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I stood, watching the door like it was going to come off its hinges and attack me.
Kai must have heard me standing there, unmoving, because he cleared his throat. “I'd prefer not to make it an order, Everton.”
I swallowed hard. All right, there was no dodging the situation, so I needed to get in gear and steel myself. “Okay, let me throw on a new uniform real fast.”
“Take your time.”
Oh, I most certainly wouldn’t.
Knowing that he could probably hear what I was doing, I rushed to put on a new healer uniform as well as spritz myself with neutralizing spray and then rub anti-scent powder into my hair. Once I was sure I wouldn’t blast my shifter scent into the hall, I approached the door again.
I took a deep breath and swung it open.
“Apologies for that,” I said as neutrally as I could muster, trying for effortless professionalism. “I think I’m still on edge.”
“That’s understandable,” Kai said with a nod, smiling gently. Oh, God, he hadn’t figured me out, had he? Did he know that I'd been the one to find him in the field and heal him? I hoped not because, honestly, I wasn’t sure I could handle the stress. “You look well. I heard you were injured, and I wanted to check in on you.”
Damn it, he heard about me and remembered? I needed to work on a way to bolster the curse, then. I should be dissipatingfrom his active thoughts, not lingering enough for him to actively check on me.
“I appreciate that, sir. As you can see, I just finished up my break and am about to return to work. I am glad to see that you’re up and about, though, sir. You gave us quite the scare.”
“Well, that certainly wasn’t my intention, but thankfully your team took good care of me.”
“I’m happy to hear that, sir.” I was repeatingsira lot, but for whatever reason, it helped me create distance between us. He was an officer, and I was just a soldier. Even if the rankings for medics didn’t quite work like the designations for active enlisted soldiers, he was still clearly in a position of power over me. “But if you don’t need anything else, I must return to my patients.”
“They can wait a minute.”
So, I wasn’t getting away that easily. Oh, well, it was worth a shot.
“I have a lot to thank you for.”
“I was just doing my duty, sir,” I said quickly.
“I also heard that you were found unconscious and alone after extending yourself too far.”
He knew, heknew!What was I going to do?
“Which means that you left your escort after my express orders.”
Oh.
Ooh.
He didn’t know that I’d healed him or that I was unconscious because of it.Phew.I could deal with a mild chewing out.
“I’m sorry, sir. We got separated in a blast, and I didn’t feel I could justify stopping.”
“Hmm, I should probably issue a punishment for your blatant insubordination, and for putting yourself into unnecessary danger when you are aware of just how much our people were depending on you.”
Actually, that would probably help me out. If I was on scut work, or even confined to my quarters, that would help me slip back into relative obscurity.
“But I think, in light of all you did to help your fellow soldiers, we can let that slide. Truly, Everton, I hope you know what an absolute boon you were to every single one of us out there.”
Was he pulling a bait and switch on me? I actually wanted to get in trouble, not get praised. I’ve had too much of that lately. I wanted to go back to not being perceived so I could just waddle my way through helping people, pretending that I didn’t live with perpetual heartbreak.
“You aren’t quite what I expected, Everton.”
“Expected?” I was trying to catch up with the multiple turns our conversation had taken. “Were you expecting someone older and more grizzled when you heard about the healing hermit of the base?”
