Page 11 of Lashe
I was beginning to reach one as I fought against the wind, gripping the side of the air lock and reaching for the entry pad. I just had to tap it to get it open, but there was no light emanating from it like there should’ve been. Without that light, I couldn’t see anything. All I had was touch, and I couldfeelthe hardrectangular entry pad, but no matter how many times I pressed it, the outer door stayed locked. I held onto the handle with a slice of alarm. At some point, my strength would give out. I could not hold out against the wind forever.
Fine. I’d bypass the entry pad and go the manual route. I gripped the lever of the hatch and yanked, but that didn’t work either. The clear hatch stayed stubbornly shut. The dust gritted between my teeth as thelifesuit’sfilters failed. Somehow, these tiny particulates found a wayintothe suit through the minuscule vents that were designed for expelling carbon dioxide. My head swam as I dragged in contaminated, dust-filled air and tried to ignore the warnings on the inside of my helmet letting me know that life support was failing.
I can’t let Anna down, I thought with a slice of desperation. Sheneededme. She’s going to be trapped here, I thought, as I began to slide to my knees and dark spots sprinkled at the edges of my vision.
Suddenly, the air lock door jolted open, knocking me back a few steps. The wind pulled, threatening to tug me away from the ship, but a firm hand gripped the front of mylifesuitand jerked me into the air lock. I blinked, suddenly able to see. The swirling dust was outside. I was safe. Anna’s stern blue eyes locked on mine through herlifesuit’shelmet. She slammed the outer hatch closed.
“Come on,” she ordered, jamming her shoulder under my arm and supporting me the few steps to the shuttle’s hatch. We stumbled inside. Anna kicked the hatch shut and locked it. She yanked off her helmet as I sank to my knees. “Stelis, disengage the air lock and retract it back against the side of the ship,” she said, crouching before me. “Secure the hull.”
“Yes, Anna,” said Stelis.
She pulled off my helmet as I dragged in a shuddering breath. “Are you okay?” She sat on the floor and stared at me, wide-eyed and flushed. “What happened out there?”
“Wind,” I gasped out. “Door jammed. Wouldn’t open.”
“It’s almost…” She glanced sideways to the viewport, where the wind whipped angrily at the thick plastid surface. “Like it knew you were outside. Like it startedbecauseyou were outside.”
“Not possible.” I coughed up a mouthful of dust. “Asteroid.”
“Is it? I don’t know.” She unzipped herlifesuitand shrugged out of it. “I don’t want you going out there again.”
I shook my head and let her pull off my suit. Ihadto go back out there, but I was in no position to argue with her. My oxygen-starved lungs were on fire.
“Give me your suit,” “I’ll put your suit in the cleaner with mine,” she said. “Everything’s covered in that awful dust.”
It had completely clogged my air filter with those fine particles. I couldn’t help but wonder if there was something true to Anna’s comment. That dust was so fine, and that wasn’t normal for an asteroid. And the wind… Well, there was absolutelynoway that should have happened. A little gravity was normal for a rock of this large size, but there was no atmosphere on asteroids, no matter how big. Therefore, it shouldn’t have been able to generate a wind in the first place. And ithadstarted when I went out there.
The shuttle was shaking, rocking with the force of the mystery wind outside. I rubbed a hand over my face, feeling the gritty crust of dust around my nose and mouth. A glance through the main cabin to the operator’s screen showed no hull damage. She would hold, hopefully long enough for us to get out of this mess.
Anna took our suits to the decontamination unit and I hauled myself to one of the chairs in the main cabin. This was not myterritory. It was Anna’s. I had never sat in one of these chairs before, but here I was, and hereshewas kneeling down beside me, placing one hand on my knee.On my knee.The other came up to my face.
I couldn’t stop it, even if I wanted to. Her touch felt as inevitable as gravity. It was also a unique sense of relief, as her fingers slid over my cheek, almost like falling, falling and hitting the ground at long last. It was an end of suffering. And a beginning of something very new and very uncertain.
A searing hot jolt scraped a jagged line of sensation down to my chest, through my gut, and straight to my cock. There it was—skin-to-skin contact. Even for the sake of my own sanity, I could not pull away. Instead, I sat there and gazed at her, knowing there would be no ignoring the marks that would begin burning into my skin any moment now. Marks that would be with me for the rest of my life.
“Are you okay?” she said, her head tilted and brow furrowed. The expression on my face must have been a confusing mix of agony and release, not unlike the face I’d make if I were ever inside of her.
“No,” I rasped. “I’m not.”
“What can I do?” she asked urgently. “Can I get you anything? I can—”
“Shh.” With infinite care I plucked her hand from my cheek and held it in my own. I looked at the long, slender fingers. The delicate palm that was wreaking havoc on me—a Destran warrior trained with every imaginable weapon. I could be felled by this one small human female with a single touch. “Just this,” I said in a voice that sounded like gravel, and I pressed my lips to the center of her palm. The pulse on her wrist spiked. Her fingers curled against my cheek, again. I could become addicted to this female’s touch. What was I thinking? I was addicted to her years ago.
“Lashe.” Her voice was breathy. “What are you doing?”
“I can’t…” I coughed again and closed my eyes as the marks began to burn on my ribs, above my waist, forming the bond I would never be free of.The mate marks. I could not keep this a secret from her. I would have to tell her that she was my mate and face the very real possibility that I would never be hers.
CHAPTER 7
Anna
He was gasping for breath, coughing and actingverystrangely. I’d cupped his cheek to check his eyes, as his pupils had been oddly dilated and his face was a shocking indigo color. But kissing my hand was wildly out of character for him. Was he hallucinating and confusing me with someone else? Around his nose and mouth was a light crust of dust. Hislifesuithad failed and allowed that stuff to get in his helmet. He was probably suffering from low oxygen, making it hard for him to breathe and affecting his judgement. “Come on,” I said. “You need rest and medical attention.”
I put an arm around his torso and helped him to his feet.
“What…are you doing?” he choked out.
“I’m getting you in a bed,” I said, leading him into my bedroom. “Arealbed. Your excursion did a number on you.”