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Her scowl deepened. “Your mouth is coming nowhere near me.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “Blood it is, then.”
I swiped my fingers across my bleeding shoulder and gently dabbed my dark red blood on her injuries. When no more of my blood seeped from that wound thanks to my rapid healing ability, I pressed my chest into the point of her dagger and collected more.
“How long?” she asked when I finished.
I dropped my hands to my sides. “The puncture will heal in minutes. Within a day, the burn will be gone.” At her scowl, I added, “You will start feeling warmth almost immediately.”
“Warmth proves nothing,” she muttered, but she tilted her head and frowned as if she was indeed feeling telltale warmth.
She was no longer flatly denying the truth of my claims about our connection. That gave me hope. And despite her ferocious scowls and the dagger still poised above my primary heart, she’d allowed me to treat her wounds and remain close, when she certainly would have already slit my throat and dropped my corpse down the maintenance shaft if she truly believed I planned to capture her for the bounty.
The scientific study of true mate physiology had proven that trust between mates was instinctual. On a cellular level, Keela sensed she could rely on me, even if she didn’t believe it yet.
“What planet are you from?” I inquired as the puncture wound from the dart began to fade.
Her eyes narrowed. “Why does it matter?”
“I suppose it doesn’t at the moment,” I admitted. “Did you know about the bounty on your head?”
The scowl came back. “Yes.”
“Then why did you risk being caught and come to this station?”
“None of your business.” She nicked me with the dagger’s tip. “Stop talking.”
A series of beeps echoed through the shaft.
I knocked Keela’s dagger away from my chest, wrapped her in my arms, and turned my back, shielding her as the hatch leading to Deck 14 swung open.
A stun grenade skittered across the small landing and ended up at my feet. Reflexively, I kicked it over the edge and into the darkness below.
The burst of energy when it detonated made the entire maintenance shaft brighten for a moment, but the effects stopped short of our level.
Alarms blared and emergency lights flared throughout the shaft.
“Move!” Keela pushed me aside and unleashed a barrage of plasma bolts through the open hatch. I heard shouts and curses and the sounds of people scrambling out of the way.
She shoved a small plasma gun into my hand, obviously a backup weapon to her larger gun, and pressed another metal object into my other palm. A personal energy shield—one with a limited range and function, but it was better than nothing.
“Go!” she ordered me. “Docking port 14-Epsilon. I’m right behind you.”
With a roar, I dove out through the hatch—
—And nearly collided with L’mel.
My reptilian crewmate from the Fleeting Fancy gaped at my nakedness for a crucial second. “You—” he began, raising his crossbow.
I shot him in the forehead.
As he dropped, the maintenance hatch shut and locked behind me. My hearts stuttered. Keela. No. I started toward the hatch, then hesitated.
Docking port 14-Epsilon. I’m right behind you.
Was she giving me the location of her ship, intending to meet me there via some other route that hadn’t been compromised? Or was this her way of separating us for good, whether or not she believed the true mate bond was real and not a lie?
Everything good in my life depended on whether it was the former or the latter.
