The Unexpected Bonding Vow - Michelle Howard Page 0,24
questioning glance.
Once more, she offered a smile, appearing way too pleased for their circumstances. “Right. Well. Let’s get it inside so no one knows we’re here.”
Considering the path they’d taken to get here, casual traffic wouldn’t see the structure, but overhead search fliers would be able to detect it.
“Lead on.” Garik activated the starter and walked the hover-cycle with them to the front door.
This time, she didn’t use a key chip or any other unlocking mechanism that he could note. Just twisted the knob and gave it a slight shove. The door opened wide with no squeak or telltale sound. Garik tensed, senses alert as he scanned the dim interior. Saedra walked ahead and tapped a lantern mounted on the wall. It lit, giving a harsh halogen glare to the simple space.
Stale air greeted them, musky and damp. The shed was sturdier and neater on the inside than the outside. The chill in the air brought back memories of the nights he’d recently spent curled on a cell floor.
Garik shut down the hover-cycle and rolled it inside to lean on the wall beside the door to keep it from outside view. Although the tiny, single window would require someone being directly near it to see inside, Garik would hear an intruder approach far sooner.
He strode to the center of the room and looked around. There wasn’t much to it. A pile of blankets was folded next to a portable mattress. Across the room was a lone counter with a faucet and recycling drain tray beneath it. There were half a dozen prepackaged squares he recognized as nutrient meals. Disgusting to the taste but bearable.
In the far corner, it was hard to miss the retractable latrine station open and on display, the gleaming silver basin mounted next to the collapsible urinal for space saving purposes.
“It’s not much.” Saedra spun around. “I needed a place Maurin wouldn’t think to search, away from the main parts of the city.”
Garik didn’t spend a lot of time on Quantoon. The higher rating targets he was assigned would rarely thought this moon station a viable option for safety and discretion. It was hard to determine if this was a good option or not. “How certain are you that we won’t be discovered?”
Her shoulders hunched and she raised her hand to tilt her palm side to side as she faced him. “It depends on how desperate he gets.”
Garik huffed. “I’m sure he will put in extra effort for me, but what about you, sesi?”
How valuable was she to Maurin and what lengths would he go to in order to retrieve her?
“I don’t know.” A look he couldn’t read passed over her face. She grimaced and said, “Part of me hopes he considers me as unworthy as he’s always said but I also know he doesn’t like letting go of things he believes belong to him.”
Garik’s entire body froze. He hadn’t thought of that when she’d appeared in his cell like an avenging presence from the gods. “Do you?”
“Do I what?” Her steps tracked over the bare floorboards, displacing dust swirls, the limp in her right leg not as prevalent while she traversed the space then came to a stop and eyed the waste facilities. She flinched and if Garik wasn’t mistaken, her cheeks took on a pink tinge.
If either of them needed to relieve themselves, there would be no privacy beyond a simple head turn in the other direction.
“Do you belong to Lord Maurin, leader of this forsaken moon station?” As soon as the question spilled from his mouth, Garik wanted to call it back for what it might reveal about his own growing feelings of possession.
Saedra jerked around and faced him with her mouth agape. “No! Ugh no, never.”
Her answer relieved him, but Garik blamed it on the bond. The nature of the mating would continue to pull him closer to her. Whether he did anything about it would be on him. Although the few times Garik lowered his guard enough for sex, it was detached and for release only. He didn’t do deep emotions.
She was still staring in horror at the basin and latrine when a wave of exhaustion roiled through Garik. He placed his hand over the ache in his side he’d been trying to ignore and headed toward the mattress. If he didn’t rest, he was going to crash where he stood.
He took a whiff of his odor and changed direction. First, he needed to alleviate his stench. He went to the faucet