Page 24 of Polestar
She arched her brow, nodded, and left the room.
“An unfortunate by-product indeed,” he murmured as he approached the vast window of his office overlooking the skyline of Barentia across the narrow channel.
Maybe once the meeting details were set, he would accept her less-than-subtle offer of intimate play time.
For now, there was work to do.
Work first, play later.
However, Adolf did allow himself to indulge in just a few moments of fantasizing about their future bedroom escapades.He did prefer to planeverything, after all.
SEVEN
Ana’sbreathshudderedasshe popped her earpiece in place before embarking on the freighter.
She moved aboard the ship, both hands grasping her phone, carefully positioned close to her midsection so she wouldn’t accidentally touch anything.
That would come later.
Magnus, her ever-present shadow, moved silently several paces behind.
She still found it difficult to grasp just how such a large man could move with such stealth.
Equally, while she couldn’t comprehend her instinctual acceptance of his nearness consciously, she willfully accepted it.
Regardless of her comfort level, her fingers still drifted over the reassuring presence of her taser tucked safely away should she need it.The ship had been checked, but it was always a possibility that someone could hide if they knew the nooks and crannies well enough.
She glanced over her shoulder.
Magnus’ gaze swept the deck of the ship, assessing.Fierce, determined concentration.
Anyone looking to tangle with that man was on a mission of serious self-harm, or had lost their reason.
Forcing her attention back to the task at hand, she switched on her recorder and began her own method of investigation.
Balance.Focus.Feel.
Speaking in a voice low enough for the earpiece to pick up her voice, yet quiet enough that most humans couldn’t pick out the words, she made her way across and through the ship, documenting everything she observed.
Physically and psychically.
She welcomed the familiar haze.
Aware of her surroundings yet lost in the mental images and sensations bombarding her, she struggled at first to just let them flow around and through her.
Her breath came fast under the onslaught.Every muscle in her body fought against it, tense and rigid.Until she repeatedly reminded herself to surrender.
At the top of the metal stairs leading down into the hold, she hesitated.
Revulsion rippled through her.
That self-preservative part of her was screaming not to descend.
That way led to too much pain.
What sane person would willfully inflict the torrential pain of others on themselves?
Her breath hitched.
