Malfunction, page 8
Katia sank down into the seat beside him and took the flask from his outstretched hand. She raised it to her mouth, swallowed, and handed it back, felt the warmth in her belly. “Yeah, he has his moments.” And if he managed to pull this off, then she’d give him a great big hug.
They’d get out or they wouldn’t.
She’d always expected a violent death. It was part of what she was. But she didn’t think that running out of oxygen would actually hurt. She tried to remember what she’d read about it. Hopefully, they’d drift off into a peaceful sleep. All the same, she felt like she should be making the most of what might be her last hour. “It seems like we should be doing something…momentous. Just in case we…”
“Don’t make it?” he finished for her then cast her a speculative look. “I suppose sex is out?”
The man had a one-track mind. He was holding out the flask again. This time she took two gulps while she actually considered his suggestion. “You suppose right,” she said. “Way too energetic, and we need to conserve air.”
“We could do it really slowly. I’m good at slow.”
She’d bet he was. She’d bet he was good at fast as well. All the same, she shook her head, if not without a twinge of regret. “Do you ever think of anything else?”
He actually thought about the answer. “Yeah, sometimes. Deep meaningful stuff. Honest. When I can’t help it. But sex is a good thing. People tend to over-complicate it. But it doesn’t have to be complicated.”
“I’ll take your word for it.”
“How are you feeling?”
She thought about it for a moment. “Lightheaded, but that’s probably the whiskey. And cold. I hate being cold.” At least that meant her cat would stay away—she hated the cold even more.
“Yeah.” He rubbed his arms. “The temperature is dropping fast.” He thought for a moment. “Why don’t you come over here?”
She glanced at him suspiciously. “I thought we’d already agreed no sex.”
He curved his lip in a sexy smile. “You know, I can be close to a woman and not actually turn into a raving sex monster. Come over here, and we’ll share our body heat. In a purely platonic manner.”
It did sound tempting. The chairs were big enough, and she’d bet Logan’s body would give out some serious heat.
“I promise I won’t do anything…sexy.”
Hah, he was probably aware all he had to do was sit there and he exuded sexiness. But logically, it made sense. Why freeze to death when you had a soldier to keep you warm? A soldier who was ready, willing, and able. She got to her feet, hugging her silver foil around herself, and shuffled over, stood looking down at him. He really was stunning. Those eyes were mesmerizing, almost purple. He blinked, and she shook her head. “How do we do this?”
“Well, ideally, we should be naked.”
“In your dreams.”
“I thought you might say that, but all the same, as much body contact as we can.” He rose to his feet, unbuttoning his uniform jacket as he stood. He stripped it off and handed it to her. “Put this on,” he said.
She looked at it and then back at him. “What about you?”
“I’m a big tough soldier and you’re obviously feeling the cold more than me.” That was her fast metabolism again—she used up all the energy too quickly.
She placed the flask of whiskey—still clutched in her hand—carefully on the chair behind him, took the jacket, dropped her blanket, and pulled the jacket on over her shirt. The warmth of his body oozed through the layers of her clothing. It fitted easily on top, but then he was about twice as broad as she was. The sleeves came way past her hands, and she balled her fists. Logan reached down, picked up her blanket, and wrapped it around her shoulders.
Next, he reached behind him for the remaining blankets. He opened two and draped them around his shoulders. Then he sat down, tucking the whiskey inside his blankets. “For easy access,” he said. “Now for the fun bit.” He patted his lap. “Come sit on my lap, kitten.”
She glared. “Don’t call me kitten.”
“Aw, your captain does. And it’s cute and it suits you.” He patted his lap again. “Come on, Detective Mendoza, do the sensible thing and get warm.”
How could she resist? He opened his arms, spreading the blanket, and she shuffled the last step, twisted herself, and lowered herself gently onto his knee, sitting sideways, her legs across his, her hands awkwardly in front of her. He put his arms on either side of her and managed to open the last blanket. He shook it out and then wrapped it around their legs.
Already she was feeling warmer, the heat from his body seeping through to her, and she wriggled, getting comfortable and a little bit closer.
“Last bit.” He wrapped one of his blankets around her and tugged the second higher so it covered the back of his head, then he pulled her closer and tucked her in. “How’s that?” he asked.
Actually, it was lovely. “I can’t move my arms,” she said.
“You don’t need to move your arms.”
As if to prove it, he managed to unscrew the top from the flask and held it to her mouth. “Open.” She opened, and he tipped the flask, filling her mouth with whiskey. She swallowed quickly to avoid wasting any. He took a swig himself and then tucked his hands under the blanket.
She was drifting off. Probably a combination of Logan’s hot body, the whiskey, and the lowering oxygen levels. But it was nice.
She wriggled a little, snuggling down.
“Stop wriggling,” he murmured close to her ear.
“Why?”
“Because you’re giving me a boner, and we’ve already agreed we can’t do anything about it.”
