Tolstoy Read online

  “But your drone’s communication systems aren’t working,” he said.

  “Does the ship have comms?” she asked.

  “If it did, the drone should have been able to link into them,” Leo said. “So I’m guessing they’re down too, but we can check.”

  “Hmm,” Anna said.

  She watched Leo spread jam on a scone, then hold it out to her.

  She raised her hand from the water to take it, but he shook his head and held it closer.

  She smiled up at him and took a bite from his hand. The bread was warm and the jam was tart and delicious.

  Leo used his thumb to swipe a bit of jam from the corner of her mouth, then he licked it off.

  She felt the touch between her legs.

  But he had turned to place the scone down and bring her a bite of eggs.

  And in spite of the pull she felt to him, she let him feed her. She was hungrier than she could have imagined.

  The room was silent except for the lapping water.

  At last her belly was satisfied.

  “Enough,” she said when he picked up the scone again.

  “Are you sure?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she said.

  “Get dressed then,” he told her. “And I’ll get in.”

  “Okay,” she said.

  She stepped out of the water, knowing full well how the sight of her would make him feel.

  His eyes flashed golden again for a moment, and though it was only the water running down her breasts and thighs, it felt like his eyes were caressing her.

  “Get dressed,” he said roughly, turning away. “It’s hard enough to control myself.”

  She scurried into the other room and was surprised to find fresh clothing already laid out on the bed.

  “He’s very resourceful,” BFF19 said briskly.

  “Yeah,” Anna said. “He really is.”

  She dressed quickly. The clothing fit pretty well, though it was cut for a man. She pulled on the white pants and they cinched to her curves on their own.

  The top was too snug for her breasts, so she left the first two of the five slides undone.

  She knocked on the door to the bathroom and heard Leo laughing on the other side.

  “Okay to come in?” she asked politely, really overdoing it.

  “If you don’t come in here I’m coming after you,” he said.

  She let herself in and sat by the edge of the water, admiring him.

  He had been wearing nothing but a loin cloth yesterday, but somehow the water trickling along his bare, muscular chest made him seem more naked.

  “Are you going to let me starve, woman?” he asked, one eyebrow lifted.

  She grabbed a scone and held it out.

  When he leaned in to take a bite she pulled it away playfully.

  His eyes flashed.

  She offered it again.

  He grabbed her wrist and took a bite of the scone.

  “Mm,” he hummed appreciatively. “Great choice for breakfast, Anna.”

  She fed him another bite of scone and he licked her fingers.

  Anna closed her eyes and willed herself to think about the baby and the best thing to do to help him.

  “I’ve been thinking about the comms,” she said. “We haven’t been able to reach the Stargazer, but we’ve been close to the center of the ship. Back home I could never get a wireless signal in my room. Pretty sure it was from all the layers of lead paint. I had to run an ethernet cable up there to use my computer.”

  “That is a wonderful story,” Leo said. The look on his face told her she’d lost him in her references to such ancient technology. Now she knew how her grandmother felt when she tried to tell them stories about being the first family on the block to own a microwave.

  “My point is,” she explained, “maybe plugging directly into the comms system would get us through to the Stargazer”

  “That’s a great idea,” he said. “The communications center should have a way to access the comms array directly.”

  “How do we know where that would be?” she asked.

  “We could try and find the blueprints,” he said.

  “I could ask BFF19,” Anna said.

  “That’s probably not a bad plan,” Leo replied. “Go ask, I’ll get dressed and join you.”

  Anna gazed at his deliciously dripping body and then at his half-full breakfast plate.

  “We’ll have plenty of time for romantic meals later, Anna,” he said, his lips curving in a sexy half-smile. “Tolstoy needs us now.”

  Damned sexy alien.

  “Okay, okay,” she said, picking up Tolstoy’s pod and heading into the bed chamber. “I’ll ask her now.”

  As she slipped out of the room, hugging the small pod to her chest, she felt a warmth that she didn’t have a name for.

  Things are going to be okay. We’ve got this.

  14

  Leo

  Leo sank into the welcoming embrace of the warm water.

  His skin tingled, eager to shift, but he held back.

  He burst out of the water and slid his hands through his hair.

  He had been doing too much holding back lately - holding back from shifting, holding back from claiming his mate, holding back from showing her what he really was.

  But there was a child now, an innocent nestling who must be protected at all costs.

  Warmth burst in his chest at the thought of the small one.

  Mine…

  He knew it was nonsense. The child was not his. But he had formed a protective bond with it anyway, and now he was pulled like an anchor by the twin responsibilities toward the woman and the child.

  One wasn’t sure she wanted his love.

  The other wasn’t even aware of him.

  Leo pulled himself out of the water and dried off quickly, throwing on a pair of the first mate’s pants. They were made of a soft material that stretched easily, but he still felt confined - one more thing binding him.

  Rule number one: Keep them safe.

  Rule number two: See rule number one.

  The words of his guardian training echoed in his head, the answer to all professional dilemmas.

