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  She nodded and after they were able to get some distance from the collapsed portal, the ride smoothed out. “We have a small bathing suite here. If you’d like to clean up a little.”

  Wonder flashed over her face and then she bit her bottom lip. Worry and fear were back on her face.

  “What is it, Hannah?”

  “Would you … stay?”

  His chest tightened at the entreaty in her voice.

  “Of course.” He unstrapped and stood, placing her carefully on her feet. She took his hand and he had no desire to take it back. Leading her through the ship toward the sleeping berths, he took in the way she ate up every detail. And that’s when he noticed her limp.

  “What’s wrong with your leg?” He paused to kneel and examine it closely. Shrapnel had torn through the skin. “I’m sorry I didn’t see this earlier. We need to clean it up. Sit while I get the triage kit.”

  She held very still, her gaze taking in every move he made as he cleaned out the wounds. “I’m going to hold off on the numbing gel until after you bathe.”

  She swallowed hard and shook her head. “I’m fine.”

  He didn’t want to argue with her so he stood, taking her weight as they finished the walk. “Here we are.” He pointed toward the bathing suite. “I can’t vouch for the heat in the water, but there’s soap and it’s big enough to get clean. I’ll see if I can’t find you some clothes.”

  She looked to the door and then back to him. Over and over. And then she slid to the floor, her shoulders shaking as she wept.

  He went to his knees and hugged her, not knowing what else to do. “What is it?”

  “I’m … I’m sorry.”

  “How long did they have you in there?”

  She reached up and touched her scalp. “Eleven.”

  “Weeks?”

  She shook her head. She paused, clearly thinking, and he wondered how hard it was for her just to simply speak to another person after her ordeal. “Months, I think.”

  Nearly an entire standard year? What would that do to a person?

  He took a deep breath even as he sent his most fervent prayer that his father simply drop dead and end this misery for everyone. “Alone? All that time?”

  She nodded and he closed his eyes a moment, needing to find patience when he just wanted to hurt someone.

  “You’re safe now. Is that what’s got you so upset?”

  She shook her head.

  Fine tremors worked through her. He watched her hug that wretched blanket around her body and calculated the odds of getting it away from her long enough to at least launder.

  Perhaps it was the fear of being alone again? “I’ll come in with you. Would that help? I’ll close my eyes. And I won’t leave the room.”

  Her eyes were greenish brown. Pretty. Filled with gratitude as she looked up at him. “Yes.”

  He helped her to stand and one-handed, he grabbed a drying cloth and some clean clothes before leading her into the room.

  Not knowing how close to stand or what she needed, he hoped she’d indicate it if he wasn’t doing it right. He showed her how to turn the water on and turned his back when she began to undress. Not soon enough to miss the scars on the backs of her legs. He fisted his hands again but kept quiet. She didn’t need his anger on top of everything else she needed to process.

  She stepped in and he caught sight of her in the nearby looking glass. Her head was bowed as the water rushed over her. Fascinated, he watched her touch the soap and make a lather. The frosted glass on the shower door hid most of her body, the parts not normally on display anyway, but she slowly and surely soaped herself from head to toe in an orderly fashion, paying attention to the shrapnel wounds in her calf without even a flinch.

  Her hair was longer than he’d thought. He noticed it when she got out of the enclosure and wrapped herself in the drying cloth. Back still turned, he spoke. “Clothes are there. They’re probably too big, but there’s a belt too. We’ll be in Mirage shortly so we’ll get you something more appropriate there.”

  “Thank you.”

  He slowly turned, waiting for her to stop him if she hadn’t gotten dressed all the way yet. Clean she was even more alluring. More wounded too. Her eyes had smudges beneath.

  “How long has it been since you’ve eaten?”

  She took his arm as they left, leaning into his body. “Don’t know. I keep track. Kept track, back in the … place.”

  He clicked his teeth together, anger rushing through him. “I can’t promise you anything truly good until we get to Mirage. But we’ve got protein bars. Looks like you might need some.”

  Her laugh was the barest whisper. “Probably.” She hesitated when he guided her to the table in the small break room.

