Chapter 13
Chapter thirteen
On’nas
I cornered Mu’ol in his office a few hours later.
He had stalked off after the awkward naked meeting with the human leader to communicate with the admiral, who was in orbit around Earth, and he still looked distressed.
Sitting on his desk, I took in his disheveled appearance.
He had agreed to a meeting in Washington DC with the top human leaders, which I thought was a terrible idea.
“You need to let me go alone. You can’t risk yourself or Nora or my cousin.” I squared my shoulders, trying to show him I meant business. He didn’t trust my skills, but I was far more equipped to deal with this situation than he was. I was far more equipped to die.
The commander shrugged. “Too late. I’m coming, and Nora’s coming.”
“It’s not too late. Nothing is set. We haven’t even left.
Make up an excuse.” I paced in front of his desk, unable to explain the intensity of my frustration with him.
There was something going on with the humans, something more than we understood, and it was dangerous.
The general had not appeared to welcome Mu’ol’s call, so we could be walking right into danger.
“We’re all going. That’s how this works.
You are my person. Nora is my other person.
We do not leave each other.” The stubbornness he’d had when I first met him, back when he was making everyone go through an extensive decontamination every time they went outdoors, was back.
This time it was about our relationship.
I had no idea why that was so thrilling.
There was comfort in knowing that he’d apply his same stubborn will to keeping the three of us together.
I crossed my arms over my chest, frowning down at him, trying to pretend not to care. “It’s just sex, Mu’ol. Physical pleasure should not be mistaken for true feelings.”
“Bullshit. I can hear you dancing a jig inside your head. You’re happy with us, and you don’t want to be separated from us either.”
“I am not dancing a jig. I’m just mildly pleased that you’re taking this seriously.”
He raised an eyebrow at me, his face a mask of disbelief.
This whole psychic bond thing really was very frustrating.
“We’re coming. I understand that you’re worried about us, but we’re worried about you too.
So we’re coming. We’re meeting with the humans face to face, and you’re going to use the weapon that’s not supposed to exist to expose a few hidden Vul.
After that, we’ll go to a hotel and fuck. ”
“That’s your plan?” I asked, my heart pounding. “What if that weapon actually doesn’t exist?”
He shrugged. “The skin suit detector? It must exist. I’ve heard rumors for years, but the Red Guard doesn’t want the Vul to learn about it, because they’d begin developing the technology to disable it, right?”
I snorted, shaking my head. “Not right,” I lied, out of habit, though he must have known it was a lie.
“We know you expose them, and we know you don’t pull them aside one-by-one and on human stuff to root out the traitors. Though we could ask them all what happened in the series finale of Game of Thrones.”
I laughed. “You watch human entertainment?”
“The violence pleases me.”
“Quizzing them on pop culture wouldn’t work.
The Vul work insidiously and become very committed to the characters they’re playing when they’re embedded like this.
They don’t drop their camouflage unless provoked.
And we can’t risk provoking them until we know for sure which people in the room are Vul.
The humans already distrust us, and an altercation will make things worse. ”
“And the weapon?”
“I need the admiral’s permission to use it somewhere so public. And she is unlikely to grant it.”
“Well, we’ll figure it out. Nora is brilliant, and she’ll be able to pick up on tells that you and I cannot. You have to be prepared to expose them though.”
“Mu’ol.” I was frustrated with my inability to override his decision, but even a pleading voice didn’t seem to impact him. A moment later, Nora burst into the office.
“Neither of you should put yourselves at risk for this. I’ll take a contingent of human soldiers loyal to the Aunga’ri cause and go alone,” she said brusquely. Mu’ol and I looked at each other, then burst out laughing, and his laugh was uncharacteristically jovial. “What?” Nora asked.
“On’nas just tried the same thing,” Mu’ol said, grabbing her hand and yanking her into his lap. She yelped and slapped his chest, frowning. “I’m glad to know that you care for us enough to be protective too.”
“He won’t back down,” I said. “He says we need to do everything as a triad from now on. We cannot be apart, even if we need to go to the bathroom.”
“I did not say bathroom. You can go to the bathroom alone,” Mu’ol muttered. “But how can you not see that we are stronger together, the three of us? You and Axel proved that on your trip to DC last week. He was weak without the rest of his triad.”
Nora sighed and slipped her arms around Mu’ol’s waist, hugging him tightly. “Earth can’t lose you. I can’t lose you.”
“You won’t,” Mu’ol said, his voice gentle now.
I could sense too much of what he was thinking, though, and my body responded.
Because having Nora in his lap was distracting him way more than it should have been, and he wanted to be pinned between us.
Nora shifted in his lap, whimpering a little, clearly impacted by the new direction of his thoughts as well.
He stood, wrapping her legs around his waist, and walked towards the bedroom.
“The shuttle will be ready in two hours.”
“We can’t fuck for the entire two hours,” Nora muttered.
“We don’t know when we’ll have a chance to further cement our bond after today. We need to take advantage of the time,” Mu’ol said. Nora snorted. “I would like you to build your bond with On’nas so that he is available to you via the Bhesai Ker’el.”
I frowned, thinking that through. “He’s right. We’ll have the advantage of our psychic link. You’ll be able to communicate with him without speaking.”
“But not with you?” Nora asked.
I shrugged. “I’m not sure. Our bond is new. I feel something for you, but it’s muddied by his feelings for you, which are intense. Mu’ol is correct to think that the bond could build with more intimate connections.”
Nora’s eyes widened, and she glanced at Mu’ol.
“There are no true feelings yet. This is all so new. But fine. You’re right about the psychic link.
” She glared at me. “Stop smirking. The psychic link could be useful in an espionage sense. It does not mean I need sex. He does, though, or he’ll be too distracted to do much of anything. ”
I glanced at Mu’ol, reading the hunger in his eyes. Perhaps this hadn’t been the best timing to introduce the commander to sexual relations.