toward Terri. As it leaped in the air, its long metallic fibers extending wide from a brilliantly green body, Veral whipped his hand through the air, the small horn on his wrist catching it and dashing it to the ground.
Terri hopped back with a squeak of alarm as the spindly fibers whipped through the air. The ends were needle sharp, more than effective for piercing through vulnerable tissue. Especially on a species such as a human whose skin had no natural defenses against it. It would have a harder time against his scales.
“Fuck!” she cursed as she crawled back away from it. “What the hell is it?”
Veral’s eyes narrowed on the tech before he brought his boot down sharply upon it, the loud crunch of components snapping filling the silence of the room. Lifting his foot away, he cocked his head and looked down at the crushed red body of tech. Tiny sparks lit across it as its “legs” twitched uselessly.
Terri scooted forward as he lifted his eyes and scanned for any signs of more of the things. He couldn’t detect anything, but he was disturbed to acknowledge the fact that not sensing meant nothing if he had a difficult time connecting with the unfamiliar energy signature.
It had felt oddly like bio-tech. There had been a few attempts to make something like that among his species with the idea to upgrade and eventually replace their current tech with something more fully integrated, but nothing successful.
“It’s like some sort of mechanical bug… but not,” Terri marveled as she stared at it. “I wonder what it was trying to do.”
Veral shook his head, his fingers curling around her arm as he pulled her away. The thing had intentionally drawn her blood, but he could not understand for what purpose. There wasn’t a trace of it within the mechanisms when he crushed it, so it did not appear to be attempting to store it. His eyes inspected the room, his vibrissae rattling as they vibrated while he attempted to get another read on the environment.
The room that had seemed as a welcome sanctuary only moments before, he could only now see as hostile.
The upended table with components strewn around it made him tug his mate further back. There were parts that looked similar to the bio-tech he just terminated. The medic was working on something—an experiment perhaps. He would not remain in this room with his mate for a moment longer. Dropping down, he retrieved her armor and searched it thoroughly for any other signs of bio-tech. Only when he was satisfied that it was clean did he hand it back to her.
Terri was silent as she slipped the armor back on and said nothing further when he lifted her up into his arms and carried her from the room. He would go back and investigate later, to see if there was anything worth discovering about the tech, and in case there was something she had been exposed to. But now, he would get his mate to safety.
As safe as she could be surrounded by murdering pirates. It was ironic just how quickly the situation changed with this new development.
On their way through the medical bay, he set her down to activate a storage area that had bandages. Tearing a segment off, he wrapped it around her hand before pressing the torn end down against the surface beneath his thumb to hold it in place while he searched for a binding.
Terri shifted her hand beneath his. “Uh, Veral, I think the end is sticking down.”
Glancing at her hand, he removed his thumb and noted that the torn end had completely sealed against the wrapped bandaging. He gave it a light tug to make sure that it would not loosen and nodded in satisfaction. That was practical. Without comment, he handed her what was left of the bandaging and swung her back up into his arms.
Focusing on keeping his footsteps light, he moved silently among the crew. Due to the safety of the enclosed wreckage, those who were awake and on guard were fewer, and were focused solely on the forest.
No one noticed that he carried his mate back to Azan’s side.
As he set her down. Terri’s hand tangled in his vibrissae, drawing his head down to press her lips against his. It was a silent communication of feeling, and Veral embraced it as he deepened the kiss, drawing his tongues along hers until they were both nearly breathless. He ignored the pang of