“Loris is right about that. If you ever want to know how to use a weapon, I will teach you.”
She made a soft, choking sound that seemed to be part laugh, part sob. “Maybe someday. Right now, I’m just glad it worked, and that you were nearby. I was afraid he’d wake up before you came back.”
“He was never going to wake up, Maddi.”
She sucked in a breath and leaned back so she could look up at him. “I killed him? How? It’s just a stun wand. I mean, I turned it up to full power, but I never thought…”
“Weapons like this can kill if the setting is high enough and it’s applied for the right duration.” He tapped the side of the wand with a finger. “Or maybe that asshole wasn’t as tough as he claimed to be.”
It wasn’t much of a joke, but it worked. She managed a grim smile and nodded once. “Okay.”
She impressed him yet again. Once they were safe, he’d be sure to give her whatever she needed to deal with the fallout of her actions. For now, she’d found the strength to set that all aside.
“It’s safe now. Right?” she asked.
He cupped her face in one hand, his thumb stroking the tear-streaked grime that marked her cheek. “It’s safe for now.”
She reached up and touched his hand with hers. “And you came back to me.”
“Always, little star.”
“Always.” She repeated his words with a smile. “I like that.”
“So do I.” He kissed her then, trying to convey whathe was feeling but didn’t have the words to describe. This wasn’t about sex or desire. It was something deeper.
He ended their embrace with reluctance, but they still had things to do.
“Now what?” she asked him.
That was an easy question to answer. “Now, Maddi mine, we try to steal their ship.”
She laughed, her smile brighter now. “I like this plan. Do you think there’s a shower on board? Because both of us could use one?” She tapped his chest pointedly. “I mean, how will anyone know who you belong to if they can’t see your mating marks?”
“You want them to know I’m mated?” he asked.
“I want them to know who you belong to.” She raised both hands in front of her and pointed to her own marks. “You are mine.”
“Always,” he said, and he meant it with all of his newly awakened heart.
He retrieved the hidden weapons and left them with Maddison while he swam across the river to retrieve their raft. Those items were too valuable to be left behind. While he swam, Maddison cleaned herself up as best she could. He let the current wash away the gore that matted his fur and took a moment to scrub more of it off him before he rejoined her on the river bank.
Despite their best efforts, they were still in dire need of a shower. Hopefully, the mercenary’s ship would have what they needed. That is, if they could even get inside.
He took a few things from the bodies before they left the area. He made Maddison turn her back while he removed the hands from both corpses and placed them in a bag he’d stolen from the first human he’d killed. If they were lucky, the ship would have a simple palm lock on the door.
Until now, they’d never successfully captured one of the mercenary crafts. Either one of the team escaped with the ship before they could reach them, or one of them sent a self-destruct command before they died.
Havoc wished that Risk was here. He, more than any of them, had the best chance of actually flying one of these vessels. Havoc knew more about tactics than piloting, but since he was the only one here, he’d have to try. Unless…
“Do you know how to fly this kind of ship?” he asked Maddison.
“Loris taught me how to start them and go through the preflight checklists. Those were human-made designs, though. And even if we got that lucky, I can’t actually pilot one.”
“If we can’t get it to fly, we’ll take anything of value and leave it.”
“Right after we use the shower. If it has one. Stars, I hope it does.”
The ship was still intact when they reached it, and he could neither hear nor smell any sign that anyone was still inside. He still told Maddison to hide while he approached on his own.
