Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

Lashe

I wasn’t sure what to make of this closeness. Being in tight proximity with Anna was going to be hard. Harder than I thought, and at no point did I ever expect it to be easy. When I completed repairing what I could from the interface inside the ship, I got up and went to the main cabin. It was time to test the surface of the asteroid. I opened the compartment for the lifesuit I’d wear to get outside. I needed to use the compression washers on the ducts, which were too blocked for the system to run its normal cleaning protocols.

Anna looked up as I pulled the lightweight but baggy suit over my clothes. She had been engrossed in her datapad and her brow was still knitted. “You’re not doing what I think you’re doing, are you?”

“Yes,” I replied, surprised by the forcefulness of her voice. “It’s the only way to get some of that irradiated material out of the ducts. You want to get off this asteroid, don’t you?”

Her brow creased into a deep scowl. “Sure, but there must be another way. Even you said there was something not right about the surface of the asteroid.”

“It has to be done. I’ve done everything I can through the interface. I repaired the outgoing signal system and sent out a distress signal, but we can’t know if it’s reaching anyone. This part has to be completed manually from the outside.” I sealed the fastenings of the suit and picked up the clear helmet. “I’ll be careful, and I’m wearing the lifesuit , which will protect me from any environmental issues.”

She didn’t look convinced, but she slowly nodded. “Definitely be careful. And get back in here as soon as you can.”

“I will.” I reached out my gloved hand, and for reasons I couldn’t begin to comprehend, I cupped her chin in my fingers. Maybe it was the worried look on her face. Maybe it was just my own weakness, but her eyes fluttered at my touch. Her delicate jaw opened slightly on the quietest of gasps. She did not move away. Impossibly, inexplicably, she leaned into my hand.

We were frozen there for a moment. Me, dressed in a lifesuit, staring at her in surprise and longing, and her gazing up at me, looking a little baffled. But there was no repulsion in her expression. On the contrary, her hand came up and covered my own. “Come back to me, Lashe,” she said in a low voice.

“I will,” I said. “I promise.”

I stepped away then, for self-preservation. I could get lost in this female. Swept away in the lines of her, in the way she drew me in. I had wanted her for a very long time. I placed the helmet on my head. “I’m engaging the external auxiliary air lock,” I said. “Don’t enter it under any circumstances. Once I go outside, the oxygen in there will be low.”

“Okay.” She was still staring at me like this was the first time she was seeing me. A sliver of hope lit through a crack that perhaps Anna felt something for me that was taking both of us by surprise. As impossible as that seemed, there was no denying the look in her eyes. There was probably no denying the colors on my skin either. Although only my face was visible through the helmet, my emotions would be right there, changing the color of my face.

Maybe it was time to stop pretending that I saw her only as my boss. That was something I’d give more thought to when I got back on the ship. Perhaps just talking to her more, normally , would give me better insight into what she thought of me.

I picked up the device I needed to clear out the ducts, gave Anna one last long look and engaged the pop-out air lock. This was the first time it had been in use since it was tested at assembly, and despite the thin material, it was nearly impenetrable. I stepped through the hull hatch into the plastoid bubble. It was transparent and should offer a safe transition from the ship’s interior to the asteroid’s surface. Gravity boots would keep me rooted to the ground. This was going to be fine—quick and simple. I’d be back inside in no time.

The second, thin hatch that opened to the outside was as transparent as the rest of the plastid air lock. When I was sure the hull was secured, I opened that door and stepped through. My boots automatically calibrated to the low gravity.

I went to work right away, walking over the dusty gray surface to the first clogged duct, setting up my equipment and beginning the process of getting the ducts clean. The first one went fast. The process was straightforward. As I worked on the second one, a breeze picked up. That was unusual, considering all of the readings I had been taking from the shuttle. And that we were on an asteroid with little to no atmosphere that could generate a breeze.

Before I’d left the shuttle, there had been no change to the outside conditions. There was a definite movement now, and it was increasing. The wind was beginning to move the sand that blanketed the surface. Under my feet, I saw a glint of metal. It was shiny and black. It did not come from my ship. The wind was picking up the dust and sand that had settled so nicely and was moving it about. I didn’t have time to ponder the change in weather. My visibility wasn’t as good anymore, but through it, I could see more metal. Sections of what looked like debris from other ships. Scraps of twisted metal. A shiver of foreboding traveled across my skin. I adjusted the device, upping the power to the maximum level to get this job done faster.

I gripped the side of the ship as the wind increased. I imagined that Anna would not be pleased right now. I could almost hear her pacing, yelling at me to come back in. And I would, after this was done. It was close. Just a few more minutes and I could seal this duct and get back inside. It wouldn’t be that bad. I needed to return to the cabin before the wind got worse. The other two ducts needed to be done, but could wait.

The device turned green and I hastily removed it, shoved it under an arm, then slapped the cover back on the duct and fastened it. I did all this by feel, not sight. The blowing dust had picked up so badly, it was clogging the filters in my suit. I dragged in a breath and grimaced against the burn in my throat as the fine substance overwhelmed the oxygen recycler in my helmet.

Keeping my hands on the hull to brace against the wind, I edged around the side and back to the ship’s pop-out air lock. The thin, rigid bubble pieces held firm, but I could see them beginning to buckle. Apparently even plastid air locks had their limitations. So did I.

