“With Maren on Tooh 2 and Huw and Wulf are on the planet—” Iolyn replied.
“—I only trust you and me. I’ll trust no one on this ship until I’ve had the chance to meet and scan them.” Mel kicked off the covers, then realized she was naked under the sheet. “Damn, don’t look.”
“Too late,” Iolyn said, turning his back, “And we won’t tell my brother that I saw anything.”
“He’ll know anyway. He’ll see it in my head.” She sighed. “Find me something to put on, please? I can fight nude, but would rather not.”
“Right.” He picked up a shirt from the back of the chair where he’d been sitting and thrust it at her behind his back. “Here’s one of Wulf’s shirts. He ordered clothes from the fabricator for you, but they haven’t been brought up yet.” Mel held the soft, woven t-shirt to her face and inhaled. Wulf’s scent was all over it.
Like the shirt he’d given her the last time she’d been on the Galanti, the smell calmed her. Smiling, she shrugged the shirt over her head.
There was no residual pain with her movements. She glanced at her hand. Totally healed. Raising the shirt, which reached her knees, she examined the leg wound Parker had inflicted. It was starting to scar over. She flexed her leg and was happy to feel no weakness or pain. She’d do.
“You can turn around now.”
“All in working order?” His concern washed over her in waves.
“I’m fine. As good as I was when I fought Parker on Tooh 2.” She smiled to underline her words.
“That should be more than good enough,” Iolyn said, returning her smile, then he frowned. “I feel the danger now. It’s close—but I can’t tell how many are coming.”
“Two. And they’re trying to get through the outer door’s security right now.” Low rhythmic beeps could be heard through the closed bedroom door as the two attempting to gain entry cycled through various code overrides.
Mel glanced around the very masculine and sterile room. There were three doorways, one was to the main room of the suite. “Where do the other two doors lead?”
“Closet and bathroom.” Iolyn angled his head to the third door. “That’s the only way in and out of the bedroom. Wulf felt this was more defensible than the medical unit, also.”
Had Wulf anticipated a problem when he’d left her on the ship? Or, was he just cautious? She’d bet on the latter.
“Okay, this is what we’ll do.” Mel moved to the large bed and pulled the raw silk coverlet back. Piling up some pillows as if she slept in the middle, she then pulled the silken spread back over them. “They’re here to kill me—and whoever is guarding me. I’ll go into the bathroom and you can hide in the closet. We let them get into the bedroom and then we take them out. Stun or wipe?”
“I want to say wipe,” Iolyn snarled, “but my brother will want to question them.”
“Stun it is, then.” Mel held out a hand. “Got an extra gun?”
“Take mine. I can get one from Wulf’s closet.” Iolyn headed for the door leading to the closet. “I can’t read your mind, Melina, like Wulf can. What’s the signal to take them out?”
“Why when they shoot at the lumps in the bed, Iolyn, what else?” Her lips twisted into a grim smile. “That should make any action on our part justifiable.”
“Works for me.” Iolyn entered the closet. “Oh, and just to make it clear, no one was supposed to approach this area of the ship without Wulf’s explicit permission, so any action we take will be valid.” He shut the door, leaving it open just a crack.
Mel entered the luxuriously appointed bathroom and looked longingly at the large marble tub. Damn, she’d love to soak in bubbles for a whole day. Maybe later. She vocally ordered the lights off and cracked the door so that she could see the doorway into the room. The assassins were close. She could almost feel the change in air pressure as they opened the door from the outer corridor into Wulf’s quarters.
It seemed like forever, but finally the door into the bedroom opened with a low whoosh as it slid into the recess in the wall.
Two men entered and approached the bed.
Dumbasses. They should’ve shot from the doorway. Obviously, amateurs. A professional assassin would have shot first.
The lead man aimed at the bed and let forth a full, what would have been, killing blast.
Simultaneously, Iolyn and she hit the two men in the room with stunning blasts to their torsos. One fell onto the smoldering bed, smothering the danger of fire with his body; the other toppled to the floor.
