It could be loneliness, even desperation talking, rather than true attraction, but the way her heart fluttered as he shifted to a more comfortable position, muscles rippling, the scent of him filling the space around her, the warmth of his leg pressing against her own in the tight confines of their metal tube, she didn't care as much as she probably should.
She sang the last note, holding on to the longing, the yearning for unrequited passion imbued in the very fabric of the song.
Kalor looked over at her.
“I said no goo-goo eyes.” She didn't mean to whisper, to sound so betrayed, but if he put her on a pedestal she knew she would have no chance with him. And that's all she wanted.
A chance.
Like a normal person. A person who maybe ended up with someone they were attracted to, maybe not. But it didn't hang on the fact that she'd been kept prisoner, or was considered some kind of goddess singer.
“No goo-goo eyes,” he said, but there was a catch to his voice, and she knew he was lying.
Chapter 22
Cam had tried to look unaffected, but Imogen had seen through him.
He didn't see it as a failure on his part, because he didn't think there was a Grih alive who could have pretended not to be moved, but he was sorry about the result.
She hadn't sung for him again, leaning quietly against the drone's wall and eventually crawling back to the padded area where she'd been strapped in.
He hunched over his knees, sitting close enough to touch her head, uncomfortable, rattled, and confused.
And it wasn't their unknown destination that had him jumpy.
It was her. And the song she had sung.
Grihan music-makers were rare, and when they sang, it was on important occasions. The start of a new year. The opening of parliament. The milestones of the Grih nation.
Beguiling was not how he would describe any Grihan song. But beguiling was what her song had been. He'd felt the prickle of hairs rising at the back of his neck and along his arms, the well of desire rising up within him.
Sex and song. It was a completely addictive combination, and such a startling notion, he'd slipped up and forgotten to put his chief investigator expression on in time.
He looked over at her again, frowned and looked closer.
“Are you cold?” He'd seen her rub her arms a few times, had thought it was an unconscious gesture, but now she was shivering a little.
The temperature was another thing he couldn't control in here, something or someone else had all the reins, and he didn't think there was anything he could put over her to warm her up. This drone was designed for soldiers with smart fabric suits.
“Yes.” She hunched a little.
He hesitated for a moment, fighting himself, then slid down, forcing her to edge to one side of the padded mattress. He pulled her back against his chest, tucking her in close with an arm draped over her waist.
“Better?”
She nodded, and then relaxed against him. “Thank you.”
“I didn't mean the goo-goo eyes.”
“Really?” Her words were dry, and he smiled into her smooth, smooth hair.
“All right, I did. But I didn't want you to know about it.”
She sighed, and he felt her delicate ribcage expand under his hand. He resisted the strong urge to move his arm up just a little and brush the underside of her breasts.
They were intriguingly large, much larger than Grihan women had, and he wanted to find out how they felt.
He resisted the temptation.
“It seems a little late to be asking you this, given our current position, but I never caught your first name. I just don't think I can keep thinking of you as Captain Kalor anymore.”
He choked back a laugh. “I can see that. My name is Camlar, but everyone calls me Cam.”
“Okay.” She turned in his arms, tilting her head to look up at him.
He would not have moved, would not have done anything else, if she hadn't wriggled closer.
The press of her breasts against his chest was delicious, and he lowered his head and brushed his lips against hers. She gave a sigh of pleasure and slanted her mouth over his, taking the kiss deeper.
He didn't know how long they kissed for, long enough for his need to touch her to become overwhelming.
His hands were gripping her waist, and he ran them upward, pushing up her shirt as he did. Her breasts were encased in some thick, stretchy fabric, and he broke off the kiss so he could lift the shirt up over them.
She raised her arms, and he pulled everything off in one motion and then looked down at her.
She was magnificent.
He ran a hand over one breast, delighting in the plump feel of it, the weight and the smoothness.
He lifted his head and found her looking at him with a mischievous grin.
“What's so funny?”
“Nothing, except you're such a guy, and that is more comforting than you can possibly imagine.”
He cocked his head. “You mean, unlike your singing, you're used to adoration when it comes to your body?”
She chuckled. “I can work with adoration.”
He brushed a finger over the tip of a rose pink nipple and she arched a little into his hand.
“I tell you what.” She was satisfyingly breathless. “When it comes to this,” she waved her hand between them, “I'll forgive your adoration, if you'll forgive mine.”
Cam bent his head and ran his tongue where his finger had just been. Might as well give her a lot to forgive.
Cam sensed the moment Imogen slipped into sleep.
They had dressed again after making love, readying themselves for their mystery destination.
He tried to work out why he felt both guilty and defiant that he'd crossed the line from protector to lover.
She was a rare, special find, a person of massive importance both in their case against the Tecran in the UC courts, but also for the United Council as a whole. A new advanced sentient with a wealth of cultural and technological information to share with them.
She was part of his case, his job. The reason he was out here at all.
