Read Save for Shardae for Free Online Page B

through the empty expanse to Titan. The blurring of day and night confused his body’s natural rhythm. The beer didn’t help, but he’d given up on sleep. His security detail would begin in just under two hours. He’d have to get a sobering pill before going to his post. But he had time yet. Being on the morning rotation shot out his energy levels. Being on the evening shift would probably kill him, but he’d plow ahead. He’d told Simmons he could handle the double duty. He would.
    Besides, the mission was a simple dump, depositing Lee, Rojas, and Brock. The penal colony waited for their three new infamous passengers.
    But something nagged at Zander.
    Lee.
    A tickle in his brain, a silent warning, alerted him whenever he replayed the scene in the cargo bay, but Zander’s mind and body had become much too worn out to grab it. Something Lee had said, or the fact that neither Rojas nor Brock had said anything at all. He couldn’t place it. People ordered to work the remainder of their lives on Titan collapsed in fear, wet themselves in terror, or became mute -- all bravado stolen. Not so with Lee.
    Could it be because Lee knew he wouldn’t arrive on Titan or that Lee had no plans to stay there?
    “You’re Zander Reyes, aren’t you?” gushed the young woman, yanking him out of his deep brooding.
    “Yeah.” Zander tried to smile to soften his sharp reply. “Sorry, you startled me.”
    She blushed. “Yeah, sorry. Everybody’s on edge around here.”
    He took the drink she offered him. Toying with the cool droplets of water along his current beer, Zander kept his mouth closed. If the girl wanted gossip, she’d have to go elsewhere.
    “So, um, you like our craft?” she asked, twisting her hands in front of her ebony uniform.
    “It’s okay.”
    “You, uh, wanna join us for a game of futbol later?”
    “No, thanks.” He grinned before it registered what she’d asked him. “Wait!”
    He’d better start getting to know his fellow crewmates. Being rude only fed the rumors that circulated about him. He didn’t care about them, but he’d promised his father he’d try to do things differently.
    “And you are?” he inquired, but he didn’t really want to know so he didn’t ask her to sit. He wanted Simmons beside him, nuzzling his earlobe and kissing him. He wanted to inhale her scent and taste her soft kissable mouth after she’d taken a sip of raspberry wine.
    Not that it mattered what he wanted at the moment.
    “I’m Crewman Porter.” She blushed, making her freckles blend in more. “I’m on the security team, under Sergeant Simmons. I saw you in the cargo bay earlier today.”
    “Oh yeah.” Crewman Porter gave him pause. He left the beer she’d brought him untouched. “I need to be going.”
    “Why?” she inquired, licking her lips. “You’d let a girl down?”
    “No, but I don’t see a girl here. I see a wolf in sheep’s clothes.”
    “What?” she balked, feigning ignorance.
    That pissed him off. “You aren’t my type, Crewman Porter,” he explained. “But you do make a damn good waitress.”
    Her jaw slacked, and she stumbled back a step. Gasping like a fish out of water, she managed to push out, “You’re impossible! You aren’t some god. I’ve heard about you -- you arrogant ass!”
    “Yes, he is,” agreed a voice that reeled Zander back from giving Porter a real education in trying to flirt her way to information. The owner of that voice could tutor him in whatever she wanted.
    His stomach rolled over in anxiousness. He peered around Porter to see Sergeant Simmons just off to the right, as if answering his quiet, internal pleas. The very sight of her smooth skin and full luscious mouth made his heart bound violently in his chest.
    She stood there waiting with amusement on her face. “Excuse us, Crewman Porter.”
    “Yes, ma’am,” Porter muttered before storming off.
    “Is all of security a bunch of loonies?” Zander asked. “First, O’Leery. Now her.” He