Chapter 21 - Caught
740 Words
Mira’s heart pounded in her chest.
The sting in her arm burned sharply as she pressed her hand against it, trying to stop the blood seeping through the fabric of her sleeve.
Then she heard it.
Footsteps.
Heavy ones.
More than one set.
Coming quickly down the corridor.
Her stomach dropped.
“Oh no…”
Panic rushed through her.
If they found her in here—
In the weapons room.
After firing one.
She quickly wiped at her eyes and looked around for the weapon she had dropped. It lay on the floor near her feet, still faintly humming from the discharged energy.
The footsteps were getting closer.
Mira hurried toward the doorway, clutching her injured arm.
Maybe she could slip out before—
She stepped into the doorway—
And froze.
Drokan stood directly outside the door.
Massive.
Immovable.
His broad shoulders nearly filled the corridor, his dark expression already storming as his eyes swept the room behind her.
For a moment Mira forgot how to breathe.
He looked furious.
His jaw was tight, his eyes sharp as they scanned the weapons racks and the scorched mark along the far wall.
Mira shrank slightly under his glare.
“I—”
But the words died in her throat.
Drokan’s gaze moved back toward her.
Then lower.
And suddenly—
His expression changed.
His eyes locked onto the arm she was clutching.
The blood soaking through the sleeve.
He stiffened.
The anger vanished from his face almost instantly, replaced with something sharper.
Concern.
He stepped forward quickly.
“Are you injured?”
Mira blinked, startled by the sudden shift.
“I— I didn’t mean to—”
His voice cut through her panic.
“Your arm.”
She hesitated, lowering her hand slightly.
The thin burn across her skin was visible now, the bleeding slow but steady.
Drokan’s jaw tightened again, but the anger now seemed directed somewhere else entirely.
Behind them, more footsteps approached.
Rethan arrived first, his calm expression immediately sharpening when he saw the scene.
“What happened?”
Seyrin appeared seconds later, followed by Vael and Kaelor.
Their eyes quickly took in the room.
The dropped weapon.
The scorch mark on the wall.
Mira standing frozen in the doorway.
And the blood on her arm.
Seyrin moved first.
He crossed the space quickly, his eyes already analyzing the injury.
“Mira,” he said gently. “Let me see.”
She hesitated but slowly moved her arm away from her body.
Seyrin examined the burn carefully.
“It’s a grazing discharge,” he said after a moment. “Not deep.”
Mira sniffed slightly, still fighting the tears.
“It ricocheted…”
Rethan stepped into the room, picking up the weapon from the floor and placing it back onto the rack with careful precision.
Vael looked at the scorch mark on the far wall and whistled softly.
“Well,” he said lightly, “that could have been much worse.”
Drokan hadn’t moved.
He was still standing close to Mira, towering beside her as his eyes stayed fixed on the injury.
“You should not be in this room,” Kaelor said calmly from the doorway.
Mira immediately shrank a little.
“I know,” she said quickly. “I’m sorry. I was just curious and I didn’t know what the button did and then it just—”
Her voice wobbled.
“I didn’t mean to shoot it.”
Seyrin gently guided her injured arm closer to the light.
“The wound is superficial,” he confirmed.
“But it will need treatment.”
Drokan finally spoke again, his voice low.
“She fired one of the weapons.”
Mira winced slightly.
“Accidentally…”
Vael leaned casually against the doorway.
“On the bright side,” he said, “she now knows they work.”
Rethan gave him a look.
“Not helpful.”
Vael shrugged.
Seyrin straightened.
“We need to take her to medical.”
Drokan immediately stepped aside so Seyrin could guide Mira out of the room.
As she passed him, Mira glanced up nervously.
Drokan’s earlier anger had faded.
But his expression was still tense as his eyes flicked once more to the injury on her arm.
For a moment, he looked almost… unsettled.
Mira swallowed.
“…Sorry,” she murmured quietly.
Drokan didn’t answer.
But he followed close behind as they escorted her toward the medical bay.
- Writer
