The correction was fast, but the girl still pouted. I wondered how we were ever going to integrate her into human society.
“You’re not,” Mack told me, bleakly. “She is lupar in all but genome, and that can be changed.’
“Will she sleep?” the cub asked, walking up close enough to watch me fighting to keep my eyes open.
“Unfortunately,” Mack told him.
“Why unfortunately?” The youngster stumbled over the words, and Mack frowned.
“Because I might need her, and she will not be able to answer.”
Before he could carry that thought any further, Tens’ voice came over the comms.
“We have incoming.”
He sounded tired, and I felt Mack tense.
“How many?”
“Just one.” Tens paused, and Mack started leading us toward the door and the corridor leading to the bridge.
The children and cubs followed without being asked. As they passed one of the fallen wolf warriors, he stirred.
The She had brought her blaster around and shot him before Mack had time to respond. I swallowed hard as the warrior’s head exploded. The kid just didn’t miss.
“No, she doesn’t,” Mack agreed.
It was enough to make me realize I’d been more than lucky to live.
“Face it, Cutter. I kept you alive...again. You keep this up, and you’re gonna start owing me more’n you can repay.”
I wanted to argue, but couldn’t pull two words together, let alone a single coherent thought.
“Odyssey! It’s Odyssey,” Tens’ voice cut through my attempt, and I found myself wondering why he sounded both relieved and completely dismayed.
“Because now’s when shit gets interesting,” Mack informed me.
He unhooked my hand at the same time as he tightened his grip on my waist. “And you need to sleep.”
“I...” was as far as I got before my mind took the hint and sent me into oblivion.
Damn, that suggestibility sucked!
30—Penance
This time I didn’t wake up in a regen tank, but I did wake up in my own bunk with Mack looking down at me. Of course, I didn’t register it was him. I just saw the shape of an armed man, and was moving to put some distance between us before my eyes were fully open.
Which was when I ran right into Delight.
“Oof, kid. I’m not even threatening you and you’re already getting rough,” Delight snarked, as my vision cleared and I registered Mack.
The sound of Delight’s voice was enough to send me right back towards the good captain, and he chuckled making sure I hit the floor on my feet and facing the right direction.
“What’d I miss?” I managed, registering Pritchard’s presence against the wall behind Delight.
His lips quirked in an expression that I knew was his version of a grin.
Delight gave me a slow smile. “There was one Hell of a fight on a wolf ship that you didn’t show up for,” she murmured.
She tapped a forefinger against her chin. “Oh, yes, and some negotiations with a few wolves and some human rebels regarding the ownership of a world. Now, that was interesting. I think your name came up more than once.”
“All good things, I hope,” I said, and she smirked.
“Most of it.”
I decided I didn’t want to know, and backed up a step. Mack caught me around the bicep and I glared at him.
“I stink and I need a shower,” I told him, yanking my arm out of his grasp.
I watched as he exchanged a glance with Delight. She shrugged.
“Girl has a point. She does stink.”
Pritchard rolled his eyes behind her back, and I looked down at the floor to hide my smile. There were days I really liked Pritchard.
Delight gave an exasperated sigh and she glared over her shoulder at him...which meant she was back in my head, again. Bitch.
Now she glared at me. “You should mind your manners.”
Mack snorted. “You’ve known her how long, now?”
I stepped around him and made for my closet, pulling out a clean combat suit. The state of the one I was in...
I glanced down and realized I was in a nightshirt. That earned Mack another glare, and his jaw dropped.
“What? You wanted to be put to bed covered in blood and spider guts?”
Ugh! Spider guts... Man just had to remind me.”
I rolled my eyes, grabbed some clean underwear and headed for the shower. Delight’s voice rang through my head as I closed the door behind me.
“That’s not a night shirt...”
It wasn’t? And why was she using that sing-song tone of voice, anyway?
I looked down at the shirt and felt my face go bright red.
Because she was teasing me... Because this really wasn’t a night shirt; it was one of Mack’s shirts. I hauled it over my head and dropped it in the laundry chute, the scent of it making me sigh.
Mack.
Surprisingly enough, he didn’t answer...and I couldn’t hear Delight anymore...and none of them were waiting for me when I finished my shower and went looking for my boots.
Damned man had been mighty thorough when he’d tucked me in.
I looked around the room. No boots.
If he’d thrown them out...
A note on the closet door caught my eye.
In the bottom drawer...with all the rest.
My boots? I wondered.
My boots, I discovered when I pulled the drawer open. And they’d been cleaned and polished... And there was a pair of socks tucked into the top...
It was like the damn man thought he could read my mind.
I toyed with the idea of wearing an entirely different pair of boots and an entirely different pair of socks...and then decided that opting for boots that weren’t my current favorites was more childish than I had a need to be.
Besides, I liked these boots, dammit!
“We’re in the caf.” Mack’s voice, in my head, startled me, and I dropped the boot I was putting on.
“Dammit, Mack!”
“Just thought you should know,” he explained, sounding a little hurt.
“Uh huh...” No way known was I going to admit just how much those boots had touched me...not that he couldn’t read my mind.
Not surprising, he stayed quiet and I got my boots on in peace. He even stayed
