Polaris Rising (Consortium Rebellion, #1)(48)

Loch eased himself up on the diagnostic table without being asked. He might put on a strong front, but by the way he moved, something hurt. He lay down gingerly. I set the scanner to run a full-body diagnostic.

“Is there anywhere in particular that hurts?” I asked while I waited for the scan to finish.

“Well, Doctor,” he growled in that deep, sexy voice. “I do have one area that’s giving me a hard time. Think you could give me a hand?”

It took a supreme effort of will to keep my eyes glued to his face. “I think that perhaps the foxy isn’t out of your system yet.”

The scanner beeped, saving me from further comment. My eyes widened at the list of injuries, listed from most to least severe. I had to scroll to see the entire list.

Bones in various stages of healing were scattered throughout his body, with many in his hands and feet. Both legs had been broken and were still healing, along with a set of cracked ribs. His kidneys had deep bruising around them. Cuts on his sides and back needed to be cleaned and bandaged. And a knife wound to his shoulder still seemed to be bleeding. I looked for the hole, but it was concealed under his torn and dirty black shirt.

“How are you moving?” I whispered to myself. Even if he had nanobots and they were operating at full capacity, most of these wounds wouldn’t be this healed unless they were days older. But he’d been fine on the ship. Hadn’t he? Something didn’t add up.

“Am I going to live, Doc?” he asked as he sat up.

“Of course. But first you need to take off your shirt so I can bandage the worst of it. Then you need eight hours of downtime, minimum.”

“The shirt I can do.” He pulled the tattered shirt off over his head with a grunt. Even his killer abs couldn’t distract from the extensive, dark purple bruising that covered most of his torso. I made a pained sound and reached out to touch him. He caught my hand. “It looks worse than it is.”

I mutely shook my head. There was no way he could brush this off. Someone had beaten him savagely, most likely while he was shackled and unable to defend himself. “You should’ve told them where I was.”

He tilted my chin up until I was forced to look away from the bruises. “It wouldn’t have mattered. This is not your fault.”

I pushed my emotions down behind a wall of icy calm. “Of course it is,” I said briskly. I stepped around him and opened drawers and cabinets until I’d found the supplies I needed to bandage him.

The knife wound in his shoulder oozed blood as I dabbed at it with disinfectant. “Now you’ve helped me escape twice, so I shall pay you twice. As soon as we land on APD Zero, I’ll make the transfer. Or get hard credits, if you prefer. Then you can disappear before Richard shows up.”

“You seem awfully keen on getting rid of me. Why?”

“I don’t want you to get hurt again because of me. And the longer you stay, the more likely you’ll get caught. I have at least two Houses and a host of mercenaries after me. And if it really is going to come to war, I’ll have to return home. As one of the expendables, I’ll be expected on the front to bolster morale if nothing else.”

Something shifted in his expression. He went from teasing to predator in the blink of an eye. I stilled, my hand frozen halfway to his shoulder.

“Do not mistake me for a little lost lamb. I’ve been dodging mercs for a very long time. I am here because I want to be. I will leave when I’m ready. Nothing you can do will change that. And if you call yourself expendable again”—his voice dropped into a deep, dangerous rumble—“you won’t like the consequences. We clear?”

I swallowed and nodded. I had treated him too familiarly. Somewhere along the way I had started to see the man and had forgotten about the Devil. I finished cleaning and bandaging his wounds with quick, clinical detachment.

If only I could rein in my emotions as easily. The wall was harder to build after you already knew someone. I retreated into my public persona. “I have done what I can,” I said. “Would you like a shot for the pain?”

Loch slid off the table and invaded my space. I straightened and stood my ground. His fingers slid along my jaw in the softest caress. “Don’t hide from me, Ada,” he said quietly.

“It is better this way,” I said. “Help yourself to whatever.” I waved a hand at the cabinets behind him, then beat a hasty retreat.

I stopped to check in on Veronica on the way up to the flight deck. She and Lin and Imma had settled into two side-by-side rooms. Veronica cast nervous glances my way, but I was too tired to deal with her tonight. Tomorrow would be soon enough.

The flight deck was quiet. Thirty minutes and we could jump. We’d moved up to tenth in the gate queue. The first jump was to a busy gate on the opposite side of the universe from our destination. Two jumps was a risk, but I needed time to scrub the ship’s registration to leave a false trail, especially before we landed on APD Zero.

While we waited, I kicked off a full system diagnostics test. It might reveal some of the trackers Richard was no doubt using. I also pulled out my com and searched for bugs the old-fashioned way. I found two: a location tracker and an audio bug. I’d have to go through the ship one room at a time if I intended to keep it.

I checked the captain’s quarters while waiting for the diagnostic results. The com didn’t find any bugs. I guess Richard valued his privacy.