Page 42 of Star Defenders (My Alien Mates 2)

I took a quick moment to check on Brinley, who had apparently slept through the whole thing. Lucky her.

All I needed now was to know Slek was safe.

"There's still no answer from the bridge," J'avet said as Zarex stepped toward the door.

"That's concerning," Zarex said. He didn't sound worried, but he looked it.

J'avet snorted. "We need to find out what's going on up there."

Zarex glanced down at the dish in his hand, then back up again. "Engineering first, then the bridge. We should go together."

J'avet nodded without hesitation. He gestured toward the security officer. "You're with us."

To Mazic, he said, "You're in charge here." As if she wasn't already.

Mazic looked unimpressed, but nodded. "We'll be fine here. Nurse Wright, accompany the commanders in case anyone is in need of medical attention."

My lips dropped apart. I looked toward Danec, who was being lifted from the scanner bed to one in the cubicle. Free of nanobots, just like I'd said. I didn't bother to shoot J'avet a triumphant look, that would be petty. Okay, maybe I gave him a small one.

He ignored it.

"I'll keep an eye on him," Mazic assured me. "And the pilot. Your skills are needed elsewhere."

I nodded. There was no point in arguing. She was in charge of me, so I had to follow her orders. Besides, she was right. There might be injured people on board, incapable of reaching the infirmary. I didn't want to think why that might be.

"Yes, Doctor."

J'avet looked less than pleased, but Zarex gave me a reassuring smile. He reminded me that he was hot, and later we might get to have some bot-less, clothes-less fun. That thought helped to push the tiredness away.

I followed Zarex to the door and waited while J'avet pushed the button to unlock and open the door.

The moment it slid aside, the sound of screams echoed up the corridor. Pain, rage or fear, I couldn't tell. Maybe all of them.

"Edie, walk between us," Zarex said. He stepped in beside me.

"I have a bad feeling about this," I whispered.

"Me too," Zarex said.

In silence, we started down the corridor, inching closer and closer to the source of the scream.

12

We madeit a handful of steps before the scream came again. Louder this time, it sounded male.

Fear crept up my spine like a spider, crawling, tickling until I had to hold back a wave of panic.

Get it together, Edie, I told myself.You've already been through enough already and you're okay. Whatever this is, you'll be fine.

I sucked in a breath, but squashed myself down a bit more behind J'avet.

Because of that, I almost ran into him when he stopped suddenly.

"Zarex, you and Edie go around to engineering. I'll deal with whatever is going on ahead of us."

"This is a quicker route," Zarex said. "There's no guarantee we won't meet trouble if we go the long way."

"Are there service shafts we can crawl through?" I asked.

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