  “What? You don’t know me, but I do want to help.”

  She pursed her lips, concentrating. “What will happen now?”

  He swallowed as he put a glass of watered-down juice in front of her. He didn’t want her to get sick, even as he wanted her to eat. “We’ll stop in Mirage. Federation personnel will want to meet with you. Doctors probably as well to give you a checkup. They’ll handle a debriefing as well. They can do it rather quickly via brain scan.”

  She paled so much it alarmed him. Shaking her head nearly violently, she snarled, “No doctors.”

  “Not like those back there. I promise. You’ll be under when they do the scans.”

  She shook so hard she couldn’t hold the glass without spilling.

  He knelt before her, putting his palms on her knees. “I’m not going to let anyone hurt you. You have my word.”

  He had no right making that promise, but he had, and he would keep it no matter what.

  Hannah Black had become his in a very real way. He didn’t understand the whys of it beyond the fact that it had been he who’d saved her back on Parron. But he knew it was more. She needed his protection. And he’d give it to her.

  Chapter 2

  Weary to his bones, Julian rolled from the bed it seemed like he’d only just fallen into. People had come in. Vincenz’s voice was clear.

  But his normally calm, metered tone had sharpened. Odd.

  Pulling on pants, Julian moved toward the talking, pausing to button and zip at the doorway. Across the large space, Vincenz stood, holding an apparently unconscious woman as he argued with two soldiers, one a med-tech. The woman’s hands were bandaged and her clothes, obviously borrowed, swallowed her body.

  “I said no. I promised her I’d stay with her. She’s going to be right here.” Vincenz forced his way past two Federation soldiers and into a room just off the main comm and command center of the house.

  “She needs to be debriefed. We can take her to a med center where she’ll get real help. We need to know what she knows.” The soldier spread his hands, totally reasonable.

  But the look on Vincenz’s face was not. He was so fierce, Julian stepped forward to intercede. To offer his force to make whatever Vincenz wanted happen.

  “What’s going on?”

  Vincenz put her down carefully and turned back to Julian. “This is Hannah. They kept her in a lab for nearly a standard year in almost total isolation. She’s … she’s fragile. And deathly afraid of doctors right now. I’m sure you can understand that.” Vincenz turned his attention back to the med-tech.

  “We can keep her under at least while we check her over. Operative Cuomo, she’s clearly malnourished and emotionally unstable. You’re not equipped to handle that.”

  Vincenz got in the med-tech’s physical space and used it to push him back. “I told you not to approach! It’s your own fault and now she’s injured and her emotional state worse. You can examine her here. Now. I’m not leaving the room either.”

  “Are you saying I’d hurt her?” The soldier’s features broadcast just what he thought of that accusation.

  Vincenz batted it away just as angrily. “No. I’m saying I’m not going to let you make it worse. I made a promise to her and I don’t break my
promises. I’m staying because she wants it that way, not because I think you’d molest her in some way.”

  With a glare, the soldier took up his medical bag and got to work. Vincenz moved to the doorway, watching, his side touching Julian’s.

  “Hey.” Julian wanted to kiss Vincenz just then. But they were on duty. But after … when the soldiers left, then he’d get that kiss and more.

  Vincenz gave him a smile and Julian forgot some of his troubles. “I’m glad you’re here. When did you get back?”

  “Daybreak.” And then he’d sat in the shower, hoping he could wash it all away. The water had gone cold and he still couldn’t get the stench out of his nostrils. “What happened?” He tipped his chin toward the woman on the bed.

  “Andrei and Piper are on their way to the Center. Kenner … her brother Kenner is dead. He was killed on the roof of the lab where I found Hannah.”

  Both men looked toward the woman on the bed and the soldier who’d slid her shirt open, carefully using his diagnostics on her. “A year?”

  Vincenz nodded. “When I found her she was in a corner, rocking. Not quite filthy, but it was clear she had to make due with wet cloths. Though, that she took the care to try to stay clean speaks to how strong she is. She wouldn’t let go of me, but even in the middle of a firefight she held it together. She’s a survivor.”

