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“Don’t act like you don’t care. You know that’s worth -”
His anger distracted him and the knife wavered, moving a few inches away from her throat. She ducked away from it and twisted, using all her strength to jam her elbow directly between Evans’s legs. He yelled, the knife falling away from her entirely as he doubled over, and she staggered away from him.
“Lottie!”
Celenk charged towards her but Evans lurched upright and dove for her. She froze as Raja suddenly leapt from her pocket and latched on to his face. Evans screamed and staggered backwards, pulling her down with him.
She clawed at the ground, struggling to get away from him and then Celenk was there, yanking Evans’s limp body away from her before pulling her into his arms, his tail locking her against him. She clung to him, unable to stop trembling.
“Frek, I’ve never been so scared in my entire life. I love you, Lottie, do you hear me? I can’t let you go. I can’t.”
“I don’t want you to let me go,” she sobbed. “I love you so much.”
He started to kiss her, but she suddenly panicked.
“Raja! Where’s Raja?”
“He’s right here.”
She blinked as Borgaz kneeled down next to them and held out his hand. Raja perched in the middle of his palm, his whiskers red with blood but otherwise intact. He squeaked and jumped over to her, and she cradled him against her.
“Oh thank God.”
“I believe you’re more worried about the rodent than you are about me,” Celenk grumbled, but he stroked a gentle finger over Raja’s head.
“A sign of her intelligence, no doubt,” Kalpar drawled as he emerged from the woods as well.
“You’re here too?”
“Obviously. You didn’t think your husband was that skilled with a knife did you?”
Kalpar went to retrieve his knives and she shuddered and looked away.
“Do they know?” she whispered.
“Yes, my flower. I told them everything.”
She sighed with relief.
“Good.”
“Does that mean you forgive me?” he asked, his eyes intent on her face.
“Yes, as long as you promise to never, ever lie to me again either directly or by omission.”
“You have my solemn oath,” he promised, and she smiled at him.
He bent his head to kiss her but once more they were interrupted.
“While I appreciate the romantic ambiance of three dead bodies as much as the next male,” Kalpar said dryly, “We need to report back to Commander Temel.”
“Agreed.” Borgaz rejoined them. “I loaded up their saddlebags and everything they had in their pockets. We can deal with the bodies later.”
“Did you get the device Evans was using? It looked like the survey device,” she added.
Borgaz hadn’t found it on him, but after a few minutes searching, located it near the campfire where Evans had been sitting. He picked up the device, then put out the fire, and nodded approvingly as he came back.
“Good thinking. Maybe Tomlin can make something of this.”
