Silver Tongued Devils (13 page)

Brom’s amber gaze moved from the
captain to Raesa, piercing her where she stood. “Not you.
Her.”

She made a sound of exasperation. “I’m
fine. He’s the one who got beat all to hell.”

Brom engaged a switch and stalked
toward her. Raesa stepped back, unsure why his intensity was
weirding her out. “Hey, Tiger. No need to go all feral cat on
me.”

His lips didn’t even twitch. “Where
were you injured?”

“On my back and hip. I took a fall on
my way out. No big deal.”

“Strip.”

His demand instantly enraged and
turned her on. “Hell no.”

A slow smile spread across his
handsome face. The brief show of fang reminded her hybrids were
predators first.

He could smell her arousal and she
knew it.

“If she says she’s fine, leave her
be.” Na’varr’s statement made Brom growl low in his
chest.

Brom hauled her against him, pressing
his nose to her throat. “Do you want me to take a bite,
Raesa?”

“Maybe.” The word came out in a
breathy whisper. Why the hell was he so irritated? She was the one
who was scared shitless of something happening to them. Her fingers
dug into his shirt. It had taken everything she had not to throw
herself at Na’varr in the cargo hold. Now she couldn’t let go of
Brom if her life depended on it.

“Your injuries.” He ran his fingers
down her side. It was sexy as hell until he dug his grip into the
bruise forming on her hip.

She hissed.

He brushed a kiss against a scrape on
her cheek. “This was a rookie mistake.”

Vulnerability shattered and anger rose
to the top. Her lust instantly froze. She let him go. “Oh the hell
with you and your self-righteous crap. I wasn’t the one who
abandoned my post in the middle of the mission to play
cowboy.”

“The plan was doomed to fail the
moment Na’varr won the fight. I knew it. You should have known it.”
He stepped away and glanced at the captain. “You should have seen
it a mile away, Na’varr.”

Raesa glanced between both men. A
tightly veiled tension resonated between them. One that made her
wonder if they were going to go to blows.

Na’varr remained quiet and her heart
ached at his silence. Where was her confident lover?

“Why won’t you say anything, Na’varr?”
Brom tilted his head. “Once upon a time, you were
ruthless.”

“If you’re talking about the foreman,
I already told you, no killing if we can avoid it.”

“Why?” Brom shouted the
question.

“If we leave a trail of dead bodies
behind us, how are we any different than them?”

Brom stepped closer to the
captain, pulling Raesa with him. “Is that the pirate captain or the
blood prince talking? Because either way, leaving
traitors
in our wake will
end up getting us all fucking killed.”

Raesa needed to stop this before they
duked it out. “Brom.” She placed her palm against his chest. His
muscles trembled beneath her touch.

Na’varr put a hand against his side.
He looked like hell warmed over. Dust and god-knows-what-else
covered his wounds. “No. He’s right, Raesa. I didn’t see where it
went wrong. I still don’t know. The only one of us to have their
heads on straight was Brom.” He clenched his jaw and his expression
hardened. “It doesn’t excuse your insubordination. You had orders
and you put Raesa’s life in danger.”

Brom glared at the captain.
“Your orders would have gotten us all killed. You’re reckless,
Na’varr. This is the third job we’ve faced where at least one of us
ends up in a damn MEDbay. I’m sick of fixing your hot-headed
maneuvers,
captain
.”

Na’varr’s fists clenched. His tone
turned harsh, “I had it under control.”

“Which part?” Brom pushed
Raesa’s hand aside and prowled closer. “The part where a metal head
used you as a meat sack punching bag?” He tilted his head and moved
in the other direction. Only Na’varr’s gaze followed the hybrid,
the rest of him could have been carved in stone for his lack of
movement. “Or maybe it was the moment the fucking insane cyborg who
screwed us over the
last
time we dealt with him leveled a bone grinder at
your stubborn head.”