And what he was doing now would probably get him kicked out of not just the Investigative Unit, but Battle Center itself.
And then he remembered the way she sang to him, the heat in her eyes, seduction in her voice, and he held her just a little tighter.
Let the recriminations fall where they may. He was keeping her.
She woke up cold again, wishing for the warmth of Cam curled around her. She'd had the first real sleep she could remember since she'd been taken.
She yawned and then twisted onto her stomach, found him watching her from the control panel, alert and serious.
He always seemed so serious.
“Trouble?” she asked, clearing her throat at the way the word caught, thick and raspy.
“We're almost at our destination.” He waved at the screen. “But all I can see is deep space.”
Ah. So the black wasn't a non-working screen. It was a screen showing nothing.
She stretched and then crawled up to join him, happy when he handed her a cup of grinabo and made space for her to fit under his arm. Rested his chin affectionately on the top of her head.
“You're worried?” he asked as she sipped in contented silence.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because Paxe put us in this.”
“You think he would keep you safe. I agree with that, but he wasn't in control of everything. He may have put us in this because it was the only thing the Tecran couldn't shoot when we left the launch bay and he just hoped for the best.”
She took another sip. “True. But if he could make me safe, he would. And if he couldn't, there is nothing we can do about it. If we hadn't got in here, we'd have taken another runner and been shot. So we've won an extra ten hours of life.”
He gave her a strange look. “That's one way to look at it.”
“You
want us to be armed when we get to our mysterious destination.” She didn't bother to make it a question.
“I think that would be best.”
“Do we still have my whip?”
“Down the bottom, in the weapons locker with the shockgun I took off the Tecran.”
Something in her relaxed. Just because she believed in taking things as they came didn't mean she would mind a bit of protection. And the whip hadn't let her down yet. “Good.”
“It's quite something.”
“Did you use it?” She'd wondered how he'd gotten them out carrying her and shooting at two Tecran soldiers.
“I tried. It only works for you. In the end I put it in your hand and used it.”
She frowned at that. “How would it know who was holding it, though?”
He shrugged. “Bio-imprint, maybe. Fingerprints or a type of bio chemical reading. I don't know.”
That was . . . intriguing. And really great that the whip couldn't be used against her. She opened her mouth to say so, and then closed it with a snap.
Cam had leaned away from her, eyes on the controls.
“What is it?”
He looked over his shoulder. “Either we've found Paxe again, or . . .”
She shuffled into the space he made for her, and looked for herself. There was a Class 5 hanging in front of them, and they were headed straight for it.
It was more than possible that Paxe had set them on a course and then flown off to evade the Tecran and doubled back to meet up with them, but . . .
“If it's Paxe, surely he'd have tried to communicate with us before now?” Suddenly, her que sera sera attitude didn't seem to be quite so wise.
“Unless the Tecran have won.” Cam sent her a quick look, as if to see how she'd react to that.
“I don't think——” There was the faintest thump, as if something soft and light had bumped against them, and then Imogen threw herself backward as the bloated face of a Tecran soldier hit the outside lens.
Cam edged her completely out of the way, blocking her view, his features more curious than anything. He turned to her. “Judging by the number of bodies out there, I'm guessing whoever's in charge of that Class 5, it isn't the Tecran.”
Chapter 23
They were drawn through the gel wall by a deft hand, but it was only when they'd landed and stepped out into the launch bay that Imogen relaxed.
This wasn't Paxe.
She'd been terrified he was dead, and the dead Tecran they had seen had been his final stand against them, but the launch bay was different. Almost empty, for a start, and with not a Krik runner in sight.
“Hello?” she called.
Cam's gaze jerked to hers, but he didn't say anything.
There was no answer, anyway.
“What do you want to do?” she asked.
“Follow behind me.” He walked forward carefully, all soldier, his gaze sweeping right to left. She got a better hold on her whip and trailed behind him.
“You should actually follow behind me,” she said.
He stopped, gave her a quick look over his shoulder.
She shrugged. “I'm just saying, I have the whip.”
She thought he may have tried to suppress a smile as he turned back.
“But I have combat experience.” He started moving again, and conceding his point, she gave in.
They reached the double doors, and Cam pointed left. “Stay out of sight against the wall.”
She wiggled the whip at him, but there was no smile on his face this time.
She hesitated. “You don't have a Cargassey fiber shirt.”
“I have my uniform. It's almost up to Cargassey standard.”
Mollified, she stood where he'd asked her to, and he touched the button, opening the doors.
She craned her neck, trying to see past him, but he was too big, blocking her line of sight.
“It's clear.” He stepped into the passage, and she joined him, feeling a sense of deja vu. It looked like she was back on Paxe's Class 5.
Something moved, quick and furtive, deep inside the launch bay, and she turned to look. Cam had seen it, too. He stepped in front of her, shockgun raised, and took a step back inside.
“Wait.” He moved forward, eyes scanning the massive, almost empty space.
