They didn’t try to stop me, and I didn’t try to fire the rifle at them. Moments later, I skidded into the med bay of theViduand came to a stop, orienting myself. Left, cabinet, yellow. Yurel, the nasty doctor, was nowhere to be seen, so I crunched across the deck’s sticky surface in a hurry. Too many options were yellow in the cabinet, so I swiped one of each, as well as an injector. Flack could read the labels, and I wasn’t taking any chances.
“What the fuck are you doing in here?” a male voice snarled from behind me. My heart rate instantly leaped into my throat, but it had already been pounding furiously; it hardly made me feel worse. Yurel, he was here after all. Rising from some dark corner to try and inflict maximum damage on his patient. Evidence of his most recent surgery still splattered the walls, cot, and floor. A jar sat askew on a tray by the bed, water dripping from it, and a damaged eyeball floating inside. Xathena’s damaged eye.
He’d been the most terrifying specter of all on this ship. Perhaps at first simply because he was one of those aliens with a mask like a skull marking his face. As if I were staring death right in the eye, and those eyes glowed a macabre red. Part of it might also be because his language was so similar to English, and it was eerie to hear an alien swear with “fuck.”
He stood directly in my path, appearing unarmed, but clearly not intimidated by the laser rifle hanging by its strap from my shoulder. His head was cocked, and his posture relaxed, as if he was also completely unaware of the enemy ship beyond the hull, or that theViduhad just been fired on. I definitely wanted to cower in front of him, and my eyes darted over the walls as I contemplated my quickest exit. Through him was the only answer; anything else would take too long, and I was painfully aware of the time already ticking away.
We shouldn’t have placed the bombs, as good as that had felt. I was racing against a clock of our own making now. Flack needed me. I lifted my chin and gave Yurel a glare. “I’m getting the drugs that will allow Flack to shift again.” My hands were full of vials, so full I couldn’t even reach for the rifle.
Yurel dropped his eerie gaze to them, turned to a cabinet by the door I hadn’t even seen yet, and retrieved another vial of yellow liquid. “Then you’ll need this one. Jumping ship? Smart. This one is about to blow.” He placed the vial on the floor by the door, began whistling a jaunty but slightly creepy tune, and walked past me like he hadn’t a care in the world. He picked up a satchel from a cabinet, passed the jar with the eyeball and picked it up too, and then walked back out.
I lost several precious seconds staring after him, but then I darted for the vial, pocketed it and the others, and began running. As fast as I could, my bare feet slapping against the deck. I held the rifle in one hand, the other in my pocket to make sure the vials didn’t fly out or break. Had Yurel actually given me the right one? He had no reason to do that, did he? Could I trust it? On the other hand, he didn’t have much reason to lie, either. With the ship about to be boarded by Jalima’s crew… He mightbe jumping ship himself, heading for an escape pod somewhere. The tune of his whistling was stuck in my head, reminding me of his very casual attitude after the ship had just been shot at.
Flack was exactly where I’d left him, pinned to the deck by that beam, and furious that I hadn’t done what he wanted. “Irena!” He hadn’t been idle, though, and that had cost him. Blood smeared the deck by his legs, which meant that odd black armor he wore had gotten damaged. He’d managed to curl back and stack other debris beneath the beam, however, preventing it from collapsing when he shifted to a smaller form. That way, it couldn’t crush his smaller body when he changed. Good.
I crashed to my knees at his side, heedless of the pain it jarred up my thighs. The rifle dropped carelessly to the ground next to me so I could use both hands to yank out the injector and the vials. Flack didn’t comment, just pointed at one, and I rushed to load it and press the injector to his throat. It wasn’t until after I’d given him the shot that I realized he’d pulled out the one vial Yurel had given me. Son of a bitch, he’d actually helped? That butcher of a doctor had actually gotten it right?
I held my breath as we waited for the drugs to take effect. “Almost,” Flack said. “Get the pod ready.” I didn’t believe him. It’s a weird sensation when your hope comes crashing down into despair—like something snapped inside my head, and then it was just too much. I’d seesawed so wildly between feelings, victory, defeat, my body had just had enough. Numb, I rose on shaky legs and shook my head, lips trembling, tears swimming across my vision. Everything was blurry when I stumbled toward the escape pods, hands icy despite theVidu’salways unpleasantly humid heat. The hatch opened with a creak, thepod beyond dark and absolutely tiny. Designed to fit one person and emergency supplies, not much else.
I hesitated by the door, certain that if I looked over my shoulder, that would be the last I’d see of Flack. Could I really do it? Step into that pod and abandon him. No, I was certain now. My feet turned, and I was already moving back to him. Flack was still pinned by the debris, several dozen feet away from me and still struggling to shift. It was then I recalled that he couldn’t shift when injured, either, and he wasveryinjured. It wasn’t just the drugs keeping him from freeing himself.
He rose on his elbows, blue eyes flashing at me, his mouth a grimace. He was trying; I could see that. Every inch of him strained to make the change happen. Our gazes locked; he saw me coming, and then those magnificent eyes went wide with horror. The transformation followed in a rush, his body changing with a ripple, shrinking, and then he was free.
The burning pain burst across my senses a moment later. I didn’t know what happened, just that my shoulder was suddenly on fire. I stumbled, and then Flack was there, catching me in his arms and hauling me to safety. Over his shoulder, I had one last look at the hallway and discovered Xathena barreling down toward us with fury written all over her face. Behind her, something much more terrifying: a person in black armor, moving lightning-fast and firing rapidly. Had I been shot?
