Page 22 of Caldar
If anyone could, it would be her.
“My immune system is superior. The chance of infection from non-toxic debris is unlikely. Covering the wound will suffice until a medic can remove the fragments,” he said.
“That sounds like more macho bullshit, but sure. I think that’s all I can do.” She applied a generous layer of antibiotic ointment—despite him telling her it was unnecessary—and covered the wound.
He rose to his feet in a fluid motion, thanks to the patch masking the pain in his leg. That could be a problem. If he needed to run, he might step poorly, and the leg would fail.
One problem at a time.
He lifted his knee, testing the adherence of the dressing. It would hold.
“Not too bad a job,” Sonia said. She planted her hands on her hips and looked around the storage hold. Immediately, her gaze focused on a rusty pry bar. “That looks useful.”
No. Whatever she had planned, he needed to stop this now.
“Sonia,” he said, his voice low. Her breath caught in her throat and her pulse quickened. He loved the way she responded to his voice alone. How would she respond to his touch?
A finger under her chin lifted her face to his. He repeated her name. They had spent hours in the pod, bodies pressed together, and he had resisted thinking about how wonderful she felt against him. Now he wished to savor her.
“I will kiss you now. Tell me if you don’t want this,” he said.
“I think you should kiss me. Right now.”
“Bossy,” he said, mirth in his tone.
“You love it.”
He did. He really did.
He lowered his lips to hers. The first brush was soft, almost a question, until she yielded to him and opened. The kiss deepened. The sensation of her surrounded him, in his arms, his hands, and the very air he breathed. He could not get enough of this wonderful female.
How she would hate him.
“My apologies,” Caldar said, pulling away, then shoved her back into the pod.
CHAPTER7
CALDAR
He did not havemuch time. The Suhlik would arrive soon to extract the pod occupants. He grabbed the pry bar because Sonia was correct that it would be useful.
The multitool made short work of the mechanical lock on a maintenance duct. A simple mechanical lock. No biometrics or passcodes, just a lever to turn on the other side, which was odd. Not terribly long ago, Caldar had been on a Suhlik warship with more advanced security features. Why the downgrade? Had the Suhlik fleet been weakened, and all serviceable ships were at the frontlines?
No. He had observed a buildup of Suhlik forces preparing for an invasion into the Sangrin system. He had warned the Sangrin Council, but they would rather bicker amongst themselves than unite against a common foe. He had manipulated circumstances to involve the most influential warlord in the system, leaving a clearly visible trail of evidence.
Still, no action had been taken.
Frustrating.
That was the leading reason Caldar decided to take it upon himself to shadow Sonia on her travels. Times were uncertain. He could not allow the Terran female to be unprotected. He had a debt to repay, so forth and so on, and other lies he told himself to mask the fact that he liked Sonia.
He liked the way she saw through his deceptions and half-truths and did not hesitate to call him out on hisbullshit. Such a useful Terran word. Even though Sonia perceived all his flaws and relished describing them in great detail, he felt as if she liked him. The true him, flawed, arrogant, and duplicitous.
Caldar crept through the maintenance duct. It was not tall enough to accommodate his horns, and he had to stoop. Despite the pain patch, the muscles in his injured leg burned.
The air inside the maintenance duct held an unpleasant odor, stale and dusty. It looked as if it had not seen any sort of maintenance or a cleaning bot in some time.
Odd.
