20
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Myla
After waking up from a long nap, I throw off the blanket Zeno must have placed over me, and climb out of bed. I slide into another pair of pants, and a blue long-sleeved t-shirt, then head out.
Every sore step I take extracts a smile as I remember my earlier sensual liaisons with Zeno and Tekil. And then the smile drops.
Why didn’t Vi’del come too?
A strange ache blossoms inside my chest as I quicken my stride to find the others.
The galley doors slide open and the noise hits me immediately—talking, laughing, a few grunts. A nice change from the earlier chaos.
“Hey you!” Jax calls from behind the bar. When I glance over, he’s smiling at me.
“Hey Jax.” I’m relieved to see him on his feet and already mostly healed. I change direction and head over to the bar. “Have you seen Tia?”
“No, sorry.”
“What about Zeno, Tekil, or Vi’del?”
He’s shaking his head. I wonder where they are...
“I’m not sure.” Huh, I must have asked that aloud. “Want something to eat? Something to drink?”
“No,” I reply absent-mindedly with a quick shake of my head.
Where could they be? I wonder.
“You should try the Control Room.”
“Huh?” I squint. Have I ever been there before?
“The Mission Control Room. Just follow the signs.”
Sounds easy enough. “Thanks, Jax.”
“No problem.”
I begin heading out of the galley and toss a smile over my shoulder. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
“You too!” he calls.
Through the corridor I follow the directional signs as Jax instructed. It’s not that difficult, but as I walk, I begin to doubt myself.
Maybe I should just wait in our room? I muse, then I scoff. Not a chance.
Up ahead, I see large, looming metal doors, with a sign on the outside that simply says, ‘Mission Control Room.’ In small print underneath, it also warns ‘Authorized Personnel Only.’
That’s clearly not me.
I hesitate a moment longer, before drawing in a deep breath and stepping under the sensor anyway. The doors slide open and I’m absolutely astounded by the sheer complexity. I shouldn’t be—that holographic interaction room was impressive too.
It’s busy, both Humans and Kintolf working together at various stations. A large screen at the front of the room takes my breath away. If there was ever any doubt in my mind that we are truly in space—even after gazing out the window in Tia’s room at the planet below—there’s none now, not with the glorious array of stars I see.
With my eyes still on the screen, I step inside the room, the doors shutting behind me. All eyes snap in my direction, and I freeze like a deer caught in headlights.
Suddenly my aggressive side emerges and that’s when I realize that every time I’m in a situation where I get nervous or scared, it takes over. Sometimes it takes control in other situations too, but mostly when I’m anxious. And I understand now that it gives me the courage to face those fears.
My shoulders relax and I drag in a slow, deep breath. Someone—a blue Kintolf —heads over.
“May I help you?”
With my shoulders held back, I speak with smooth confidence in my tone, as if I have every right to be here. “Have you seen Zeno, Tekil, or Vi’del?”
My gaze follows his finger as he points to a closed door on the left side.
“Thank you,” I say, shooting him a quick smile, then casually head over, surprised that nobody tries to stop me.
The door slides open and that’s when I see everyone sitting around a rectangular table. It looks sort of like wood, but not exactly.
The gang’s all here: my three, Tia’s guys, and of course Tia herself. I stroll in, allowing the doors to swish closed behind me.
“Sorry I’m late to the party.”
Taking a chair between Tekil and Vi’del, I lace my fingers together. It appears they’re having a meeting.
Vi’del leans over and kisses my temple, which goes a long way toward relieving the ache in my chest.
“I can’t believe that bitch hired them!” Tia says, clearly pissed off.
“We need to inform the Hi-Cas and allow him to deal with his traitorous staff,” Moak replies calmly.
“We have downloaded all the evidence he needs to confront her with,” Serkan adds, leaning back and crossing his arms.
“I don’t understand why she did it!” Tia throws her arms in the air, letting them slam against the table. “What did I ever do to that bitch? I don’t even know her! At least not well anyway.”
