She scowls at him in mock disgust.
“Please?” he asks.
Esrynne closes her eyes, sniffs the air, and opens them, exposing predatory slits. “Let me get the fuck out of here first.”
I covertly draw the claw blade from my boot and slip it in to her hand.
Esrynne looks over at it and smiles when she notices the blood. “You used it.”
“To help save Zorin.”
The admiration on her face makes me feel like I might just fit in with their pack someday. “Proud of you.”
“Get some rest.” I slip away from her to check on Rorsar, who is two beds down from hers, while Zorin turns to answer a call on his earcom.
Rorsar is conscious now and has an illuminated device over the injury on his head. I take his hand, curious where he’s at in his headspace.
He gives it a squeeze and lets go to scratch a bandage. “I’m fine, except for these horrid things.”
Zorin chuckles as he passes us. “Bandages?”
“Ugh.” Rorsar wrinkles his nose.
I frown at him until I see the way he looks up at his Isonian nurse.
“I prefer boosters instead,” he says like he’s drunk.
His nurse, a radiant woman with white-gold hair, draws an injector from her pocket, flicks off the cap, and jabs it into his neck. Rorsar sucks air in through his teeth and hums a note of lust. “That’s it.”
Rorsar is definitely in love.
She checks his eyes with a pen light and lingers over him as they quietly talk.
I hope my bond with Zorin will make it easier for Isonians and Shifters to find a way to be together. They have thetechnology to make it possible. And I think now, Viriden sees how strong we can be when we work together.
And working together might lead to other things.
I hope Rorsar finds peace with her.
Zorin releases his earcom and meets me in the middle of the floor. “Azrim went to our quarters to shower. Are you ready for a day off?”
“Hell yes.”
Zorin leads me through the hallways to a wing of residences. He stops outside a door, and it opens for him. “Biometrics everywhere.”
Inside, I find a gold-trimmed fireplace, a white open-air kitchen with a long island, and two large sofas around a holoscreen along with a view of the stars. Radar is already curled up on a sofa. Sounds of water spray echo through a cracked doorway down the hall. I can hear Rhysan’s yips through the opening.
Zorin picks me up, sits down on a sofa and nestles me into his lap. “All I want to do right now is sleep.”
“In Shifter form?” I ask.
He smiles, shifts, and stretches out on the sofa.
I lie down with him, curl myself into his soft fur and stroke his coat. After all the fighting, I know I’m going to have a rough night’s sleep. “Do Shifters dream when they sleep?”
He makes a mouthy noise I interpret as a yes.
“What do you dream about?”
