“Beats me,” Rykal said, propping himself up on his elbows.
Arin did a double take. “Why are you naked?”
“Healing,” he grunted. The terrible wounds in his chest were almost completely patched up now. His body was repairing itself right before her very eyes.
“Right.” Arin’s eyes wandered. She couldn’t help it. Injuries aside, Rykal was everything she’d hoped he would be and more.
Wait a minute… what exactly were you hoping to see, Sergeant?
He was silver, chiseled perfection. He was a living, breathing sculpture, from his generous shoulders to the defined lines of his abdominal muscles to his, uh, rather… generous endowment.
Said endowment was rather, uh… erect.
Arin couldn’t stop staring. Responding to the direction of her gaze, Rykal’s smile grew even wider.
Impossible bastard.
He sat there surrounded by his own blood, healing from gruesome injuries, and yet he somehow managed to look like an Adonis from ancient times, a renaissance sculpture brought to life complete with fangs, elf-ears, and out-of-this-world nano-modifications.
He was grinning at her, not at all bothered by his nakedness.
Cocky bastard.
“Ahem!” Riana’s nervous voice made her turn towards the doorway. Her dark eyes were wide with fear, and her arms trembled as she raised her bolt gun. “S-sergeant, what’s going on?”
Riana, too, was staring at Rykal.
Feeling strangely protective, Arin shed her flight jacket and draped it across Rykal’s nether regions.
“Riana,” she said gently, “he’s not a threat to us. Put the gun down.”
“H-he’s the one I told you about,” she whispered, “the one who…”
“I know.”
“I’m going to call for backup.”
“Don’t bother, Riana. Just get your ass into the chair and do as I asked, or we’re all fucked.”
“But…”
“That’s an order, Riana.” There wasn’t time for freaking out or screwing around or ogling naked Kordolians, although the latter two options were mighty tempting.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“I’m in.” Riana swiveled in her chair, glancing warily at the Kordolians before she met Arin’s gaze.
“Patch me through to theFSS Marcia,” Arin said.
“You want me to connect you to a military warship,” Riana said in disbelief. She was speaking in English, so the Kordolians couldn’t understand. There were two of them now. Rykal had called for backup, and some other Kordolian had shown up, a real cold fish with strange ritual scars on his face who had barely spared them a glance. Arin didn’t even know what he was called.
The newcomer spoke exclusively in Kordolian and paid attention only to Rykal, speaking in a low, sarcastic tone. Rykal was smiling as his buddy injected him with some mysterious substance, but the new Kordolian’s expression never changed.
“If I get hauled before the infotech court again, they’ll suspend my rank and send me to prison,” Riana complained.
“You’re acting under orders,” Arin said. “When they court-martial you, just say I held a gun to your head.” She shot a meaningful glance at the dead Xargek, and Riana followed the direction of her gaze. “I’d rather serve a cryo-sentence andget a dishonorable discharge than be taken down by one ofthose. You get my drift?”
“I hear you, sister.” Riana sighed, running a hand over her shorn hair. “One illegally hacked top-secret military comm, coming right up.”
