Watching Ashley turn away was frustrating for Kosar, but he consoled himself with the fact that he'd been able to save her from harm. That was the most important thing, and everything else could wait. Her attraction for him, need for him, had been clear as day in the healing pool, and there was no need to push things.

Though his dragon didn't want to wait. With his mate right there, it wasn't easy to be patient.

At least I have someone to take my frustrations out on, he thought. Dr. Cooper had to answer for his attack on Ashley. The beating Kosar had given him was only a start.

As they made their way up to the surface of Mars, the silence between them grew more and more uncomfortable. Eventually Ashley broke it, turning to look back at him with a questioning look. Kosar's heart pounded as he waited to hear what she had to say.

"Where did your clothes come from, anyway?" she asked after a long pause, and Kosar laughed. He couldn't help it. That's what she wanted to talk about? But he recognized it for what it was, a neutral topic that let her talk to him about something other than what they felt for each other. Something to smooth things over for now.

And of course she was interested. Curiosity about dragon technology was what brought her here to Mars, after all.

"Every dragon shifter has nanotech implants that let us disassemble clothes and other small objects," he explained. "Then we can reassemble them at will. It's necessary for shifters, unless we want to be naked whenever we shift back."

The slight flush on her pale cheeks told him that she didn't mind the idea of him being naked, and he grinned. Ashley's blush deepened and she bit her lip, a habit that was quickly growing on Kosar.

"That does sound handy," she said. "Can I get some of my own?"

"It's another problem we have to solve," Kosar admitted. "We all have the implants, and we even have a few spares, but we don't have the nanofactories that would make more. And all that we have are keyed to dragon physiology, so I doubt that we could give them to humans even if we had enough spares."

"Figures," Ashley said unhappily. "That would be really handy sometimes, but it's only you aliens that get them."

"Maybe once you've worked out how the stardrive works you could try and figure out some of our other secrets," Kosar suggested. The way that Ashley stiffened at his words told him that he'd said something wrong.

"What are you going to do about Dr. Cooper?" she asked, changing the subject sharply and leaving him to wonder what line he'd crossed with that comment.

"I called my security team to arrest him while I was taking you down to the healing pool," he assured her. "He won't threaten you again."

That didn't seem to make her any happier, and Kosar couldn't work out what was wrong. If anything, she seemed less happy, more withdrawn. Of course, she wouldn't like thinking about the assault, but knowing that the culprit was in custody ought to be a good thing, surely? Perhaps I just don't understand humans, Kosar thought. Or is there something about the attack that she's not telling me?

He shook his head. There was no need to pressure her for details when he could get them from Cooper. Maybe they already had something he thought, checking his messages. The screen of his dataslate lit up red. Five urgent messages from Davenport? That couldn't mean anything good.

"Excuse me a moment," he said to his mate, opening a link to the security office.

"Boss! Where the hell have you been?" Davenport answered almost instantly, her tone sharp. "I've been trying to call you for an hour."

"I was busy looking after Ashley," Kosar rumbled back. "What's the bad news?"

"What's the point of leaving you messages if you don't listen to them?" Davenport said crossly and then sighed. "Never mind. Cooper wasn't there when we got to the Grace's bridge. We haven't been able to track him down."

"What?" Kosar stopped dead in his tracks, and Ashley turned to look at him wide-eyed. She might not be able to hear Davenport's side of the conversation but Kosar knew that what he was saying would hardly reassure her. "How in the Thousand Stars did he get past the checkpoints?"

"We don't know yet," Davenport answered. "I'm still trying to work that out. Best guess is that he made it to the tunnels and came out through the breach the intruders used to get in last time. It's been walled up, of course, but it was mostly secured from the outside—"

"—because who would try to break out?" Kosar finished for her. He bit back an angry curse.

"Sorry, Boss. I've got a team heading down to check it out now. At least he didn't get out with any research that he wasn't already carrying."

Kosar grunted. It was true but hardly comforting — Dr. Cooper knew far too much about all the Center's research. And that wasn't the main thing that worried him. He seemed entirely too likely to blame Ashley for his situation and look for revenge.

"It's not your fault, I should have stayed with him till you arrived," he told Davenport. But of course, that had been impossible. Ashley had needed medical attention right away. Kosar sighed. "I'll be with you shortly."

Before his second in command could answer, he closed the connection and disconnected from the system. Ashley watched him, pale-faced and frightened, and he took her hand protectively.

"You heard enough to know that Cooper's escaped," he said, squeezing gently. "Do not worry. If he has any sense he'll be trying to get out of Olympus Colony and far away, probably back to Earth, to avoid me. And in case he's not smart enough to do that, I will make certain that you are safe."

The reaction he saw in his mate's eyes was more complicated than he'd expected. That she was afraid was no surprise, the man who'd attacked her was still at large. She was angry too, which was normal and justified. It was the relief which confused Kosar. If there was good news in what he'd said, he didn't know what it was.

"I am sorry I let him slip through my fingers," he continued. "I didn't think he'd run, and if he did I wouldn't expect him to find a way out. He is my responsibility."

"Don't blame yourself," Ashley said quickly, squeezing his hand back. "You saved me from him and healed my wounds. If he ran away... well, if I don't have to see him ever again, that's good enough for me."

"Nonetheless, he seemed to have it in for you. I will not leave you in harm's way, not while there's a chance he might come back to attack you. We will move you into the Center until he's caught or we're certain that he's no longer a threat."

