Page 42 of Shielded in the Shadows

Jarrix dropped to one knee at my side, staff raised with its blade exposed and pointed at my throat. I couldn’t see him clearly but he obviously expected me to yield.

Never.

Despite teetering on the edge of unconsciousness, I managed to grip the handle of my intana and move just enough to slice a shallow cut across his calf.

First blood.

Not that I could say it. My lungs still refused to draw in air. My vision had gone gray around the edges.

“Keela.” Jarrix’s grim face appeared above mine. He cupped my face with a hand so large it almost cradled my entire head. “Breathe.”

Despite muscle spasms and my uncooperative lungs, I managed a shallow, shaky inhalation.

His sigh of relief was so loud I heard it over the ringing in my ears. “Medbay?” he asked.

I jerked my head no and rolled my eyes. Medbay for getting the wind knocked out of me? Ridiculous.

“Captain Wren drew first blood,” Siber said, her tone formal, as I focused on breathing. “Based on my observations, your opponent did not underuse his abilities in any significant way. I find the match to have been fair…and nearly even.”

I rested my hand cautiously on my abdomen. My skin was already discolored and the ache was bone-deep.

Jarrix was looking at the mark too, and I didn’t like the regret and self-recrimination in his expression that he was trying and failing to hide.

“Ground rule number five,” I rasped. “When we’re sparring, injuries will happen. As long as they’re inflicted fairly, I don’t want to see remorse.”

He was stroking my hair now, offering comfort. I didn’t mind it. “Understood,” he said.

“How’s your leg?”

He barely glanced at the injury. “Superficial wound. You should have cut deeper. Taught me a lesson.”

“I thought that’s what I spent the last ten minutes doing.” My words probably would have had more bite if they hadn’t sounded quite so rough. My lungs still weren’t fully cooperating with my need for a full, deep breath.

“A lesson about letting down my guard, I meant.” He offered me his hand. “Can you stand?”

“Of course,” I said automatically. His lips twitched.

I could have risen without help, but I let him take my hand and draw me to my feet because I liked the strength in his grip and the way it reminded me that he’d vowed to be my weapon and my shield.

He wasn’t the first male to admire my skills or will to survive, but he was the first to see the whole of me—or at least as much as I’d been willing to share up to now. Which was far more than I’d ever shared with anyone.

I’d been his weapon and his shield on the station too, acting on instinct when I’d seen the cyborg bounty hunter coming up behind him about to shoot him in the back.

Jarrix tucked some loose hair behind my ear and cupped my face, his expression somewhere between tender and cautious. “As a medic and your crewmate, I recommend letting me heal the injury to your abdomen so it doesn’t impede your ability to fight. Or have I run afoul of an as-yet unspoken ground rule?”

I compressed my lips so I didn’t chuckle and forced myself to scowl. “As a matter of fact, ground rule number six is the captain knows better than anyone when she needs to visit medbay.”

He ran his thumb across my lower lip, and the touch wasn’t gentle. “And when will you claim your prize?”

There it was again: that low, almost subsonic rumble that combined with the soft glow in his eyes went straight to my clit. I was tempted to take him down to the mat again and not let him back up until he’d satisfied me.

Instead, I slid my hand around the back of his neck and drew him down until our noses nearly touched. His skin was damp with perspiration and heated with both exertion and desire.

I twined my fingers through his hair and tugged until his gaze darkened with need and a subtle vibration ran through his body. His dark gray tongue darted out to moisten his lower lip right where I wanted to bite.

He folded his wings around us, forming a cocoon. Because Siber was watching? Or to saturate me in his smoky-spice scent? Maybe both.

His tail coiled gently around my ankle and calf, making it clear I could tell him to let go and he would.