It didn’t stop her from using the blower several times over though, until every bit of moisture had dried away. She was out of the lavatory and dressed in a new lab coat, had on her boots and was out the door within moments. Feeling clean almost made up for her persistent aches and fear.
Everything has to be clean when you’re a chemist.Norah’s lips jerked up, she was halfway back to normal.
It didn’t take her much to find her way to the animal laboratory–all she had to do was listen to the voices.
Stryker’s ship wasn’t small per-se, more like compact, easy, and decked out with the best tech on the universal market. One look around his cockpit and bridge was enough for her to discern that.
Norah looked down from the second-floor railing to Matt, Stryker, and a series of robots, cleaning up the lab. Signs of the fight were still there but the debris was gone and many of the scratches had been buffed out. Some deep ones remained.
She looked around for the Wieraptor but found no trace of it. Even the smell of its thick blood has vanished from the air.
Norah’s lips twitched up into a full-on grin. They didn’t notice her and she relaxed as she watched the two men banter and clean.
He knows I’m here.Stryker flexed his muscles and made a show at bending the giant metal table back into shape. She couldn’t hide her smile even if she had wanted to. Their eyes met for a moment before he looked away and continued to play the game with her.
She crouched down and sat on her knees as she watched him, the light-headedness helped her forget the horrors. She was going to take what pleasure she could in the moment.
She could see the twinkle in his eyes. It was everything she needed and everything she wanted. Against all the terrible things that lurked within the recesses of her mind, she was happy. Happy, light-headed, and dry. She was safe, secure, and protected. Norah was on her way home.
Norah couldn’t take her eyes off of the man that had saved her. Her fingers wound around the bars before her as she gazed down at him. As Matt complained, Stryker picked up the heaviest, most damaged equipment and proceeded to fix it. She watched as he did inhuman things and appeared unimpressed.
The more she smiled, the more his eyes were drawn to her.
Matt downed sip after sip of the flask he kept nearby that made her jealous. To be so relaxed, so sure that one’s safety was...secure, must be a wonderful feeling.
He disappeared around the corner with a handful of rubble, leaving her and Stryker behind; the robots trailed him with a load of their own.
Stryker stretched and turned toward her; soon he stood right below.
“Hi,” she said.
“Hey.”
“Please come up here and make me feel that everything is safe.” Norah sat back as he huffed and walked up the stairway. She got to her feet.
“I missed you.”
Stryker pulled her into his chest and she relished his grip, his heat. “I haven’t gone anywhere,” she murmured against his chest.
“I fucking hope not, otherwise there’d be something wrong with me.”
Norah smiled against him. “How do you figure?”
“I can monitor you from anywhere on this ship. If you managed to leave without my knowing, then I would have some serious problems with my systems.”
“Or,” she laughed, “I can be just that good. I bet I could win against you in hide and seek.” She tempted him, imagining the outcome, knowing she wouldn’t win the game itself; making him play was victory enough. Heat zipped through her, slow and malleable and wonderful. It was a distraction she didn’t realize she needed.
“Yeah? I’d take that bet.”
“I bet you would!” Matt yelled up at them, his eyes rolled as they looked his way. “The lab is almost clean, so-help-me-god, you better take your games elsewhere or I’m going to quit.”
Norah laughed. “But hide and seek isn’t a dirty game, Matt.” She already felt a fondness for the guy.Maybe because he’s the only other human to survive.It hurt, the ghoulish horrors that plagued her, and the aftershocks of an event she couldn’t quite believe was over.
She felt Stryker run his hand down her back, slowly and with so much promise, the heat inside her sparked.
“Yeah, tell that to the creatures who would be traumatized by it,” he muttered and turned away with a sigh, looking in the direction of the one working computer.
A shiver blasted through her when Stryker cupped the back of her neck and squeezed.
