Page 10 of When Dragons Play

The transport ship dropped as if Timber had tied a weight to its belly. Rumor felt his butt lift off the seat as he went weightless for a few seconds before slamming back into the metal seat with enough force to shake a few of his teeth loose.

He pressed the release on the harness as soon as the skids touched the ground and jumped out. He raced over to Laser and Cameo, gingerly sliding his arm around Cameo’s waist to relieve the strain. Between the two of them, they practically carried Cameo to the transport.

Cameo’s face was white and he was shaking by the time they got him loaded and strapped down. Laser took over the swing arm and was firing as more than a dozen sky bikes raced toward them. Rumor pulled the med kit he had found hanging on the wall closer and pulled an injector out of it.

“Get us out of here, Timber,” Laser yelled.

“You got it, Commander,” Timber replied.

Rumor would have flown upward if Cameo hadn’t reached out and wrapped his hand around his arm. Even half-dead the other man was stronger than he looked. Rumor grinned when he noticed that Cameo had his other arm around the cylinder.

“You are one tough son-of-a-dragon,” he murmured, his voice rough with admiration, before pressing the injector against Cameo’s neck and depressing the button.

“I hope this⁠—”

Cameo’s voice cut off as the powerful pain medication knocked him out. Rumor tossed the used injector aside and fumbled for the portable re-gen screen. The damn stuff in the kit had expired more than a decade before, but neither he nor Cameo had the luxury of complaining. He was still shocked there had been one on board.

He hooked the portable regen tent up over Cameo and programmed it to scan for the damage and begin the repair. He gripped Cameo’s hand, hoping what he was doing wasn’t too late. Cameo’s breathing was so shallow that he had to watch the scanner to make sure the other man was still alive.

The door behind him closed, and Laser stepped up behind him. He looked up when Laser laid his hand on his shoulder. He nodded at the silent question in Laser’s eyes.

“We need you to help get us out of here,” Laser said.

“Watch over him. I’ve grown attached to him,” Rumor replied, a slight flush rising in his cheeks before he glanced away.

He was thankful when Laser didn’t push him about what he meant as he rose and retreated to the front to help Timber. He slid into the co-pilot seat and pulled up the screen. They were exiting the atmosphere of the moon. His fingers flew over the engines’ controls, noting they were capable of completing a light jump, and opened communications with the V’ager and evac teams.

“V’ager, please be advised that we are coming in hot in a Marastin Dow troop transport with hostiles on our tail,” he said.

“Confirm ship identification,” the V’ager communication’s officer requested.

Rumor sent the information through. The last thing he wanted was to get blown up by his own ship. He passed the light jump over to Timber who took over.

“V8583, confirm you have the package secured,” Kelan Reykill asked.

“Package is secure, Lord Kelan,” Rumor confirmed.

“Good job, team. We’ll see you on the other side of the jump,” Kelan said.

“Yes, sir.” Rumor hesitated before he made his request. “Sir, Cameo is in bad shape. I would like to request a med crew ready when we arrive.”

“Affirmative. Bring him home,” Kelan replied.

“Yes, sir.”

Rumor’s throat tightened as the vessel shuddered at the strain of being pushed into the light jump. Stars blurred, becoming individual streams of light as they cut through a vast distance of space in seconds. He double-checked the vessel’s trajectory. The last thing he wanted to do was jump them into a star or end up inside a black hole.

His mind kept returning to Cameo’s pale features and labored breathing. His thoughts also returned to the stunning realization he had made months ago, but refused to admit until now. He was in love—with Cameo.

He didn’t know if the other warrior felt the same way about him. He knew they loved to hang out and they could talk for hours. Their dragons were always picking on each other and their symbiots—a shudder ran through him when he remembered how he had to pull his symbiot back into his room by the end of the evening.

He thought about the playful kiss Cameo had given him when they lost the first round of tag. Timber had ducked and playfully punched at Cameo in the shoulder while Laser had threatened to disembowel him if he tried to kiss him. He had good-naturedly taken the kiss, on the lips, and hadn’t wanted it to end.

“We’ll be coming out of the jump in a half-hour. It looks like we lost the purple dudes,” Timber said.

“If you are good, I’ll go check on Cameo,” he said.

Timber shot him a funny look before he nodded. “Yeah, I got this. We gotta take care of our family now that we have one.”