Chapter 24
Flack
First aid was not my strong suit, but luckily I knew everything about supplies. As I caught my collapsing mate in my arms, I pushed for one last surge of strength and dragged both of us into the escape pod. With the flick of a button, I started the launch procedure, and my hands were already flying to do other things. I yanked out the first aid kit that came standard with the pod and located both the pain relief and the plas film bandages to cover Irena’s wound.
“It’s not bad!” I crooned to her, cradling her in my lap as I bent over the injury. “It really isn’t bad!” I tried again, though I suspected she had to be in absolute agony. Seeing her get shot had made me fear the worst, but the laser had only grazed her shoulder. I wasn’t sure whether it had been Xathena or the death squad killer sent by Jalima who had fired the shot. Either way, they were both about to be dead.
Our escape pod jettisoned from the ship with force, rattling it and forcing us back into the inadequately shaped seat. I held onto Irena so she would not get injured any further. Forces pulled at us, making my fractured ribs creak and ache in a very unhealthy manner. Moments later, another shock wave rocked our tiny pod, and the lights inside it flickered and went out. Plunged into darkness, I heard only the frantic pounding of our hearts and the soft beeping of a system sounding an alert.
“TheVidumust have blown. That shockwave was much bigger than I expected,” I groaned through the pain. I’d dropped thebandage and injector, but there was just enough light coming from one small panel blinking with warnings to see by. I located the injector first and hurried to press it to her skin. It hissed, and almost instantly, she began to soften in my arms, relief flooding her system. “That’s better, isn’t it, sweetheart?”
I bandaged her wound, forced to rip the sleeve entirely off her dress to do so. Neither of us cared about the tattered, once-white dress anyway. “Thank you,” she said, a tremble still in her tone. “Is there more?” She couldn’t see in the dark, not like I could, but she was tilting her head in the right direction, toward the med kit.
“Is it still hurting?” I asked, worry spiking again. I wasn’t sure now, but it hadn’t looked deep. Had she been hit elsewhere too? My hands began a frantic search for more injuries, and the pain of my own got shoved further to the back of my mind. Her spine, the curve of her hip, her belly, and the lovely globes of her breasts. Nothing, but she squirmed as if I’d tickled her, shifting on my leg, and a lance of agony shot down my shin. Right, I’d broken the damn left leg, badly, too. That, and my ribs, had gotten me stuck, unable to shift, until I’d seen Xathena and that assassin and feared for Irena’s life.
I shouldn’t have been able to shift, not to mention run, but when I’d seen the danger to her, everything had been shoved to the back of my mind. I’d known only one purpose in that fraction of a moment: move and protect her, and I had. Now I was just as frantic to heal her wounds, but I was certain she’d only been struck on the shoulder.
“For you, Flack,” she said. “Aren’t you in terrible pain? I know your ribs hurt, and you must be bleeding from your leg. Whatcan I do to help?” Her hands slid along my chest, very gently touching me in a search similar to my own. She was very careful as she twisted in my lap, too, but it still made my leg feel like it was on fire.
Gritting my teeth, I forced out a joke instead. “I gave you everything, so you’ll just have to find another way to distract me from the pain.” I hoped theVarakartoomwasn’t too far out, but at least we were relatively safe in here. TheViduhad blown up, at least, that’s what it had felt like, so that took Xathena completely out of the equation. There was only the other ship, if it had survived the explosion. Not much either of us could do about that, not while adrift in a pod we couldn’t steer.
I couldn’t see enough of my mate’s expression, but I knew she was scowling at me. At least the pain drugs were making her a little more relaxed, and it seemed, also, more smiley. The frown did not last long, and then she cupped my chin and actually kissed me. I hadn’t expected that, and I certainly hadn’t expected it to help as much as it did. With her mouth on mine, it was like the rest of the world just faded away, though. I could focus on her taste, her nearness, the scent of her, and get so lost that the pain was barely a memory.
I didn’t know how long we clung to each other like that, my hands roaming, our mouths clinging. Long enough that I’d forgotten the pain in my leg and gotten a serious ache in my cock instead. If she hadn’t been injured herself, I would have wanted her to ride me. A perfect way to pass the time while we waited for my ship to show up.
“I feel a little faint,” Irena muttered, but she seemed more interested in kissing me than talking. That should have alarmedme, but I couldn’t bring myself to feel it. I was in no pain now, but I was beginning to experience a floating feeling of euphoria myself. Then came a thud, loud and jarring, and pain lanced through my leg, bringing me back to the present. Blast, that hurt—but worse, we were going hypoxic, the thinning oxygen in the air getting to us. Either the pod had sprung a micro-leak, or the air scrubbers were broken. Both options were equally likely, given the sorry state much of theViduwas in.
My mate kissed me again, and I forgot what I was thinking. What did it matter anyway? I had her, and we were safe. “Flack, are you in there?” That safe bubble burst with a very distant voice reaching me. I lifted my head, breathed deeply, and my mind felt clearer. The voice came again, and then a buzzing, grinding noise. I winced at the painfully sharp sound, but when light suddenly pierced our dark little pod, I did not protect my ears. I tugged Irena more tightly against my chest instead, shielding her eyes from the sudden brightness.
“Ah, thank the stars!” I recognized that voice. “We’ve got him, Cap. Drav, you get your butt in here!” Ysa was always so informal, and yet the captain let her get away with it. Even polite, uptight Dravion did not correct her on the strange way she’d shortened his name. We were safe. This time, we reallyhadmade it.
Being brought to med bay after they extracted us from the pod was a bit of a blur to me. I might have been more injured than I’d realized, and when Dravion pumped me full of meds, I’d gone even more euphoric than the lack of oxygen had caused. Then I might have even passed out.
