Page 9

I had no one but myself and my bleeding heart to blame for this one. I couldn't have just left her, could I? No, I had to get involved even when I knew better. And this one upped the challenge to a whole new dimension. I felt as if I had flown straight through a Black Abyss, only to come out on the other side in an alternate universe, where everything was still the same on the surface, but my mind had been scrambled.

I kicked my foot against the unforgiving wall. It was meant to keep the vacuum and cold of space at bay, so my foot, no matter how strong, didn't stand a chance. The instant pain reminded me of the ankle that may or may not be broken. It still needed medical attention. I was trained to endure much worse pain, resulting in me direly neglecting the ankle situation.

But first, I needed to get this ship going. The sooner we left, the sooner we would reach Astrionis, and the sooner I would be rid of my unwanted guest.

With every stride, my pain increased, and it took me a moment before I realized it wasn't the ankle this time but the damn markings that had appeared out of thin air earlier. I let out another stream of curses at the reminder of that piece of trouble I still had to deal with.

Mating marks, I scoffed, utterly annoyed with my body. Why in the seven suns would it betray me like this? What had I done to deserve this?

As if that wasn't enough, for some unfathomable reason, Possedion came to my mind, and another stream of obscenities left my mouth, echoing through the hallway. I needed to contact him, too. My to-do list seemed to be growing, and I didn't like it one bit.

My steps faltered the closer I came to the bridge. I found myself dragging my feet as my side, hip, and arm felt like they were on fire. Damn this insufferable human female. I was fully set on ignoring the pain, but my gut twisted uncomfortably at the same time. My mind screamed at me to turn around and check onher. Hannah. What a stupid name. Hannah! Why had her saying her name felt like a punch to the gut? Every nerve inside me had hummed when she said that one little word. Hannah. It called up strange images of a deep forest. A place I had never been to. And a tinkling laughter that still reverberated in my head, bringing on a slight headache.

When I caught myself clasping the wall to drag myself forward, I lost what rational thought I had left. This couldn't be happening. It just couldn't. Damn her! Mating marks?

Never once had I considered the idea of having a mate. A mate had no place in my world. Hunting criminals was my life, and I enjoyed every moment of it. There was no way I'd give that up for anyone.

My solitary existence suited me perfectly, leaving no room for a female—especially not a permanent one. The Ohrurs had never raised an issue with my escapades atspace stations, pleasure houses, or planets where I encountered my fair share of females. I couldn't imagine their reaction if I ever took a mate, but it certainly wouldn't be favorable. And even if I did, my job wasn't something I'd sacrifice for her.

Despite all my convictions, I reluctantly found myself turning back in the direction I had just come from. With every step, I felt lighter, and my stomach unclenched for a moment before it spasmed in anger. The burning of my new tattoos lessened. Oh, how I wished I could have just put her on a comet and watched her fly off. Now that image made me a little bit happier.

The door to her quarters opened at my approach, and I found her naked, leaning against the cleansing unit. Sweat dripped down her neck as she clasped the edge of the entrance. Her eyes spewed fire at me when she looked up.

"You!" she snarled with more vigor than should have been possible for a tiny thing like her.

She straightened, uncaring of her naked form, making it impossible for me to look away from her heaving breasts or the dark triangle between her legs, hiding her sex.

"What in the hell did you do to me?"

My anger broke through, matching hers. "I could say the same about you."

"It started hurting again when you left," she accused.

"And it got better when I returned. I know. So please, let's skip this unpleasant conversation. I need you to go to the bridge with me so I can start this damn ship."

"I won't go anywhere with you until I take a shower," she scoffed.

I ran my hand through my hair in exasperation. "Look, we need to leave?—"

She didn't spare me another glance and stepped into the cleansing unit. Speechless, I stared at the closing doors. Short ofentering and dragging her kicking and screaming out, the bridge would have to wait.

Damn stubborn human female.

"How long will this take?" I demanded.

"How the fuck would I know?" she yelled through the opaque walls.

My palm struck the wall. The stinging sensation gave me a short measurement of reprieve from the fury she had ignited in me. That wasn't the only thing she had ignited in me, though. Oh no. Far be it from my torture being over this quickly. My cock decided this was the perfect opportunity to swell inside my pants, reacting to the beautiful body she had displayed, and that, when I closed my eyes, I could still conjure up at will.

Luckily, I managed to gather my wits and decided to at least take care of the one thing I could. I opened a compartment in the wall and retrieved a healing wand. At least the pain in my ankle would stop.

I sat down on the bed and activated the device. The ankle was pretty swollen when I managed to get my foot out of the boot. I moved the wand up and down, watching the healing strobes do what they were designed to do. The swelling in my ankle faded immediately.

When I was sure it was healed, I ran it over the markings on my arm, hoping against hope the wand wouldcurethose too, but of course, again, no such luck.

"I need some clothes, Thrax."

I liked her calling me Thrax as little as her earlier name for me, Thar, and was about to say something, but seeing her there, in all her glorious nakedness, my cock twitched in my pants. Gods, she was beautiful. Without the blood and gore, with her hair freshly washed and her blazing eyes, she reminded me… reminded me… as much as I tried, I could not point my mind in the right direction. It was right there, at the periphery of my memory, but it danced out of my reach every time I thought I might catch enough of a glimpse to name it. To make it worse, my head began to pound as if someone tried to get out using a battleax—or hundreds of tiny ones.