I glanced at her as I began to tug on my armor to remove it. My beast was not modest. “I need to be healed in case we are attacked. I do not need to lie down like an infant while you tend me.”
She didn’t respond, only crossed her arms and tapped her foot, a sign of obvious impatience.
I breathed through the pain as I rid myself of all of my gear, my armor, even my undershirt so I was bare to the waist. As each layer was gone, her foot stopped its steady beat and I could have sworn her breasts strained against the confines of her own armor.
I waited for her to wave the ReGen wand over my chest and side where I’d been hit by the ion blast from the Hive outside the cave. The armor had done its job; I wasn’t mortally wounded, just bruised with searing red burn marks marring my skin. She didn’t move, only stared at my body.
My beast paced and preened, pleased to see the obvious attraction in her eyes. Her pink tongue flicked out and wet her lower lip. Her knuckles turned white as she gripped the healing wand. Yes, my beast could have her. I inwardly shrugged. What did it matter? I wanted to fuck her. My beast absolutely did. She was unclaimed—she wouldn’t be a fighter otherwise—and nothing or no one kept me from having her.
I cleared my throat, ready to have her closer. My beast wanted to breathe in her scent and I wanted a chance to see her up close. I shouldn’t push her. I knew it, but she brought out the animal in me in more ways than one. “Are you going to stare at my body? If you like what you see, you are free to touch, Megan.”
She startled and her chee
ks turned darker, clearly embarrassed at being caught. “No, thank you.”
I chuckled as she moved to stand beside me again and waved the wand over the reddened flesh with the detachment of a medical technician. Her eyes were locked on to her task. No wandering. None. Not even to blink. She was so small next to me, so soft and curvy and feminine. The scent of her skin filled me, and my beast wanted to howl with pleasure, lick every inch of her skin, drown in her.
Since she’d most likely shoot me if I tried, I gave in to my second urge, scolding her for risking her life so blatantly.
“What were you humans thinking, leading those Hive down the ravine like you did? I counted fifteen Hive and five of you. It was suicide.”
I wanted to pull her into my arms and feel every soft curve of her body, hear her heart beating and know she was fine. I also wanted to shove her to the very back of the cave and protect her until it was time to meet the extraction team for transport. Mostly, I wanted to strip her bare and fuck the prickly attitude away.
“I’m not dead, so it wasn’t a suicide mission,” she countered.
She had bigger balls than most of the males from her planet. That she held so little value for her personal safety pissed me off, made my beast snarl.
“Because you had me watching your back.” She obviously needed a protector. Me.
She moved the wand with a jerky hand. “Thank you.”
“Did those words feel like acid pouring from your lips?”
Her smile was my reward, a sight I’d rarely seen in the cafeteria on board the battleship, and one she’d never granted me. “Yes, as a matter of fact, they did.”
I admired her honesty, her courage in speaking the truth. But something was going on here, something strange. “Did you get what you required from that blue bastard?” I tilted my head toward her bag and the creature’s helmet where she’d carefully placed them on the ground. Whatever a Nexus 9 was, it seemed Megan was interested in them. And not in a good way. She’d taunted him, drawn him to her. Why? Because of that damn…thing she’d pulled from the back of its head?
Her eyes flicked in that direction but her hand didn’t move. Instead of responding, she took a step back. “There. You’re healed.”
Glancing down, I saw there was no more redness marring my skin. I felt no more pain or burning heat from the ion blasts to my chest or shoulder. The armor did an amazing job at shielding from the weapons, but it didn’t remove all effects. Fortunately, the pain was short term and the wand was very effective. My hip still burned from where the blue Hive had shot me, but that was the least of my injuries and could wait. I smelled water, fresh clean water. “There’s water in this cave.”
“I know. It’s one of the reasons we chose this location.”
Chose this location? And who the hell are “we”?
“What were you doing here, Megan?”
“It’s Captain to you,” she snapped.
“Not when I just saved your life,” I countered.
She walked to the helmet and her special bag with the Hive technology sealed inside, picked it up and began to walk away from me. She was hunched over at an odd angle, moving slowly, too slowly. I could smell blood now. Her blood. My beast did not like that. “Where are you going?”
Her silence was a challenge I was more than willing to accept.
She walked away from me, deeper into the cave and I gathered our armor and belongings to follow on silent feet. I might be big, but I could still move with stealth. She lifted her hand to her chest and activated a light I’d never seen on a Coalition uniform before.
Megan Simmons had more secrets than I’d ever imagined, and suddenly I was determined to unravel every single one.