Page 85 of Guardian's Heart

It turned out that both Zoe and Luph were pretty good with comms as well, but their talent was more in research than hacking, like Nova. I was still irritated with her when I found out that she had hacked into the live security footage of the space station after I had specifically told her not to. But one night, she told us all to activate our comms and check our accounts.

Flabbergasted, I stared at her when my account balance cited that I had a six billion credits to my name. "What in the seven suns?"

"Wow, I'm rich, thank you, Nova," Zoe exclaimed.

Nova beamed.

"What did you do?" I tried to look stern, but since I had an idea, I couldn't pull it off, and Nova looked so damn proud of herself. I didn't want to ruin her mood.

"I hacked into the Ohrur financials and funneled some money, er credits, that were rightfully yours, back into your accounts and those of your spouses," she declared happily.

"Thank you." Nock looked up from his. "You shouldn't have."

"You deserve it." She winked.

"Won't they miss those credits? That's a lot of them. You stole like… forty-two billion credits," Zoe nearly choked on the sum.

"They can't miss what they didn't know they had." Nova grinned from ear to ear, looking so adorable, I just wanted to kiss her.

"I don't get it." Raasla shook his head. "How can they not know they had it?"

"Trust me, this money is like pocket change for them. I adjusted their totals a little here and there; they won't know. Also, we're all going to have a steady income of one billion credits every year, thanks to the generosity of the Ohrurs."

"I don't want any part of this." Vraax held up his comm. "Take it back."

My temper rose, he didn't have the right to speak to Nova like that, but Nova only shrugged. "More for us."

"Divine justice." Zoe held up her hand, making me wonder what she was up to and astounding me even more, when Nova hit Zoe's palm with her own. Humans, I figured.

Once the excitement about our new financial status changed, Luph reported, "Unfortunately, there is no live footage from Darlam, despite it being part of the Ohrur Oligarchy.”

"It makes sense if there is no life left on the planet." Noodar shrugged. For some reason, it truly bothered me that it seemed that there was no life on Darlam. It made me sad in ways I couldn't explain.

"We'll find out soon," Nova said, squeezing my hand. As always it felt good having her close to me. I loved her so frygging much. She was my world, my universe. I had no idea how I had ever existed without her, but then it dawned on me that this was just it. I had only existed without her. I hadn't lived. Not the way life was supposed to be lived.

"I love you," I leaned to her side, whispering in her ear.

She turned, a smile on her lips. Her hand lifted, and she palmed my face. "I love you too, my impossible Space Guardian."

I chuckled, unsure why she had to throwimpossibleinto the mix, but it didn't matter to me. All that mattered was that she loved me. Her lips sought mine, and we exchanged a deep kiss.

"Go get a room," Zoe yelled, throwing a napkin at us.

Nova laughed. "You know what? That's a great idea."

"Fantastic," I agreed, pulling Nova up into my arms I carried her out of the mess hall to loud hooting and hollering. Nova hid her face in my chest, not because she was embarrassed, no, it took a lot more to embarrass my little human, but because she was laughing.

I had learned she had a fewticklishspots, one of the many fascinating things I liked to explore and discover more about. One of them was right underneath her rib cage, and I used two fingers to make it come alive.

She squirmed and laughed in my arms as I carried her to our room. TheVantorumwas a much more luxurious ship than my old one, but it lacked some of the tech. However, I discovered that I enjoyed the luxury much better.

The door to our room opened the moment we approached and closed behind us. Our quarters were generous: a living room, a bathroom, and a bedroom. To which I carried her still squirming body.

"Enough, Zaarek," she panted right before I threw her onto the bed. "It's not fair. I can't avenge myself to you."

I grinned. I didn't have anyticklishspots.

I pulled the dress over her head as she kneeled on the bed to help me get her naked.

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