  Julian looked at the curve of her cheeks. Pretty. Too thin, but with some time to recuperate, she’d be better. He hoped. Then again, he wasn’t sure there was such a thing as recuperation anymore.

  “What happened to her hands?”

  Vincenz huffed a sigh. “I told them to back off, but they persisted. They wanted to interview her right there at the portal station. Gods. She was holding on to me and then sort of wrapped her hands up in the straps of my pack. They pulled at her. She screamed.” His voice broke. “She screamed and screamed and screamed as they pulled at her. I kept telling them to stop. Finally they used a sedative and before she went under she looked at me like I’d done it to her. Her hands were bloody from where she’d tried to hang on.” He scrubbed his hands over his face and Julian heard the ache in his voice.

  They watched as the soldier did his diagnostics and turned back to them.

  “She’s underweight considerably. Dehydrated.” He held up an IV bag. “She’ll be out for several more hours so I’m going to at least get her hooked up to a drip. It’ll help.”

  Vincenz paused, but after a few moments he nodded. “Just be sure not to strap her down.”

  “If she moves, she could tear the IV out. It’s not to hold her, but to keep her from doing that.”

  “I know. But this woman was tortured for a long time. She was kept prisoner. You will not strap her down, not even her arm. I won’t have her waking up and thinking she’s back on Parron. She’s had enough trauma for the day.”

  The soldier nodded and set the bag up and got it going, taping over the needle in the back of her hand. “She’s got some scarring here and there. Consistent with beatings. I took some blood samples and I’ll run them at HQ to run some tests. I need to get some internal film. She could have any number of health issues we can’t see.”

  “When she’s ready I’ll bring her in. But you’ll leave her for now.”

  “We have programs to help victims, Operative Cuomo. We’re not the monsters who did this to her.”

  “I understand that, soldier. But this woman was used and abused. Today she deserves some fucking peace from that. You will not haul her off to a hospital and strap her down while you take diagnostics. Not unless there’s an urgent problem, which we now know there isn’t as you’ve given her a checkup.”

  Julian held a hand up to stay the soldier from speaking again. “It’s not optimal, we understand. But you’re not taking her anywhere. If you need verification from Comandante Ellis, I can get that for you.”

  The soldier paled and Julian wanted to pat the boy’s shoulder and assure him that many people had the same reaction when Wilhelm Ellis’s name came up. But it made the point, and after the soldier left some tonics and instructions on what she could eat for the time being, he was gone, leaving the place quiet as they moved back to watching her sleep.

  “Thanks for the backup.”

  Julian put his head on Vincenz’s shoulder. “I’m sorry you had to see it. Sorry she had to go through it.”

  “She needs us to protect her. You know how this’ll work. They’ll want to study her and take her in for debriefing. I don’t know if she can stand it just now.”

  Julian looked at her again, his heart aching for a woman he didn’t know. Aching because through Vincenz, he’d also taken on protective feelings for her. “We’ll do everything we can to keep her safe. She can stay here with us if she doesn’t want to go to the hospital or back to the Center.”

  “We’ll take it a step at a time. Today’s been … well, I’m sure for you too.” He turned and Julian’s arms slid around Vincenz’s shoulders and Vincenz’s around Julian’s waist.

  “Not my favorite thing, no. But we got the info we needed.”

  Vincenz looked into Julian’s face and, Julian knew, saw everything. “I’m sorry.”

  Julian had to close his eyes a moment. “You can make it better.”

  Vincenz’s expression changed and he got that little smile. That smile drove Julian to distraction. So fucking sexy.

  “Give me five minutes to finish up.”

  “You’ve got three.”

  “Oh, it’s that way? A challenge, hmm? All right, you’re on.”

  Julian needed him. He watched Vincenz move, loving the ease of his muscles as he did. His hair had been standing on end, most likely because when Vincenz worked or thought things over he tended to pull at it.

  Vincenz looked up, as if he heard the whispers in Julian’s head. Their gazes locked and that was all there was to it. In three steps Julian had his fingers in that hair, tugging to angle Vincenz’s head back so he could get at the long line of his throat.

