Norah whispered but didn’t expect an answer. “Did you see a ship?” her question breezed away in the wind.
“I did.”
Her eyes squeezed shut. Stryker’s words were everything and nothing. The stress still existed but it was dampened by his presence.
“The time limit is over?”
“For now.”
Norah leaned her head into the pillow of his hard chest. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be, you were sick.”
She rubbed her cheek against him, listening to the howling around them.
He continued, “You were dehydrated, exhausted, and who knows what else. You had a panic attack. I’m glad I arrived in time. You consumed my thoughts.”
“You had me on your mind?”
“Yes,” his voice came out clipped.
Time passed as she sat there, high up off the ground, against the Cyborg. She listened to the constant din all around them until her focus narrowed. Everything fell away as she concentrated on the one noise she needed to hear. Norah lifted her head and closed her eyes.
And waited.
A hand slithered through her loose hair, spilling forth from a messy bun to clutch the back of her head.
He knows.
And before her thought finished the sound of his heartbeat thumped. She exhaled a breath.
Chapter Ten:
***
The darkness was her shield and she was surrounded by life; the lush planet that was Axone. A dangerous place that had evolved into a paradise without human influence. Norah listened to Stryker’s heartbeat as she came to a decision.
It was all she could do as her heart exploded from her chest.
Axone doesn’t want us. It’s wiping our presence straight off the map.She thought of Earth and the pictures she had as a child, exhibiting everything that it once was.We don’t deserve it.
The hand in her hair moved to massage her scalp, her neck, and before she knew it her muscles loosened from an ache she had yet to acknowledge. Norah nuzzled him.
“You’re so warm,” she said against his chest, “I love it.”
“Do you want me to cool off? It’s the technology inside of me. I can regulate my temperature for most environments.”
What a dream.“No, you’re perfect.” Norah sucked in a breath, unsure and embarrassed but wanting to continue. His hand stopped for a moment before continuing.
She had never tried to seduce a man before, had never been so unsure of a man’s attention and attraction. Her body tensed. The hand on her neck twirled her curling hair.
“I strive to be,” Stryker said it so softly, she pulled away to look at him. The darkness backed away as his eyes began to glow a soft blue, lighting up the area between them.
The moment was ripe, on the brink of degradation, at the point ofperfectbetween them. The thunder and wind played a wild song. Norah held his eyes as he held hers. Her fingers twisted and ran up his sides, ghosting over his armor until she lifted them to cup his mask.
“Perfect,” she murmured.
His hands came up to cover hers. His eyes glowed bright, eerie, and indigo strikes of electricity around mechanical pupils.
