Page 12 of Badari Medic

“You’ve heard of the Badari Wanderer?” she asked.

“Vaguely. Camron mentioned him once. The Badari don’t tell us humans much about themselves, you know. Gabe and Floknow more than I do, being in all the big meetings with Aydarr and his counselors.”

She raised herself on one elbow and studied his face. “Why aren’t you there too? You helped Jill Garrison free the Badari as much as your partners did.”

He laughed, the amusement rumbling through his chest. “They’re the brains of our operation, sweetheart. Those two eat up strategy and tactics and are happiest when they’re planning crazy shit. Me, I’m just a soldier, a weapon—point me at the objective, tell me the mission parameters and I’m good to go. I like it that way.”

“You’re not just a soldier,” she said with heat, tired of him making himself sound less capable than his friends. “You’re a tier one operator, you can do amazing things, like when you killed the Khagrish who captured us?—”

“I appreciate the vote of confidence more than you know,” he said, playing with her hair. “But I prefer things the way they are. I deploy, I do my job, I kick back until the next time.”

In his usual fashion Brent was minimizing his own contributions but he was done with the topic or so it seemed.

“So this is one of the Wanderer’s hideouts,” he said, gazing at the rustic features of the room. “How safe are we?”

“It’s well hidden, two doors, locked to a Badari DNA reading. I think we’re ok.”

“I’ll do a thorough recon later. Now for the second question.”

But he didn’t continue and she sat up, so she could see his face.

“Why aren’t I dead?” He paused as she drew in a shocked breath at the question. “I mean unless this is a really strange afterlife, I shouldn’t be here today. I sure as hell shouldn’t be up to making love to a woman. I know how badly I was hurt and there’s no way I make it to the next morning, let alone wake up ready to rock and roll.”

Mentally she girded herself for his reaction. “I gave you a transfusion of my blood.”

Brent drew her near and kissed her on the lips. “Yeah, I figured that had to be the answer. You gonna be in trouble now?”

“The goddess forgave me,” Raeblin said, heart pounding. “She said the Alphas would know I was forgiven.”

“Gotta ask, would you have done it for any other human soldier?”

Now she couldn’t meet his eyes. “No.” It was a hard truth but undeniable. Raeblin wouldn’t have gone this final length to save anyone but him.

“Sweetheart, I’m grateful. You’re a special woman, important to me?—”

“But?” she interrupted bitterly, sure he was going to break her heart and wanting to get the blow over with.

“But I’m not ready to be in a relationship, especially not the way you guys do it, this whole mate thing.”

“At least you’re honest with me,” she said.

“Not saying I won’t ever be there, but I’ve never seen myself settling down to one woman, in one place, having kids and all the rest of it. I’ve been here on Ushandirr longer than anywhere since I left home to enlist and of course staying here hasn’t been by choice. I know for a Badari becoming a mate is forever and into the afterlife and I don’t have that kind of commitment in me, Raeblin.”

She thought he was wrong. In her opinion he was scared of what they could have together if he let himself but she didn’t know what to say to open his heart to the possibility.

“If it was going to be possible, it’d be you.” He hugged her and gave her a gentle kiss. “My parents didn’t set a good example, always fighting, both of them cheating with other people while we kids took care of ourselves and tried not to gethit. Or not too often. I know you and I wouldn’t do any of that but it’s hard to envision a life you’ve never seen or lived, you know?”

Raeblin heard the pain in his voice and sadness for the child he’d been crept into her heart.

“Let’s enjoy what we have here, get ourselves home to the valley and then maybe we can see where it goes, all right?” he asked. “That’s the best I can offer.”

Crumbs of what she craved, she thought, fighting tears. Her inner beast curled up in a corner, tail over her eyes and hunched as if against a cold wind.I’ve been a fool. I’d still have saved his life but clearly humans and Badari are so different—how do any of the mated pairs make it work?Well both of them must have been all in on the idea and Brent clearly was not.

“You’re going too fast for me,” Brent added and she could hear in his voice he was pushed to his limit trying to explain his feelings to her without hurting her any more than he had to.

“You’re right.” She’d give him that. “I didn’t exactly have the luxury of time to decide whether to share my blood with you, but we don’t even know each other outside of this mission and being on the run from the Khagrish.” She didn’t need to know any more—her heart knew he was her mate but now she was remembering idle talk among the men to which she hadn’t paid much attention but they all said a Badari had to work hard and be smart and patient to win their mate because often the humans did not get it nearly as quickly as the Badari did. No instalove for them. “I vote we table this discussion now and get some sleep since we have no idea what tomorrow will bring.”

“Now we’re on the same wavelength.” Relief flooded his voice and his frame relaxed against her. “We good?”

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