Page 74 of Akur

She’d helped him twice now and still he wanted more. Only, he wasn’t sure it was the heat causing him to watch her so closely…to remember the way she’d felt…

“There has to be a control center.” Her words floated to him through the growing haze. She was moving around the pods now, examining them. “There must be something managing the power distribution here. Life support…Well, if they were alive, that is.” Her fingers moved over one pod with surprising confidence. “There must be something that’s kept these things running.”

He almost whimpered, barely kept it silent as he moved. Why the qrak was he ready again so soon? He’d just released. It should be enough to—qrak, it should just be enough.

Forcing himself to move closer, he scanned the chamber with new purpose. She was right. The pods weren’t arranged randomly. They followed a pattern, all connected to central conduits that disappeared into the walls. Following one such conduit with his eyes, he spotted something.

“There.” He gestured to a recessed door nearly hidden behind a cluster of empty pods. “Must be maintenance access.”

The door was sealed, of course, its control panel dark, but that hardly mattered. After what he’d just done to the tunnel wall, a simpledoor wouldn’t stop him. But as he stepped forward to break it down, Kon-stahns caught his arm.

“Wait.” She headed over to the panel, studying its dead display. “If the pods have power, this should, too. We just need to…” Her fingers slipped over the display, removing the dirt laden frost. “It’s been awfully quiet in here so far, and I don’t trust it. We just need to find a way in without destroying the thing and causing an alarm.”

Fine. But he really needed to smash something. His shoulder was already stitching itself back and the reducing pain was only making him focus more on that hard, painful thing between his thighs.

“Let me,” he growled, stepping in front of Kon-stahns. It took him a few moments to find what he was looking for, and suddenly the display flickered to life.

Kon-stahns stared at him. “How did you—”

“The Restitution uses similar tech in some areas.” He was already working the controls, all the while trying not to look down at the female whose face was now lit by the light from the panel. “Different language. Same basic principles. Power routing, emergency protocols…” A smile curved his lips as the door slid open with a soft hiss. “And manual overrides.”

She patted him on the back, and he froze. Qrak. Did she have any idea how her touch sent lightning through his veins? “A jack of all trades. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised at what you can do anymore.”

Well, she should be surprised at what hewantedto do. If she knew, she wouldn’t be standing so close to him.

Constance peered ahead, and he pushed the thoughts from his mind as best as he could.

The maintenance tunnel beyond was narrow but lit, emergency strips casting everything in harsh shadows. Turning off his light disc, he tucked it back into his pocket as he jerked his chin at the female at his side. “Ready, bright eyes?”

He saw her swallow hard. Saw the moment where she took a deep breath before nodding. “Ready.”

Akur took point, moving silently. Every few steps he paused, listening for any sign of others, but the only sounds were their breathing and the distant hum going through the power systems.

The corridor branched ahead, one path sloping up while the other continued level. Without the map, they were flying blind, but his instincts told him to go up. They must be near the citadel now, and that meant civilization was somewhere above them.

They crept forward, taking the upward path. The tunnel grew progressively brighter, emergency lighting giving way to actual illumination panels set into the walls.

“We’re getting closer to populated areas,” Akur whispered, his voice barely a breath. Every few steps he paused, head tilted as he listened intently.

Constance kept close behind him, and it was clear she was trying to match his silent movements. She was small. Light on her feet. But the brightness was concerning. It meant they were more likely to encounter others.

A distant metallic clang made them both freeze. Without a thought, his hand shot out, pressing the female against the wall as heavy footsteps echoed down an adjoining corridor. Two Hedgerud guards appeared, and his lips immediately pulled back in a snarl.

He hated nothing more than he hated the Tasqals and their minions.

It took everything not to draw his blades, but he was already reaching back for one. If those Hedgeruds looked down the corridor they were in, they were in deep excrement.

But the fools kept on walking.

“…searching the lower levels for that jerkin and the nuisance with her,” one was saying. “No sign of them yet.”

“Keep looking. The High Ones want the human alive.”

He didn’t realize he was still pressing Constance back until she touched his arm lightly. That bare touch sent a shiver through his entire being.

“We should keep going,” she whispered. “We’re like sitting ducks here.”

He didn’t know what she meant about sitting and ducking, but if she meant they needed to remain low and hidden, then bin-qeffing-go. That was the name of the game. “We need to move faster.”

---