Page 38 of Lorran
Excellent question. The warlord said Ulrik had been a friend. Paax was a geneticist before he was warlord, so it was not a stretch to assume Ulrik had the same skill set.
“A lab,” Lorran decided.
They uncovered the mess hall, a rec room, and a storage room. All were disorganized messes from the lack of gravity and suffered damage from the attack, but none had the same willful destruction as the helm.
As they moved to the lower levels, Lorran could not help but wonder if he should be on Sangrin, drinking ice wine with his family. Instead, he crept through a derelict ship, desperate to prove himself capable of the mission and even more desperate to keep his mate safe. If the warlord had not been forced to select Lorran due to lack of alternatives, Wyn would have been delivered to his shuttle as it departed for Sangrin. He would have brought Wyn home to his parents.
Lorran loved his family, but they were overwhelming, especially his mother. Oran tended to ignore the world and follow his own interests. The youngest son, Lorran struggled for his father’s attention. It was little consolation that Oran had the disappointing habit of ignoring all his children. Not that Lorran believed his father did not care for his sons, but there was always some crisis with the Council that took precedence.
His mother, however, was the opposite. Tani smothered. Love, exuberance, unasked-for advice, food, multiple layers of clothing—she piled these on generously. Seeran and Mene would have teased, much as Lorran did when they brought home their mates for the first time.
He and Wyn would have been strangers, awkwardly bound together and suffering the well-meaning good intentions of his family.
The situation was not ideal, but he decided that he preferred to make his own bumbling missteps with his new mate away from the prying eyes of his family.
“I am glad we are here, and you are with me,” he said, stopping so suddenly that she bumped into him. He grabbed her elbow to steady her.
“Thanks? I mean, thank you.” A flush spread over her face and Lorran decided he liked her face very much.
“One day, you will meet my family, but I am glad we have a chance to know each other first.” Without his mother making unsubtle inquiries about children and his brothers’ teasing. “My family can be intense.”
“Just wait until I get my mom on the phone. Alana Davies is a force of nature.”
“I look forward to speaking with her. Let us use the ladder. I do not trust the elevator to work properly,” he said.
Down the ladder, which was precariously bolted to the wall, they found themselves in a severely damaged corridor. Scorch marks from plasma fire weapons covered the walls. Each step had to be negotiated through jagged metal and shattered glass.
He did not see the body until they were nearly upon it. Soot and what looked like grease covered the distinctive gold complexion.
Wyn gasped.
A Suhlik slumped against the wall, blaster still in his hand. Debris partially covered him. Either the male took cover there or the ceiling collapsed on him.
“Oh my God, is that a Suhlik? I’ve never seen one up close,” his mate said.
“Yes. We know now the ship was not attacked by smugglers.” Lorran answered. He crouched down to verify that the male was deceased. Suhlik had lower body temperatures, a slower pulse, and fell into a deep sleep when injured.
The scanner confirmed the body was deceased, but Lorran still pried open the male’s eyelids. “Shine a light on the face, please.”
“Why? He’s dead.” Despite her protest, she moved the light to the Suhlik’s face. The visible scales gleamed with a dull sheen, like tarnished gold.
“And it will only take a moment to confirm that. A complacent warrior deserves the knife in his back.”
“Oh my God, that happens, doesn’t it? They play dead and then leap at you when you’re not expecting it, like in a horror movie.”
“As I said.” Lorran stood, brushing his hands on his thighs, ready to move on. “This one is truly dead, not playacting. Come. Let us continue our search.”
His mate remained in place. “You’re just going to leave him here?”
“Yes.” He would not waste energy carting around a body.
“Doesn’t that seem disrespectful to you?”
Disrespectful?
Lorran rocked on his heels, stunned.
His soft-hearted human. How old had she been during the Suhlik’s invasion of Earth? She mentioned being injured in a raid. He wondered how much she remembered clearly of those events and if time had softened the edges of those memories. Still, even with her knowledge and experience, she worried for the welfare of the enemy.