She was looking for whatever had moved, too, her attention taken with trying to see into the dark corners of the launch bay, backlit by the blue of the gel wall, when the doors in front of her started to close.
She had a moment, a split second, before they slammed shut, and she threw herself at them.
She hit solid metal, and pounded a fist in frustration and fear.
There was a bang in response, and she went still, resting her palm on the cool surface. “Cam?”
There was another bang, but she couldn't tell if it was in response to her call or simply him trying again.
She couldn't hear any other sound.
She leaned across, hit the button which would usually open the door, but it didn't work. She hammered it with a stiff finger, over and over like a pedestrian button on a traffic light that just wasn't changing to green.
Nothing.
She hit the doors again, both hands raised, grazing her knuckles where they gripped her whip.
What to do?
She turned and came face to face with the barrel of a shockgun.
She jerked in surprise, smacking the back of her head against the door as she brought the whip down in a panicked response. The drone holding the weapon was enveloped in blue light and then toppled over.
Shit.
“Oh, no, oh, no.” She knelt beside it, put a hand to its body, and felt the familiar vibration of a reboot.
“You idiot.” She smacked the side of the box. “You can't go around scaring people like that.” She looked around for the lens feed in the passage, but if this thinking system was in the same situation as Paxe, he might not have access to it.
And she'd drawn first blood, so to speak.
If she'd wanted to go out with a bang, she guessed she was going about things the right way.
She stood up and leaned against the door again, pressing her ear to it, and then flinched when she felt a vibration from the other side, as if Cam was throwing his whole body at it.
She thumped the door with her fist, but this wasn't getting either of them anywhere. She would have to go find another drone.
The bloated face of the Tecran she'd seen floating outside the explorer wouldn't get out of her head. Because if he'd been sucked out from anywhere on this ship, it was most likely the launch bay.
And that's exactly where Cam was.
“Hello?” She started to run, shoving the whip into its holster at the small of her back to prevent another accident. She knew the layout, knew the way down to the store from here. And if she was lucky, there'd be a drone there she could communicate through.
She reached the stairs and shoved the door to the stairwell open, and then reeled back as a drone shot up, level with her head.
She cried out as she fell, eyes on the shockgun pointed at her. She hit the floor hard, arms still flung wide in surprise and then scrabbled back until she had a wall behind her for support.
She used it to lever herself up, ignoring the dig of the whip in her back, and put a hand to her heart, as if she could stop it bursting from her chest.
Her legs were trembling with adrenalin and exertion, and fear and anger exploded in a combustable mix.
“What is wrong with you? You brought us here, remember? Or I assume you did, as we didn't have anything to do with it. If it was just to go around scaring the crap out of me and pointing guns in my face, you've totally lost me on the reasoning. And why did you lock Cam in the launch bay?” She drew in a deep breath, narrowed her eyes, and stabbed her finger at the drone. “Put. That. Weapon. Down. Jeez!” She pressed her forefingers hard into her temples and bowed her head. “I am usually calm. I am known for being calm. But you.” She lifted her head ag
ain, glad to see the shockgun was no longer anywhere in sight. “You are interfering with my zen.”
“You disabled my drone.” The voice sounded . . . strange.
“I didn't mean to. It frightened the hell out of me and I reacted on instinct.” She pushed away from the wall, hoping her legs would hold her now. “I turned around, upset and worried for Cam, and there was a gun in my face. I acted before I had a chance to see it wasn't the Krik or Tecran.”
“That is a formidable weapon you have.”
“Paxe gave it to me.”
The lens zoomed in on her face. “Is that so?”
“Yes. Now please let Cam out of the launch bay.”
“Why are you so insistent on that?” The thinking system speaking through the drone was using a monotone now.
“Because he's my friend, and I'm worried for him. I'm guessing those Tecran you sucked out into space were in the launch bay before they headed out without a space suit.”
The drone continued to hover at eye level for a moment more, and then lowered itself to the floor. “They were. How convenient.”
Imogen sighed. “What's convenient?” Nerves gnawed at her stomach at the thought of Cam in that launch bay, but there was no rushing this idiot.
“I thought I'd have to make it clear what I could do to your friend if you didn't help me, but you've already worked it all out.” The monotone was gone. In its place was approval, maybe a little respect. She didn't really care, either way.
“Yeah, like you would be any different to anyone else I've come across since I was taken off my planet.” She glared at the drone. “You guys are all so reasonable, non-violent, and friendly.”
“That's . . . sarcasm.” The voice hitched a little. “I didn't think of it, but you can't have the best impression.”
She gave a snort. “Well, the Grih in particular have my vote, so far.”
The drone had no response to that. “Captain Kalor will be safe enough in the launch bay until you have done something for me. If you deviate from my instructions in anyway, he will die and then you will die.”
This was what Paxe had been talking about, she suddenly realized. He'd said if he allowed it, the moment she saved him, he would be at his most vulnerable. That she would have the power to destroy him.
Dark Minds (Class 5 Series Book 3) Page 17
