Page 41 of Black Star

“I’d feel better with you back at the helm, Ranier. But I don’t want her to be alone with him again until the worst has passed.”

Ranier threw his hands up in the air. “You’vegotto be kidding me. Do you have any idea what thefuckyou’re asking?”

“Yes, but I won’t sacrifice Diamond for Viktor, no matter how much I need him on this ship. I’m counting on you to save them both. Go back to Medical and see how she’s doing. If she’s stable, report back to Command until she’s released.”

Ranier left the captain’s office and Command, heading to Medical. He fully expected to find Diamond still sleeping as the doctor continued to mend her wounds, but he was wrong. She was still on the med table, but fully awake and receiving her blood transfusion.

When he entered the suite, she turned her head and smiled at him. She definitely looked much better.

“This is a surprise.” Ranier took the hand she offered when he approached her. “I didn’t expect you to be awake so soon.”

“Me, either.” Dr. Zabin entered, making notations on a palm computer. “Yet here she is.” He raised an eyebrow. “Is there something you need to tell me, my dear?”

Diamond tried to snatch her hand away, but Ranier held her fast. He was not letting her pull away from him. Not now.

“It’s OK,” he said softly. “If it will help the doctor, you need to tell him.”

She scowled. “Look, I’m grateful for your help, Ranier.” She glanced at the doctor before returning her attention back to Ranier. “Both of you. But I’m not a freak show. I know I’m different. Until now, I wasn’t exactly sure how different, but there’s nothing either of you can do about it, so just drop it. I want to get out of here and find a decent meal.”

“Do I look like I care how different you are? If anything I’m grateful for your differences. They saved your life.” Ranier tightened his grip on her hand. “Those differences aided your recovery. They can only be good things. If it helps the medical staff better care for you, then they need to know.Spill it!”

“I already know,” Dr. Zabin sniffed arrogantly. He tapped a few buttons on his hand-held computer. “I just wanted to know if she was aware of it.” He addressed Diamond. “Did you volunteer for this transformation?”

She balled her fist in the sheet covering the lower half of her body, but looked at Rainer squarely. “Somewhat. I was injured -- badly -- and given a choice. Live or die.” She looked at the doctor. “Naturally, I chose the former. In return, swore to help out any of my ‘savior’s’ kind in need if the occasion ever arose.”

“Well, I don’t know what this person intended, but you’re the perfect sustenance for a vampire. You have a perfect balance of vampire and human properties in your blood to be able to keep a vampire alive for many months -- years, even, with the proper care -- if he or she is unable to make an actual kill. Your body will heal any damage five or six thousand times faster than that of a non-altered human.” He smiled then. “Viktor was lucky you happened along.”

“I didn’t come here to save Viktor.” She pulled her hand free of Ranier’s and sat up on the table, disconnecting the blood tubing and stalking across the room to where a fresh uniform hung. Dressed only in her underwear, she seemed as comfortable as if she were fully clothed. Ranier, however, was acutely aware of her state of undress. “I came here to save myself. Do you have any idea what the Hand would have done to me if they’d discovered my dirty little secret?”

“Nothing good, I bet.” Ranier held up a hand, blocking Zabin’s way when the doctor tried to advance on her. He shook his head, and Dr. Zabin shrugged. Without a word of protest, the doctor left the room, and Ranier approached Diamond. He raised his wrist to his mouth and commed the captain. “Captain.”

“Report.”

“Diamond’s up and about. I’ll explain later. Out.”

He fumbled with his comm unit as he watched her step into the uniform. Ranier heard the faint noise as she zipped it up the front. When she turned around, he was only two paces away from her.

It was a moment unlike any he’d spent with a woman before. Ranier could see her need of… something… in her eyes. Yet she refused to reach out to him. When Ranier thought she might, she balled her hands into fists and raised her chin a notch, too proud to ask for whatever it was she needed.

Then it hit him. She’d asked him to come back. Reached for him when he’d returned. He didn’t know her relationship with Viktor, but she needed tenderness Ranier wasn’t sure Viktor was capable of giving. Especially now. The brutality she’d endured couldn’t have been anything but traumatizing.

Moving very slowly, Ranier closed the distance between them and pulled Diamond into his arms. At first, she stiffened. Then she melded into Ranier as if she knew she belonged there. Her arms snaked around his waist, and she rested her cheek on his chest. He thought he felt her body tremble, but the vibration was so slight, he couldn’t be sure.

He could have stood there all day, but the door slid open, and Viktor entered the room looking almost as wild and out of control as Ranier imagined he might have when he’d taken Diamond the first time.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing with my woman, human?” His normally husky, quiet voice was loud in his rage.

Ranier turned, keeping a grip on Diamond’s arm so he could keep her behind his back and stay between her and Viktor. “I thought I locked you in. Get back to your cabin. Now. Don’t make me shoot you.” He pulled out his gun.

“No!” Diamond twisted her arm free and bolted to Viktor. “I can help him.” Viktor grabbed her arm and pulled her to him. Diamond didn’t resist, but winced. The flesh of her arm where Viktor’s fingers dented it was white. It only took a few seconds for her arm below his grip to begin to mottle. She’d definitely bruise.

“Who’s going to help you? If the captain hadn’t sent me to check on Viktor, you’d probably be dead.”

“You heard what the doctor said. I wouldn’t have died. This is what I’m made to do.” She looked pleadingly at him. Ranier ground his teeth. Why did women always want to think they could save the world? “I don’t expect you to understand, but I gave my word to a man who saved my life. That’s not a promise I can break.”

Viktor only grunted, his eyes hungrily devouring her as he half walked, half dragged her to the door. “Mine,” he growled.

“Oh, no. Maybe you will be fine, but I’m not taking any chances. You’re not taking her anywhere without me, Viktor.”

---