Page 36 of Guardian's Destiny

"Aha!" I gasped out.

"Aha, what?" Sloane demanded.

"Earlier, when you asked me about my memories, I remembered sitting in this chair, well, the one from the old ship." I waved my hand, still holding the knife.

"Get down and give that to me before you hurt yourself," she chided.

I ignored her words. "A helmet was on my head." I jumped down from the chair and got on my knees, while my hands moved up and down the chair's sides, but there was nothing. "Restrains came out from here and-" I moved up to the armrest, still nothing, "here."

"You think there was some kind of helmet in the ceiling that brainwashed you?" She sounded not as skeptical as I would have in her situation.

"I do."

"Okay. That's good. That's progress."

If she thought so, then I was happy, but honestly, this just opened up a whole new cargo load of questions for me.

"Are you done, or do you want to try again?" she asked when my search of the captain's chair didn't result in anything.

I wasn't sure where her urgency came from; we didn't need to get this accomplished before we got our hands on the Ohrurs. There would be plenty of time after… unless she wasn't planning on being here. I threw a sideways glance at her, but her expression didn't give anything away. No, she gave her word, and I had given mine. As soon as the shit with Darlam was done I would take her to Astrionis. Maybe she was worried about handling the Ohrurs on her own in case things went… bad—this regression stuff. But I had seen her fight; she was more than capable… then what?

The answer came to me. "Are you worried I won't be around to fly this ship?"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm trying to figure out why the sudden haste. I mean, we'll have at least a week before we reach Darlam and after we get our hands on Moddekdum."

"The thought has crossed my mind," she confessed.

Which meant, "Are you worried about my ability to handle whatever we uncover, or are you questioning your ability to get the job done right?"

"Oh, I'm gonna get the job done right," she blustered, just as I had anticipated, making me smile.

"So it's my mental state you're worried about then?"

"These things could backfire," she warned.

"So, if this is what my last chance to enjoy life is?" I dangled.

Her face scrunched up adorably in suspicion. "I'm not going to have sex with you because your brain might or might not fry."

"Just saying." I held up my hands. "I don't know about you humans, but we have certain traditions of fulfilling a dying male's last wishes."

She stopped abruptly, crossed her arms over her chest, and looked up at me in challenge, "And who would thewebe in this scenario? As in you Space Guardians? As far as I know, you are solitary beings, and you don't even know what happens to you guys after a… certain age. Or as in… what species exactly?"

She got me there. I grinned. "It was worth a try." She was way too smart for me.

"Nice try," she said as she shook her head and kept walking toward our quarters.

"So is that a yes or no?"

Without turning back, she held up her middle finger in the air, giving me my answer. I chuckled. I was really, really starting to like this female.

SLOANE

The gall of this man.I shook my head but couldn't stop smiling. There was something to his boyish charms that was getting to me, more than I liked to admit. The bed was just like we had left it when we entered our quarters, but instead of going over there, Vraax mumbled something about a cleansing cycle and moved into the bathroom.

We had both showered separately earlier after the latest training session, so I knew he didn't need the shower because he felt sweaty or dirty. I grinned at the thought that he was probably working off some other kind of steam, and honestly, the idea of it got me all hot, too. I tried to imagine his face if I were to suddenly join him in the cleansing unit, but decided against it. It would complicate things too much. Right now, we needed to focus on the mission. Maybe after we captured our Ohrur prey… I wasn't about to rule it out.

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