Kicking Ashe by Pauline Baird Jones

Author:Pauline Baird Jones [Jones, Pauline Baird]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Sci Fi
Publisher: L&L Dreamspell
Published: 2012-02-22T05:00:00+00:00

FIVE

Shan stared through the abruptly transparent wall of the tent, looked into a world that felt like home, though it did not look quite right. It could not be real, but it felt real. It looked real. Did he imagine the smell of fuel, the sound of an in-atmosphere craft passing over? See its shadow track across the street? Not just any street. It appeared to be the main thoroughfare in Keltinar Prime. The familiar tall buildings lined each side, told him his eyes did not deceive, but the colors were brighter and more varied than would be allowed. Ground transport was more diverse, too and along the sides, people walked, a mix of men, women and children all mingling together. What struck him the hardest was their aspect, a lightness of being, their lack of fear in the way they moved and chatted in groups.

This was how it should be. He felt this in his core. Took a half step toward it, despite the rumble of the ground under foot that made moving difficult, but the tremor subsided abruptly, as if in reprimand. The sides of tent turned solid, shutting him off from that place, from—why did he feel loss? That was not his place, his life. The sharp pain in his chest was no more real than that Keltinar. But if that was not real, why did the smells linger in the air of the tent? Why could he taste fuel and sun and freedom?

“That was…interesting.”

He spun to look at her, felt shock go through him like an energy beam. The slender, curved shape of her body. The tangle of multi-colored hair. Eyes so green, so wide he could fall into them. The shape of her mouth—want built inside him, but not just want. Tenderness was there, too. And joy. Had he ever felt joy?

The controls were gone. Not just turned down or off, they were gone from his body as if they’d never been there. He remembered what they felt like, realized now how they dimmed the way he looked at Ashe, at the world. They inhibited more than the sex drive. Took the edge off some emotion while boosting aggression and battle instincts. He thought she breached the controls, but she hadn’t breeched them. She’d only dented them. Free now, he felt other things stirring deep in his memory. Like waking from a long, dim dream to light and—what? His mind shied from knowledge. He wasn’t ready. Not yet. Not while she watched him. His hand went to his weapon, felt its reassuring chill as his hand curled around it. He took a deep breath but now his body inhaled her scents. Reminded him of the Perisis in his mother’s garden—

“My mother didn’t have a garden.” There were farms, but no gardens. Gardens were a waste of land, a frivolity they could not afford.

Ashe’s brows rose slowly. “I’m…sorry.” Her head tilted to one side, her gaze sliding up and down his body, leaving trails of heat and longing.

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