I was beginning to reach one as I fought against the wind, gripping the side of the air lock and reaching for the entry pad. I just had to tap it to get it open, but there was no light emanating from it like there should’ve been. Without that light, I couldn’t see anything. All I had was touch, and I could feel the hard rectangular entry pad, but no matter how many times I pressed it, the outer door stayed locked. I held onto the handle with a slice of alarm. At some point, my strength would give out. I could not hold out against the wind forever.

Fine . I’d bypass the entry pad and go the manual route. I gripped the lever of the hatch and yanked, but that didn’t work either. The clear hatch stayed stubbornly shut. The dust gritted between my teeth as the lifesuit’s filters failed. Somehow, these tiny particulates found a way into the suit through the minuscule vents that were designed for expelling carbon dioxide. My head swam as I dragged in contaminated, dust-filled air and tried to ignore the warnings on the inside of my helmet letting me know that life support was failing.

I can’t let Anna down, I thought with a slice of desperation. She needed me. She’s going to be trapped here, I thought, as I began to slide to my knees and dark spots sprinkled at the edges of my vision.

Suddenly, the air lock door jolted open, knocking me back a few steps. The wind pulled, threatening to tug me away from the ship, but a firm hand gripped the front of my lifesuit and jerked me into the air lock. I blinked, suddenly able to see. The swirling dust was outside. I was safe. Anna’s stern blue eyes locked on mine through her lifesuit’s helmet. She slammed the outer hatch closed.

“Come on,” she ordered, jamming her shoulder under my arm and supporting me the few steps to the shuttle’s hatch. We stumbled inside. Anna kicked the hatch shut and locked it. She yanked off her helmet as I sank to my knees. “Stelis, disengage the air lock and retract it back against the side of the ship,” she said, crouching before me. “Secure the hull.”

“Yes, Anna,” said Stelis.

She pulled off my helmet as I dragged in a shuddering breath. “Are you okay?” She sat on the floor and stared at me, wide-eyed and flushed. “What happened out there?”

“Wind,” I gasped out. “Door jammed. Wouldn’t open.”

“It’s almost…” She glanced sideways to the viewport, where the wind whipped angrily at the thick plastid surface. “Like it knew you were outside. Like it started because you were outside.”

“Not possible.” I coughed up a mouthful of dust. “Asteroid.”

“Is it? I don’t know.” She unzipped her lifesuit and shrugged out of it. “I don’t want you going out there again.”

I shook my head and let her pull off my suit. I had to go back out there, but I was in no position to argue with her. My oxygen-starved lungs were on fire.

“Give me your suit,” “I’ll put your suit in the cleaner with mine,” she said. “Everything’s covered in that awful dust.”

It had completely clogged my air filter with those fine particles. I couldn’t help but wonder if there was something true to Anna’s comment. That dust was so fine, and that wasn’t normal for an asteroid. And the wind… Well, there was absolutely no way that should have happened. A little gravity was normal for a rock of this large size, but there was no atmosphere on asteroids, no matter how big. Therefore, it shouldn’t have been able to generate a wind in the first place. And it had started when I went out there.

The shuttle was shaking, rocking with the force of the mystery wind outside. I rubbed a hand over my face, feeling the gritty crust of dust around my nose and mouth. A glance through the main cabin to the operator’s screen showed no hull damage. She would hold, hopefully long enough for us to get out of this mess.

Anna took our suits to the decontamination unit and I hauled myself to one of the chairs in the main cabin. This was not my territory. It was Anna’s. I had never sat in one of these chairs before, but here I was, and here she was kneeling down beside me, placing one hand on my knee. On my knee. The other came up to my face.

I couldn’t stop it, even if I wanted to. Her touch felt as inevitable as gravity. It was also a unique sense of relief, as her fingers slid over my cheek, almost like falling, falling and hitting the ground at long last. It was an end of suffering. And a beginning of something very new and very uncertain.

A searing hot jolt scraped a jagged line of sensation down to my chest, through my gut, and straight to my cock. There it was—skin-to-skin contact. Even for the sake of my own sanity, I could not pull away. Instead, I sat there and gazed at her, knowing there would be no ignoring the marks that would begin burning into my skin any moment now. Marks that would be with me for the rest of my life.

“Are you okay?” she said, her head tilted and brow furrowed. The expression on my face must have been a confusing mix of agony and release, not unlike the face I’d make if I were ever inside of her.

“No,” I rasped. “I’m not.”

“What can I do?” she asked urgently. “Can I get you anything? I can—”

“Shh.” With infinite care I plucked her hand from my cheek and held it in my own. I looked at the long, slender fingers. The delicate palm that was wreaking havoc on me—a Destran warrior trained with every imaginable weapon. I could be felled by this one small human female with a single touch. “Just this,” I said in a voice that sounded like gravel, and I pressed my lips to the center of her palm. The pulse on her wrist spiked. Her fingers curled against my cheek, again. I could become addicted to this female’s touch. What was I thinking? I was addicted to her years ago.

“Lashe.” Her voice was breathy. “What are you doing?”

“I can’t…” I coughed again and closed my eyes as the marks began to burn on my ribs, above my waist, forming the bond I would never be free of. The mate marks . I could not keep this a secret from her. I would have to tell her that she was my mate and face the very real possibility that I would never be hers.