Page 36 of Touch the Stars
“Complying.”
Kaitlyn’s weight shifted, then she slid off his back.Sobs rent the air as she curled into a ball on her side.
“I…failed…her.”Her heartbreak spilled out with each gasped word.
“No.”It would be easier for her to breathe without her respirator.He rolled onto his side to loosen the attachments, then removed it.“No, Kaitlyn.You found the evidence we needed that shewasthere.”
“B-but, she’s not there anymore.”
“I knew so before we boarded.”
Her breath caught in a ragged gasp and her watery gaze flew to his.“Y-youknew?And you fucking didn’ttellme?”
Possibly a mistake.
“Yea.”He reverted to her language.“I made a scan for humans, live and dead.”
“You…you,asshole.”
Definitely a mistake.
She slammed her palms against his chest, then sat up.“We wasted all that time—”
“Nay.”He levered himself up to sit before her as he tugged his respirator free.“No time be wasted.Learning why the freighter lacked power, I discovered.”
She opened her mouth, words of loathing certainly ready to spill from it.
“Nayspeak you yet.”He made a slashing motion with one hand.“The freighter be attacked by a force I have never seen.All systems burned, like massive power surge.All the crew be dead by electrocution, except the one at live-cargo hold.You find your sister’s necklace.All these be clues.Someonehas her.Someonemay think she be you—the heir and next Gharan empress.As long as they so believe, she will be cared for.She will live.”
Kaitlyn blinked once, twice.“Oh.But… You really think so?”
“This be what I do if I wished to annex an empire.”Thinking as a criminal had saved his life, and the lives of his team, on more than one hunt for a perpetrator.
Would she believe it, though?New tears already filled her eyes again.
“Nay, do not cry, my Kaitlyn.”
“F-first my parents d-die in a car crash.”She stuttered the words as the tears spilled over to drip down her cheeks.“Then my sister d-disappears without a trace.My entire life is gone.G-gone.I don’t have anything.”
You have me.
He pulled her quaking body into his lap, rested his chin upon her head, then closed his eyes against the ache in his heart.Why were his feelings toward this alien female so strong?
“It s-seems like you’re the only one who g-gives a shit.”Her whispered words didn’t make much sense if taken literally.However their meaning was clear.
Truthfully, he did care.Much more than he should.Far more.
“Don’t leave me, Baatar,” she murmured against his chest.“You’re my only friend right now.”
“I am right here, my Kaitlyn.”And here he would stay, the Ancients willing.He rocked her for a few moments until she stopped trembling.“That was a successful mission, warrior.”
She sniffed and looked up at him.“It didn’t feel very successful.”
“Yet, the intelligence we gathered has broadened our understanding.”Always an earmark of accomplishment.Any information scraped from the freighter’s systems by his handheld would add to that knowledge.
The warm touch of Kaitlyn’s lips against his jawline froze him in place.
“Chlara, Baatar.”Please, Baatar.
