on a tide of hot blood.

One way or another, she'd be sharing his bed tonight.

“He's got a
window,” Riane Arvid said with naked envy as she, the wolf, and Jessica walked into Galar's quarters.

“He
is
a senior officer,” Frieka pointed out, a string of blue lights flashing in the thick gray fur around his neck. Jessica's implanted knowledge told her those lights must signify some kind of vocalizer. Otherwise he'd be unable to talk, since the anatomy of his throat, chest, and long, fang-filled muzzle were all wrong for speech.

Jess was encouraged that the spurt of new knowledge barely disoriented her at all. Besides, she was too interested in Galar's quarters to worry about it.

Prowling the wall of shelves opposite his sprawling, neatly made bed, Jess eyed his collection of keepsakes. A rapier with a beautiful jeweled basket hilt and engraved blade caught her fascinated attention first, and she walked over to study its graceful, lethal lines.

Then she noticed the trids.

Obviously the equivalent of snapshots back home, they were glowing three-dimensional images that reminded her of snow globes. In one, a very young, very handsome Galar stood with an older couple, both of whom had intricate facial tattoos much like Riane's. The male of the two was as broad and powerfully built as Galar himself, while the woman was a gently muscled blonde. Jess saw a definite resemblance in the line of the man's jaw, in the color of the woman's eyes. “These must be his parents.”

“Probably,” Riane said, wandering over for a closer look. “This was taken at the Vardonese Military Academy. I recognize it.” She gestured at Galar's black uniform. “Looks like a graduation shot.” Correctly interpreting Jess's confusion, she explained, “Vardon is our home planet.”

Jess turned to study the other woman. Her tattoo was the same color as Galar's father's, a swirl of red and blue, intricate and vaguely Celtic in design. “Are you two related?”

The girl blinked. “No. Why would you think that?”

“You've got the same last name.”

“Oh. Arvid is just our House—the Femmat company that genetically engineered us. Most Warriors are raised in House creches and don't have families at all. Galar and I are unusual in having biological parents.”

Jess's own father had left when she was only a couple of years old, but at least she'd had a mother. Even so, she'd always felt a deep envy of those with both parents. What would it be like to have no one at all? “Is everybody in the future genetically engineered?”

“Not the general galactic population, no. Though scientists do use genetic engineering when they've got some kind of good reason—like adapting colonists for life on a planet where the atmosphere or gravity would be too much for a standard human.”

“So Vardon is like that?”

“Nope. It's just run by hyper-controlling Femmats.” The wolf looked up from chewing industriously on his own flank. Reacting to Jess's stare, he added defensively, “What? It itches, and unlike you overevolved monkeys, I don't have fingers to scratch with.”

As Jess wrinkled her nose, Riane rolled her eyes. “That's nothing. He also licks his genitals.” She gave an elaborate shudder.

The wolf sniffed. “You're just jealous.”

“Nah,” Jess said. “It's more fun when somebody else does it.” As Riane choked back laughter, she asked the wolf, “What's a Femmat?”

“The female aristocracy of Vardon.” The wolf sat back on his haunches and scratched with his hind foot. “Damn itch is traveling.”

Without being asked, Riane knelt on the floor beside him and started digging her nails into his fur.

“Up some,” the wolf instructed. “To the right. . . . Ahhhh! You got it. Bless you, kid.”

Jess watched the two absently, her mind working. It seemed that though her EDI was extensive, it didn't include everything. Which only made sense, since there were one hundred and three worlds in the Galactic Union alone.

The only one that really interested her, though, was Galar's home planet. “Women run Vardon?”

“Yep,” Riane explained, giving Frieka's muscled ribs an affectionate thump as he lolled back on the floor. “A bunch of scientists wanted to create a utopia a couple of hundred years ago. Theory was that men commit most of the crimes and a lot of the social injustice . . .”

“Apparently they'd never gone to an American high school,” Jess muttered.

“. . . so they figured they'd use genetic engineering to get rid of sociopathy, ambition, and aggression.”

Jess sat down on the bed and cocked her head at the agent. “Why does this sound like a really bad idea to me?”

“Actually, it worked,” Riane said. “The crime rate on Vardon is the lowest in the Galactic Union. Thing is, law-abiding people can be a bad thing, depending on the laws they're abiding by.”

“Like when the Xer invaded forty years ago,” Frieka added. “None of the civilians put up any fight at all. The bastards would still be running Vardon if it wasn't for us.”

“Yeah, I was thinking none of you guys strike me as lacking aggression.”

“Exactly,” Frieka said. “Soon after they started their little experiment, the Femmats realized that though they might be peaceful, their neighbors definitely weren't. So they created a genetically engineered warrior class.” He nodded at Riane. “Warlords and Warfems, they called them, bred for strength and speed, with battle-comp implants and sensors.”

“Doesn't sound like a bunch who'd take an invasion lying down.”

“Nope,” Frieka told her. “In fact, they formed an underground resistance force. It took them five years to drive the Xer off the planet, but eventually they succeeded.”

Riane nodded proudly. “My father was one of those fighters. I think Galar once said his parents were members of the resistance too.”

Jess studied her with interest. “What about your mother?”

“Oh, she isn't Vardonese.” Riane waved an airy hand. “She's a temporal Earth native, like you. My father was sent back to 2004 to protect her from a Xer Jumpkiller.”

Jess blinked in surprise. “Your mother was from the past?”

Riane nodded. “Before I was born. She and Dad killed Jack the Ripper.”

“The Victorian serial killer?” Jess's jaw dropped as her interest became utter fascination.

“Yeah, only he wasn't really a Victorian. He was a Xer assassin from the future.”

“Damn. Those Xer really are bastards, aren't they? And he came after your mom? Why? Why'd he butcher all those women?”

Riane shrugged. “Like you said, he was a bastard. Besides, he'd found a way to make money off the murders. He recorded his crimes for a bunch of equally sociopathic subscribers back on Xer.”

“Sounds like he needed killing.”

“Oh, yeah, on a lot of levels. He'd been part of the Xer invasion force years before, and he'd done some nasty stuff to my dad that really messed him up.”

“But Jane—Riane's mother—helped Baran get over it,” Frieka added. “Then they kacked the son of a bitch.”

“And ended up falling in love,” Riane finished. “It was all kind of romantic.”

Damn, Jess thought, wishing she could talk to Riane's mother. How had she adjusted to life in the future? What had it been like, falling in love with one of these superhuman Warlords?

Her gaze tracked involuntarily to the trid of Galar and his parents. He'd looked young then, almost innocent—not at all the hard-edged warrior she knew. “He was so handsome back then, it's almost ridiculous. But you know, I think he's sexier now. He's got more of an edge or something. Makes him more interesting.”

“The Master Enforcer?” Riane stared at her blankly. “Sexy?”

Jess lifted her brows. “You don't think he's sexy?”

“Oh, I don't mean he's not attractive,” the Warfem said hastily. “But I guess I haven't really thought in terms of sleeping with him. He's a little too . . . cold.”