“Maybe it popped in and out like a magician.” Ari offered an unhelpful analysis. “Did you ask them if anything was missing from here?” He gestured around the chaos of the Ozevroc cafeteria. “Now that’d definitely be some kind of magic trick.”
Morgan frowned, tucking a strand of her golden curls behind her ear. Most of them sprang back. The man might’ve hit on something. It was general practice for the psychics at Aethralis to teleport around the city all the time. Could this be something similar?
Shaking herself out of her musings, she faced Ari. “Nothing is missing as far as they know. But look here.”
She led him to a mound of glass that sparkled in the dim light. Crouching, she aimed the multicorder over a deep impression on the side of the pile. Running her handheld over it, she studied the readings. “If I didn’t know better, I’d swear it was a footprint.”
Ari settled next to her and focused on where she indicated.
His warm, masculine scent drew her in, making her take a deep, appreciative breath. She sure loved the masculine scent he carried. Musky goodness mixed with an unfamiliar spice that made her pulse thrum. Images of them in an intimate, naked embrace made her bite her tongue. What was it about this guy that made her react like that? She’d never behaved like this with anyone so quickly before.
Ari whistled low. “Damn, if that’s someone’s foot, this here is one heavy sucker. Look how deep it is.” He fingered around the side. “And what’s sticking out the sides? It looks like spikes.”
Morgan peered closer to the real thing before adjusting the multicorder. “Those spikes are part of the footprint itself. They’re appendages just like the toes are. How odd.” She tried to get her handheld to create an image of what could have made that print, but the ‘corder stated it needed further information.
With a reluctant sigh, she stood and looked around. “I don’t think there’s anything else we can do here.” She clipped her multicorder to her belt. “We’d better get back to the engine room before they begin their funeral ritual.” She shuddered. “I vowed I’d never watch them do that again if I could help it.”
Not waiting for his answer, she approached the High Chieftain, keeping her eyes focused low and to the side. “Oh, great and mighty Chieftain. May we lowly humans return to the engine room? Lots to fix.”
Welozz thumped his staff with a snarl. “Find Talon of Ancients!”
She nodded, keeping her head bowed. “Yes, yes. With your permission, I wish to study the layout of theNebula Viperto discover where the sacred artifact might be. I need to plan where to search further.”
Morgan kept her head down as the silence stretched. She tensed when Ari took a step beside her, but at least he kept his smart-aleck self quiet.
“Done.” Welozz announced. “Or humans die.”
She pursed her lips to keep from groaning in relief. Welozz wasn’t stupid. He had to realize she was his best chance at finding the artifact.
“Grozzik take back. You find,” the High Chieftain announced, turning away to announce the festivities of cooking Lurvath for the funeral feast.
Morgan shuddered. “That’s our cue.” She announced to Ari. “Let’s get out of here.” She nodded to the khaki-brownish-yellow Ozevroc glaring at them. “Just follow Grozzik as he leads us back to the engine room.”
“Okey dokey pokey.” Ari watched the short Ozevroc with a mischievous gleam in his steel-gray eyes.
She nudged Ari with her shoulder. “Whatever you’re planning, don’t. Let’s not give Grozzik any reason to stay with us once we get there. We’ve got too much to do.” Between fixing the small spider-bot to help withElemi’srepairs, to cleaning up whatever mess the Ozevroc left after they searched the place. Not to mention she had to come up with a plan to find the missing artifact. To top it off, she was starving and couldn’t wait to activate the replicron to whip up some breakfast. Along with a much-needed cup of coffee.
“Fine.” Ari huffed. “He’s safe.” He grinned. “For now.”
Morgan stifled the threatening grin. Damn clown. She wouldn’t put it past him to trip the Ozevroc into the nearest airlock.
“Good.” She nodded. “Let’s get some breakfast and figure out what to do next.”
“Yeah.” Ari nodded. “Gotta admit finding a murdering thief is way easier on a full stomach.”
When Ari, with Morgan beside him, followed Grozzik into the engine room, he hooked his thumbs into the loops of his jeans and glanced around. If he thought the place was a mess before, boy howdy, was he ever wrong. The mountain of discarded metal and tools he’d worked on yesterday might have been in a neat pile, but any sense of order was completely gone. All of it was every which way, making it impossible to move without stepping on something.
“Wow, good thing having nothing to do today isn’t on the agenda,” he quipped.
Morgan snorted, plucking up some of the clutter covering her workstation and tossing most of it into the trash bin he’d used before. “This is ridiculous,” she muttered, wiping her hands together. “I’m hungry. Let’s eat. Replicron display!”
It didn’t take her long to pull her food replicator out of the larger machine where she’d stored it. Since he couldn’t remember anything that resembled what she called breakfast, he told her to surprise him with something.
Soon, he joined her sitting on an upturned crate, devouring what she called an omelet. Best thing ever. The cheesy goodness smothered the veggies, as well as sausage, ham, bacon, and potatoes. She’d also brought him a container with a bright orange liquid. After his first tentative sip, he gulped it all in one swallow. When he finished everything, he asked her to show him how to make more.
“Later,” she replied. “For now, I’ll do it. We don’t have a lot of time to get this place cleaned up. Patience isn’t Welozz’s strong point, so we’ve got to concentrate on finding that artifact as soon as we can.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe anyone took something that important to the Ozevroc without them noticing.”
Morgan brought him another glass of the orange drink. His fingers brushed over hers, surprising him when a bolt of lust tightened his cock. The need to lay her back and lick every inch of her as part of his breakfast feast made his mouth water.Dammit.Had he always behaved like that with a female? With a tentative grasp, he put his other hand over his lap to cover his hardened member. No need to advertise how attracted to her he was. No telling how she’d react to that.
