None of that should matter to him, but it did.
After taking another calming breath, he pressed his hand to the panel. The door slid open to reveal the man hunched on the deck in the corner of the empty metal room, head pressed against his knees.
When Mace stepped inside, the man scrambled to his feet using the bulkhead as support. Mace’s fingers twitched as they stood staring at each other.
Finally, the man asked, “Is my son alive?”
“He was when I left him in the doctor’s capable hands.”
The man sneered. “She’s CORE. They should all be sent out an airlock.”
“She’ll probably save your son’s life. She saved mine.”
For a second, it looked like the man would argue the issue but stayed quiet when Mace took a step forward.
“What happens to me now?” he asked.
If I don’t change my mind and decide to kill you?Fists clenched, Mace crossed his arms over his chest. “You’ll be charged with assault.” Maybe more. Depended on what other charges he felt like adding on. “If you’re eventually released, you are not to enter my ward’s med bay. You are not to come within a deck of her. Do you understand me?”
“But if my boy—”
Dropping his hands to his sides, Mace took a step forward. “Do you understand me!”
The man swallowed and nodded, back pressed into the corner.
Mace forced his fingers to unclench one by one. He stepped back, breaking the man’s wary gaze. There was nothing honorable about beating someone weak and unarmed, but let him be afraid if it meant he’d stay away from Nia.
A medic waited in the corridor, a med kit clutched to his chest.
“He hasn’t seen a doctor since arriving from the transport attack,” Mace explained, cocking his head to the door.
“Yes, sir.” The medic hurried inside.
Mace finished charging the man, Sorley was his name, then returned to the med bay to retrieve Nia. It was well past the end of her shift.
He found her talking with one of the medics beside the boy’s bed. The other two medics were gone, but each of the girls who’d been in earlier had an adult nearby, regeneration gauze on their skin.More victims from the transport attacks.
Mace came alongside the boy’s bed. “How’s he doing?”
Nia turned to him. The blood on her head had been cleaned. He noted her tense shoulders, how she held herself away from him.
“Good,” she said, voice tight. “Better. We almost lost him there, but he pulled through. He’s tough.” She rubbed the middle of her forehead. “Why does everyone keep telling me I have to ask you about prosthetic limbs?”
“We can talk about it later.”
“He needs the bonding process to begin right away. Any delay could mean complications—”
“We can talk about it later.”
Nia’s breath left her in a rush as she dropped her hand and narrowed her eyes at him. “Fine.” She turned to the medic. “Is there a way to contact me if his status changes?”
Kessy nodded. “I can contact the commander if there’s any change.”
After scanning the boy’s vitals one more time, Nia headed to the door to hang her white jacket on a hook. Mace coded his vambrace, and they returned to his quarters in silence. Once her wrists were disengaged, he meant to immediately back out of the room and give her space, but something made him stop.
“Are you okay?”
She looked over her shoulder at him. It was then he realized she’d paled considerably.
