Page 38 of The Alien's Private Redemption

That was something he could understand. Even with a monster who had proven to be increasingly crazy and sadistic, the natural pace of anything outside of combat was slow, methodical. The kind of logistics that were necessary for this kind of speed were difficult if not impossible to pull off unless it was an emergency.

They stopped a few feet away from the lowered ramp and Colonel Schuh was out the door, barking orders before Zoric had gotten the door open. When Angela would have stood up, he held her closer, even though it made getting out of the vehicle tricky.

I'm not injured,she protested across the Bond.

No, but you are in my custody,he responded.And I do not want to give anybody the chance to remove you.

He hoped she let the argument end there and she did, though he could read her confusion at his insistence. While the Bond he shared with Angela was the deepest he'd ever experienced,he'd also forged one with the Chelion he'd grown up with, served with. Created by necessity when they couldn't risk speaking out loud, it had carried more than information and conversation.

The pain his men had felt when their Bond-mates were taken from them had echoed through all of them, until he was afraid he was going to lose all of them. He'd shielded Dorcas from whatever he could, her pain and fear radiating at him, and he let her go because he knew he couldn't save her. He'd never intended for the others to be taken, as well, and his private pain had been shared in a way he'd never expected.

With everything he'd learned, everything he'd seen, it was more important than ever to keep her close. And, while he knew he was going to have to put her down eventually, he wasn't going to do it yet.

She didn't argue as he carried her up the ramp, and he was grateful he wasn't going to have to explain. Instead, he looked around for a place to sit, and realized it was going to be a very uncomfortable ride.

Dr. Phillips and Ae-cha were talking animatedly as they walked up the ramp and Zoric caught the mention of the Jade Princess. It sounded like Ae-cha was giving the human doctor a history lesson.

Dr. Torres followed behind, his head turning as he walked through the back of the enormous plane, though he stayed close behind the women.

The transition into the aircraft hit all of Zoric's senses at once - the rubber and metal smell common to military planes, the cold press of steel under his feet, the deep thrum of idling engines that resonated in his chest. His claws clicked against the metal floor as he carried Angela to their seats, the sound almost lost under the whine of hydraulics and the sharp hiss of pressurized air.

It looked like the plane was set up to carry mostly cargo, with several pallets already strapped to the floor in the center. Seats were attached along the sides, with strange harnesses instead of the seat belts he remembered from the movies.

"Take a seat," Colonel Schuh shouted over the cacophony of pre-flight checks. "We're taking off as soon as we're cleared to go."

"Do we have a destination yet?" Dr. Torres asked. He'd chosen a seat between Ae-cha and Zoric though he seemed to be making an effort to refrain from staring at either of them.

It struck Zoric as an odd thing to do but he couldn't quite pinpoint why.

"I'm afraid that's classified at the moment," Colonel Schuh told him.

The webbed harnesses were a far cry from civilian seatbelts, the straps rough against Zoric's scales. He finally had to set Angela down when she pointed out they couldn't share one, though he managed to slide his tail under her leg once they were seated. The metal bench seats transmitted every vibration from the engines, a steady rhythm that seemed to sync with his heartbeat.

"You could just hold hands like normal people," one of the soldiers on the plane remarked.

"Does any of this look normal to you?" Angela asked. Her tone was one Zoric had never heard before, though he remembered echoes of it from some of her memories he'd skimmed past.

A few more men hurried aboard, their civilian clothes and long beards standing out among the uniforms. The heavy thud of the cargo ramp closing sealed them in, the engine noise building to a roar that made conversation impossible. As they began to move, Zoric felt the subtle shift in his inner ear that signaled takeoff was imminent.

Beside him, Angela crossed her arms and dropped into sleep, her body automatically adjusting to the pitch and yaw of the aircraft in a way that spoke of long practice. Through their Bond, he could sense dozens of similar memories - the familiar discomfort of military transport transformed into something almost like home by the presence of her fellow Marines. When her dreams threatened to turn dark, he was there to guide them back to safer waters.

Then she noticed his presence in her dreams and smiled, the warmth of it cutting through the artificial chill of the cabin air.

Chapter 17

Years of practice and exhaustion from the last few days let Angela drop off to sleep just as the plane was taking off. With Zoric next to her, his leg tangled with hers, she was warmer and more comfortable than she'd been for most of her trips in planes like this.

His presence in the back of her mind should have been invasive and weird but she found it comforting. The voice in the back of her head was strangely silent about his presence and the silence was nice.

She couldn't say when she became aware she was dreaming, something that happened now and then, but the first person she was, was Zoric. While she liked the white button up shirt and kilt he wore to fit in with the rest of the human world, the clothes he wore in her dream made her grin. A Roman style kilt, made of strips of leather that moved with his legs and tail as he walked,and an open vest across his broad shoulders, which served only to highlight his muscular chest and abs, made her salivate.

A year ago, the idea that she'd be attracted to a lizardman would have been ridiculous. Now, she was trying to figure out how to get him out of his clothes. She already knew they were physically compatible but she didn't know how. Even with the images Zoric had sent her, Angela wanted a hands on explanation of how they would work.

Her first obstacle was not being able to kiss him without hurting herself. So, since this was a dream, she figured she could try that first.

"Well, hello there, handsome. Come here often?" She could feel the smile on her face turn downright predatory when he startled. He hadn't expected her to see him or talk to him if she did. That's okay, they didn't have to talk. There had been too much talking already.

As was the way in dreams, the room around them changed while she walked toward him. The living room from an old apartment melted away to become a cozy underground cave, with walls that had been carved out to remove jagged rocks and lights that flickered like torches.

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