It didn’t feel casual to me, either. But I hadn’t agreed to be mated to him, let along all three of them.
And that mattered. A lot.
Yani tugged on my arm, and I let her lead me off the bridge and down the hall.
Yani didn’t say anything as we stopped at my quarters so I could exchange my compromised leggings for a new pair and don another bra. I’d have to retrieve the one from the bridge—once the embarrassment eased up.
I didn’t know when that would be.
We walked along the hall. From here, you couldn’t tell there was anything wrong with theStardrifter. But then Yani stopped near a door, and tapped in a code.
The door opened—and then another, heavier one slid upward. I stared across our starboard storage area—and out at the dense green foliage of the swamp.
It was visible through a tear in the ship’s outer skin that measured about ten feet in length and four feet in height. Everything not strapped in had been sucked out through the hole. I inhaled air that smelled of rotting vegetation and dampness. At least we could breathe it… as planet refuges went, it could have been worse.
I swallowed. The gun port that Xandros had been in was only a few feet and one interior wall from the breach. It had been far too close.
Yani grunted, a curiously expressive sound, before continuing along the hall to the engine room. Once there, she shut the door behind us, fished Sookie out of her pocket, and handed her to me.
I hugged the furry body close while her owner fixed me with a stern eye. “I am going to run a systems diagnostic while you tell me what happened on that bridge.”
I swallowed again. And then, I told her.
Afterward, she stayed silent while she worked on the main engine core.
“He told me that we’d mated,” I said. “I had no idea that was what was going on. I—I really wanted him. Was that the serum?”
She met my gaze. “I don’t know. I don’t know what the serum does. It’s a very well-kept secret among the scientists.”
“Do you think he’s right? That we mated?”
She hesitated, and said, “I am not a Drake. But I have heard that they only lock when they mate. Nowadays, it is a rare thing for them to find someone to mate with.”
My mind spun with questions, but it settled on, “Is mating as permanent as it sounds?”
Her mouth straightened. “You don’t want it to be?”
I exhaled. “I don’t know what I want. Or if it is the serum making me want it. So, I can’t answer that.”
She rubbed her temple with stubby fingers. “Maybe I shouldn’t have stopped Zyair from talking to you.”
I shook my head. “No. I need space to think. We have plans, and I intend to follow them. But first, we have to figure our way out of this mess. Or none of it matters.”
Her expression was distinctly odd as she handed me a tray filled with relays. “Open that panel, and replace every one with those, would you? I’m going to start running diagnostics with Zyair.”
While I replaced the relays, she opened a comm channel to Zyair. His deep voice rumbled through the engine room, and my heart ached with every syllable.
Was it just the serum speaking? Or did I really feel something for this guy? Would have been better if I’d had this self-reflectionbeforeI’d screwed him.
I finished replacing the relays, and hung around while Yani ran diagnostics. She gestured to me and said, “Call Xandros and Rhodes into the kitchen. I have news.”
The grim tone to her voice didn’t bode well to the state ofStardrifter’sengines or power core. Handing Sookie back to her, I headed out of the engineering bay and to the ramp.
Wind blasted up it, tugging at my hair, and the rain was gustingalmost horizontally. It contained the odd bit of hail that stung my skin.
At the top of the ramp were two sets of coveralls.
I stared down at them as I passed by, but didn’t fully register just what that meant until I got to the bottom of the ramp and looked at the path of destruction theStardrifterhad plowed through the forest.