If I get my hands on him again, he'll no longer be a threat to anyone, Kosar promised himself. Cooper might have gotten away once, but the man who'd harmed his mate wouldn't be so lucky next time.

Ashley didn't seem comforted by that. Her hands tensed in his and her lips tightened. Shaking her head, she stared up at him defiantly. "No."

"No?" he asked, frowning. "What do you mean, no?"

"I'm not moving in here with you." She pulled her hands from his grasp, putting them on her hips. "You don't get to decide that for me."

Frustrated, Kosar held up his own hands, trying to make peace. "That's not what I meant, Ashley. If you want your own rooms, that's fine. I won't bother you in them. But have them inside our security perimeter where I can protect you."

Her steely gaze didn't relent. "I'm not going to let my fear make me hide from Cooper, not when we don't have any reason to think he'll even come after me. And I want my own space, my freedom. I don't want to have to go through the security checkpoints every time I want to go to a, a movie or whatever."

Kosar caught himself before he objected. Pushing too hard wouldn't make her safer or happier, he realized, and it was her choice to make. Her mistake to make, unfortunately. But it wasn't as though he could keep her against her will, at least not without stirring up a lot more trouble and making her hate him.

I'll just have to make sure she's safe on my own, he thought. If Ashley is determined to place herself in danger, I will make sure it doesn't touch her.

And perhaps that would let him finally convince her of the obvious truth that she was his mate.

"Alright, if you insist," he said, trying to keep his frustration out of his voice. "As long as you let me walk you home. Cooper could be waiting for you at your apartment."

A tiny shiver betrayed Ashley's fear, and he knew she hadn't thought of that possibility. Reluctantly, she nodded her agreement.

"Fine, you can make sure my place is safe. I'll go and get my things from the engine room," she said. "I really need to get some sleep."

Kosar nodded, relieved that she'd seen sense. Some sense at least — he'd have felt a lot more comfortable if she'd agreed to stay where he could keep a closer eye on her, but this would do. "I will have to check in with Sergeant Davenport, but I'll be back to collect you as soon as that's done. Do not leave the engine room until I return."

A spark of rebellion showed in Ashley's eyes, but she nodded her agreement. Kosar hoped that he could trust that.

Davenport was waiting when Kosar reached the security office, her arms crossed and fire in her eyes. He didn't blame her for being angry that he'd hung up on her, especially after ignoring her calls for an hour. Kosar tried not to let his impatience show as he put up with a lecture on the importance of remaining in contact with his crew.

It was a novel feeling, being chewed out by his subordinate. Usually he wouldn't have stood for it, but he couldn't argue this time. If he'd stayed in touch, Cooper might not have gotten away.

So he stood there, watching the surveillance screens for clues that weren't there while Davenport let her frustrations out at him. There was Ashley, standing in the engine room and working at her computer while she waited for his return. Kosar's heart swelled with love and pride as he saw her getting back to work. Her body language looked nervous, almost afraid, but his mate wasn't letting that stop her. He admired that.

Another screen played a loop of Cooper's escape. The human had picked himself up shortly after Kosar left the bridge, and he wasted no time in running back to the Center. It looked like he'd just barely made it to the tunnels before Davenport's security teams got after him.

The man might be an enemy, a coward, and an abuser of women — but there was nothing wrong with his reflexes when it came to getting out of trouble. The surprise was that he knew his way through the labyrinth under the Center. Looks like he's been planning an escape for a while.

Once Davenport's rant wound down, Kosar held up his hands in defeat. "You're right but there's no point in worrying about it now. Cooper's gone, and yes that's bad but we just have to move forward. Either the Colony Police catch him, or he gets off world before they can track him down."

Or I do went unspoken, but they both knew that Kosar wasn't going to leave this to the police. Not when Cooper had attacked his mate — that was too personal, and his dragon soul wouldn't be content with leaving it to someone else to avenge.

It wasn't something they could talk about out loud though. That would mean that Davenport would know officially, and then she'd have to try and stop him. Olympus Colony had its own laws and they coexisted awkwardly with the Dragon Empire's rules. He'd have to keep her out of his hunt.

I probably won't catch Cooper anyway. It was an unpleasant thing to admit, but he had to be honest with himself. If the human scientist had put enough thought into his escape to get out of the Center unchallenged he probably had a plan for what to do next. In all likelihood he was on his way to Earth already, and if not, he would be well hidden.

Pushing that aside, Kosar turned his mind to the issues they could do something about. "We need to do a full assessment of the damage Cooper could do. Check if he took anything sensitive with him, or if he's left any backdoors in the computer systems. If he was ready to run, he was probably ready to cash out somehow."

"Or he's just a quick thinker under pressure," Davenport suggested. "No one who's pissed you off that badly would want to hang around until you came back. He could just be on the run from you."

"I hope so. We still need to check, though."

"I know, I know." Davenport sighed. "The video shows that he didn't go back for anything, so we're probably safe. Don't worry though, I'll check his offices and get the computer guys to check the systems just in case. You—"

"I'll take Ashley home and make sure she's safe," Kosar interrupted. Davenport grinned and nodded. It might not be top of the official priority list but no one who knew dragon shifters would expect one to do anything less for his mate.

"You do that, and if I come across a hint of where Cooper's hiding I'll let you know," Davenport said. "You're the head of security. You ought to be the one to tell the Olympus cops."

Her hard smile made it clear that she knew what that would mean. He'd tell the cops alright — after he'd dealt with Cooper. Kosar nodded his thanks to her.

"Alright, let's go get this done," he said.