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“No.” She shook her head as she dropped his hand. How could he react like that when she didn’t enthrall him? He couldn’t possibly enjoy what she just did. “I-I-I belong to Sychar.”
It was the only thing she could think of. She backed up and wiped away the trail of his blood rolling down from the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand. “I didn’t mean… I mean… oh, uh, thank you!”
Unable to face his pained expression, she fled.
Jelena wanted nothing more than to avoid Zamush. What a pipe dream, since he was part of the small crew that boarded the Nergal for its clandestine trip to Erset La Tari prison to rescue Sychar. Just her luck she ended up next to him as Qhasheik began the startup sequence for the spaceship.
One of the first things the group agreed on was taking the ship to use its cloaking capabilities so they could land outside the perimeter of the prison undetected. And it would give them the quickest getaway. Fingers crossed they wouldn’t need the medical supplies on board.
Katsuki and Abiditan took their places on the outside perimeter of the round navigation console. Qhasheik sat in the command chair in the center, which he’d playfully dubbed “the donut hole”.
The only new person on the ship was the young WOTA leader, Asu. Since Sychar wouldn’t know they weren’t an unknown enemy fraction, Asu was needed to reassure Sychar they were there to rescue him.
Out of the corner of her eye, she checked on Zamush. He looked straight ahead, his bland expression telling her nothing. Studying her entwined fingers on her lap, she stifled a sigh. She hated to hurt anybody’s feelings, but her focus had to be on Sychar. She hadn’t been wrong about the WOTA leader and her.
Had she?
Another swift glance at Zamush. Her mouth dried and her heart raced. Why did she have such an uncontrollable reaction whenever he was around? It was hard to remain calm with him nearby. Her emotions scrambled, causing her to struggle as she tried to string two coherent words together. She rubbed her temple at her overreaction. It was possible she acted like this because he was a lot like her. She’d never heard of anyone needing blood like she did. Yeah, that’s all it was.
You realize you’re lying to yourself, right?
No, I’m not. Damn BoD. She didn’t need his opinion.
She gritted her teeth at his mental chuckle. I’m not even going to dignify that ridiculous statement with a response.
Regardless of your feelings for either man, keep your head on the mission. They won’t involve you in anything again if you don’t. You know we’ll have to fix everything once your companions screw things up.
Rather than continue the conversation, Jelena rested her chin on her knuckles and petted Shther’s scaly nose.
He’d climbed out of the pouch she had for him around her waist and perched on her shoulder.
Staring at the viewscreen she activated in front of her, she idly watched the landscape of Akurn as they passed.
Because of the rogue nature of the planet, a protective shield kept the internal lighting steady. It also provided a breathable atmosphere.
She smiled when she remembered Qhasheik admitting he forgot to mention he wasn’t sure the ship could penetrate the shield as they came out of the jump when they reached the barrier of the planet. Her ears still rang from Katsuki’s shriek of anger.
Good thing the ship slipped through the shield with little resistance.
No doubt she wasn’t the only one who breathed a sigh of relief.
Landing near Abiditan’s home state of Esharra ended up being anticlimactic.
Focusing on the vid, she took in the rolling hills of sparse trees and the square-shaped shrubbery of the Akurn landscape. Her eyes widened as they passed over the wide, winding river of sparkling yellow. Along the river was a line of trees with their branches folded, their frost-colored leaves swung up like an upside-down umbrella. Before they zoomed out of sight, she swore some trees plodded away from the water in unison. It was like watching a herd of cattle taking their fill before leaving.
“Did those trees just…?” She turned around to face Asu.
His eyebrows rose as if daring her to finish the question.
She turned away. “Um, never mind.” She might’ve been raised on an underground moon base with no trees, but she’d never heard of those things moving on Earth.
“Never thought I’d see a pack of trees gather at a watering hole.” Zamush’s gravelly voice spoke low next to her.
She glanced at the identical vid he viewed in front of him.
They shared a smile.
At least she hadn’t imagined the whole thing. She slid her attention back to the semi-dark landscape.
