“What?” I said again, my voice breathless.
“Peace,” he finally said. “For the first time in my long life I’m happy.”
“I wish the other Abernaths could hear this little speech,” Colton whispered. “Most of them are so afraid of Brace that when he enters the room they scream, piss themselves and run like little bitches.” He chuckled. “Now they’ll probably get him some flowers and hope he’ll be their poetry buddy.”
Brace never shifted his gaze from me, but his arm shot out, gripping Colton around the throat and launching him straight into the wall. He hit with a crash, before pulling himself up to stand. His grin never wavered.
“No need to get all hissy, peace-boy. Shouldn’t you be calm and meditative?”
“You don’t want me to step over there, Colt. Remember what happened in the Arcoia era.”
Colton’s ivory features went ghost white and a grimace spread across his face.
“You’re a sick man to bring that up. And on a side and completely unrelated note, you’re a dangerous Walker and can kick my ass any day.”
“Much better,” Brace said.
I had to smile at their fighting. It resembled that of close brothers who knew each other well and had a long and probably chequered history. Brace had told me recently that one of the hardest parts of being stationed on First World was the isolation from his friend; it was good for them to be reunited.
We finished making our pizzas and laid them out in the oven. They would take some time to cook, so we moved into the sitting room. Josian had this little black box in there. It held thousands of movies and with a simple remote device we could flick through and choose one. And then it would play on the huge television. Josian really enjoyed the technology he’d taken from each planet, mostly Earth, to deck out this cave.
We spent the rest of our first day eating, sleeping and watching movies. It was a fun. Fury was slowly starting to warm up to us. She had a wicked but understated sense of humor. It was amusing trying to guess if she was serious or joking. And adding in the language differences between all of our planets; we had some very interesting conversations.
Dune got along great with the other two men. I felt somewhere deep down that all of us had been designed to fit together as parts of a whole. It was pretty crazy, but somehow the seven half-Walkers were a single unit and I think our mates were as well.
Of course that left Lucy and Colton, but they fit in there somehow. Especially Lucy. She was a soothsayer, and since they apparently didn’t exist on Earth, I was starting to think she was a First Worlder who had also been stashed on Earth. Of course I hadn’t shared this theory yet, but it was playing on my mind. All of us were parts of a puzzle. I kept trying to put it all together, but since I was missing so many pieces I couldn’t see the bigger picture.
It was late when we retired for the night. My heart started to race at the thought of being alone with Brace. We would finally have some privacy. The past few weeks we’d been in a tent next to my parents. Not exactly a romantic setting. I’d been tempted many times to trace us to my snow cabin, but because Brace was often called during the night to fix things, stop arguments and assist Josian with his million jobs, we couldn’t leave. But tonight he was all mine.
I’d stopped off in the clothes room and found a sleep shirt and shorts, although I doubted I was going to need them. We stepped into the bedroom, which held nothing more than a huge mattress stretched out over a stone slab. Mountains of pillows and a huge fluffy comforter topped it off. It would feel like heaven. My parents always had the softest fabrics.
And speaking of heaven ... Brace spun me around, pulling me into his arms. I lifted my face, expecting his kisses, but he held back slightly.
“The way you respond to me drives me insane.” His words started their job of seducing me.
And his lips finished it.
The next morning I woke slowly, stretching my body in a slow, leisurely arch. The silky soft sheets caressed my naked body, reminding me of the various events of the night.
One would think that after all of that I’d be too tired or sore for any more action. But the truth was I couldn’t get enough. The things Brace did, the way he made me feel, the chance to be as close to him a physically possible. I was lucky I could ever tear myself away. I glanced over to where he slept. He had one arm thrown across me, keeping me close. His features were relaxed, but somehow still hard. I knew that if he sensed danger he would be up and moving before I even realized it was there. I wanted to trace my finger tips along the perfect planes of his face, the full lips that almost didn’t fit into his masculine features but he somehow pulled them off. But I didn’t. He so rarely slept uninterrupted.