Dark Matters - Michelle Diener Page 0,60

right. She ran back to where Dray was sliding the shockgun into the empty holster strapped to his thigh.

“Does Virn have the restraint releases on him?”

“Good thought.” Dray crouched again, patted Virn down and pulled a small device out of his front pocket.

Virn batted at his hands, but weakly.

As Dray rose back up, she held out her wrists, and heard one of the best sounds in the world, the snick of freedom.

She took the device and freed Dray, and then she ran for Virn's hover. “Come on.”

He looked like he was going to insist on piloting it, but then he slid behind her.

She turned it on, touching buttons with shaking hands, and just as she was about to lift them up, a flash of purple through the fog winked from the corner of her eye, and then there was nothing but darkness.

Chapter 27

She came to in Dray's arms.

He held her against him, one arm curved around her back, the other around the back of her thighs, and he was sitting up against one of the hovers with her draped across his lap.

She let her eyelids flutter closed, and tried to work out what was going on before they realized she was conscious.

“I was reacting.” She heard Bly's voice, tight and defensive. “It was set to kill because, in case you forgot, we were just shooting at kol.”

“She's why we're here. And you hit her with a kill shot.” Virn's words were equally tight. “I'm not saying you shouldn't have taken the shot, I'm saying a quick adjustment to something lower than kill would have been good.”

“It's done. And she doesn't look dead, anyway.” Rua didn't seem particularly concerned either way, and given the way she'd hit him over the head, she couldn't exactly blame him.

“How is that, exactly?” Virn's voice rose, and she felt Dray shift a little, his arms tightening.

“Don't ask me,” Dray said, the rough sound of his voice vibrating through her, but she had the feeling he was lying.

What did he know about her that she didn't?

“Maybe its got to do with their bone density.” Rua sounded tired. “As I discovered, she can put a lot of power behind her movements.”

“So what now?” Bly moved a little closer.

“We go down, find the cave, take the supplies in, you watch these two, and then when she's recovered, we take them below.”

“She could take days to recover for all we know.” Rua said.

“Then the two of them can sit out here as kol snacks.”

“And their guard?” Bly's question was dry.

“Use your imagination,” Virn snapped. “You can guard them from the cliff edge. If the kol come, you can jump down.”

There was silence.

She let her eyelids lift again, and found herself looking directly into Dray's blue eyes.

She saw relief, and something else in his gaze. Something that electrified her. Warmed her all the way through.

“How do you feel?” he murmured.

“Like I fell from the cliffs to the rocks below.” She tried a weak smile, and then closed her eyes again, letting her cheek rest against his chest.

“She awake?” Virn was suddenly looming over them, and she felt Dray tense beneath her again.

“Just coming to,” he said.

“Good. Bly, watch them both like they're kol on the hunt. I'll be back as soon as I've located the cave.” She opened her eyes in time to see him turn to Rua. “You going to be all right?”

She saw Rua had a transparent blue gel-like dressing on his head. He was sitting up against another hover.

He waved Virn away, and the Tecran disappeared back into the fog.

“How did they get the jump on you?” Bly asked.

Rua was silent.

When it appeared he wasn't going to get an answer, Bly swore softly and went to get his handheld.

“Keep both hands free,” Rua said.

“They're on the ground, and while she may be awake, she's hardly about to leap up and attack.”

Rua didn't answer, and when Lucy swung her gaze back to Dray, she saw the faint spark of humor in his eyes.

“Can you?” he asked.

“Leap up and attack?” She tried another smile. “Not right this second. Give me a few minutes.”

“I thought he'd killed you.” He was dead serious now.

“Seems like they thought it, too.”

He nodded. “I'd read in the reports that Rose McKenzie and Fiona Russell had both survived kill shots with a shockgun, but it was only after I felt your heart beating that I remembered it. In the moment . . .” He shook his head.

She ran a hand down his cheek, noticed he