Page 94 of Command

When Threxin arrived Alina was back in bed, having just finished dabbing her eyes with a tissue and staring at the overhead light in an attempt to dry them faster. Her heart jumped when he entered, the weight of his commanding presence sucking the air from the room of her cabin.

“What is wrong with you?” Threxin frowned, gaze raking over her twice as if looking for injuries.

“Nothing,” she said, casting her eyes down and throwing her bangs in her face.

“Your eyes are red.”

Alina sniffled. “The Neurosync… I haven’t communicated like that since you… since you came. It’s… it’s just a lot.”

Threxin considered her for a long moment, a strange look on his face. Then he strode forward and sat in the middle of her bed, making her scramble to the edge to get out of his way. There was something in his scent, now that he was so close, that filled her with a sense of both comfort and heady excitement. The way his apertures flashed open momentarily.

“I require assistance,” he said, extracting a tablet from the inside pocket of his black buckle jacket.

That’s it? We’re not going to talk about those people?

“What is it? Is it your wound?” Alina began to reach instinctively for his shirt to inspect the area, but drew back when he did.

He shoved his tablet into her hands.

“This is the intended frequency and communication for a resource delivery toColossal. I require to know if there is a… hidden agenda communicated in Universal that only a human may understand.”

Alina frowned, absorbing the transmission outlined on the screen.

“Plasma pallets?” She glanced over at Threxin and, when he did not reply, continued scrolling.

After a few minutes of rereading the intended communication,Alina slid the tablet back over to Threxin. “This looks fine to me… I can’t spot anything suspicious.”

“Would you tell me if you had?” He asked with no inflection in his voice.

Alina paused, realizing that she once again did not think ahead.

“It hadn’t crossed my mind not to,” she admitted, her throat suddenly dry. Threxin’s gaze burned with its scrutiny. Finally he nodded, stashing the tablet back into his jacket.

“I will tell the rear dockmaster to proceed.”

Alina’s eyes snapped up. “The rear dockmaster? Not the… procurement manager?”

“The resource procurer is nonessential.” Threxin rose but watched her closely and Alina realized he hadn’t been intending to stay. He’d only come to get a pair of eyes on the form, and while it did fill her with a kind of satisfaction to know he came to her with this, trusted her with it, there was so much more she’d needed to say.

“Threxin, I think…” She racked her brain for how to say this without giving too much away and resulting in more deaths. “I think you should find someone else.”

The uhyre paused. His jaw came into sharp relief as he tilted his head, then turned back slowly to face her.

“Why?” he asked quietly.

“I just… I just hear they really didn’t like what you did in the rear dock with the murde—punishment. There are grudges. Hell, I’m sure you know people are terrified and unhappy… There’s nothing suspicious about that comms plan!” Alina hastened to add once she saw the sharp look on his face. “But I… I really suggest picking another dock and another person.”

Threxin was falling right into the hands of the people plotting against him, allowing comms out and a ship in to the perfect location to stage a coup. A coup that was probably just going to end in bloodshed, with people she cared aboutdying. There had to be a better way than letting Threxin fall into a potential trap.

“The rear dock is the largest and best equipped for delivery,” Threxin said thoughtfully.

Alina didn’t have a response to that. She wanted to warn him, and she had… as best she could. Divulging more would be throwing Kaia, Isabelle, and Dockmaster Barton under the bus.

And me.Alina’s cheeks grew hot.

Threxin let her steep under his scrutiny for several long seconds before finally lifting his chin at her. “I will arrange another dock and another human.”

Don’t look too relieved, Alina.She wasn’t yet prepared to give him thefullgravity of the situation. She gave him a curt nod and willed her face to stop burning.

---