Chapter 11
Chapter eleven
Ra’odah
I stood frozen in place, staring at Logan and Olzi, who were in the bed.
They were covered by a blanket now, and Olzi was ducked under the covers, looking more than a little embarrassed, but a moment before they’d been sensual and wild.
My body was warm all over, especially around my core, which I was pretty certain, medically speaking, meant that my body wanted to be part of the wildness.
And they had invited me to join them, so I was sorely tempted.
But I knew nothing about sex, aside from the basic mechanics.
I wouldn’t have known that Logan would go wild from Olzi’s mouth on him, or that he would look so appealing while writhing in pleasure, his hands buried in Olzi’s hair.
Reading about the basic mechanics hadn’t seemed attractive at all, at least not until I’d started listening to those damn audiobooks.
Now I was seeing firsthand the things from the books.
I saw the pleasure Logan clearly felt, and the way Olzi’s eyes had looked, full of intense worship as he focused on Logan, and maybe something else. Maybe love.
An alarm in the corridor startled me out of staring blankly at the two men. How long had I been standing there? Would standing there for too long trigger an alarm? I frowned, looking up at the flashing red lights, as an alert went out across the space station.
“Oxygen levels in the space station have been compromised. Please proceed to your designated escape pod immediately. If you cannot reach your designated pod, follow the red indicators on the floor to the nearest crew pod.” The mechanical voice was followed by another blaring of alarms, then a countdown.
Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as Logan leaped to his feet, yanking on a pair of pants and throwing a shirt at Olzi, and that was all I saw before I turned and started sprinting toward the medical bay.
I didn’t have much time. I would need to take the stairs, because the lifts were shut down in emergencies, but I could just barely make it.
Maybe. Around me, people were racing in the wrong direction, making it more difficult to head for the medical bay, like fighting a swift-moving current, but I was determined.
A big hand looped around my wrist, tugging me back against a hard, muscled chest, and I yelped. “What the hell?” I spun to face my assailant, finding familiar warm brown eyes staring down at me, full of concern. “Logan? Let go.”
“That’s not the direction of the escape pods.
You’re coming with us,” Logan said, pressing me against the corridor wall as a stream of people rushed by.
I tugged on my arm, growling in frustration, but he was much stronger than me now, and determined.
He was fully dressed now, though my rebellious body couldn’t stop thinking about him naked.
How had he gotten his clothes on that quickly?
“I need to go to the medical bay. You get into your pod, Logan. You’re the one who shouldn’t be out here.
” The escape pods were attached to the living quarters, used as a seating area or storage when not needed for emergencies.
There was no reason for Logan to be in the hall with me when he should have been thinking of his own safety.
But he was, and Olzi stood behind him, eyes wide and worried, his tail twitching around Logan’s waist. “Your job is to stay safe and alive. In your pod. My job is to take care of the medical research records, which are in the medical bay.”
“I’m not leaving you behind, Ra’odah. What’s up there that’s worth risking your life? A patient?”
“We can’t lose my research,” I said, placing a hand on his chest. He was warm, vibrant, and alive, and it was because of that research. Surely he’d care about that. “The research that saved your life. It could save so many people.”
Logan pulled me closer and Olzi’s tail lashed out, coordinated with Logan’s movements, wrapping around me, pinning me between them.
The men were one now, with Olzi’s hormones coursing through Logan’s bloodstream.
They could likely already hear each other thinking, and their desires became unified, and it would be impossible for me to fight both of them.
The tail around my waist felt like a hug, not a restraint, but the warm comfort of being held by them wasn’t temptation enough.
I couldn’t ignore my mission, and I struggled helplessly to break free.
I whispered a plea, desperate. Logan’s eyes were wide and dilated, still not adjusted from the sexual daze I’d found him in, but his voice was low and urgent as he spoke.
“You saved my life, not the records. We can’t lose you,” he said. “The research is all in that brilliant brain of yours. It can be replicated.”
“What if it never works the same again? What if I lose my progress towards saving all of those lives simply because I couldn’t take a few minutes to get to my computer?”
“Ra’odah,” he murmured, my name gruff and sexy. “Take a breath. Listen to the countdown. You don’t have time. You are more important than any research.”
I hesitated, staring up into his pretty human eyes as the numbers counted ever lower. Surely there was a failsafe in that countdown. Surely zero couldn’t mean zero. There was a loud crash down the hall, followed by a series of screams, and Olzi’s tail tightened around me, holding on.
“I can’t just abandon my life’s work,” I whispered, unable to explain the urgency I felt.
Olzi cleared his throat. “As an alternative to death, we could hold the escape pod close enough to the space station that you could remote in with your communicator and grab as much data as you can.”
I blinked, glancing at him as a smile spread across my face. It was so simple. Why hadn’t I thought of that? I reached out and grabbed both of Olzi’s cheeks, marveling at the softness of his skin. “Thank you! That’s perfect.”
“He gets the first kiss, though?” Logan said, frowning, as I threaded my fingers through his, turned around, and dragged them back through Logan’s room to their escape pod.
It was small, likely only meant for two people, but it would have to do.
Logan and Olzi raced through the apartment, grabbing computers and a few boxes of rations and water, before slamming the airlock door shut.
There were already some supplies in the little pod, which was small and simple, with a U-shaped cushioned bench for seating or sleeping, and a little control module on the front.
“Okay, we’re okay,” Olzi said, taking a breath, rubbing his hand up and down Logan’s arm.
“You’re okay. You got a kiss,” Logan muttered.
“Stop pouting and message your sister and find out what’s going on.” Olzi shot Logan a look as he buckled himself into the pilot’s chair and ran a system check.
“But you get the first kiss? Really?”
“You’re super fixated on that, huh?” Olzi and Logan continued to trade jibes as I sat on the bench seat by the window and started logging into my terminal with my communicator, swiping through screens, downloading any data I could find.
Logan slumped down beside me, as close as possible, his entire side pressed against me.
“I should have had the first kiss. I was in love with her first,” Logan said. His eyes widened and he glanced at me. “Right. Calling Mia.” He popped out his own communicator and shot a message off to his sister.
“Oh, come on, you can’t be that upset by the kiss,” Olzi said, chuckling. His hands flew over the pod’s controls with practiced ease, shutting off the airlock, then pulling out and away from the station.
“Not the kiss,” Logan said. “More her willingness to risk her life for science.”
“I think it’s commendable,” Olzi said casually. “Motherfucker.”
“I’m a motherfucker?” I asked, but I glanced up as I spoke, and wanted to issue an even more severe curse at what I saw. I glanced down at the communicator’s screen, hoping like hell that my call would finish before the fire got to the medical bay.