Destin's Hold (The Alliance #5)(3)

His hand fell to his side when he reached the opening leading to the small cove. Out of habit, he glanced around to make sure the area was secure, then walked over to a large boulder protruding from the sand. He tossed his sweat-dampened shirt onto it, and pushed his jogging pants down. He stepped out of his pants and shook the loose sand off before he placed them on the boulder next to his shirt. Afraid he might lose the medallion he wore, he slipped it over his head and slid it into the pocket of his pants. His hand ran along the waistband of the jockey shorts he wore, but he kept them on. Life had taught him to never get caught with his pants down. You never knew when you might have to fight, and doing it in the buff could be a little distracting.

Destin walked to the edge of the water and stood looking outward. The gentle waves rolled over his feet and he curled his toes into the wet sand. A smile curved his lips and he slowly walked forward until he was waist deep. Drawing in a deep breath, he dove under the incoming wave, enjoying the refreshing feel of the water as it washed the sweat from his skin and cooled his heated flesh.

His arms swept out in front of him and his legs moved in strong, powerful kicks. The water was crystal clear and he could see the ripples in the white sand along the bottom. He swam as far as he could before his lungs burned and he was forced to surface for a breath of air. He turned onto his back and floated, lost in thought. The peacefulness of the moment, combined with the beauty and freedom of just watching the clouds, pulled the last of the tension he had woken with out of his body. For a little while, he was alone in the universe with nothing else to worry about.



* * *



..*





* * *



Jersula Ikera stomped across the soft sand in a foul mood. The thin, dark blue silk cover she wore clung to her lithe body and floated behind her. If anyone saw her from a distance, she would look like she was floating across the powdery white crystals that made up the sandy beach.

Her long white hair was unbound and blew around her. Her icy blue eyes flashed with an uncharacteristic fire and her pale blue lips were pressed into a firm line of irritation. She had come down to the beach to escape for a while, just until she could find her center and restore the calm mask she relied on to interact with others.

A swift glance up and down the beach showed it was deserted. Jersula – Sula to her family and her few close friends – breathed a sigh of relief. She could mull over the orders she had received early this morning in private. They were distressing, but she knew she needed to release some of the anger she was feeling if she wanted to get through the day without making a mistake that could devastate her career.

“Why? Why am I being sent to that horrible place again? Wasn’t once enough? Who could I have angered so much that they would send me there again?” she muttered under her breath.

Her mind flashed to the dozens of people that could have been responsible. She knew her icy reserve and sometimes blunt attitude had angered certain members of the Usoleum Council, but she had always been right in her assessments! It wasn’t her fault that most of the political members of the council were sweet, confused people who couldn’t think their way out of a wormhole.

Sula glanced back at her transport to see how far she had gone along the beach. Not far; it seemed that stomping wasn’t the fastest way to travel.

The small transport glinted in the sunlight. It had been given to her when she arrived on Rathon six weeks ago. She had hoped to be appointed the new ambassador between her people and the Trivators. That hope had been brutally crushed when her new orders had arrived this morning before dawn.

“No, I have to return to that horrible, war-torn excuse for a planet brimming with savages! Those uncultured, hostile, brutal beasts, who were ignorant of any life forms outside of Earth until a few years ago! They haven’t even mastered space travel,” she snarled under her breath in frustration before her footsteps slowed and she blinked back tears of annoyance. “That is what they are… ignorant beasts!”

Her anger boiled when she thought of her previous visit. The last time she had been to the primitive planet called Earth, her assignment had been to assess the situation left by the previous ambassador who had been killed, and it had been impossible to do anything when she had received no support from the Trivators or the humans.

At the time, she had been forced to wait two weeks before the Trivators would even allow her access to Councilor Badrick’s starship. By the time she had finally been allowed to board, the previous crew had already been recalled, a new crew assigned, and all of Councilor Badrick’s reports and personal files had vanished. The only things Sula had been left with were a clueless crew, a Trivator named Cutter who had regarded her with suspicion, and a human male who had dismissed her with a look of contempt during their one and only meeting! It wasn’t until much later that she unraveled the reasons behind the Trivator’s and the human’s animosity. Unable to blink back the tears of frustration this time, she lifted an impatient hand and brushed them away.

Sula had reported her initial findings on Badrick back to the Council and her father, and within weeks of arriving on Earth, she had been recalled to her home world, Usoleum. Believing she was being groomed to take over the Ambassador’s position at the Alliance Headquarters, she had worked day and night on a variety of issues, but it had all been for naught. She had discovered a hidden cache of Badrick’s files, and shortly after reporting the discovery, she had been reassigned to Rathon. Here, she was to work with the Trivators to wring every bit of information possible from those files, and to strengthen Usoleum’s relationship with the Trivators after the damage wrought by Badrick’s unconscionable behavior – a behavior that had mortified her family.