Page 15 of Bradi

Closing her eyes, she assessed the damage to his body. For a split second she could have sworn that the chip indicated broken legs, but when she checked again there was no sign of injury.

“Doc?”

Instantly, Marisa’s chip scan fizzled out and pain shot through her head. She closed her eyes tight. Bradi touched her hand and she peeked out at him. “Hey,” she said, smiling, happy to see him alive and responsive. “Are you okay?”

“What, would you miss me if something happened? Or are you just hoping I stay alive long enough to get you to safety?” The tone in his voice made her lip curl.

“Asshole.” She pushed up extra hard off him and smiled when she heard him grunt. He unlatched himself and rose to meet her. The POD creaked and the sound of cracking glass made them both turn around.

Bradi grabbed her and pulled her down to the floor. She began to protest and he kissed her lips, rendering her silent. As his tongue moved into her mouth, hers greeted it, shocking her and apparently him. He moaned and Marisa took the lead, sucking gently on his tongue.

Bradi pulled away, his blue gaze running over her. “Take a deep breath now!”

Without thought, she did. Bradi flattened his body against hers. The window shattered. Blood-red water poured into the POD and within seconds they were submerged.

Lifting her quickly, Bradi pushed her toward the window and gave a good shove to get her through. Shards of broken glass ripped at her legs and she had to fight to keep from screaming out in pain.

Once free of the POD, Marisa turned and waited for Bradi. He didn’t come. It was then that she realized the window wasn’t big enough for his six-foot-six-inch muscle-bound frame to get through.

The pressure in her lungs was excruciating as she attempted to climb back through the window. Bradi pushed her hard, shaking his head violently. She had no intention of leaving him and was prepared to die with him.

Something brushed past her back and she froze. Every gut instinct told her not to turn around and look, but she couldn’t help herself.

Turning slowly, she found herself face to face with a large yellowish eye. Upon further inspection, she found it firmly attached to the largest eel she’d ever seen.

Not thinking, she punched out and caught it in the eye.

It slammed against her, squishing her between the POD and its body. It pushed hard and seemed to be trying to lift her to the surface. She fought against it, not wanting to leave Bradi behind.

Water rushed into her lungs and she felt as if someone had lit a fire in her chest. Being a doctor, she knew the process involved in drowning and she knew that it was one of the worst ways to go.

Better to be unconscious before the eel eats me, she thought to herself as the blackness swallowed her.

*

Bradi’s senses picked up a predator nearby and he could only guess what stalked them. The seas of Sargaidia were littered with creatures that even he feared. When he saw Marisa turning back for him, his heart melted. She cared whether he lived or died, and that meant something to him.

Marisa’s body struck the POD and Bradi let the beast within surface. Slamming into the side of the POD with his clawed hands, he tore his way through the metal as if it were nothing more than paper. Swimming out of the POD, he found Marisa descending slowly in the water. There was no sign of the predator he’d sensed and he wondered if his natural warning system was getting faulty. Something had hit Marisa. But what?

He snatched hold of her arm and headed for the surface. The minute their faces broke the surface, he drew in a deep breath of air and pulled Marisa to him. She gasped, coughing out water, and he exhaled.

She would live. That was all that mattered.

Looking around, he found the shoreline and headed for it—cursing the fates for putting him with a hotheaded woman who seemed determined to kill herself before the day was up.

*

Marisa hissed as Bradi pulled the soaked material off her legs. The scraps that had once been called her pants seemed to go out of their way to cling to the large gashes in her legs. “Ouch!”

“Hold still and it won’t hurt so much,” Bradi said, scolding her like she was a child.

“Easy for you to say.”

“Baby.”

She growled at him. “I wouldn’t have these if you hadn’t shoved me through that broken window!”

“You’d be lying at the bottom of the sea, dead. Would you prefer that? I could throw you back in.”

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