8. Astrid

8

ASTRID

I'd been here before.

This place looked nothing like Nebula Outpost. People were bustling like they had some place to be, and the number of shops and restaurants dwarfed the options I was getting used to.

"Flight 05-93-402-A to the Nebula Mining Colony is delayed. Updates will be sent to your communication device and will be posted on boards across the station. We appreciate your understanding." The voice on the intercom was a blast from the past.

I was on Honora Station on my trip to Nebula. How could I forget?

It was a hazy mix of dream and memory, this day blotted out by the tragedy that would happen only a few months later. But it had been a good one. I remembered that.

I started moving without thinking about it, heading away from the gate, following the flow of bodies to the main part of the station. There was somewhere I had to be. Someone I had to see.

But that was strange. I didn't know anyone on Honora Station. This was just another stopover in a life of stopovers.

I felt a tug on my chest and glanced down, but there was nothing there, the sensation a phantom conjured up by my mind. Still, I followed it. What else was I supposed to do?

And there he was.

Oh.

Right.

He was taller than me, and teal, with dark spots covering his arms like some strange tattoo or animal's spots. His dark hair was cut short, and he carried himself like he was the king of the world.

Then he looked at me and smiled.

My heart rate kicked up as something like recognition lit me up from inside. I could have sworn I knew this guy, but I'd never seen anyone like him.

He sauntered up to me, the confidence slipping to something almost like wonder. Just from looking at me.

If I didn't say something, I was going to do something crazy with my mouth. And I couldn't just launch myself at this stranger and start kissing him, could I? What was going on? Since when did I have this need ?

"Good evening," I said, searching for anything and landing on the most asinine. "Or morning? What time is it? I'm sorry. I've been traveling for a week." I hadn't paid attention to the clocks, and each space station had a different time zone. It was hard to keep track when you were bouncing from place to place too fast for your sleep cycle to catch up.

"What time do you want it to be?" He was still looking at me with that open wonder, and his hand twitched as if he might reach out and touch me.

I wanted that.

I swallowed hard. "Are you the welcoming committee? Because this is stranger than any port I've landed at so far." Did that sound like an insult? What was I even trying to say? "Good, though. I think. Do I know you?" There was this nagging sensation in the back of my mind that I had to. Of course I knew … this guy. I'd just been waiting to meet him.

"You will." He held out his hand. "Let me show you around the place."

My flight could be rescheduled for any moment, and if I missed it, I'd be out an incredibly lucrative job. "I have to …" But I didn't want to miss out on whatever this was. "I don't even know your name."

"I'm Zyrus. I can call my friend Kyric if you need a reference." His eyebrows drooped for a second, a funny look on his face, but it cleared. "What's your name?"

"Astrid."

I went with him.

I knew this was real, and I knew it was a dream. Half memory, half something else entirely.

And that's when it started to get hazy around the edges. Because Zyrus didn't lead me up to a rented room. He didn't smile and quirk that eyebrow when we kissed.

But we took the lift up to the penthouse, as if space stations had penthouses, our hands linked.

Then we were in a room mostly made up of a bed, and all I could focus on was him. He wrapped his arms around me, lips trailing over my neck as he spoke. "I've waited forever for you."

I wanted to say it back, but I didn't know why. In the dream, I'd only known him for moments. This wasn't real.

But my body was heavy with need. Heat pooled in my core, and Zyrus's hands wandered over my skin like he couldn't touch enough of me.

My clothes melted away, and Zyrus's hands were on me, teasing, caressing. I stopped worrying about what was real or not. All I knew was pleasure.

He pushed me back on the bed and crawled up my body, lips meeting mine in a kiss that was fire and lightning all rolled into one. His tongue traced my bottom lip, and I arched up, wanting more.

Zyrus trailed kisses down my neck, his lips hot and perfect. I tangled my hands in his hair and held him to me, needing him. I was on fire with need, every sensation piling up until it was hard to think about anything but him.

His lips trailed lower, sucking at my nipple until I cried out, pleasure racing through me.

"Zyrus." I needed him, all of him. Now.

But he took his time, kissing down my belly and spreading my legs. His tongue flicked over my sex, and I arched up, crying out.

How could he know how to perfectly touch me like this? How could this moment be everything I needed?

It didn't matter.

He teased me, licking and sucking until I was nearly insane with need. I could go insane with this kind of want.

Then his fingers replaced his tongue, and the strokes filled me up, spreading me wide as I whimpered and clutched at him.

"Please," I begged. I needed him.

"Soon, denya."

That word. It meant something. I'd heard it before, I knew that. I must have. It echoed around in my mind, and I should ask him. But I was strung tight, ready to snap, and it would only take one more brush of his hand for me to explode with pleasure.

Then Zyrus was over me, his cock teasing my entrance as he looked down at me with eyes that glowed red.

A loudspeaker broke through the fantasy. "Flight 05-93-402-A to the Nebula Mining Colony is preparing to leave. Passengers must report to Gate 137 immediately to ensure that we do not lose our departure window."

In a blink and without a thought, I was dressed again, suddenly in the middle of a hallway and fleeing something I couldn't comprehend. And then I was seated on a ship, buckled in and headed for my future.

Leaving my destiny behind.

My eyes snapped open, and I was disoriented for only a moment, but this was real. Nebula Outpost.

Zyrus.

He wasn't in the room. Already, the dream was starting to slip away, but I grabbed hold tight and reached for my comm, trying to write down anything I remembered.

We'd met that day on Honora Station. We'd kissed.

How could I forget?

Eleven years was a long time, especially when so many of them had been dedicated to eking out a survival on a planet completely indifferent to me and my people.

But there was something important to that meeting with Zyrus, something that had left its mark on both of us. What had changed him from that smiling, flirtatious young man to the serious, cold ex-soldier he was today? Who had hurt him?

If I wanted to know, I'd need to figure out what it all meant. I just didn't know if I was ready to face it.