“We’re just like any other living sapient,” I say with a smirk. “Except maybe we like to party a bit harder.”
She laughs. It’s glorious. “I guess I’m realizing I’ve lived a sheltered life up till now.”
“Where did you live before this?”
“I was arrested by IHC Security on Erebus while out shopping with Varia. But before that, I lived on Titanus Vox where I was born, right outside the city of Daystrom. I’d never been off-world until I left for Erebus when my aunt needed my help raising her kids.”
“You never ventured out of human space then?”
“I didn’t even want to venture off planet. Titanus Vox and Erebus were… comfortable. And all you hear on the holoscreens is about the war this and the war that. Especially since the IHC got involved.”
“The war has been good to the Hael Hounds.”
“I bet. But I guess a part of me wanted to shut out the galaxy and just live my life.”
“Sometimes the only way to get through the horrors of my life has been to cut myself away from the galaxy.” I’m somber, thinking back to the countless missions the Hael Hounds exposed me to.
“I can imagine,” she whispers softly, and then she subconsciously drags her teeth over her bottom lip. I don’t know what’s going through her head, but something tells me she isn’t completely oblivious to the fact that she’s my mate. Humans might not be as sensitive to the mating bond as the Kilgari are, but I’m pretty sure she’s noticed something.
“Grantian, get your ass up here,” my comms unit suddenly comes alive with Swipt’s voice coming out of it. “Your damn terminal is acting up again.”
“Never a moment’s rest. Right?” she asks me, and I reply with an awkward nod. “I should get her out of here as well,” she continues, discreetly pointing her chin at Varia. She’s staring at the comatose woman so intently you’d think she’s trying to drag her back to consciousness with the strength of her gaze. “See you around, Grantian.”
“See you around,” I repeat, requiring a mighty effort to push those words up my throat. As she turns around to join Varia, I draw one deep breath and shake my head. This woman doesn’t know yet, but she’s about to turn my life upside down.
Is that a good thing or a bad thing?
I have no fucking idea.
Chapter Three
Lamira
“They should be in here somewhere.” Sprawled on the floor of my bunk room, I reach for a plastic container tucked underneath my bed. Sitting up, I pop the lid out and remove a couple of blankets from inside it. They’re a bit ratty, but I figure they should be enough. “It’s not much, but I think—”
“These will do.” Taking the blankets from my hands, Varia lays them out on the bed and starts folding them neatly. As she does it, I grab a couple of my own clothes and throw them into the pile. I’m not entirely sure what good clothes and blankets will be to a woman who’s in a coma, but I figure they shouldn’t hurt. She might be unconscious, but she’s not dead yet.
Sitting on the mattress, I watch as Varia keeps folding whatever’s in front of her with mechanical movements. Her eyes are set on the fabric, the creases on her forehead have deepened, and tension has seeped into her whole body. Even her eyes seem to have gone lifeless, that ever-present spark of defiance now snuffed out.
Not that I’m surprised. She serves as a liaison between the Kilgari and the humans, and she’s been spending every waking hour looking after every single one of us. On some level, I know she feels responsible for what happened in the medbay, even though it’s not even remotely her fault.
“Hey.” Standing up, I lay one hand on her shoulder and give it a gentle squeeze. “It’s going to be alright. Nicari is looking after that girl, and he knows what he’s doing. Thrase is down there helping. The girl will pull through.”
“We don’t know that,” Varia says finally, folding a shirt and throwing it on top of the blankets. She stares at her empty hands for a second, as if she has no idea what to do with them, and then sits down on the bed. “We don’t even know her name, for Mother’s sake. I tried looking in the Frontier for a manifesto, or a list of names, or something… but I didn’t find anything.”
“And that’s not your fault,” I tell her in a soothing tone. “What happened aboard the Frontier, this whole thing with the cryopod… none of this is your fault, Varia. You know that. Don’t you? If anything, you got us here.”
Looking away from her hands, she gives me a sad smile.
“That’s not true. The Kilgari—”
“Never mind the Kilgari,” I cut her short. “If it weren’t for you, we would’ve never survived that cargo hold.” Laying my hand on top of hers, I look into her eyes and smile. “Trust me. I was there.”
“You’re a good friend, Lamira.”
“A good friend?” I repeat in a purposefully high-pitched, nasal tone. “Girl don’t give me that crap. I’m the best friend.” Finally, a genuine smile spreads across her lips. “Now, what do you say we go find Ilya? She can take a look at the pod, and maybe she’ll be able to figure out why it short-circuited.”
“Now that’s a good idea,” she says, jumping up to her feet so fast I’d think she was sitting on top of coiled springs. That’s the Varia I know. We’re already on our way to the doors when they slide open to reveal a tall Kilgari, his horns almost touching the doorway. He’s wearing a black shirt that delineates the contour of his hard pectorals almost too perfectly, and he has a handgun tucked into his large soldier’s belt.
It takes me a second before I realize I’m once again staring at Grantian, but once I do, my heart does a somersault inside my chest. I don’t know what it is about this Kilgari, but his presence has a real effect on my body.
“Solair has requested your presence back on the bridge,” he says, all of his attention on Varia.
She arches her eyebrows, surprised. “He could have signaled on my comm.”
He smiles sardonically. “You left it with him.”
“Now why would I do that?” She smiles, as if caught.
“Take care of these. Will you?” she asks me as she hands me the blankets she’s holding. A thin conspiratorial smile takes over her lips, and then she gives me a wink. Just like I did a few weeks back, right when I saw her sneak out of the dining room with Solair. She must have noticed the electricity crackling under my skin whenever I’m in the same room as Grantian. Without saying anything else, she squeezes herself past him and punches the panel on her way out, closing the door behind her.
For a moment, neither of us say a thing. We just stand there, staring at each other like two complete idiots. The blankets in my arms make me feel even more ridiculous.
Clearing his throat, Grantian takes one step forward.
“So, uh, is Varia feeling better?” he finally asks, and I can’t help but notice some uncertainty in his deep voice. Even as a veteran of a thousand battles and an ex-member of the fabled Hael Hounds, he sure as hell doesn’t look comfortable right now.