Page 21 of Healing Creek
And to ensure her safety she needed to get to her. And how was she to do that if Ghost would be leaving the ship without her today? After hours with the crew yesterday and more hours of thinking things through in her quarters, she’d deduced that he must be hiding among the auction guests. It made sense. The crew would know he wasn’t one of them.
When they reached the med-bay she was surprised to see two Dreat males in the hall, as if guarding the doors. Why was she surprised? Of course Creek would take her somewhere heavily guarded. They still had no reason to trust her. And rightly so. But she needed to gain their trust if she was going to get to Ghost.
Creek greeted the Dreat and they replied in their own tongue. She had an ear for languages but she suspected her hearing wasn’t sensitive enough to pick up all the subtleties of Dreatish. Creek would likely have excellent hearing. Most Arena Dogs could hear far beyond the range of ordinary humans.
After exchanging greetings and nods, they went into medical. There was another Dreat inside, standing guard over one of the patients lying in the med-beds. Everything in the med-bay was familiar. It was all standard stuff. None of the specialized equipment in her sibling’s research lab. She would do fine. Medic Shawber was applying pressure to a wound in the abdomen of one patient—a man with black curly hair and rich brown skin. Then she noticed the other patient. The one the Dreat was standing guard over. He was no longer wearing the tactical gear, but it was unmistakably Ghost.
“What happened?” Creek asked.
The medic looked up. “These two are some of Morgan’s guests. According to our Dreat friends, they got into a fight over rations this morning. Idiots stabbed each other with forks from the food trays.”
The man he was working on moaned in pain.
“Look,” said the medic. “Unless you’re here to help, this is not a good time for a visit.”
“I am here to help,” said Grace.
He nodded. “Good. Get over here and control the bleeding while I suture.”
Grace hurried over, then stopped and took a moment to roll her oversized sleeves farther up her arms. Now she wished she’d asked for something better fitting.
She moved her hands beneath the sealer unit then followed the medic’s instruction to clear the way for him to use the suture threader.
He grunted his approval at her lack of hesitation. As the medic worked, she glanced up to see Creek watching her.
Ghost was watching her, too. A smirk twisted his features as he propped on one elbow to lift his head.
She returned her attention to the patient under her hands, but she was still aware of Creek’s presence and the moment when he finally slipped out of the room. The loss squeezed her heart and let fear slip inside. She might need to speak with Ghost, but he was working for Roma and that made him dangerous.
When the first patient was fully sutured, and all his injuries mended and cleaned, she and the medic moved on to the one still smirking at her and the Dreat moved to stand by the door. One of Ghost’s arms was fractured but the injury was much less serious than the one he had, no doubt, inflicted on the other man. After they’d mended the bone, the medic commended her skills and left her to tend to his minor injuries, scrapes, and bruises. Ghost’s name, according to the medic, was Patel.
“Good to see you, Miss Hobbs-Venter,” he said under his breath. “What a happy coincidence that we both ended up here today.”
Was it coincidence? If he knew her background, maybe he’d guessed they would end up putting her skills to use. Especially if a few men were injured.
“You hurt that man over a breakfast tray,” she whispered.
“He’ll be fine, and you should be grateful we were both willing to take some damage for you,” he responded. “I couldn’t let us be released without you. His name is Santos and he’s the only other member of my team those Arena Dogs didn’t kill.”
He’d seen her with Creek, she realized. And now he wanted to drive a wedge between them. Roma knew the history of her family and the Arena Dogs.
“I’ll save being grateful for when you take me to my sister.”
“You do that, Grace.” He closed his eyes and sighed. “You do that. I’ve had a hard day’s work. By now we are safely in skipspace and together. Happy day.”
Happy day? Grace wanted to run and hide.
Chapter Eight
TheAbundance
EarthAllianceBetaSector
2210.192
Creek strode through the halls, answering a summons to the pack’s makeshift command center. Mercury had established it in a security station within shouting distance of the ship’s bridge. It was a place they could talk freely while monitoring the ship and its mix of trusted and confined crew.
Being near the bridge meant they could also get there quickly if they were needed. As he walked in, he passed Knock and Samantha. After sorting out the crew, commanding them from the bridge had become Samantha’s responsibility.
