Might have been me. And it might have been inappropriate.
Any effort to push air past my throat was thwarted when I was slammed forward against the restraint harness. The repulsorlifts struggled to kill our considerable momentum. I caught the merest flash of what looked like buildings beneath us—then we were snapping tree limbs as we fell from the sky.
Why couldn’t I tell if we were about to die? Did that mean we were about to die?
TheStardrifterhit something more substantial than a branch, and slewed around.
Everything went dark.
I blinked.
TheStardrifter’sdashboard came into focus—and beyond it, a completely black viewscreen. They were oddly skewed, as though I were no longer in the navigator’s seat.
I frowned. My head hurt, and when I raised my hand to it, my fingers came away bloody. When I squinted, I saw rivulets appearing in the blackness on the screen—water, washing the dirt away.
I was wrapped in warmth, and when someone breathed into my hair, I realized that I was held in strong arms. Zyair, sitting on the floor.
“Welcome back, my little Jazminite.” Concerned and somewhat frantic green eyes peered into my own. The fingers that traced my forehead trembled, ever so slightly. “Are you okay? Say something!” The fingers gently poked?—
“Ouch. Dammit, Zyair, that hurts! Don’t touch.” I pushed his fingers away. “And put me down. I don’t needto be cradled like a kitten.”
“What is a kitten?”
“A baby cat.”
“Is that one of those little felines that catch rodents?”
I peered up at him. “You’ve never seen a cat?”
“Seen them. Have not given a descriptor to them. Actually, kitten suits you. Small, furry, and cute.”
“They also have very pointy claws,” I stated. “But Jazminite is better. More potential for mayhem.”
“Very well.” He exhaled a laugh and rose with me still in his arms. He set me back into the navigator’s seat and bent to retrieve my tee shirt. As he helped me slide it back on, his eyes focused on my forehead. “Does not look too bad. You were knockedchilly. We have to inspect it.” He looked toward the viewscreen. “We—we were lucky.”
Lucky.
Everything came back in a rush, and my gut and my heart twisted all at once. Because if he was right, he was now much more than just the guy I’d decided to shag in a heated moment.
I took a deep breath, shoved that aside, and made a grab for my sanity. “Is everyone else okay?” I asked.
“Everyone else is alive,” rumbled a deep voice as Xandros strode into the bridge. “Even thedratsabSenaik.” His brows dropped. “Shaftz, bro. That was your worst landingever.” He scanned me. “Is—is she—good?”
“Does she look—good?” Rhodes pushed past Xandros to glare at Zyair. “She looksnotgood.”
“‘She’ does not appreciate being spokenofrather thanto,” I protested. “And you should never tell a girl she doesn’t look good.”
That seemed to flummox them. Xandros and Zyair exchanged glances, and Rhodes finally looked at me. He only had a darkening bruise along one side of his face, but Xandros’s shoulder was bloody.
My response to that was to blurt out, “Are you okay?”
The big Drake seemed confused by my comment. Then he followed my horrified gaze to his shoulder.
“No issue,” herumbled.
Conscious of their stares, I pressed my knees together to hide the ripped-out crotch of my pants, and used my foot to encourage the bra a little more beneath the instrument panel. With any luck, no one would notice.
“What about Yani? Is she okay?” My heart constricted.
