Page 27

He crouched as something small, dark and furry dashed out of the room the animals had been caged in.

Striker pulled his gun. Some of those animals would have vicious teeth, sharp claws, and bad attitudes.

The door leading into the room where the animal cages were kept was open wide enough for him to squeeze through.

His heart stuttered as he looked around. Wren was on the floor, curled in a ball.

He slid to her side and felt for a pulse before exhaling. “You’re still with me. That’s good. Hold on, beautiful.”

She groaned again and shifted on the floor. Her movement revealed she was holding something. It was a small bleeding cino.

“Wren,” Striker breathed out. “What the hell are you doing in here?”

“Save it,” she muttered. “Striker, please. The cino is hurt.”

“My priority is saving you.” He looked around. There must be a medical kit in this piece of tin.

He yanked open several drawers before finding what he needed. He pulled out a health scanner and ran it over Wren.

She whimpered and curled tighter around the creature.

“There’s nothing broken, and there’s no internal bleeding.” The tension around his neck eased a fraction as he checked her scan results.

“The cino,” she whispered.

“Fine. Hand it over.”

She released her grip on the small mottled brown creature.

Striker ran the scanner over it. It had a broken tail but no internal damage.

“Will she make it?” Wren said.

“I’m more concerned about you making it.”

The cino chirped and tried to scuttle back into Wren’s arms.

Striker could understand its desire to be there. “Hold still. This’ll make you feel better.” He pulled out a shot of pain relief, held the tail as straight as he could, and jabbed it in.

The cino chirped in alarm and hissed at him.

Striker placed a skin regeneration patch on the wound on its head. “That’s the best I can do.”

“Thanks, Striker,” Wren said.

The pain in her eyes made his chest tighten. “Why did you leave the cockpit?” He ran the scanner over her again.

“I could hear the cino crying. I had to make sure she was okay. When I got here, the cages were squashed. Some animals, they didn’t make it.” Her eyes filled with tears.

“It’s a damn shame,” he said. “And some of them escaped. I saw a creature running out the door when I got here.”

“How am I doing? I don’t feel so good.” Her agony-filled gaze sent an ache through his whole body. He’d break his bones to ease her pain.

“You’re a mess, but you’re a beautiful mess. Nothing’s damaged, but you must be in shock.”

“Funny that, given the ship I’m on just crashed.”

“Now you joke.” He brushed her sweat damp hair off her forehead.