“I’m arrogant?” Na’varr closed the
distance between them and got into Brom’s face. “Your job was to
protect Raesa. This was her first time out and look what your
bullshit caused.”

“Hey,” she interrupted. “I was
fine.”

Brom snorted. “It’s not about you
being safe, Raesa. It’s about risk. Our captain thinks he should be
the only one out there in the line of fire while we sit safely on
the side lines. Well, guess what, you can’t do it on your
own.”

“You’re full of shit, Brom.” Doubt
tinged Na’varr’s voice.

Was the hybrid right? The reason
Na’varr was doing all this insane stuff was to keep them
safe?

Brom stood close enough to swing at
Na’varr, and for a split second, Raesa wondered if he would welcome
it. “I saved your ass, and you know it. You want to be suicidal,
fine. But don’t hide behind your, ‘I’m the captain and you follow
me to your death bullshit’ when you screw up.”

Oppressive silence blanketed the room
and Raesa cleared her throat.

“Speaking of which. How did you know
things were going wrong?” She thought the fight was pretty stupid
to begin with, so she couldn’t figure out what, exactly, triggered
the hybrid’s sudden urge to move to a sniper position.

“Experience.” He backed away from
Na’varr and winked at her. “Don’t worry, hellcat. You’ll get wiser
as you grow older.”

Frikkin’ A, he pissed her off
sometimes. “You have got to be kidding me. Brom, you can’t be five
years older than I am. Do hybrids live extra-long lives or
something?”

The cold stare he pierced her with
stopped her dead in her tracks. What the hell was up with that?
Confusion warred with her irritation. Men or cats didn’t matter.
They were all mysterious assholes when the wind blew a new
direction.

“Get to MEDbay. Those wounds need
tending to.” Chilling indifference snapped the words like strikes
against her heart.

He made her dizzy with his personality
shifts.

Brom glanced back at Na’varr. “I’ll
hold the helm until you get back.”

Na’varr nodded and a little bit more
of Raesa’s heart broke. How the hell would she fix this
mess?

***

Raesa peeled the body suit from her
sweaty skin, aching to have hot water wash away the bitterness of
the entire day. She’d have to settle for an immersion bath in
cleansing gel until they were jump ready.

She peeked at Na’varr from beneath
lowered lashes, eying the scratches and scrapes on his toned body.
Bruises were already forming on his ribs where the cyborg had
struck a few lucky hits.

The ship shuddered in its movements,
telling Raesa they were in far worse shape than she imagined. They
needed to get scanned and cleaned up. After that, she would delve
into the ship’s diagnostics to check the vessel’s stability. They
weren’t in danger or Brom wouldn’t have sent them to
MEDbay.

Her butt still burned from the
attitude the giant cat threw their way. She chucked the suit into
the cleansing bin and held out her hand for Na’varr’s
clothes.

When he didn’t immediately
hand them over she glanced up and caught him staring openly at her
hip. Her gaze followed his line of sight to the ugly bruise forming
on her skin.
Damn that’s going to hurt
tomorrow.
“Looks much worse than it is. A
little time in the MEDbay tube will fix me right up.”

He strode to her side and gently took
her hand, easing it away from the injury. The lines in his face
deepened and the brutal pain in his expression whipped away her
irritation. She cupped his cheek. “Hey, I’m okay.”

“How did it happen?”

Raesa’s cheeks flushed hot. Brom
wasn’t the only one who’d defied Na’varr’s orders. “I found more
information we needed.”

His jaw clenched and he pierced her
with his iron cold stare. The grip he had on her hand tightened.
“So you took longer? How am I supposed to keep you both safe if you
keep doing everything your way? I give orders for a
reason.”

“Ease up, strong man.” She tugged her
hand free of his hold. “It’s not my first bump, okay? I took a
little longer and was rushed to leave after I hit the dome release
switch. My feet got ahead of me on the stairs and I took a fall.”
Right on top of a gray-skinned cyborg who was luckily too shocked
at a woman being on his chest to actually react before she was out
the door. There was no way in hell she’d tell anyone that
part.

