“Will you finish today?” She follows me inside the ship, scanning the interior. I can’t help the swell of pride at how far it’s come. There are still a few telltale scorch marks, but no one would guess the state it was in after the crash.
“If nothing goes wrong, Alioth willing.” I gather some tools from a low cupboard, mood surging at the thought of getting off this frixing planet. Of having my Alara to myself. It won’t be freedom, exactly, but it might be better. Rising, I add, “If my mate doesn’t distract me with her kisses.”
“Is my sexy priest costume turning you on?” She laughs, swishing my cloak around her ankles. Her scent swirls, permeating the ship’s cabin even more than it already does after the day we spent lost in each other here. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get her scent out of the pilot’s chair.
I drop my tools with a clatter and haul her into me, drawing a deep breath against the side of her neck. “Yes,” I growl. “You smell like me. Like us together. All I want to do is bend you overthe nav panel, bite your shoulder, and fill you with my cock. But I have too much work to do, Alara. It will have to wait for the furs.”
Her scent only grows stronger as she presses into me, fisting my sveli sash and turning her face up. “You should kiss me.”
Suspicion gnaws at the edges of my mind. Why would she push for that when she knows I’m so close to being done? Is she trying to slow the repairs? “Did I not explain that I need every minute of the day to work?”
“Just one kiss,” she begs. The corner of her mouth twitches, and when I glare at her, she breaks into a wicked smile. She knows what she’s doing: torturing me for her own amusement.
“There’s no such thing,” I growl and push her away. “Get out of my ship, female.”
She pretends to pout. “What am I supposed to do out there all by myself? At least let me help.”
“You want to help? Then help.” I pick up a basket and shove it at her.
The basket contains the closest thing we have to a working comm system, which is to say it’s a pile of parts. Some are the scorched, half-melted remains of my original unit. Some we’ve collected, one piece at a time, from the wrecks that make up the base.
Despite Lena’s best efforts at wheedling her way into every corridor, we haven’t found any comms intact. Most have been pulled out entirely. The few left in place have been stripped for parts. We have the looted remains of dozens of units that now must be patched together with what’s left of mine.
She eyes the collection doubtfully. “I’m not really a tech person.”
I add a few ration packets and a welding pen to the top of her basket and escort her to her usual spot in the corner of the hangar. It’ll be easier to focus without her in the ship. “You have steady hands and a sharp mind. Whatever you get done willhelp. Whatever you don’t, we’ll have time in space to figure out together. Frankly, we’ll be glad for puzzle. We’ll have little else to do in space besides eat, fuck, and sleep.”
I have to suppress a smile when I scent her arousal. She’s not the only one who likes to torture her mate for her own amusement.
Lena clutches the basket to her belly, her neck and cheeks flushing deep pink. It takes every measure of my warrior’s will not to throw her over my shoulder and carry her off to our quarters. Now, instead of making mental checklists of repairs, I’m making checklists of what I’m going to do to her later.
“Tonight,” I tell her. “If we finish our tasks.”
When she turns an even deeper shade of red, I know she understands what I mean. Once the repairs are completed, our shackles are unlocked. We’ll no longer be prisoners here, and I can claim her as my mate if she accepts me.
I attack the final repairs, and the hours move quickly. The goddess smiles on me, because I have exactly the number of screws and rivets I need to reattach the panels. Everything is ready for a final test tomorrow. Exhilarated by my success, I stow my tools and hurry out of the ship, ready to celebrate.
“Where’s the basket?” I ask her, scanning the area for the comm parts so I can put them away before we leave. “Did you have any luck with assembly?”
She rises, dusting her hands on her trousers. “Oh, yeah! Unnu saw what I was working on and came over to help. He said he’d take care of it.”
My stomach hollows. “What?” I bite out.
“He’s going to build the comm for us. Isn’t that great?” She tips her head and raises her brows, like I should be joyful that the comm parts we collected are now in someone else’s possession.
“Why would he do such a thing?” I take a step toward her. “He hates me. He wears scars I gave him. He called me a little shit.”
She frowns at me. “That was when he didn’t know you. Everything is different since the Turning. You helped. Everyone saw it. They don’t hate you anymore.”
The center of my forehead throbs. She can’t be this stupid.
“If you want, I can ask for it back?” she ventures.
“Yes. Please.Ask.” I cross my arms and wait while she scampers across the hangar. A fool’s errand, but she’s quite foolish, it seems.
She returns a few minutes later with a sheepish expression. “Unnu left on the afternoon supply transport.”
I want to laugh. “Of course he did. I suppose he took the comm parts with him.”
