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Chapter 8

“This is why we don’tleave the Apocalypse. Things like this happen all the time.” Dallin jogged along, words pouring out of him as he ignored the strange looks from the aliens they passed in the corridor. He cared nothing about what they thought. His one concern was getting Sloane to safety and checking to make sure her injuries weren’t bad.

“Dallin! Put me down. We are safe.” She thumped a fist against his back. “Those Zarlen are history. You made sure they can’t hurt us ever again.”

“It’s not enough. This whole place is dangerous.” His voice was a low grumble in his chest. “We need to get out of here.” Dallin slowed to a fast walk, but kept a tight grip on Sloane. His hand clamped on her ass to keep her in place as she struggled.

“You’re being weird,” she hissed. “Put me down. I’m fine to walk.”

“In a minute.” He checked several doors he passed until he found an empty room. He hurried inside, closed the door behind him, and then simply stood there deep breathing.

“Are you okay?” Sloane whispered.

“I will be.” His brain replayed the events again and again. He kept seeing Sloane helpless at the hands of the Zarlen, and all because he’d been protecting himself and not paying proper attention to his partner.

“It was intense back there,” Sloane said. “It must have been awhile since you’ve seen any action. That kind of thing doesn’t happen in the lab.”

“I haven’t forgotten how to defend myself, or how to protect you.” He slowly slid Sloane to the floor and gripped her shoulders. “When I saw that alien hurting you...”

Her hand went to her neck, where there were several dull red marks. “I was already convincing him not to mess with me. He just made a mistake and picked on the wrong woman. But I’m glad you came by when you did. I can’t believe he was planning to line me up for a job in a brothel.”

Dallin moved his hands slowly down Sloane’s arms. “Has he hurt you anywhere else?”

“It’s mainly my neck. And a few bruises from where he dragged me along.” Sloane shook her head. “No one tried to stop him. They thought it was some kind of joke. I asked several people for help, and they simply wished us good luck.”

“Selfish hedonists.” Dallin shoved up Sloane’s sleeves and inspected her arms.

“You don’t need to do that.”

“I do. I need to make sure you’re okay.” He checked each limb, gently squeezing and testing the joints and muscles to make sure nothing was broken.

Sloane shuddered under his touch as he ran his hands up her thighs.

He moved around to her back, partly to hide his growing erection, but also to make sure he didn’t miss anything. He was disgusted with himself for being turned on. His needs weren’t important. This was about making sure his partner hadn’t been injured.

Dallin looked down at his hands and grimaced. They were sticky with dark red Zarlen blood, and he’d just been running them all over Sloane’s beautiful body.

As he slowly returned to face her, he expected to see disgust in her eyes, but it wasn’t there. “I’m sorry you had to see that.”

She tilted her head. “See what?”

“My attack on the Zarlen. That’s not the sort of work we do.”

“Yeah, you’ve always got me chained to the lab workbench.” Sloane smiled at him. “You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. They were the bad guys. He was hurting me.”

Dallin grimaced. “And you have their blood on you.” He traced a finger over a drying patch of Zarlen blood on her sleeve.

“That’ll wash out. And sure, I don’t imagine many people enjoy watching another alien get pounded, but they started the fight. We could have all walked away from that, but then the jerk who took me brought in his buddies. It was us or them, and you’d never let anything bad happen to me.”

“I have a warrior’s desire inside me, even though I rarely act on it.”

Sloane surprised him by resting a hand on his chest. He didn’t move and simply enjoyed the feel of the warmth from her fingers. Her touch helped to settle his pounding heart.

“Dallin, I haven’t forgotten you’re an Apexian. Just because you enjoy the microscope more than the weapon, it makes you no less valuable to the crew, or to me.”

“Some would say different.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Some are idiots.”