  Vincenz sighed roughly, and his hands slid under the hem of Julian’s shirt and over the bare flesh beneath.

  More. Julian needed more. He pushed Vincenz back until he hit the wall nearby. The sound he gave in response was threaded with need, shooting straight to Julian’s cock.

  “Gods, you’re so hard,” Vincenz murmured as he slid a hand into the front of Julian’s pants and found his cock. Julian arched into that fist and then his teeth raked over Vincenz’s throat. Tasted salt and skin.

  “I’ve been hard just thinking about you. All day long as I headed back here all I could think about was this.” These quiet, stolen moments when he didn’t have to think about the war, or the things he’d had to do back on Ceres to get the much-needed answers. When he didn’t have to think about all those they’d lost. In this place, with his hands and mouth all over Vincenz, there was nothing but that pleasure and comfort.

  “I’m here now. You’re here now.” Vincenz unzipped Julian’s pants to get at his cock better. He licked his lips as he looked down between them and Julian had to seek patience to not come just from that.

  Vincenz pushed at Julian a little. “Turn around. Let’s switch places.”

  Julian had no idea what he was about until Vincenz dropped to his knees as Julian leaned back against the wall.

  “Yes.”

  A smug smile marked Vincenz’s lips as he pulled Julian’s cock free. And then he licked across the head and amusement was the last thing on Julian’s mind.

  “That’s the way. Deeper. Suck my cock, Vincenz. Suck me so I can blow down your throat.”

  Vincenz shivered but Julian was helpless to do anything but watch, fascinated, as Vincenz slowly took Julian’s cock into his mouth, swirling his tongue around the head over and over.

  There was affection as well as titillation when his fingers slid through all that golden hair. Soft, long enough to tug to get more of what Vincenz offered.

  “You can take your cock out. Fuck your fist while you suck
me. But don’t come. Not yet.”

  Vincenz rolled his eyes up to meet Julian’s. They had this delicious sort of push and pull, a struggle of two dominant men who expressed that dominance in totally different ways. It made for incredibly hot sex.

  Julian didn’t miss the sound of the teeth of Vincenz’s zipper. Click-click-click-click as he took it down. The schuss of clothes and then the moan around Julian’s cock as he got his own out.

  And yet he didn’t lose focus on sucking Julian’s cock. “Such a brilliant multitasker.” Julian didn’t quite close his eyes, but he let the lids droop as he leaned back and simply took in the carnal beauty of Vincenz there on his knees, Julian’s cock in his mouth, his balls in Vincenz’s palm.

  Julian waited, tense, knowing Vincenz had more planned. The man was brilliant at sucking cock. He pressed the pads of his fingers against that sweet spot just behind Julian’s balls.

  He widened his stance as Vincenz slid his fingertips over Julian’s asshole. Caressed. Stroked. All the while keeping Julian’s cock wet and hot as he took it so deep Julian grunted each time.

  “Oh, baby, you’re so good at this,” Julian murmured.

  Vincenz smiled and hummed his pleasure around Julian’s cock.

  “Are you hard?”

  Vincenz moaned again and Julian leaned around to watch Vincenz fist his cock a few times in a rhythm with his mouth on Julian. There was something so scorching hot about the way Vincenz had sex. So unabashed. In a man who was normally buttoned up tight and ultra calm, that wildness and burning intensity when it came to fucking felled Julian.

  The hand on Julian’s balls disappeared and then came back, slick from Vincenz’s mouth. And this time those stroking, caressing fingers pressed in and sent the breath gusting from Julian’s lips in response.

  “Yes, yes, yes,” he whispered.

  Deeper those fingers quested until they found his sweet spot, stroking in time with the sucking. His vision seemed to gray at the edges it felt so good. He only barely resisted fucking Vincenz’s face. Only barely.

  But Vincenz took his cock so deep it tapped the back of his throat. So deep, and so in time with his fingers in Julian’s ass it was a quicksilver, teeth-numbing rush into climax as the waves of it hit him over and over until he was weak with it.