HeartbeatofSilence Read Online Free Page B

remembered, and she was showing quite a bit more cleavage than she first thought.
    She slipped on the boots and looked at herself in the lav mirror. “Not bad. Not great but not bad.”
    Veera walked back into her bedroom, and Stanik was dressed in tight black pants, black boots and a brilliant blue shirt.
    He offered her his arm, and they left the safety of their quarters. She felt Priina and Rhanos playing their games off in the forest again, but this time, a much more sensual theme was in both their minds.
    A hot blush filled Veera’s cheeks. “Are all Lyrans so…” She couldn’t finish that sentence.
    “So tall?” He raised his eyebrows.
    “So fixated on mating.” The blurt was as direct as she could manage.
    He gave her a grave look. “It is in the nature of all living beings to want to carry on their bloodlines. The Lyrans hover on the edge of becoming a stable population, so yes, we are very fixated on mating.”
    She gave a light cough. “Good to know.”
     
     
     
     

Chapter Five
     
     
    The garden was neat and well-tended. The plants were in the phase of anchoring themselves to the soil, but they were still lovely.
    The wind of Balen tugged at her hair, and she lifted her chin to the light breeze.
    Stanik took a seat on one of the benches and gestured for her to sit next to him.
    Veera sat and looked him in the eye, waiting for the next request.
    “I want you to form a bubble around your mind.”
    “I have tried that before.”
    “I know, but now, you have my skills to draw on. So, put a bubble around your mind.”
    She tried, she really did try, but her mind would simply not be happy being contained. After a frustrating hour that brought her to tears, Stanik put his hands on her shoulders.
    “Don’t worry about it, Veera. Not every mind is designed to work the same. Yours is definitely one of a kind.”
    She chuckled and wiped at her cheeks. “What then?”
    “You can connect to me easily now, right?”
    She nodded. “Yes.”
    “Then, imagine a tunnel that runs from your mind to mine, a private tunnel that no one can see through. Send me images from your childhood through that tunnel.”
    She inhaled and tried. At first, it was weak, and her pressure on the connection caused it to bulge and flare. She continued, sending him images of family events, performances, funny fruit she saw in interstellar bazaars.
    After a while, he sent her images of running through forests, wrestling with other boys his age, a woman who must have been his mother helping him with his homework while his father made dinner.
    She took those images and held them, protected them as all good memories should be protected. When she focused enough to look through her own eyes, he was smiling, and they were a connected circuit with no outside influence leaking in.
    “You did it, Veera. Your mind is overflowing into mine, but your sensory net is not going any further. You have contained yourself for the first time. Congratulations.”
    She laughed and threw her arms around his neck. “Thank you!”
    He wrapped his arms around her waist, and she heard as well as felt him inhale sharply at the curve of her neck.
    She shivered and slowly let him go, sliding her hands to his shoulders before resuming her seat on the bench.
    She didn’t apologize. She couldn’t. The look in his eyes was heated, and he moved forward half an inch before he paused. She read it in his thoughts. He couldn’t make the first move physically. It would be a breach of link etiquette.
    He wanted her, she definitely could tell. They were already in the most intimate relationship she had ever had. To take it further might just break her tenuous control.
    She licked her lips, and a muscle in his jaw flexed. “What comes next?”
    He looked to the sun, and he sighed. “I think we will call it a day. We are losing daylight, and tomorrow morning would be a better place to start with any new training. You have done enough for today.”
    Veera nodded.