"Then," Seth clarified. "Later, when I had had time to consider the situation, I realized that it only made things worse and that I should not do it again ... unless, of course, Danika asks. I would not want to say no if it will help her."
That brought to mind the question Niles had wanted to ask before and, rather than pursuing the truth in the face of the pack of lies Seth seemed determined to feed him, he asked. "She asked you to sex her?"
The question caught Seth off guard. Truthfully, he could not recallhowit had come about and he had been struggling to recall it so that he could convince her to allow him to sex her again. "No," he responded before it occurred to him that it would probably not be wise to admit it.
Outrage flickered through Niles, although, truthfully, he thought he would have been just as angry if Seth had told him that Danikahadasked since she had not asked him. "You asked her?" he demanded.
"No." He had thought about it--a very great deal--but there was nothing in his data to suggest that that was acceptable.
Niles gaped at him, certain he must be lying. "If she did not ask and you did not ask, how did it come about?"
He did notknow! If he knew he would have done it again! He was not about to admit that, however. Instead, he shrugged.
Niles surged to his feet. "You are saying you do not know? I do not believe that! You just will not say because youknowyou did not please her and you are afraid that she will allow me to fuck her and not you!"
When Danika returned some fifteen minutes later with the chow she'd gone to fetch it was to discover Seth and Niles on the ground. Seth had Niles in a headlock. "Will you guys knock it off! What iswithyou lately?"
Chapter Sixteen
Danika's first inkling that Reuel had implemented his rescue/retrieval operation was when she returned to base camp and discovered that half the ships were missing. She stopped dead in her tracks and surveyed the compound again, thinking the ships had simply been moved for some reason, struggling with the thought that a rogue faction among them had stolen the ships. At the same time that was running through her mind, she wondered how they could have taken off without her having heard the departure--or Seth or Niles.
Without a battle, for that matter, that would have made enough noise to bring everyone from their guard posts.
Their post was deep enough in the jungle that they couldn't hear anything going on at base camp, but that was because none of the work being done at the camp produced a great deal of noise. The ship engines should have made enough noise for her to hear it, especially the noise three ships made taking off.
She spotted several women among those working, however, and she thought that circumstance eliminated the possibility that any of the cyborgs had rebelled and taken the ships. The only source of contention, as far as she knew, was the women the cyborgs had captured.
Thankfully, despite the momentary fear that the ship Dane was in was among those that had disappeared, she discovered very quickly that it was still parked where it had been the last time she'd made the trek to camp to get food. Hurrying toward it once she got over her initial shock, she jogged up the gangplank and moved briskly toward the sickbay, arriving breathless and on edge.
She got her second jolt then. The gurney Dane had occupied was empty.
Despite the fear that had been fluttering in the back of her mind from the time he'd been wounded, the shock of seeing the bed empty was so profound she couldn't move for many moments, couldn't think. It almost seemed as if every process shut down. The burning need to breathe kick-started heartbeat and brain function, but so many thoughts and fears collided in her mind at the same time that she still couldn't process what had happened and arrive at any logical conclusions.
The sickbay was completely empty. With no sign of the medic-borg, she couldn't even think who to ask about Dane or where to start looking. She finally turned on her heel and left. She had almost reached the gangplank again when it occurred to her that Dane might have recovered enough to be moved to the crew quarters. She didn't believe it. His condition had still been serious the last time she'd checked on him.
But she wanted to believe it.
Struggling with the urge to simply collapse and let the grief threatening to overwhelm all reason gain the upper hand, she turned from the gangplank and hurried toward the stair to the hold. She nearly lost her footing in her rush to reach the crew quarters, but the near disaster didn't prompt her to slow down. Instead, she simply leapt over the last few stairs when she'd caught her balance, landing hard enough in the lower corridor to rouse the sole occupant.
He sat up in his bunk.
For a handful of moments, they merely stared at one another in surprise. Abruptly, Danika raced down the corridor toward him.
"Oh! Thank gods!" Danika gasped as she neared him. "Dane! You're better! I thought ...." She couldn't get the rest out. Feeling her forced smile collapse and her face crumple with incipient tears, she flung her arms around him and burrowed her face against his shoulder.
Dane curled his arms around her, dragged her into the bunk and rolled, wedging her between himself and the bulkhead/wall of the ship. She didn't get the chance to pelt him with the questions that filled her mind, fighting for dominance. Almost before she'd settled good, he found her lips and planted his mouth solidly over hers.
Welcome warred with doubt even as warmth filled her, but she was so glad to know he'd recovered when she'd feared he'd died that she didn't make any attempt to dissuade him. She kissed him back with enthusiasm.
Her reception seemed to inspire him. The doubts swarmed into her mind again when she felt his hand moving over her in exploration, thrusting her T-shirt up to massage her breasts and her briefs down to explore her mound. He'd been at death's door only the day before. He shouldn't be considering what he was clearly intent on.
She shouldn'tlethim!
Maybe he just wanted a thorough greeting with a little heavy petting, though, to remind her she'd offered sexual recreation?
She forced herself to relax. She'd just point out that they needed to wait until he was more recovered when he paused for breath, she decided.
"Dane!" she gasped when he broke the kiss.