  It was probably pretty good advice for this personal dilemma. He needed to maintain iron control over his emotions to keep Anna and Tolstoy safe. When they reached the Stargazer there would be plenty of time to explore his feelings, claim his mate, and help her understand that the little one could not be sent to a museum.

  The idea made his blood boil and he had to think of something else, anything else.

  Instantly, Anna was in his mind.

  He could see her perfectly as she was last night - fiery hair spread out on the pillow, swollen lips, cries of abandon as he pleasured her.

  Leo had drawn on control he didn’t know he had just to restrain himself. Even now he was rigid at the thought of her. He could almost taste the sweetness in the crook of her neck where he longed to sink his teeth.

  “Leo, are you almost ready?” she called from the bedchamber.

  Yeah, he was almost ready, but for the wrong activity altogether.

  “Fuck,” he murmured.

  He held his towel in front of himself to hide his condition.

  Anna was sitting on the bed with the pod in her arms, looking at a hologram BFF19 had projected in the dim room.

  “This is it, she found it,” she told him excitedly.

  BFF19 made a low, modest sound.

  Leo bent and looked at the hologram.

  “There it is.” Anna pointed, and a spot on the three-dimensional map lit up, highlighting the ship’s comms center.

  “We’re here,” BFF19 said, illuminating a room on the opposite side. “It should be a simple matter to traverse the distance between the two points.”

  Simple.

  Somehow, Leo didn’t have quite the faith the little droid held.

  “Shall we?” he asked, placing a hand on her shoulder and relishing the electric sensation that passe
d between them.

  “Yes,” she said, turning to face him. “It seems almost too good to be true that we didn’t get a visit from that thing last night.”

  “Yeah, maybe it sleeps at night too,” he agreed, fighting back the guilty pang. He would tell her everything. Soon. “Let’s get out of here. I’ll carry the baby.”

  “No need,” Anna said excitedly. “I came up with something.”

  He watched as she unfolded her pack and slid the pod inside.

  Before he could protest she zipped open a panel and he saw that the pod was held firmly in place but the glass was exposed.

  Anna carefully put her pack on. The baby was revealed at her back.

  “He is your papoose,” Leo said, delighted. “Like in the picture books.”

  “Yes,” she agreed, looking pleased. “That’s what I was thinking.”

  “But if he gets heavy he will be my papoose,” Leo said.

  “He won’t get heavy,” she said. He loved her fiercely for the determined look she wore as she said it.

  BFF19 made a whirring sound and the hologram disappeared.

  “Shall I lead the way?” the little drone asked.

  “Sure,” Anna said. “Have at it.”

  Leo moved the furnishings he’d used to block the door and BFF19 sailed out of the chamber.

  “You’ll keep a lookout for anything suspicious?” he asked the drone.

  “My scanning protocol exceeds human reflexes in data analysis and reaction,” she said brightly.

  It would have to be good enough. If he brought up the rear Anna and the baby would be as safe as he could reasonably expect.

  He gestured for Anna to go first and she slipped past him, leaving him looking at little Tolstoy, sleeping hard in his little pod on her back.

  He hoped that nothing would happen to wake him up.

  They traversed the empty hallway, footsteps echoing. Funny how a single night in a luxurious bed chamber highlighted the industrial nature of the bottom of the ship. After the warmth, color and curves of last night, Leo felt as if he were being packed for shipment in the cold carbon rectangles of the corridor.

  When she reached the chutes, Anna waited for him.

  He wrapped an arm around her and they stepped onto the platform. BFF19 attached herself to Anna’s wrist and they flew upward. Anna’s hair streamed out behind her and she laughed, the sound like a waterfall. When they reached their destination her eyes were sparkling.

  “Okay?” he asked her.

  “Up is way better than down,” she said, dimples appearing on her cheeks.

  “This way,” BFF19 said as she sailed down a carpeted residential corridor.

  He sighed and gestured for Anna to follow. There would be plenty of time later to admire his mate’s dimples and soak in her happy smile.

  The halls seemed quieter now that they were together and trying not to speak.

  Leo suddenly wondered if there was really something else out there, or if this was all a farce.

  Am I trying to sneak under my own radar?

  The idea made him feel light-headed and he tried to focus his attention on his surroundings instead.

  “Here,” BFF19 cried.

  They had reached a metal utility door at the end of a hallway.

  Anna opened it and gasped.

  Beyond the door lights flashed in darkness and the sound of falling water drifted to them.

  Leo was by her side in half a heartbeat. They gazed at their path together.

  Metal stairs led from the threshold down into dark water.

  The lights above the stairs swung randomly with the sloshing in of still more water, which issued from cracks and bubbles in the ceiling.

  “My god,” Anna whispered.

  “It’s the water recycling units,” BFF19 said brightly. “The seals must be failing.”

  “Water recycling units?” Anna echoed.

  “They’re on the deck above this one,” BFF19 said.

  “How else can we get to the comms room?” Leo asked.

  “This is the only way to the area you want,” BFF19 said. “The comms array is accessible from the room on the other side of this hallway.”

