“Cambry!” He sprinted toward her.
She ran for him.
He opened his arms wide and caught her when she launched, squeezing the breath right out of her. “What in the veck were you thinking? I told you to go back to the pod.”
She scrambled out of his arms and stood facing him, chin lifted, her small fingers wrapped in the front of his uniform. “I’m a Zandian pilot,” she said, the determination in the set of her mouth daring him to disagree. “I fight for Zandia.”
He staggered a bit under the weight of her declaration. Truly? Had she taken his cause on as her own now? What had changed her mind?
He grasped the back of her head and pulled it against his chest, lowering his lips to her hair. “I guess I’ll have to get used to your being in danger, then,” he said gruffly, emotion closing his throat. He didn’t want to. He wanted to forbid his female from ever putting herself in danger again, but it would go against her nature. Cambry was a warrior like him. So was her brother, if the way he’d been shooting back there had been any indication.
He pulled her head back and cradled her face. “You were brilliant back there—both of you.” He lifted his gaze to include Tal, who hovered awkwardly nearby. “Thank you for serving Zandia. The prince will be pleased with your service.”
She probably didn’t give a veck what the prince thought, but he did. He needed Zander’s approval to mate her, to keep her, and with the stunt she’d pulled stealing the ship earlier, it might have been difficult. This act of service would go a long way toward mending things.
“Captain Lundric, Master Seke is demanding an immediate report,” one of his guards informed him.
He nodded. There was too much work to do. Holding Cambry would have to come later. He kissed her forehead and released her. “Get yourself to medical. That’s an order.” He threw in a stern glance to be sure she understood the meaning of the word order.
She merely smiled. “Yes, Captain.” Something in her voice made him think she enjoyed taking his orders.
She’d better. He had a hundred more in mind just as soon as he settled the chaos at hand.
Chapter Eight
Cambry hissed as she climbed off the cot, her fresh laser tattoo still raw.
“Are you sure that’s how his name looks in Zandian? Because if I just wrote idiot on your back, you’re going to look pretty stupid.” Tal wiped off the laser ink gun Lily had managed to procure and put it back in its box. Lily and Rok had arrived immediately before the battle began with Ocretion police. They believed they had unwittingly attracted attention and led them there.
“I verified it with three different Zandians. They all told me it said Lundric.”
“You’re really serious about this male, aren’t you?” Her brother folded his arms across his chest and narrowed his eyes at her. “I have to admit, I’m shocked.”
“Why are you shocked?” A spike of defensiveness rose up, and she prepared to defend Lundric’s worthiness.
He shrugged. “I’ve just never seen you this way. You’re like a different person.”
“In a bad way or a good way?” she asked warily.
He grinned. “A good way. Definitely. Are you fishing for my approval here? Because you have it. Lundric won it the minute he came to that factory for me. But even without that, I knew he was the one by how you are with him. You’re different. Happier. More open. And he obviously would do anything for you. So, yes. A good way.”
A knock sounded on her door.
“He’s here.” Nerves made her stomach flutter. “Get out, quick.”
“I’m leaving, I’m leaving. Stars, you’d think you’d want to spend a little more time with me after how long we’ve been apart. Kidding!” He dodged her slap as he opened the door. “Good afternoon, Captain.” He made the Zandian greeting with his fist in the air. “She’s been waiting for you.” Tal slipped past a frowning Lundric and disappeared.
Lundric had dark circles under his eyes. She doubted he’d slept for the past two planet rotations since the battle with Ocretion police, and she’d hardly seen him. The Zandians hadn’t found a place to dock the pod or hangar, so they’d continued to float through space just on the outskirts of Ocretion territory. They were in an area Rok knew from his smuggling days, staying off the radar while they worked on a new plan. From what their intelligence had gathered, the Ocretions did not know it was Prince Zander who had taken possession of their death pod and launched battleships against their police, but it may only be a matter of time before they did. The Zandians were trying to move up their timeline for recovering Zandia, hoping to do it before they had to wage battle against the Ocretions.
The good news was the battle had won further allegiance from the beings on the pod. Now that they’d seen the Zandians wage a second battle against their former tormentors, their eagerness to join the fight had increased. Trust between Zandians and the refugees on the pod had improved.
Lundric shut the door behind him and dropped the latch into place, but he made no move toward her. The haunted quality to his gaze that had been there since her betrayal hadn’t left. He looked at her like a starved man who knew he’d never get enough to eat.
She had to dispel him of that myth. Holding his violet gaze, she peeled off her panties and leggings, then her tunic, and stood before him, nude.
He leaned his head back against the door, fingers opening and closing into fists at his sides. “Cambry, you don’t have to—”
“I know. I never thought I did.” She took a step toward him. “I wasn’t using you, Lundric. I never used you. I just…” She knotted her fingers in front of her, suddenly wishing she’d waited to strip until after they’d had this conversation. She didn’t want to touch him until she’d said everything, either. Didn’t want him to think she was using sex to mend things.