“Yeah, women cry for all sorts of reasons.”She looped her arm through his and almost dragged him toward the common.“Come, I’m thirsty.”Because if this man was alone with her a second longer, she just might succumb to this attraction between them.And to hell with the consequences.
“But…” He let her lead him away.
She rested her temple on his bicep, hiding a smile.No man she’d ever known could compare to him.
Chapter Seventeen
“Cylo,thesystemhaslogged a disturbance in Lady Wren’s quarters.”Fyca’s voice from Cylo’s O.D.I.jerked him awake.
He leapt to his feet then hesitated, sweeping a glance down his naked body.After the last time she’d reacted to his nudity, perhaps a garment would be wise?A part of him wanted to dismiss the need to please her, especially when she was in danger.
With a grunt, he succumbed.A quick order from the replicator filled his hands with a pair of sleep pants in a thin, gray fabric.He yanked them on then raced to her room.Once again, he barged in, especially since he’d wasted time covering himself.
A shiver traveled down his spine and tightened his muscles as if he prepared for battle.
Wren wasn’t there.
“Fyca, track her O.D.I.”
“Done.She is…above me.”
Relief washed over Cylo while he hurried to the viewing deck.When he peeked through the hatch, a bundled Wren lay on the floor.She whimpered.
“Ensa?”Was she ill?Had her condition worsened?
“Make it stop.The dreams… I can’t—”
Each of her sobs pierced his heart with a sharp stab.He kneeled beside her, burrowed into the blankets, and slipped underneath to pull her against his chest.“I am here, Wren.”
She moaned, snuggling deeper into his embrace.Not wanting to add to her sensory overload, he struggled to control his reactions to her sweet-scented softness and rein in his thoughts and desires.
“Dreams?”He ran his hand up and down her back, hoping to soothe her.
“Everyone’s on board.”Her whisper would have been lost had he not been Etterian.
“It is worsening?”As he’d feared.He crushed her against him, helplessness driving him to do something.Anything “Come, ensa, Qaff should retest you.”He pressed a kiss to her temple—all he’d allow himself.“I will ask him to let you sleep in the med-E.D.”
She raised her head, hope casting warmth across her pale purple face.“You promise?”
He frowned.The shadows under her eyes hadn’t been there over dinner.She’d been lively, her gaze admiring.When had her condition deteriorated?And she’d begged to be sedated.Had she used the excuse of boredom to hide something more alarming?
He gritted his teeth.Her continued suffering washisfault.Fool.“Why did you not tell me?”
“At first, I was myself in my room.Then thoughts and feelings trickled through.It was tolerable, but during the night…” She swallowed hard.“The brain relaxes, opening a world of imagination.There are no inhibitions.”
Nudging her away from him, he gestured to the ladder.“Let us head to medical.”While she scrambled from under the mountain of blankets, he tapped his O.D.I.“Qaff, to medical.”
“On my way,” the male said, his voice thick with exhaustion.
Cylo descended after her.She waited for him in the passage.Her breath hitched when he faced her.
“What is it?”he asked, inching closer to grasp her elbow.
“Um…your pajamas…” Her cheeks burned a dark purple.She marched off, abandoning him.
He scowled at his sleep pants.“What is wrong with them?”
Since she wasn’t there to assuage his confusion, he chased after her, in time to catch her climbing onto the med-E.D.bed.Her tiny toes and feet led his focus up sculpted calves and smooth-looking thighs.Qaff typed on the device’s console, forming the dome.She squeaked when she began to float.
