Halo by Viola Grace Read Free Book Online Page B

hiding in the lav for the next eighteen hours, but the idea of the tiny space was worse than facing Utolian at close quarters. She stood through a solar shower and crept back into the quarantine area just in time to see Reset enter with her ubiquitous tray.
    Reset had her navy hair in a braid today, and she slung it back over one shoulder. “Morning, Avina. How have you been doing?”
    “I just woke up.”
    Avina was less than gratified when Reset looked nervous. Apparently, her morning temper was legendary. She took the tube and exhaled into it while Reset used the hypo.
    Her physician checked the readout and smiled. “You are clear. I am keeping you here for the remainder of the day, though. Just to be on the safe side.”
    There was a sly look on Reset’s features. Avina grimaced. “What are you up to?”
    “Oh, nothing. The Citadel is demanding your return and the Sector Guard is pushing a requisition for your services through. The Citadel may think it is good at paperwork, but they have nothing on Relay.”
    “You mean they are fighting over Utolian.” Avina was confused.
    “No, it is your services they are after. He won’t work for us without you and that is a price we are willing to accept.” Reset shrugged, took the tray and headed for the door.
    “So, you are keeping me here…”
    “Because, if you return to the Citadel, they will dispatch you on a mission, and we will have to wait for you to return. With the Citadel knowing what we are up to, it is unlikely that will happen anytime soon.”
    Reset whisked her way out of the room a moment before Avina got to the point where she had been standing. Her fists thudded against the protective curtain over the glass.
    Her pacing was brought to a halt when two arms came around her.
    “Is life as my partner so bad?” His lips were next to her ear and her back was against his chest.
    “You could have asked.” It was a sullen mumble, and she knew it.
    “You have pulled me out, put me through my paces and stuffed me back in that box for years. I think I am entitled to a few demands.” His arms were around her in a warming hug.
    She started to relax against him before she remembered the histories she had read. “What about when you go on to your next fascination? I have read up on your habits, and while I am sure that some are exaggerated, there is a grain of truth in all of them.”
    “My past was another body. This one has been created for you and only you. No other being has touched it aside from the medical team.”
    Avina blinked and settled against him. “It doesn’t make this easier. I am not someone to be given away.”
    He turned her in his arms. “You aren’t being given, I am being bribed and you are the only thing I want. You were already under contract to the Citadel, now you will be transferred to the Sector Guard.”
    “Why can’t you transfer to the Citadel?”
    “Because to them, I am an object to study; to the Sector Guard, I can be an asset, an agent.”
    His eyes were the same solid black they had been when he was an aura, but she could read the emotion in them. He was eager for something new and very calm about his status. He knew what was waiting for him if he left the Guard base.
    She sighed and pressed her forehead to his chest. “Will you hold me until they let me out of here?”
    “It would give me the greatest pleasure.”
    She laughed, “You have been in that orb for a long time.”
    He stroked a hand down her back and patted her butt. “I still remember the basics.”
    Avina leaned back. “Oh, honey, I am far from basic.”

Chapter Eight
     
     
    Aura and Speaker were shown to their on-base housing the moment that Reset lifted the quarantine.
    Speaker kept running her hands over her new uniform. “Does this pattern make my butt look big?”
    “No more than mine does. I like it. It is very comfortable. That bodysuit you gave me was a little tight.”
    Speaker laughed. “It wasn’t designed for your dimensions. You