Page 27

Soundproof. Vision-blocked. No external feeds. No witnesses.

Just him and her.

Issa sensed the shift.

She lifted her chin, her expression still maddeningly neutral, but her stance adjusted. Her shoulders squared, her weight shifting onto the balls of her feet, ready for a fight.

Ki’Remi slowly returned the device to its hold, crossed his hands over his chest, and glowered at her.

He laced his timbre with a menace that spelled impending destruction. ‘What the everlovin’ hell did you just attempt in my theater?’

She clenched her jaw, defiant. ‘I did what I had to.’

He jerked his head, rage coursing through him. ‘You’re ignoring my question and protocol. You used an undocumented, unapproved healing method on my patient. In my OR. Under my command.’

‘She lived,’ Issa countered.

‘That’s because of an ability that you won’t explain. Which means you are an unmitigated risk.

‘A risk?’ She arched a brow, challenging him. ‘I saved a life. But sure, Sable, let’s focus on protocols. Right now, however, Commander is not the time to discuss this. We need her chest sewn up. Dress-downs and ritual humiliation can come later, however, not in front of all these observing doctors from at least five different planets.’

Fokk, she was making too much sense.

He acquiesced for the sake of Zera, whose chest needed attention now.

‘You. Me. After this surgery. In myfokkin’ office. No delays, no freakin’ excuses.’

Issa blinked.

Then, the slightest press of her lips, not smugness but defiance, shot with worry.

For whom? Herself?

Or others?

He raked his eyes over her defiant face. She wasn’t afraid of him.

He’d make her rethink her stance soon enough.

Ki’Remi leaned in, his rage adding an electric charge to his metanoids so the energy field around them crackled.

He forced himself to ignore it.

‘You don’t get to deflect, Elaris.’

His voice was pure ice. ‘Tis not the first time an unexplained healing has happened in your presence.’

‘Where’s the gratitude, the heartfeltsante?’ she murmured. ‘I saved your proverbial ass, yet again, and a life of a patient as well.’

‘Nada, you made a dangerous call and reckless choice without approval. You don’t get to play lord and freakin’ savior without my say-so, not now, not ever in my OR.’

She held his gaze, unflinching. Stubborn. Bold. Her honey-gold skin glowed under the lights, her spine erect with steel.

Her eyes narrowed and flickered, and he sensed she was hiding something.

He would tear the truth from her, one way or another.

ISSA