Leaning over, I whisper to Vi’del, “What’s going on?”
“It’s always about credits.” Bastian shrugs. “That’s why they made clones of us: credits.”
“They just found out that some woman hired the Cadus to kill Tia,” Vi’del whispers in my ear.
“What woman?”
This is getting better than the soap operas on TV…
“I don’t know. They found a picture, and I guess they recognize her. They refer to the woman as ‘Ms. Conservative.’”
“It’s probably because my Father has such a stick up his ass!” Tia continues ranting. “I mean, you guys saw her when we met with him.”
“We did,” Moak confirms.
I’m trying to listen and talk to Vi’del at the same time; it’s hard to split my attention.
“Like the political branch?” I ask Vi’del.
He shakes his head.
Tia is now audibly grinding her teeth. “If he wouldn’t make them dress like fucking nuns … but still, that’s no excuse. She didn’t have to stay. I didn’t. I got the hell out first chance I got. And she has way less ties than I do!”
My head is spinning and I’m only catching bits and pieces. I feel like I showed up to a movie two-thirds in.
“Would someone please tell me what I missed?” I interject loudly.
Tia smirks, but there’s no humor in her murderous eyes. “Some bitch that works for my Father hired the Cadus to get rid of me. Kill me, kidnap me, it didn’t matter. She wanted to cut off Father’s credit supply.”
I hold up a hand. “How do you supply credits exactly?”
She huffs. “I have a gift with language and he has ancient scrolls which hold boundless locations of commodities. Commodities that he sells to make an insane amount of credits.”
“Like, how much?”
“Well put it this way: he gave us this ship and the planet Taugon as payment for my work.”
“Holy shit!”
“Yeah. And because Ms. Conservative with her high-neckline-below-the-knee dress wants to escape Father and his insane ideas of how women should act, she put a fucking hit on me. On me!” Tia looks at Bastian. “Why the hell didn’t she just have them kill Father?” She throws her hands up in the air again, still ranting. “The fucking woman makes no damn sense!”
Hmmm. I make a firm mental note never to mess with Tia. She looks fit-to-be-tied and I have no doubt that if ‘Ms. Conservative’ was here, Tia would wrestle her to the ground and choke her with her bare hands. She’s that enraged.
Bastian circles her wrist with his hand and pulls her from the chair onto his lap. Stroking her hair away from her face, he tries to console her in a soothing voice.
“It’s over with now. Your father will deal with her.”
“I wish I could be there to see it.”
“My little fireball.” He grins fondly.
Tia leans forward and kisses him with all the gentleness of a raging hurricane. Bastian growls as he wraps his arms around her, standing, and pressing her against the wall. Hands roaming, groping, growls and grunts filling the silence…
I tear my wide eyes away when Moak says, “And with that, this meeting is adjourned.”
He smiles tightly, but his own erection is visibly straining against his pants.
My three guys stand, Vi’del taking my hand as we quickly leave them to it. I take another quick glance at Tia and Bastian; her hand is down his pants. My eyes widen further and I quickly turn my head and stare straight ahead. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine life on a space ship like this.
Hell, Captain Kirk wasn’t even that wild ! I muse, half mortified and half aroused myself. He’d at least wait till he was alone in a bedroom with his latest conquest…
Silently, we head toward our own room. I can’t get over how casually and openly aggressive Tia is; apparently she just takes what she wants, when she wants it, regardless of who’s around her.
It’s invigorating. I know it’s affecting me and I’m pretty sure my three guys are also turned on by the primal display in the office…conference center… whatever they call it.
My insides heat up, the soreness forgotten. I don’t understand how anyone can want sex this often, but I want them now— all of them —anyway I can get them. My eyes shift sideways to Vi’del. Actually, I want him first.
A slow smile crawls across my face. Zeno is the only one who’s tamed my animal, as he calls it. But the other two haven’t. And I am totally up to the challenge.