Page 107 of Star-Born Anomaly
“Do they have names?”
“Yes. You will know them: Briar Galloway, Heath Wiseman, Leon Sweeney, and Miri Bondar.”
She tensed while he listed them, but relaxed after a moment.
“You’re right. I do know those names,” she murmured before resettling against him. “It’s so strange that they live after all this time.” She set her cheek against his pectoral, her fingers creating swirling patterns against his sternum. “How long does a Calypson live?”
He thought about it for a moment, then could only answer, “I do not know.”
Her fingers stopped moving. “Has anyone ever died of old age?”
“No.” Death was a day of great sadness in their community, and none had yet died from living too long. “Our cells regenerate, and we have not found a limit.”
She lifted her head again. “Then the rumors are true, that you can live forever.” Her expression turned heavy. “How long will I live if I’m an anomaly?”
His arms tightened around her. He did not like the thought of her passing to another plane of existence. “I do not know.” And he did not want to think about a life where he existed and she did not. “Many, many years, I hope. Lifetimes.”
Her mouth twitched, then she resettled against him. His body sighed at the skin-to-skin contact.
She flattened her hand against his chest. “There is no place for us except Sector Ten.” A new edge had entered her voice, and her echoing resolve washed over him.
He covered her hand on his chest, and a swelling emotion overtook his body. She had said “us,” joining their futures together.
With a gentle tug, he pulled her up his body so he could capture her lips with his. A groan rumbled through his chest at how good she tasted. He did not think he would ever get his fill.
He rolled her over, his body covering hers from head to toe. It would take them days to arrive in Sector Ten, and he planned to give Wynn Lambdin limitless pleasure, to bury himself inside her many times, before then.
Chapter thirty-nine
Wynn opened her eyes and found the space beside her empty. She’d been having unsettling dreams, ones that echoed her time on the Guardian, where they’d shown her memories she couldn’t recall. Ones where she huddled with other children in the dark, confusion and hunger beating at her.
Those memories sometimes morphed into the faces of her parents, her adoptive parents, and a sense of calm would replace the fear, as it did now. She stretched out her hand and touched the shiny black fabric of the pillow next to her. It was cold, and so was her exposed shoulder. How long had Iax allowed her to sleep?
As she rolled onto her back, the sheets shifted with her, and she stared at the overhead in the dim lighting. What was she getting herself into?
All night they’d explored new ways to pleasure each other. There was a tenderness between her legs she embraced, because pleasure outweighed the soreness. With each new intimacy, she fell deeper into whatever it wasthey created between them. Iax’s glinting eyes reflected her emotional journey back at her. Whateverthiswas, they were in it together.
Swallowing the growing lump of emotion in her throat, she rolled to her side and slipped out of the covers. Cool air tickled bare skin as she went to the washroom for a steam. Once dry, she gave herself permission to explore the wall compartments of Sawyer’s ship.
An unnerving sensation crawled up her spine as she opened them one by one. Along with a compartment dedicated to the color black, uniforms of every color, both CORE and Tellusian, filled the racks. Even weirder, Sawyer had one compartment dedicated to more feminine clothing in a range of sizes. Swallowing her unease, she found generic undergarments and a jumpsuit in soft pink close to her size, as well as short, gray boots that were a tad large. Once dressed, she made her way to the cockpit.
A gasp clogged her throat at the image on the viewer.
The Calypson nebula stretched from one edge of the screen to the other. The clouds were drenched in blues, and purples, and oranges, then morphed into an electric teal blue. She’d never seen it so large before, so vibrant, and that age-old question popped into her head.
What are they hiding?
In a blink, the image disappeared, returning to the unchanging view of stars. Her eyes jumped to Iax. He’d changed into some of Sawyer’s clothes too, a black long-sleeved shirt, black pants with pockets down the side, and boots.
“We are a distance away,” he explained. “That was an enlargement.”
“Why did you remove it?” she asked, walking toward him.
He touched her hand when she was close enough, guiding her to sit on his lap. “Because it brought you fear,” he said against her temple, giving her a kiss.
She turned so she could see his face. This close, she could see the hazel color of his eyes beneath the glint. “Because you sense my emotions?”
He nodded once. “Though I cannot taste your mind, I sense your emotions like they are physical things.” His hand stroked her arm. “They wash over me. They curve around me. I am getting better at deciphering their meaning, but you tantalize me with new ones.”
