“You’ll get my respect when you earn it, little girl,” he snapped right back. “And you’ll earn it when you show me you belong on this mission—which I don’t fucking think you do. So maybe you’d better leave now and go back to the Med Center where you belong.”
“Oh, no you don’t!” Danni lifted her chin. “You’re not scaring me off this mission! I’ve been waiting for years for this chance and I’ll be damned if I let a male chauvinist bastard keep me from getting to study a whole new culture and possibly learn medical treatments that could benefit all of humanity!”
Bravik just looked at her and for a moment Danni thought he might do something drastic like kiss her—or maybe bite her. But then he pulled away without saying anything and went to strap himself into the pilot’s chair.
Well that was a fun little exchange, whispered a sarcastic little voice in her brain. What are you trying to do, Danni—piss him off so thoroughly he never speaks to you again through the entire mission?
Actually, that would be fine with her. She just wished she could have been paired with a different Kindred warrior—any other warrior—for this trip. She’d heard so much about how the Kindred were deferential to women and how they revered them and treated their wives like goddesses. How was it that she’d gotten saddled with the one asshole in the entire bunch?
It’s bad luck, Danni told herself. But you are not going to let it ruin your research or your excitement for this mission. The minute you get to Soluu Four, just head in a different direction and let Commander Asshole do his own thing. Hopefully you won’t need to lay eyes on him again until the end of the mission when the two of you have to fly home together.
The little self-peptalk did her good and she lifted her chin and stared straight out the viewscreen. As the long-range shuttle lifted and headed for the blanket of stars just outside the atmosphere bubble, she concentrated on what amazing things she was going to learn and the fascinating papers she would write when she got home.
As far as she was concerned, she and Bravik could spend the entire mission on opposite ends of Soluu Four and she would be perfectly happy.
Five
What the fuck is wrong with you? Why are you letting her get under your skin? And she’s right—you are acting like an asshole. Why in the Seven Hells are you doing that?
The little voice inside Brav’s head was merciless as he took the long-range shuttle up and out of the Docking Bay. He didn’t have a good answer for any of the questions it was asking. His only excuse was that being so close to the curvy, mature Elite was driving him fucking crazy.
It’s her scent, he told himself, trying to keep his mind on piloting. She smells so good even from a distance and then I had to get even closer to her to strap her in her fucking harness and it short-circuited my brain somehow!
Deep down, he knew that he was pushing her away as hard as he could because he was so damn attracted to her. In fact, he couldn’t remember ever being this attracted to a female—not even either one of the ones he’d tried and failed to bond to him.
Maybe it was his body demanding that he try again, but to the Seven Hells with that shit. It didn’t matter to Brav that she made his shaft so hard it hurt or that she made his fangs—the visible half of his Blood Kindred heritage—get long and sharp or his Mating Fist—the part of his Beast Kindred at the base of his shaft—throb. He was not going to go there again.
He was perfectly able to be charming when he wanted to be—hell, he couldn’t have gone on diplomatic missions if that hadn’t been the case. But it was better to keep being an asshole if it kept Dr. Danielle Adams at an arm’s length.
At least, that was what he told himself as he headed the shuttle into the long, red gash in space that was the result of the Mother Ship folding space for them.
But no sooner had he made that promise to himself, than he looked over and saw the expression of rigid fright on Danni’s lovely face. She was staring at the fold—the gash in space—like it was a monster that was about to eat her up.
“First time folding space?” Brav asked unwillingly.
“I told you this was my first time in a long-range shuttle,” she said through tight lips, her eyes still glued to the fold. “Are…are we really going inside that…that thing?”
“That thing is the dimensional gateway that will take us instantly through Space-time to Soluu Four,” Brav told her. “If we weren’t able to fold space, it would take us billions of standard years to get to where we’re going.”