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“Basic logic. You know, that quality we females are incapable of having.”
“I never said that.”
“You want to know how I came to that conclusion?” She poked him in the chest again. He drekking wished she’d stop that, because any contact with her, even this annoying poking with one finger, stirred parts of him that made it hard to think straight. “No one dumps a body in an active warehouse unless they want to be caught. Hence, the dump site would be remote. Like an abandoned warehouse.”
“Your reasoning is sound, but you’re avoiding my earlier question. Explain why your behavior has been erratic.”
“I’m not answering any more inane questions.” She thumped down the stairs, stopped, then pounded her way back to him. “Maybe you’re the mole.”
“I assure you, I’m not.”
“Then answer how you found the dead og’dal in that warehouse in the middle of nowhere.”
“No.”
“Sounds suspicious to me,” she added with such confidence he questioned every piece of evidence that had led him to suspect her.
“Maggie, only you knew which safehouse Konnitch and Kaci went to. No one else could have leaked their location to the Brotherhood.”
“Wrong. Anyone in Earth Intelligence with an F2 rating or higher has access to the list of safehouses. It wouldn’t take long for the Brotherhood to check each location.”
“What about Gabriella? When she returned to Earth to testify against Anton Rychenkov, the Brotherhood nearly killed her. They had no way of finding out where she’d be, but they did.”
Maggie unbuttoned her blouse at the top and pulled the top panel away from her shoulder, showing him the scar along her upper arm. “I guess you forgot they shot me while trying to get to Gabriella. I realize I’m only a human, not one of your marshals, but I thought you’d care enough to remember that.”
Seeing her delicate skin marred with the scar angered him. When she and Gabriella reached his ship that day, Maggie had insisted he launch and get Gabriella to safety. Against his instincts, he’d listened and left her behind, bleeding, with no one to get her to a hospital. He’d wrestled with his duty to the witness, GI7, and Maggie. Taking off, leaving her there, still haunted him, even though she’d survived. He’d chosen another woman and duty over his sholani.
No! She was not his sholani! She couldn’t be. His drekking mating cock was wrong. She was no more his sholani than any of the other women it had risen for.
Maggie crossed her arms under those lovely breasts. He wanted nothing more than to kiss that hurt expression off her face. “I’m waiting, Warrior.”
“Stop calling me that.”
The desire to touch her became too great to resist. He reached out to touch the scar, to feel her skin beneath his again and calm his frayed nerves.
A door a few floors below opened. He jerked his hand back at the sound of someone racing down the stairs. A moment later, another door below clicked shut, returning their privacy.
Maggie’s eyes remained on him as she released the collar of her shirt. The fabric lay askew, revealing the top of one breast. Her chest rose and fell with each breath.
Zirkov did what he’d been dying to do since the day he met Maggie. He dragged his finger along her jaw and down to the base of her throat before edging along her collarbone. Such delicate bones lay beneath beautiful, rich skin. When he touched the scar, he realized he may not be able to protect her much longer… like he couldn’t protect her that day.
“What are you doing?” she whispered, her voice full of caution even as her breathing hitched. Blue eyes remained wide as he caressed the puckered skin from the bullet wound. A calmness spread through him, one he hadn’t felt in years. Not since before the Master Trainer at Izoran stripped him of his warrior tattoos.
“I don’t know,” he admitted. Telling her that he’d fantasized about this moment for years would only complicate the situation further. Krike, he was sure she was the mole. No one else had access to all the information except her. But it wasn’t in Maggie’s personality to betray anyone.
Either way, until he discovered the truth, he shouldn’t touch her like this. As his fingertips caressed soft skin, his cocks twitched. Both of them. All of him wanted so much more with her.
“I have to go,” she said, squeezing past him. The emptiness returned the moment he lost physical contact.
He slammed a palm against the wall, blocking her. “Not yet.”
Her tongue, pink and lush, ran over her upper lip before disappearing again. The corners of her mouth kicked up in a seductive smile. “What? You haven’t already touched enough of me?”
Was this more of her unexplained behavior, or was she teasing him? Maggie had always been professional in his presence… mostly. She talked back to him when she disagreed, but he admired a female who spoke her mind.
Something about her made him forget his own rules, especially the one about physical contact. After Enla, he’d been careful about interacting with females. Kept his distance from them whenever he could.
“The Mofa’Ti ambushed Ri’Nom on Dal,” he said, wondering when Maggie would stop fighting him on this and tell him the truth. Whatever it was, no matter how bad, he’d help her. “You knew he was there and that he had the raakesh with him.”
