Darkness had fallen over the desert when Rader finally got a message to Makus in the form of a text message directly to his partner’s personal tablet. He got the message as soon as his tablet beeped. He wondered who was sending him a text because most everyone either sent a vid or voice message.
“What is it Make?” Jhenre asked as he took out his tablet to access the message.
“Rader---shit! He and Skye crashed in the desert on Glasica Minor…got bumped by a spaceship. They need help,” he said. “I’m going to com Jaiba Enforcement. It would take us too long to get to them.”
“That’s right, they were going to Dragon Mountain to see the dragons. Are they okay?”
“Shaken up, used the satellite array to send that message.” a bit. The crash knocked out their coms.
Momentarily, Makus connected with the night supervisor a Jaiba and relayed Rader’s distress call.
It was morning before help got to Rader and Skye because it was a four-hour flight from Jaiba to where they were stranded in the middle of the desert wilderness. A flight from Sesga would have taken eight hours. Fully accustomed to patrolling the skies over his territory up to sixteen hours a day, Rader hadn’t hesitated to make the trip across the ocean on his own.
Knowing that Skye had a serious concussion, he had kept her away all night talking huddled together for warmth in the flyer. Rader was able to keep Skye warm by regulating his body temperature to warm her and holding her cuddled in his arms. Every time she tried to drift to sleep, he kissed her awake.
Finally, at dawn rescue arrived. Rader recognized the other enforcers, but he didn’t actually know them well. He was grateful for their timely arrival. That was the first indication that Makus had gotten his message. Rader had known that his friend and coworker would not be able to respond.
Rader helped Skye into the other flyer then went back for their bags. They’d traveled light since they’d planned to be gone only one night. Rader had scanned Skye to check for serious head injury, but he found no clear indicator. He gave her a powerful medication to minimize the effects of her concussion.
While they were flown back to Jaiba, a hauler was called to take Rader’s flyer to the repair station.
It took a concerted air search for the enforcers to find the space shuttle that clipped Rader’s flyer. Because of its sophisticated stealth technology, they had to search for it by sight. The poachers caught two dragons alive but had accidentally killed one. With those charges on top of the illegal landing and causing Rader’s and Skye’s flyer to crash, that crew was going to prison.
Had they managed to escape with the two Selkelres Mountain dragons they caught, the animals would have brought them a fortune. Now they owed a fortune in fines and restitution which Rader would probably never see for the massive damage to his flyer.
The refurbishing shop at Jaiba would take a couple weeks to repair Rader’s flyer. It would be returned when it was done. Meanwhile, Rader took a rental so he and Skye could fly home.
Skye was feeling much better by the time they arrived home the next day. Rader insisted that she rested when they got home since she had been up all night. She didn’t argue with him because she really was tired. She went upstairs and undressed, sliding under the thin sheet on their bed.
She was hoping that Rader would come up later and make love to her. But she was more exhausted than she realized and didn’t wake up until the next morning in the bed alone. Rader had apparently never come to bed that night.
Skye was sleeping soundly every time Rader climbed the stairs to check on her. He stood there several minutes each time just watching her breathe. The remembered terror he’d felt when he opened his eyes after the crash nearly choked him.
Skye’s face was turned at an angle so he could see her eyes were closed, but he couldn’t see whether she was breathing or not. He couldn’t get the safety harness off fast enough to check her for a pulse.
There was not much on the face of the planet that scared Rader---except losing Skye. They had only been together for a few weeks, but he had fallen in love with her as soon as he learned that she was his female. Maybe at first, it was the idea of his true mate that he loved. But now there was no doubt that he loved Skye herself.
Without his enhancements, that horrendous crash could have easily killed her. She needed time to recover before he mated her again. He couldn’t risk damaging her further. They mated so long and hard at times, it left her exhausted.
But she was full out ready and willing to take all he could give her. He would have to be the strong one and make sure she was healed before he stressed her like that again. The best thing he could do would be to go back to work so he wouldn’t be tempted.
