“If I have information I would share it with you.”
“Let’s test this theory. Why were you late coming to camp today?”
That surprised Vaelor. The Cyborg was recharging so how did he know when they arrived?
The Cyborg waited patiently for him to answer. In the end, he did not believe the Cyborg was responsible for the sabotage.
“Mara suffered food poisoning. We had to treat it first.”
The Cyborg showed actual concern when he looked over at Mara. “Is she well?”
“Yes. But it was only her food that was contaminated with toxins.”
“Do you have any of the food or anything that touched the food?”
“Why would you need that?”
“I can do an examination and determine what the toxin was and that may help narrow down the culprit.”
Vaelor reached into a pocket of his biosuit and pulled out a cloth he had used to wipe the sweat and drool from Mara. He was going to toss it into the fire when he got a chance.
“Will this be enough?”
“Yes. Place it on the ground in front of me.”
He did something he had never thought he would do.
“Thank you, Dugan.”
The other male nodded but didn’t take his eyes off of the cloth.
He looked over at Mara, who was barely listening to the constant talking by Blaine. She gave him a tired expression. Standing up, he walked over to her, held out his hand.
“Let’s get some rest. Tomorrow is another challenging day.”
She took it without hesitation. He could feel all eyes on them as they went to their tent. He didn’t care. All that mattered was Mara. She slept in his arms peacefully while he stayed up to guard her.
Chapter 27
Mara
The next morning, Mara woke up once again with Vaelor gone. But, he had extra thin skins pulled out for her to wear under her biosuit. If it hadn’t been for Vaelor, she probably would have frozen to death by now.
It made her wonder what she was actually bringing to this partnership. So far, Vaelor suffered bad luck just from being assigned to partner with her. She didn’t want to be the reason that he lost the games.
She would do her part as much as possible. Mara took the bedding and tent down, putting it into Vaelor’s pack. She brought the packs with her to the fire, not wanting to take her eyes off their supplies since they had been tampered with before.
The other players were still there, eating breakfast. A few of them looked up when she approached. Blaine turned on his charm. She started to resent that easy going act he put on. He couldn’t be for real.
“Good morning, beautiful!”
Mara plastered a fake smile on her face. “Morning.”
“I’ve got extra food heated up if you want some,” he offered.
“Thanks, but I’m waiting on Vaelor.”
“He shouldn’t leave you alone so much. He disappears a lot. What exactly is he up to?”
