she bleeding out in a shaft too far underground for anyone to hear her? What if she had run into a pocket of gas or a flooded section? What if her exit point had been blocked by a cave-in?
He hissed and snarled an expletive as the tip of his soldering iron burned his finger. He glared at the offending wound. He hadn’t burned himself like this in more than ten years. Cursing his carelessness, he set aside the iron and grabbed an instant ice pack from the bottom drawer of his desk. He cracked and shook it before pressing the cold gel against his aching finger. It would blister and rupture and be a nuisance for the next few days.
“You okay?” Raze hovered in the doorway of his office. The boss’s gaze drifted to the ice pack. “You burned yourself?”
Cipher nodded, in as much disbelief as Raze that he had done something so stupid.
“Okay. That’s enough.” Raze stepped inside the office and shut the door behind him. Leaning against it, he asked, “What the hell is wrong with you today?” When he didn’t immediately respond, Raze guessed, “Is this about the errand you ran last night?”
Because this area wasn’t secure, Cipher kept to the coded language. “Yes.”
“Is it about the package that needs to be picked up?”
He shook his head. “The package is still where we were told it would be.”
“The courier then?”
Calling Brook a courier seemed like an insult. She was going far above and beyond the expectations. “Yes.”
“Is he not trustworthy? Not up to the job?”
“She,” he said and finally met Raze’s gaze.
The bastard smiled. “Oh, I see.”
Groaning, Cipher dropped back in his chairs and tossed aside the ice pack. He rubbed his face. “That’s never happened to me.”
“What? Attraction?”
He nodded. “It was…instant. Strong.”
“That’s how it was with Ella.” Raze narrowed his eyes. “You’ve really never been attracted to a woman like that?”
He shook his head. “I was starting to think something was wrong with me. I’ve enjoyed time with other women, but it never felt like this.” He noticed his knee was jumping up and down and consciously stopped. “See what I mean? I’m a mess.”
“She must be some woman.”
“I think she is,” he admitted. “She’s too brave for her own good. She’s going to get hurt, and she’s all alone down there.” He rubbed his face again. “She didn’t even have food. I left her all of my rations, but what happens when she runs out?”
“She does whatever she’s been doing to survive,” Raze reasoned. “She’ll probably be on a trip to some new place before she runs out, Ci. Unless you’ve got other plans…?”
“No.” His answer came harsher than he had intended. “She’s young. She should have the chance to live her life.”
“Did you ask her what she wants? If you trust her to handle this errand, shouldn’t you trust her to make her own decision about her future?” Raze pinned him place with a stare. “What if she feels the same way about you? Maybe she wants to be a wife, to have a family, to live somewhere safe where she’s protected and will never go hungry again.”
“Maybe,” Cipher conceded.
His counsel given, Raze switched topics. “You hear about the cargo ship that crashed near Willow’s Tears?”
Cipher nodded. “Any survivors?”
“A few,” Raze glanced at his watch. “That crew was lucky to fall so close to one of our medical missions.”
“Vaccination campaign?”
“Yeah. Also basic dental and medical,” Raze said. “It was a team from the Mercy.”
“Do they know what brought it down?”
“Mechanical malfunction is what I heard.” He winced. “There will be hell to pay for the mechanics who cleared that ship for flight.”
Cipher hummed in agreement.
“I’m headed back to quarters,”Raze said. “We’re off rotation until they call us in for the errand. Don’t stay here playing with your toys too late. You’re no good to me fatigued.”
“Yes, sir.”
Alone in his office, Cipher kept his mind on the tasks at hand and off of the pretty miner who had turned his world upside down. He didn’t want to let himself think about the possibility that Raze was correct. He had been alone so long. It was the life he chose when he made the decision never to Grab.
He was fine with that decision most of the time, but some nights, staring at the ceiling in his cramped quarters, he yearned for a partner in life. He wanted what Venom and Raze had with their mates. He wanted someone to greet him after a dangerous mission. He