“Oh.” She wriggled some more, and he flexed his hips beneath her so she could feel the length of a truly impressive erection pushing against her. Warmth flooded her system, her nipples tightening to hard little points. But was a shag worth dying for? She pressed down against him. Maybe. Sometimes. But not now. Besides, they’d have to somehow shed the blankets, and it was cold outside, and she was just getting warm. She lay still, her head resting against his chest so she could feel the steady thud of his heart. The rhythm was soothing, and for a moment she closed her eyes.
“Hey.” He jiggled her in his arms, and her eyes flashed open.
“What?”
“Don’t go to sleep.”
She scowled. “You have an awful lot of rules.”
“You go to sleep and you might not wake up. I’m not going to go to all this trouble to keep you warm only to have you die on me.”
He was right. Was the air already thinning? It must have been half an hour since they’d shot out the systems. “Any whiskey left?”
“Do you have hollow legs?”
“It’s that fast metabolism.”
He gave her a drink, and they settled down again. For a while, she stared out of the screen in front of them, but it was lulling her to sleep, and she shook her head. “Talk to me.”
“What about?”
“Anything?” She thought for a moment. “Why did you join the army?”
He was silent, and she’d decided he wasn’t going to answer when he started talking. “I was seventeen, and I was offered the choice: the army or a young offender’s institution. And I’d seen enough of institutions to last me a lifetime.”
“Isn’t the army just another institution?”
“Maybe that’s why I felt at home.”
“Oh? What had you done?”
“I killed a man.” When she didn’t say anything, his arms tightened around her. “Are you shocked, Ms. Homicide Detective?”
Maybe she should pretend to be. Would a “normal” person be shocked? But she’d killed people herself and knew plenty of killers. Some she had put away, others she hadn’t. Rico, for instance, had probably killed more than any creature alive. Though not so much these days. Or rather the days before they left Earth. He’d claimed everything was changing, and they had to adapt or become extinct. “Did he deserve to die?”
“I obviously thought so at the time. And I was never charged with murder. Now, I’ve seen so many people who deserve to die and they get to live. And people who deserve to live and they end up dying. It almost seems a pointless distinction.”
“Yeah.” She thought of her own family. They certainly hadn’t deserved to die. She shook her head. “Christ, this is too serious for what might be the last minutes of our lives.”
“Should we check in with Rico?”
“No, he’ll call if he has anything to say.”
She was warm now. His hands were around her waist, holding her close. It was weird, but she actually felt safe. Totally weird. Because they were going to die, and soon. He was stroking little circles against her rib cage, sending tingles along her nerve endings. And he still had that erection. If they went really slow…
Then he prodded her in the ribs. “Don’t go to sleep.”
She smiled to herself. She could just imagine, great sex and then drifting off into post-coital sleep and never waking up. As good a way to go as any.
“So you won the lottery?” he asked
Well, no. But best not to tell him that. “I did. And it came as a total shocker.”
“The odds weren’t good.”
In fact, what had happened was Rico had approached her. She’d known Rico for a long, long time. She wouldn’t say he was a friend but probably as close as his and her side could get. She’d once done him a favor, and Rico always paid his debts. Anyway, Rico had decided that a lottery that didn’t include certain sections of society—namely him—wasn’t fair. He’d come up with a plan. He’d done research into the crews, found someone he thought might be susceptible, and bribed the captain of the Trakis Two into agreeing to ditch half of his Chosen Ones and replace them with people of Rico’s choosing. He’d enlisted her to help spread the word among the supernatural communities, to make a list of potential people. The Unchosen Ones, he’d called them. Rico had made the final choice as to who got a place. There were plenty interested. All sorts. Werewolves, werecats, a few of the lesser shifters, demons, witches, warlocks, vampires, even some fae, who usually kept themselves totally aloof from the other races. Just under five thousand in all. She’d jumped at the opportunity.
“Do you have family with the fleet?” Logan asked.
“No. I have no family.”
“Me neither.”
“Aw, we’re a couple of orphans.”
“No one to mourn us if we die.”
“We’re not going to die.” She snuggled closer. “So how old were you when you were orphaned?”
“I’m not actually sure I am an orphan. My mother left me at an orphanage in a small town in Colorado when I was three. I don’t know why. There was nothing with me but my name pinned to my chest. Apparently, they looked for her, but she’d vanished.”
“Do you remember her?”
“No. Except her eyes. They were the same color as mine, so I know she was probably my mother. But more a sensation than a memory. “
“Weren’t you adopted?”
“When I was six and they finally gave up on my mother coming back, but it didn’t work out.”
“I bet you were a sweet little boy. What happened?”
“They sent me back.”
“Why?”
She felt him shrug against her.
“I didn’t fit in.”
“And did you want to fit in?”
“It was all I ever wanted when I was a kid. So I learned to pretend, and I made a pretty good job of it. Then I joined the army, and I pretended some more, and I fit in just fine.”
