Page 26 of Homecoming

“Then, let me sleep for two hours. I need more sleep.”

“Fine. I will wake you at nine. The price is a kiss.”

“I have morning breath.”

“I don’t care.” His mouth came down on hers, and after a few seconds of mortification, she surrendered to him.

His body slid against hers, and she clutched his shoulders. She whimpered and stroked his neck, weaving her fingers into his hair. The kiss went on and on, and when a new male voice spoke, it had the effect of a cold wash over her.

“Well, I ask you to make sure she is well, and this is what you do? Loken, I am surprised.”

She leaned her head to one side, and there was Sohar leaning against the bathroom doorframe. “How did you get in here?”

“I politely described Loken to the lady at the check-in desk, and they agreed that if I had to cast off, I should probably get my crew on board.”

She nodded. “Of course. Well, bye, Loken.”

He looked at her and shook his head. “I have never heard of a beta more insistently trying to get rid of her alphas.”

“Our lifestyles clash.”

He blinked. “Oh, boy. That is the stupidest reasoning that I have ever heard of.”

Aeryn was hurt. “I am not going to spend my life fighting for a place. I have a place. I don’t want to give it up.”

Sohar said, “We have a lot to offer.”

“Friends? Family? Community?”

“Family eventually. We will provide support and companionship.”

“On a ship, in the middle of the ocean.”

He frowned. “Is that the problem?”

“I just found my place here. I like my place here. I have friends. They have family. There are going to be babies sprinting all over this place within the year.” She paused. “Well, by the endof next year. They are not very mobile for the first few months. I don’t want to miss that.”

Sohar looked at her. “You don’t want to miss your friends having babies?”

“No. Definitely not.”

Sohar nodded. “Huh. I have always seen you just fitting yourself to us and being endlessly pliable.”

“Um. No.”

“Yes, I am getting that. I am going to have to phone a friend.”

Loken was still draped over her. “I can’t reach my phone.”

Sohar snorted. “We should leave her for the day.”

“I thought you were casting off.” She eased back as Loken got up and off.

“We are. A group of ladies has charmed their way onto the yacht.”

Icy water doused her soul. “Oh. You had better go then.”

Loken frowned. “Aeryn... he doesn’t mean...”

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