Page 6 of When Dragons Play

He shook his head at her encouragement. No matter how rude he and the other guys had been to her, she always maintained that same patient expression. She had beaten their asses eight days ago before they made it more than a couple of miles.

“Cameo is really pissed at you,” he murmured, his lips curving into a reluctant smile.

She chuckled. “I know.”

“But he respects you,” he added, bending to pick up a stick. “I’ll have a talk with him.”

He started to break the twig, but she placed her hand over his. He looked up, surprised, and frowned when she shook her head, took the stick, and replaced it exactly where it had been. Her lips curved in that damn smile that made his heart twist.

“Everything you touch can leave a clue.” She nodded at the twig. “A good tracker will find the smallest one. A good soldier will kill you for that simple mistake. Cameo is good at hiding, camouflaging himself, but he leaves behind the materials he uses without thought. Yes, he looked like the bark of a tree, but he left a hole where he dug up the mud and splatters on the rocks where he mixed it. He’s careless because he knows he is good. Good isn’t always enough. Timber knows how to fly a ship. He’s a master at creating traps and navigating through them, but he is impatient. I suspect he has trouble staying focused and needs the constant movement and activity to stimulate him. That’s why he steals the ships. He enjoys the rush from it.”

Laser nodded, fascinated by her insight. He could picture what she was saying and recognized that she was right. Curious, he wondered how she saw him. He was about to ask, but was afraid what her astuteness would say about him—and his failures.

“What about Rumor?” he asked.

Her lips twitched again. “Rumor relies on his gadgets because he doesn’t trust his instincts. In a world without them, he is lost. He doesn’t realize that his real strength is not in them, but in himself.”

“What do you mean?”

She reached into her pocket and held out her hand. He lifted his and she dropped several small devices into his palm. He fingered them, recognizing a micro-tracker and several laser tripwires. This broke the rules of their game. They were supposed to rely only on themselves, their dragons, and their symbiots during this game. His lips pursed with irritation and he released a deep sigh before he pocketed the devices. It looked like he was going to have more than one conversation tonight.

“Don’t be upset with him. His instinct is to win, no matter the cost. He’s willing to be the bait, to sacrifice himself, if it meant the team succeeds. He also isn’t afraid to break the rules to make that happen. He doesn’t value his contribution—nor his sacrifice and what it would mean to the team in the long run.”

“Only because he wants to win,” he muttered.

She shook her head. “No, because he wants the men he has come to respect and care about to survive—even if it means dying to protect them.”

The thought jolted Laser. His eyes widened as he remembered each time they had played. Rumor had his back, always taking the shot meant for him and giving him time to escape. He swallowed at the realization. No one had ever put him first. No one had ever sacrificed for him.

His fingers curled tightly, the tension in his body a palpable manifestation of the conflicting emotions bubbling inside him. He bowed his head, the revelations leaving him reeling, trying to mask the turmoil churning within him. The lump in his throat felt like a stone, and his chest constricted as he tried to swallow.

“And me? What do you see in me?”

The question sat heavily in his throat, a lump of unvoiced emotion, and he waited, tense and ready, for her response. Would she notice his insecurities? Did she sense his fear, his inadequacy, his feeling of not being strong, fast, or smart enough? Memories of his father’s words pounded in his head. The unforgiving fists that connected with him because he wasn’t quick enough to escape. He felt like a lost child, overwhelmed by the immense void of his own existence, a sense of loneliness that seemed to swallow him whole.

“I see a leader,” she replied.

Chapter 3

Six months later:

* * *

“How you doing, Timber?” Laser asked.

“How does it look like I’m doing? Dragon’s ballocks. Hang onto your balls, guys, this is going to be a wild ride.”

Laser’s teeth were clenched, his hand digging into the strap above him, his other hand bracing against the grab bar as he fought to stay upright. A fiery inferno burst from the shuttle’s nose and devoured the sides, creating a horrifying spectacle of heat and light. Through the front windshield of the supply shuttle, thick white clouds began to appear, obscuring the icy blackness of space above.

Dots of water from the thunderstorm sizzled against the super-heated hull of the shuttle. He bent his knees, compensating for the turbulent motion as the upper atmospheric winds from the storm they had entered tossed the shuttle like a child having a tantrum. Timber might be cussing up a storm, but the grin on the warrior’s face gave Laser confidence the man had everything under control.

Turning his attention to Rumor, he rocked again when the shuttle dipped. Rumor’s fingers were flying across the switches, silencing ones that were flashing, redirecting those that looked dead. His low voice was barely audible above the noise of the storm and the roar of the shuttle’s engines.

“V’ager, this is V8583 requesting emergency assistance. We are under attack. I repeat, we are under attack and making a forced landing on MX281, over,” Rumor said.

“V8583, this is the V’ager. Roger. Confirming emergency landing. We have detected a Marastin Dow warship in the vicinity,” the V’ager defense specialist replied. “Please be advised we are in route and can intercept in six hours.”

Laser cursed under his breath. He glanced over his shoulder when Cameo stood up and reached to steady himself. Cameo’s affable grin had disappeared and a grim expression had replaced it.