The last cabinet slid shut, and he yanked his hand down just as the thudding of boots approached. Turning away from the wall, Veral faced the male who walked in, a look of interest on his face.
“Fascinating,” Egbor murmured, his eyes coming to rest on the med-bed. “Have you discovered anything?”
Veral lifted his shoulders, mimicking his mate’s shrug. “As you can see, that looks like a med-bed. It would appear that this was the ship’s medical bay.”
“Pretty sparse for medical,” the captain observed.
“The med-bed appears standard, and the screen there would have received data,” Veral replied, pointing to the data unit’s screen. “There is a high probability that whatever had been in this room and this part of the ship fell out when it ripped away from the frame of theEvandra.” There was a degree of truth to that statement.
The captain nodded. “So it would seem,” he muttered to himself as he began to walk away. At the entrance, he paused and glanced over at Veral. “You would not attempt to deceive me, would you, Argurma?”
Veral only blinked at him. “To what purpose would that serve? My only interest is to keep my mate safe.”
“And what of your duty to your employer?”
“There is no duty greater than her,” Veral growled impatiently.
That was the complete truth. Whatever the prince had planned to pay him for the salvage was meaningless in the face of Terri’s safety. He would abandon it without regret. The likelihood of anyone else being able to salvage it was small since few species had the ability to detect lifeforms to a degree that they would be able to avoid them. Though he jested with his cousin about taking a scenic route, he had made certain that nothing dangerous would get anywhere near his female. Other salvagers would need incredible luck to survive against the dangers of this forest.
Egbor nodded. “Some would say that is dishonorable, to set aside your contracts so easily, but I can respect it. The funny thing about you Argurma, with all your hard, cold logic, is that you are so incredibly stupid when it comes to your mates. You are willing to sacrifice everything.”
Veral’s eyes narrowed, but he refused to speak. What a pirate would never understand is that there was nothing without his mate. Despite all the rumors about his species, he was grateful that outsiders knew so little about the particulars of their society, especially their mate bonds.
Not knowing that he would follow her in death kept the male operating within the letter of the agreement out of fear of retaliation.
His eyes followed the pirate captain as the male left the room. When he was out of sight, Veral gave one last cursory glance around the space, his eyes falling on the outline of a door. That had to lead to a small, private room. Making note of it, Veral grunted and spun around as he followed the captain back out to the main area of the wreckage where the crew was congregated.
“Alien tech reacts to our systems,” he fired off to Kaylar as his gaze studied the pirates shoving by each other as they fought for rations.
“Is it controllable?”
“Debatable. Links drops out if not touched directly. A direct pathway link could be established, I believe, with time.”
“And the tech?”
“As of yet, no prognosis can be made as to what might be useful against the pirate until we arrive at the main wreckage.”
“Very well. Keep me informed,”Kaylar grumbled as he signed off.
Veral lingered at the far end of the crowd, his eyes following Terri as she settled in a vacant spot closest to the wall. The youngling sat by her side, his lips pressed together in a grimace of pain as she wrapped a clean leaf tightly around his hand. The leaf would hold for the night, but as soon as the pirates were asleep, he was going to bring her to the medical bay. He needed the contact with her, for however little time they had. In the morning, she could change the leaf out for clean bandages.
Leaning against the wall, he watched and waited.
14
Terri frowned down at Garswal’s wound as she wrapped it with the clean fibrous leaf that Azan had provided her. The bite was shallow and hadn’t shown any sign of envenomation, but there was still a chance if left open it could get infected.
“How did this happen again?” she asked, tucking the leaf tightly closed.
The boy sighed. “I was cutting away a vine and this creature with a long body, a flat head, and many legs fell from the tree onto my hand. I tried to shake it off, but it bit me.”
She grimaced at the description. It sounded a lot like an insect. She hated most of the ones that crawled through the desert. Scorpions, centipedes… They all could have suffered a fiery death as far as she was concerned. She had dealt with enough scorpion stings that she was fairly certain of what to look for, but she would check the bandage first thing in the morning, just in case, and clean it. It would mean more of their water supply since the pirates weren’t keen on sharing, but she didn’t want to risk his hand.
Sighing, she patted his hand gently before releasing it. “I think you’ll be all right. Go get some rations before there’s nothing left.”
Garswal brightened and with a nod of his head shot to his feet and disappeared among the stampede of males vying for what there was. Azan pushed away from the wall.
“I think I will go make sure that he doesn’t get trampled by that lot. I will bring you back something if you will be all right sitting here by yourself for a few minutes.”