Skye was surprised when she woke up the next morning in bed alone. Before they went to the mountains to see the dragons, Rader was usually in bed beside her, waiting for her to wake so they could make love.
She got out of bed and went into that bathroom to relieve herself, thinking he might be in the shower where she would join him. After taking care of business, Skye got her knee length silky blue robe and put it on since she slept nude. Padding downstairs in bare feet, she found Rader sitting in their dining nook.
He was wearing his Enforcer uniform.
“You’re going to work?” she said with a stab of disappointment.
“I thought I should after those poachers almost killed us,” he said. “If they hadn’t clipped us, they would probably have gotten away with the dragons.”
“It’s a shame they killed that one while capturing it---the poor thing.”
“A few years in prison might make them think twice. It won’t be stasis, either. They’re going to the mines.”
“Good.” Skye padded over to where Rader was sitting and draped her arms around his shoulders. “I was hoping we would have a few more days.” She leaned over and nuzzled his neck hoping he would take her on his lap and make out with her for a few minutes before he left. But she was sure she felt him tense as she did.
A glance at his crotch, and she could see he was hard. Any other time, he would have pulled her on his lap they would be having hot sex.
He seemed to be resisting temptation. Skye sighed. “I was hoping you weren’t in that much of a hurry. Are you sure you don’t have time for a quickie?”
“Skye, you should rest,” he said and stood. “I have to go.”
“I feel fine,” she protested. “I want to rest with you inside me.”
“Skye, you had a serious concussion. You could have died,” he said.
“Then, maybe you should stay with me and give me some more of your nanites to make sure I’m okay,” she persisted and pressed up against him when he stood up.
He frowned as he looked down at her and he seemed to consider. “If you don’t wish to be alone you could visit Jhenre.”
“Sweetheart, you don’t have to worry about me,” Skye told him. “I have my reader now that you made an adapter to charge it. Jhenre has invited me over.”
“Then, why don’t you spend some time with her. Give yourself some time to fully recover,” he said. “I’m sorry about the store.”
“It’s really okay about the general store. With this level of technology, it’s not surprising that the company is going automated.”
“It’s not necessary for you to earn a living. I am fully capable of providing for you. I want to provide for you and our offspring when we create them.”
“And that could be anytime depending on how long your nanites take to destroy my implant.”
“I will reprogram them if you wish more time before you become fertile.”
“You said it should take about six months, maybe more?”
“At least, it could be nine,” he assured.
“Could I become fertile sooner?”
“It could vary a week or two either way,” he said after he had run the calculation through his processor. “It should not vary more than that. We can’t be sure about gestation. It might be shorter than normal.”
“Do I at least get a kiss before you go?” Skye sighed patiently as she witnessed his hesitancy “I will miss you,” she murmured and raised herself on her to offer her lips for a kiss.
He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her lightly, leaving her wanting more.
She looked at him, feeling disappointed.
He looked at her uncertainly.
“I’m getting a new tablet in Dalborth first thing. Com me if you have any problems.”
“I will,” she promised. “I miss you already.”
Determined not to give her more opportunity to delay him, Rader squared his shoulders and turned resolutely. He strode out of the house without looking back. Skye didn’t understand why he was leaving if he were worried about her condition.
Okay, she didn’t quite feel back to normal, but it was just a bit of transient dizziness. The medic had told her that could happen. Had she told Rader something different?
“He practically ran out the door,” Skye told Jhenre an hour later. “It was so unexpected---like he couldn’t get away fast enough.”
“He’s acting like I might break or something if we mate,” Skye said frankly.
“That was some crash from the pictures,” Jhenre said. “He probably realized how easily you could have been killed.”
“But I wasn’t.”
“Rader’s never had a mate to love before,” Jhenre reminded. “He lost a lot of friends in the Drayid war. I‘m not surprised he’s worried about accidentally harming you after the scare he just had.”
“If we lived on Earth, I would be the anxious one. Law officers are killed with horrendous regularity on the job. Some people make it their mission to kill law enforcers.”
“It’s been almost two hundred years since a law officer had been deliberately killed in the line of duty,” Jhenre reassured her.