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.But gods help him, he was also a man who’d been long denied.It was only biologically sound that his body would notice a female’s of seemingly compatible form.Clearing his throat, he reined in his wayward libido and fought for control.“Hunter, wake up, man!” Jace reached them, dropping beside the woman and bringing up his hand-held scanner.Their top medical officer and Hunter’s second-in-command, Jace was also Hunter’s younger brother, and the last surviving member of their ‘team’.Running a scanner over the woman’s body, Jace scowled up at the commander and spoke as though rank wasn’t an issue at this moment.Which it wasn’t.It rarely was between the two men.“What the hell were you thinking, moving her before I verified that she could be moved?”“She was trying to get away,” Hunter growled back.“She seemed to have forgotten that we were communicating right before our group got here.She could move, so I knew she didn’t have any major damage to her spine, and she’d backed herself up to a creeper-bug’s nest.I had to get her away from the tree before they swarmed.”Jace shuddered at what a creeper attack might have added to her injuries and wordlessly acknowledged his brother’s wisdom.His eyes rapidly scanned the screen, his fingers flying over the surface to bring up other information at a pace that made Hunter’s head spin.The Commander was a medic as well, but no one was as good as his brother.Battalion ships across the fleet had fought to have him join them for their tours in the war.Jace had been offered all kinds of things, legal and illegal, to get him on board, but he was part of their family team and hadn’t entertained any of the other Commanders.He would be on Hunter’s ship or he would stay on the planet to help the wounded there.Now, though, he set his scanner aside and looked up at Hunter.“I want temporary bracing on her neck, just in case she has an injury we don’t know about.Her leg is to be braced for traveling.She has a concussion, which could explain the momentary memory loss.Of course, trauma could be doing that, as well.” He scrubbed a hand over his face wearily.“There may be other injuries, so be careful when you’re treating her, but those are the big ones.I don’t think she’ll need the stretcher, though, and I need it for one of the others.Your Reader can ride with one of the warriors, like most of the other women will.”He handed Hunter two inflatable braces from his pack then quickly depressed the button on the stretcher that deflated and retracted everything into one neat tube.Clapping his brother on the back, Jace rose and moved back to the main group.“I’m going to finish with the others.Keep her as calm as possible.”Hunter worked on the little Reader, wondering how she had managed to be with the group.She was older than the others by a good ten, maybe even fifteen years.He had felt her frustration with the brunette who’d been so very bent on fighting his men, felt her capitulation just a bit ago, when she realized that her group was outnumbered.His Commander’s mind had to admire her pragmatism and how quickly her brain switched from trying to flee to figuring out what to do next.He smiled to himself, thinking that she was likely to be a handful when she was healthy and conscious.As she began to stir once more, he wondered if she’d remember him this time.He hoped so.He needed her awake, but more than that, he needed to get her safe and healthy.He wanted to know so much about her, about her people, where they had come from… everything.Her mind had been so bright, so full of life and spirit, and he longed to touch that energy again, to absorb it and let it fill the cracks in his soul that had grown over years of battle, loss, and the abandonment of his world.He could feel her spirit gathering energy, trying to rise through the pain and the blackness of unconsciousness.He laid his palm on her bare shoulder, sending gentle waves of energy into her, helping her through the fight.Her mind latched onto his power, drinking it in to fuel her ascent into the real world.Hunter had to shake his head at her strength of will.Such a strong, determined little warrior.As she blinked her eyes open once more, he decided that she had to be their highest ranking lady, possibly in charge of the gaggle of younger women.No one else in the group gave off such a determined, willful aura.Bravery, authority, and the ability to Read were how his people chose their leaders, so it was plausible that hers did as well.He felt drawn to her in a way he hadn’t felt toward a woman in nearly thirty years.He would see to her safety personally, sure that she would be the one the girls looked to, when she was finally healed.Satisfied with his conclusions, he took up the braces and began to assess the multiple scrapes, gashes, and bruises on her lush little body.When she came to again, Arianna’s head was still doing the whomp-whomp thing.She was lying face-up once more, but on a blanket instead of on a stretcher.She remembered enough to know better than to try to move this time.Not only was it futile, since the huge warrior would only catch her, but she would probably hurt herself even more than she already had.Before she could truly take stock of where all the pain was coming from, she felt large hands on her body, quickly exploring her legs and arms, gently running over her tummy and testing her ribs.She froze, terror rushing through her anew.The hands were not threatening, nor did they try to restrain her in any way.Something nagged at her sluggish memory, something that told her she was safe, guarded.But she was still in an unknown situation and that was enough to scare her, memories or no.She tried very hard to hide her pain, in case the hands belonged to someone that intended to harm her if she was deemed too weak.Try as she might, though, when the hands hit particularly tender areas, she could neither keep still nor quiet.She gasped when a deep male voice spoke, close to her ear.His words were exceedingly odd, but his voice was pleasant, even soothing.She managed to cut wide, frightened eyes toward him without moving her head.It was the ‘man’ from before, the one who had been reaching for her as she passed out.He was leaning over her, his face close to hers [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]