7
Darius, Battleship Resolution, Medical Station
“Where is she?Let me see her. Now.” Lily. My pair bond was hurt, and she was here. Somewhere.
“She’s in surgery, sir. You need to calm down and have a seat.” The placating, soothing voice of the medical officer had the opposite effect. I wasn’t calm. I couldn’t do this. Not again.
“Give me a fucking sterile suit. I don’t care what I have to do. I have to get in there.”
The large male officer frowned, clearly out of patience. “You need medical attention yourself, Starfighter. You are covered in sweat and dust, you have blood on your face, and you will do nothing but scare the medical team. So get your ass in that room.” He pointed to a medical treatment room a few paces away marked with the number four. “Get on the exam table and shut the fuck up before I call security.”
Well, this was a battleship, not a civilian hospital. And this medical officer was no low-ranking idiot but a captain. Probably a fully trained physician as well as a soldier. He wasn’t going to budge.
The faster I got my own wounds taken care of, the sooner I could get to Lily.
I walked into the exam room, and the door slid closed behind us, the reflective surface activating to give us privacy as he ran a medical scan.
“Two broken ribs. Second-degree burns on the neck and left hand. A bit of bruising. You’ll be fine.” He gave me the reassurance even as he held a treatment injector to the burned area on the side of my neck. With a quick movement of his hand, the injection activated. The medication flowed into my flesh. It burned like acid, but I didn’t say a word.
“This should take care of any residual bruising as well as speed healing of the burns. I am going to recommend you remain off duty for the next two days.”
“Are we done here?” Lily. I had to get to Lily.
“Not quite.” A second injection followed, this time over my broken ribs. The ache I’d been feeling for the last hour faded at once but was quickly replaced with sharp, stabbing agony that lasted several minutes. When it was over, he held the scanner over my ribs again. “Excellent. Your bones are healthy. The breaks have healed.”
“Great.” My forehead was covered in sweat. I’d had my bones patched before, but that didn’t make it hurt less.
“Yes. I’m prepared to release you from my care. However, you will not be allowed anywhere near your pair bond in your current condition.”
“What condition?”
“You’re filthy. Clean yourself up, Starfighter. I don’t care how in love with you she is; even she won’t want to touch you until you take a shower.”
I stood and walked to see my reflection in the large sliding door. The sight that greeted me was not pleasant. My hair was spiked and grimy. My skin was streaked with paler lines where sweat had created a map through the dust on my face. I probably smelled as bad as I looked.
Damn Vega and every other star. He was right. I could not go to Lily like this.
Waving my hand in front of the door’s release scanner, I waited impatiently, shoving through before it had opened even halfway.
“You’re welcome!” The medical officer’s voice followed me down the corridor, but he was laughing. In fact, I would probably be the laughingstock of the entire battleship in the next few hours. Nothing men liked better than to give one another a hard time for falling in love.
And I wasn’t just in love. I was obsessed. Possessive. Protective. I wanted to lock Lily in our bedroom and never let her out. Keep her naked and sated and safe.
If she’d allow me. Which, based on her reactions during this last mission, was going to be a tough sell. Even if I couldn’t keep a fellow Starfighter out of battle, I could protect her. Move in first in the most dangerous situations. Do everything possible to keep her out of the line of fire.
Whether she liked it or not.
I was not going to lose another person I loved on the battlefield. Never again. And if that made Lily angry, then so be it. I could deal with my woman’s anger. In fact, I would keep her so well pleasured, so in love with me that she would accept my faults, my need to keep her safe. Every time she raged, I would soothe her with pleasure.
Starting now.
Lily, Medical Station, Surgical Recovery
The anesthesia woreoff as if someone had snapped their fingers. One second I was unconscious, the next I was wide awake in a hospital bed of some kind. Taking stock of my situation, I moved bit by bit, testing things out. My leg was sore, and I had a slight headache, but that seemed to be the worst of it.
I sat up, ready to find out what the hell had happened to me.
I remembered being buried in Athena, tons of rock piling on top of my Titan, every alarm and sensor blaring at me that we were in trouble. The sound of Darius yelling my name. Long minutes of darkness when I was completely alone.