“Check the outer corridors to see if anyone else is lingering around,” Mel ordered as she left the safety of the bathroom and approached the downed men.
“On it.” Iolyn paused and checked to make sure the men were truly unconscious before he left the room.
Mel heard the outer door open, then close and lock. She kept her weapon on stun and aimed at the two downed Prime soldiers. They were harmless for now, but the stun would eventually wear off. They needed to be restrained. Since the bedding was ruined, it could be used to bind the men.
Placing the laser pistol down, Mel searched and found a knife in Wulf’s bedside top drawer. What a coincidence. That was where she always kept her extra knives. She grinned and made a mental note to let Wulf know that great tactical—or paranoid—
minds thought alike.
After cutting several long strips from the strong silken fabric, she bound both men, hand and foot, and then gagged them after making sure they were breathing easily. Wulf couldn’t interrogate dead men.
The attacks by the rebel faction from Cejuru Prime worried her. She didn’t think the Caradocs and Maren were taking them seriously enough. Now that she had a vested interest in the survival of Wulf and his family, she’d investigate the group herself. New eyes and a more objective viewpoint might shed more light on the rebels’ true motivations. She just didn’t buy the keeping-the-blood-pure argument that the traitors Ullyn and Prolow had fed her in the engine room on her last visit to the Galanti.
The sound of footsteps had her snagging the laser pistol from the bedside table and aiming it toward the bedroom door.
“Mel?” Iolyn’s voice called out. “I’m coming in.”
Mel relaxed and laid the gun back down. “It’s okay, Iolyn.” He peered around the doorway. “I see you have everything under control.” His amber gaze—so like Wulf’s—swept the shredded bedding. “I never did like the all black-and-gray theme my brother had for this room. You’ll want to redecorate, I’m sure.” He winked at her.
“I’m not much for decorating. It wasn’t something we were taught at the academy.” She laughed. “Did you see anyone lurking out there?”
“No one. It seems the crew is following the directive Wulf issued before he went to the planet.”
“So, how many more rebels do you think there are on board?”
“No clue. There shouldn’t be any.” Iolyn dragged his fingers through his short black hair, his lips thinned in anger and frustration. “As I mentioned before, this is a hand-picked crew. After the last time, Wulf wasn’t taking any chances with your life, since he hoped this would become your Squadron’s flagship.” He grimaced and looked away, guilt and anger pouring off of him. “I wasn’t supposed to mention about the ship…”
“It’s okay, Iolyn,” she reassured him. “You didn’t let the cat out of the bag. I know what the Admiral and Wulf planned. I don’t have a problem sharing command with Wulf on this ship. It’s better than him hiding me on Cejuru Prime to turn out babies every year.
It’s Wulf’s compromise—and for a Prime male, I am sure it is a major concession on his part—and I’m willing to meet him on it.”
“That’s a relief. Huw, Maren and I had tried to prepare him before he met you that first time, but he had a very narrow view of a gemate’s place in his life.”
“I know.” She laughed. “I think the battle-mate thing convinced him that I’d be of more use next to him than on the home planet getting into trouble.” Iolyn smiled. “Yes, alone you could get into all sorts of trouble. Look at the situation we’re in now. He was pretty sure that you’d be safe here with me looking after you and everyone else forbidden to enter the room until he returned.”
“So, no doctor looked me over?” She was curious as to how far Wulf would go to protect her.
Iolyn shook his head. “No, the doctor did attend you. Wulf wouldn’t have let you go untreated. But he only allowed the medical team to examine you while he was still on board. I was under orders not to let the doctor back in unless you were in severe distress.
He planned to be back before you came out of the regen bed.” Sounded like her overly possessive alpha-male Prime warrior was still a tad bit overprotective. “Um, who stripped and cleaned me up? The medical team?” Iolyn let out a bark of laughter. “Uh-uh. No one touched you any more than necessary to examine you. Wulf took you into the bathroom and carried you into the shower and cleaned you up himself. Your old uniform is history in the recycler. He personally uncovered only the lacerations, wounds and bruises he wished the medical team to treat.”