“And let me guess, you like women, but you stick to one-night stands because you can’t let anyone close, because then they might see who you are and that you don’t fit in and you never will.”
“Something like that,” he said, not sounding too put out by her assessment. “So what’s your excuse?”
I’m a werecat and most men just don’t understand me. “Being a cop makes things difficult. Long hours. You get distrustful. Lots of reasons. Besides, I like being alone. I like my own space.”
She rubbed the dull ache pressing at her skull. Was the oxygen running out? Though she knew it wasn’t lack of oxygen that would kill them but rather the buildup of carbon dioxide. “How’s your head?” she asked.
“A little fuzzy. You?”
“The same.” At least she was warm. She’d hate to die cold. And she wasn’t alone. That was a comfort, which was strange considering she’d just said she was a loner. Her mind was probably wandering. How much longer? She rested her head on Logan’s chest and tugged the blanket tighter around them. She didn’t close her eyes, and she tried to keep her breathing slow and even, but everything was growing heavy.
A bright white light filled the screen in front of her, illuminating the cabin. She jumped. “What the hell?” At the same time, her comm unit buzzed, and she struggled to pull her arm free of the blankets, trying to get her brain working. Beneath her, Logan had tensed.
“You two look pretty cozy in there.” Rico’s voice came over the comm unit.
Relief flooded her system. At least there was a chance. She’d almost given up there. “Tell me you’ve got a plan.”
“I have a sort of plan. It might not be a very good one, but it’s the best I can come up with. I’m going to attach a tow rope and pull you in. That’s what delayed me—I had to hunt one out from the tons of crap.”
“How are you going to attach a tow rope?”
“I’m going to lasso you.”
“Lasso?”
“You know, like a cowboy. And then I’m going to drag you back to the Trakis Two.”
She thought about it for a moment. “How long will it take?”
“A couple of hours.”
“I don’t think we’ve got oxygen for a couple of hours.”
“Why aren’t you using the masks?”
“Masks?”
“Look above your head. You’ll see a button. Press it.”
She reached up and pressed. A flap opened and a gas mask dropped, dangling in front of her face. She stared at it blankly.
“Oxygen.”
Katia glared at the comm unit. “Why the hell didn’t you tell us before?”
“It never occurred to me that you didn’t know.” He sounded amused. “Now you do. That should be plenty to get us back.”
She gritted her teeth. Then she pushed herself up. She swayed slightly, her head light, her vision blurred. A shiver ran through her. Already she missed the heat of Logan’s body. She handed him the mask, and he tugged it and placed it over his face then gave her a thumbs up. She moved to the seat beside him, pressed the button above her, and tugged the mask over her own face. Immediately, her lungs filled with oxygen and the tightness eased from her chest. She looped the strap over her head and sat with her knees against her chest, arms wrapped around them, shivering in the frigid air.
The bright light went out, and through the forward screen she could see the other shuttle. It was so close it filled most of monitor. She hoped Rico was as good as he thought he was, because a collision would not be good right now.
“You might want to strap yourselves in or hold on,” Rico said. “This will likely get a little bit bumpy.”
No way could she fasten the harness without taking off her blankets, and that wasn’t happening. She glanced at Logan. His hands came out and he gripped the arms of the seat, then he turned his head to stare straight out of the screen.
She didn’t see Rico’s lasso, but a minute later something sent a jolt through the shuttle. Her hands tightened, and she managed to keep her seat. Another jolt and then they were actually moving, jerking at first, lashing from side to side so she thought her neck might snap. But then they picked up speed and were moving more smoothly behind the other shuttle.
Maybe they were going to make it after all.
A hand reached out and rested over hers, squeezed.
She didn’t pull free, but only because her fingers were freezing.
Best not to get too attached to Logan. She needed to spend the next couple of hours working out how to keep him alive once they got back to the Trakis Two.
It wasn’t going to be easy.
Chapter Eleven
Logan’s teeth were chattering loud enough to hear in the silence of the shuttle.
He was never going to be warm again.
On the plus side, against all the odds, they were actually still alive.
There had been a nasty moment right at the end when they’d landed in the docking bay on the Trakis Two. Though “crashed” was a better word. As they’d approached the bulk of the huge ship, Rico had shortened the tow rope until the two shuttles were almost touching. Logan had to give him that—the guy had balls of steel. And there was no doubt he was risking his life by doing this when he could have left them to float away in space.
Either the man was very fond of Katia or he was some sort of adrenaline junkie. Maybe a little of both.
The close proximity had given a little more control and also would allow both shuttles to enter the airlock together. But even with the short tow rope, as the speed decreased, they’d started a very unnerving side to side movement. It was only luck they hadn’t hit the walls as they’d entered the airlock. And they’d banged into the shuttle in front as the doors closed behind them. He’d heard Rico swear through the comm unit.