  Leo looked into the inky water.

  “What’s on the other side?” he asked.

  “Another set of stairs up into the room,” BFF19 said.

  “How far from here?” Anna asked.

  Leo was horrified to hear the coolness of her tone.

  “Approximately twenty-five meters,” BFF19 said.

  “I can make that. Hold the baby,” Anna said calmly, turning to Leo as she removed her pack and shoes and stowed them in the hallway.

  “Like hell you can,” he roared. “Stay here. I’ll do it.”

  “You don’t know who you’re trying to reach, and you don’t know what to say to her,” Anna pointed out. “Besides, are you even a good swimmer?”

  Leo could be good at nearly everything. In two seconds he could be perfectly equipped to make that swim with his eyes shut. But he couldn’t tell her that. Not yet.

  “I’ll think of something to say to her,” he retorted. “And yes, I can swim.”

  “Mama isn’t fond of men,” Anna said. “I don’t think she would even pick up the transmission.”

  He could tell by her tone that she was telling the truth.

  Of course he had a solution to that problem too, but again not one he could tell her about.

  “I’m going,” Anna said.

  “Then I’m going with you,” he told her.

  She stared up at him, defiant and beautiful.

  “You’d better take him with you then,” BFF19 said, hovering over the pack where baby Tolstoy slept, his tiny fists balled up tightly.

  “We can’t take Tolstoy,” Anna retorted.

  “Well I certainly don’t know what to do with him,” BFF19 said. “And he’s the only one of you actually equipped for optimal aquatic life.”

  Leo observed the baby. The droid was correct - he was in a sealed pod. It did not matter to Tolstoy if he were submerged.

  “What if we get stuck over there?” Anna asked.

  “Oh now you’re aware that there’s a risk,” Leo bellowed.

  “As long as you find an air pocket he’s better off going with you,” BFF19 said. “You’re together and you have a shot at communicating. I can’t defend him if anything comes for him.”

  Anna nodded thoughtfully.

  “You can’t really be thinking of doing this,” Leo said. “Please tell me that you’re realizing it’s better to just let me go.”

  “No,” Anna said, shaking her head. “We should all go. And we should go now, before the water gets any deeper.”

  “The comms unit itself could be submerged,” BFF19 said crisply.

  “It’s a risk we’ll have to take,” Anna replied.

  Leo watched as his intrepid mate gathered the baby’s pod under one arm and began to descend the staircase.

  BFF19 dove through the air and folded herself into a triangle to fit onto Anna’s wristband as the water reached her waist level.

  Leo scrambled after her into the cold, murky water.

  15

  Anna

  Anna’s heart pounded so hard she could hear it in her ears.

  She was a good swimmer, better than good. The Tarker’s Hollow Swim Club was her only escape every summer, since her family couldn’t really afford vacations. She always felt right at home in the sparkling, chlorinated water.

  But this was something different. The water was freezing and murky. Who knew what might be in it? She was in up to her waist and already her blood had turned to ice.

  “You can change your mind,” Leo said. His deep voice had a pleading quality.

  “I’m fine,” she insisted, taking a breath and launching herself down the last few steps before she lost her nerve.

  Instantly, she was in over her head.

  She wanted to think about how that description perfectly summed up everything
that was going on in her life, but the water was so cold she wondered whether her heart would keep beating. It took all her concentration not to drop the pod.

  After a moment she kicked her way up.

  When her head emerged she looked around for Leo, but he was gone.

  He surfaced a second later, eyes wide.

  “It’s cold,” he said.

  She surprised herself with a laugh.

  The lights swung overhead and the water glittered in his hair. For a second it was like they were at a club getting ready to dance and invite each other home, like normal twenty-somethings.

  He smiled back at her and cold didn’t seem so bad anymore.

  Mate.

  He was her mate. There would be no clubbing. And they had a baby to save.

  “Let’s do this,” she said.

  “Let me hold him,” Leo said, indicating the baby.

  “Maybe on the way back,” she allowed.

  He looked like he wanted to protest, so she activated the light on her wristband, took a deep breath, and dove under the water again.

  She had swum the entire ninety feet of the Tarker’s Hollow Swim Club pool underwater many times. She generally came up for air twice, but she could do it with one breath in the middle. The other staircase should be no problem. So long as she kept her bearings and swam straight ahead, she would be okay.

  Even if she got there and had to turn back, she would be pushing it. But she thought she could make that. Probably. She wasn’t really sure how much the pod was going to slow her down.

  The light on her wrist wasn’t helping either. The water was so murky she could barely see anything, even with the light on as bright as it would go. She was practically swimming blind.

  At least the hallway was narrow. She couldn’t get into too much trouble by veering off course.

  Anna had just gotten into a good rhythm when something wrapped around her ankle.

  She kicked, but it was to no avail. Whatever had her wouldn’t let go.

  Panicking, she reached for her leg with her wrist, trying to discover what held her fast.

  Could there be an animal in here? Some kind of alien, looking for a meal?