Chapter 31
The SID Major in Kael wanted intel from Phantom. The Helios part wanted situational control.
Unfortunately both those parts were buried deep under the all-consuming desire to fucking murder the man.
And if he had been even slightly more in control of himself, the hulking bastard wouldn’t have him in an unbreakable strangle hold a foot above the ground.
“Well, this is awkward.”
It was Wraith’s voice. He could feel her now.
He stopped fighting against Phantom, and instead fought for breath.
“Major, if I tell Elijah to drop you, are you going to behave?”
“Honestly?” he gasped, “It’s fifty-fifty”.
She didn’t sigh. Didn’t say anything. But the pressure on his neck eased, and gravity reacquainted itself with him and he landed on his ass on the floor.
He surged—staggered—up, but Wraith stepped between him and his target, who even now was slowly backing away.
His head was spinning. Thoughts fracturing like the light between the Void.
And he toppled forward as darkness rolled through him. He thought he felt her catch him.
Then there was nothing.
Again.
“Can you lift him back up here?” Seori asked her.
Helios was currently dead weight in her lap. His collapse shouldn’t have taken her down too, but her catch had been as awkward as his chaotic flailing in Elijah’s arms.
“Sure.”
She reached an arm under his back, hooked her hand beneath his armpit and lifted him enough to free her legs. Knelt. Slid the other arm under his knees and pushed to her feet.
“Fucking hell, Major, you weigh a ton.”
She staggered forward and laid him on the bed. His head bounced a little harder than she’d intended. She stepped back to give Seori room.
Elijah was standing at the far end of the room, staring at them. She could feel a clash of emotions from him without being able to name them.
Because suddenly Helios was being too damn loud.
Mind screaming despite being unconscious.
What the actual fuck?
She looked up at Seori, who was squinting at some kind of instrument and wincing.
In fact…
She reached out and touched the collective she’d only just pushed away. Yep. They were reacting too. Poorly, by the feel of things.
“That’s bad, isn’t it?”
“Could you… could you touch him again? Skin to skin?” Seori’s voice was strained, and Elijah rushed forward to stand behind her and place his own hand on her shoulder.
She exchanged a glance with him. He had no clue either.
She placed her hand on Kael’s cheek.
It was cold.
Too cold.
The roar faded from thunderous to rolling.
Seori looked at her, the pinched look fading slightly. She didn’t have to ask aloud, Wraith knew what she wanted.
She just… didn’t know if she could do it. Not with Elijah right there.
He brushed a finger over her cheek, soothing, and a mental barrage erupted from Kael. Elijah stepped smartly back from her.
Fuck.
Fuck, fuck, fuckity fuck.
She kept her hand on Kael’s cheek, kept her eyes on Elijah’s. Unzipped her flight suit and shrugged out of the jacket on one side, swapped hands, and did the other.
Seori was carefully doing the same to Helios.
She wore a sleeveless vest under her suit—thank fuck—because she was not getting naked in front of Elijah.
Not now.
Seori had removed Kael’s vest, leaving him bare from the waist up, but fortunately seemed content to leave his pants on.
Small mercies.
Both Elijah and Seori’s gazes were drawn to Kael’s scars. She could feel their questions.
Had no answers.
“Any chance this thing can expand a bit?” Wraith asked of the bed.
Seori tapped the data pad she held, and the bed widened with a whisper, forcing Wraith to lean over it or risk losing contact with Kael.She stared at it a moment longer, weighing the intimacy against the necessity. Then climbed on, slow and stiff, like she was facing a firing squad instead of a mattress.
Carefully, she slipped her arm under Kael’s neck and shifted onto her side. She lay her head on his shoulder, wrapped her arm over his chest, her hand resting on his heart. Swung a leg over his.
Ignored the pained reaction she felt from Elijah. Didn’t look at him.
Couldn’t.
Kael took a shuddering breath, the kind you take when you’ve almost run out of air and can finally breathe again, and his mind quieted.
“How long do you think I’m going to have to stay like this?” Wraith asked. “Because it seems kind of a… temporary solution at best.”
Four hours brought no answers, just a rising tide of frustration bouncing between the three parties currently conscious, and about a thousand new questions.
As long as Wraith stayed where she was, Helios remained stable.
If she moved away from him, he started emitting, and Seori and the collective went into apoplexy.
If Elijah got too close to her, physically or mentally, Helios would start thrashing and his mind would scream.
In fury.
Which wasn’t awkward in the slightest.
At least the malleability of the Other ship meant she was able to use a swiftly created bathroom in record time, while Seori clutched her head, and her husband glared at Kael like he’d personally engineered the scene just to spite him.
It turned out that protein bars tasted the same regardless of where in the universe they were produced. It had been the easiest thing to eat while lying down.
Under normal circumstances, they would have just tranq’d him into oblivion. But his neural patterns showed that he was already in an unconscious state, despite every evidence of awareness.
Wraith wasn’t uncomfortable.
At least not physically. Everything else, on the other hand…
“I need to get some sleep,” she told Seori. “Think that’s going to be an issue?”
“I… no. I don’t think so. His mind is locked on you, but I think it’s protective. He hasn’t lashed out at you once.”
Who he had lashed out at remained unsaid, and was currently glowering out at the Void through the viewport.
“You both should get some rest too. Or at least—” she tried to think of a polite way to put it. Failed. “—leave.”
“I’m not leaving you alone with him.”
Phantom’s voice was vibrating with emotion. She heard Seori walk over to them. Felt their unspoken conversation without hearing the content.
“Fine!”
He stalked out of the room, snarling like an angry bear.
“Nice to see some things haven’t changed,” she muttered and Seori chuckled, low and tired.
“Reach out if you need us, Ash.”
“I will.”
The not-door swished closed, and the room dimmed.
“Where are you, Major?” she asked, letting her fingers brush his cheek, then trace the scar from a wound that must have missed his heart by centimeters.
She was so damn tired, exhausted on every possible level.
“Third time we’ve ended up like this,” she muttered. “People are going to talk. And you know Shade’s never going to let us live it down.”
She sniffed quietly, let the tears fall and felt them pool in the hollow of his collarbone. She brushed them away.
“Come back, Major. Wherever you are. For the first time in five fucking years I’ve seen my family. At least some of them. But it turns out that I’m more alone that ever.”
She laid her hand over his heart again and closed her eyes.
“Please come back to me,” she whispered, and let sleep take her before the agony drowned her again.