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Even if I did trust Wrin a lot more after seeing him almost kill the asshole guard for me, that didn’t mean this was the right time. Especially not with afuckingtracking device in my leg.
He handed me his shirt and spun around, the coloration of his back mimicking that of his front. “Use it to cover yourself so I can remove the tracker.”
I brought it to my nose for a second, breathing deep. It smelled of him, the masculine scent of musk and herbs and something uniquely Wrin. It was the same smell that had teased my nose all day as he carried me, the same one that had surrounded me as he held me close, keeping me warm so I could sleep.
Someone needed to bottle and sell it. They’d make a fortune. And I’d be their biggest customer.
I draped it over my shoulder and shoved my pants down to my ankles. Then I tied the arms of his shirt around my waist and pulled the bulk of the material up between my thighs and secured the end under the knotted arms at the small of my back.
“You can turn around now.”
He spun, his eyes tracing over the bared skin of my legs with an intensity I could feel. Wrin dropped to his knees and ran the medical scanner over my leg again.
I suppressed a gasp, imagining him on his knees in front of me for a much better reason.
The scanner beeped, and he set it aside, his fingers firm and hot as they pressed into my thigh. “I found it.”
He wiped my skin with a disinfectant cloth, then the blade of a small knife. His eyes caught mine. “I’m sorry, but this is going to hurt.”
“Do it.” I’d withstood a lot of pain during pilot training. Nothing could be worse than being whirled around at seven-gs until you passed out, feeling the blood drain from your brain as your lungs struggled for the breath you couldn’t take.
Wrin showed me the respect of not half-assing it to “spare” me. His slice was quick and sharp and opened the skin exactly as much as needed to squeeze the blood-covered silver tube from my flesh.
He wiped it off and handed it to me, then went to work cleaning and bandaging the wound.
“What do we do with this?”
“I have an idea.” He grinned up at me, and it was the first time he’d really smiled all day. His stern features were always handsome, but when he smiled, my heart skipped at the beauty of it. His eyes crinkled, the purple dancing with mischief. A dimple appeared on each cheek—ones he’d probably deny if I mentioned them. And his lips curled in delight, flashing his fangs and making me wonder what it would feel like to kiss him.
“There. You should be good.” He smoothed a bandage onto my thigh, his fingers brushing my skin and leaving behind licks of fire.
He took the tracker back, stood, and turned away to let me get dressed.
With my pants still around my ankles, I took off his shirt, the cool night air teasing my bare butt cheeks. Now that the thrill of the fight had faded, I was getting chilled without his warmth.
But if it bothered him to be shirtless, it didn’t show.
I yanked my pants up and secured them, then touched his arm with his shirt.
He turned and took it. “Ask Max if he can catch another of those burvoles without killing it.”
I repeated the question, and Max looked up from where he’d been inspecting the flying motorcycle, his little nose sniffing over every inch.
“Me do!”He trotted away from the glow of the valoree trees, disappearing under a bush. In only moments, he returned, a squirming mass of brown fur dangling from his mouth.
“He really is Maximum Good Hunter,” Wrin said, a note of admiration in his voice.
Max must have read the meaning of the words from my mind, because he said,“Yes. Me is.”
I burst out laughing.
Wrin attached the tracker to the middle of a piece of medical tape. While Max kept hold of the animal, Wrin pressed the tape to the animal’s back, right behind its head. “You can let go now.”
The small rodent dropped to the ground and lay still for a second, its tiny sides heaving as it panted in stress.
Max patted its butt with a paw, and it scurried off into the underbrush.
“That should keep them guessing,” Wrin said. “Burvoles have extensive tunnel networks. I imagine that one’s going to get deep underground before it stops to remove the tracker. It should slow our pursuers down.”
