Page 73 of On a Rogue Planet
She wasn’t the only one feeling the strain. Niklas was brooding. Dathan was driving everyone nuts because he couldn’t sit still for longer than thirty seconds. Zayn was inundating BEll with diagnostics requests on the ship—which left BEll unhappy.
And Xander. Well, the others thought Xander was just fine.
Mal begged to differ.
She’d once been salvaging a crash site on an un-named jungle world in the Rico system. A monsoon storm had built upin just a few hours. The blue sky had gone from clear to churning with dark, boiling clouds in moments. Then the storm had hit with a ferocity that had shocked everyone.
She could sense the same with Xander. Something was brewing in him and if it broke...
She knew he was worried. About his friends, his brother, his planet. About this mission.
“Hey, BEll?”
“Hey, chickie,” the computer responded instantly. “How’re those parts coming along?”
“Fine. They’re keeping me…occupied.”
“Well, at least you picked something less likely to result in bloodshed.”
Mal stilled. “Care to explain that?”
“Dathan and Niklas decided to spar in the gym.”
The gym was a corner of the other cargo bay where Zayn had tossed some mats down. “Doesn’t sound too bad. Nik’s in a bad mood and I think everyone underestimates exactly what lies beneath the mild-mannered astro-archeologist. But Dathan’s sneaky.”
“Oh, they aren’t sparring each other.” BEll’s voice was dry. “They’re sparring with Xander.”
Mal’s hand froze. That was…not a great idea. Her thoughts spun before she drew in a breath. “They’re all big boys.” And secretly, she thought it might be good for Xander to blow off some steam.
As long as he didn’t kill one of her cousins.
She tensed again. Okay, maybe this wasn’t a good idea.
She forced herself back to work on the parts. She hit her thumb three times and scraped the side of her hand. With a curse, she went to stick the throbbing digit in her mouth, but remembered the grease. She grimaced and shook it instead.Not going to think about the men. Not going to worry about them.
“Mal!”
She jerked and her hand hit the side of her face. BEll sounded…panicked.
“What is it?”
“You need to get to the gym. Now!”
Mal was running before she realized it. Her tools clattered to the floor, and she hit the corridor at a sprint.
She slammed through the doors to the cargo bay housing the gym and skidded to a stop.
Xander had Dathan pinned to the wall with a forearm pressed against her cousin’s neck. Dathan was fighting hard, twisting and thrashing. His face was turning an alarming shade of red.
Niklas sat on a mat nearby, shaking his dazed head and cradling an arm.
After taking in a shaky breath, she moved forward slowly. “Xander?”
He didn’t respond.
Gathering her courage, she slipped between Xander and Dathan, pressing her hands to Xander’s chest. “Hey, let him go.”
Xander’s eyes were glowing bright green, the human side of him lost in his cyborg functions.