Na’varr crossed his arms. “Get into
the bay now. We need to get you scanned to make sure nothing is
broken.”

Raesa eyed the captain from top to
bottom. “Of the two of us, I think you’re more likely to have
broken bones than me, boss, but whatever you say.” She wasn’t
arguing with the steel glint in his eyes.

She lifted the hatch and lay down in
the tube. Na’varr shut it and she looked at him through the
observation glass. The tube sealed and a soft rumble beneath her
naked body signaled the scanner was ready to go.

“Raesa.” Brom’s voice came into her
earpiece.

“What is it?” She was still irritated
with him. Both of them.

If he noticed her snappy tone, he
refused to rise to the bait. “Who’s in the tube right
now?”

“Me, why?”

“Just checking. When you get done, I
need you to come to the bridge and run a diagnostic. We took more
of a beating than I expected. The jump drive won’t enable so I’ll
have to take a walk about.”

Concern darkened her thoughts. He
would be spacewalking to do outside repairs. Raesa drew in a slow
breath. “Aren’t you worried about pursuit?” A light ran along her
body and the strange tingling in her limbs told her the medical
scan was in progress. Why wasn’t Na’varr chiming in?

“All the more reason to get you up
here as fast as possible. Tell me when the scan is done and Na’varr
is in the tube.”

His words made sense, but his calm and
soothing voice was irritating the shit out of her. How could he go
from ready to fight to Mr. Logic all of a sudden?

A blue flash of light caught her
attention the moment something sharp pricked her arm. She blinked.
Pain receded and a good portion of her ire melted away with
it.

The tube hatch opened and she climbed
out with a sigh. Na’varr held out his hand. She took it with
hesitation, wondering if his closed off expression meant an
imminent lecture. He helped her to her feet and then pulled her
into his arms, holding her tight.

Was he trembling? The last of her
annoyance dissipated. Why did the two men she loved most in the
world leave her an emotional wreck? “I swear I’m okay.”

“If I lost you-” Na’varr tightened his
arms around her.

“I’m not going anywhere.” Love swelled
in her chest. She caressed his bare back and pressed a kiss against
the swirl tattoo over his heart. “You can’t get rid of me that
easy. I promise.”

He kissed her forehead and let her go.
“Your scan came back with a clean bill of health and some bruising.
I’ll hop in and get a dose of feel-good juice and then I’ll find
out why Brom hasn’t engaged the jump drive yet.”

The captain sat in the tube. He tried
to hide the pain in his side, and she pretended to ignore it. He
stretched out on the concave surface, and she took a moment to
appreciate the delicious view. Fully naked, Captain Anderson
Na’varr was a god among men. He trained constantly to maintain his
body. Not for sport like those back on the Sakura station. No, the
captain and his second were both men of war who relied on quick
reactions to save their lives.

The bruising along his ribcage was
worrisome. They were days away from civilization without a jump
gate and a broken drive. This time he’d risked too much.

“Don’t look so sad, beautiful. The
moment I get a clean bill of health, I’ll have you in my arms
again.” He winked, but Raesa’s heart ached.

She stepped away. The hatch closed and
she immediately turned to the scanning monitor.

“The captain is in, Brom.”

“Thank you. Keep an eye on his monitor
for me, will you?”

“Of course.”

It didn’t take long to discover the
cracked rib. No wonder he’d been so damn quiet after they made it
to the air. The harness had dug a bruise formation in the already
broken blood vessels. Every breath had to be agony.

“Raesa. How many ribs did he
break?”

“One. Two bruised. The fracture can be
healed, though.”

“That’s what I thought. He’s
definitely going to kill me for this.”

“For wha-” The scanner displayed the
captain override code and injection request. “What are you
doing?”

She rushed to the viewing screen,
intending to yank up the tube and haul Na’varr out, but it was too
late. His eyes widened in panic and then grew unfocused. His lids
fluttered closed.