Page 68 of Guardian's Heart

“Oh, we did,” Garth said, laughing despite himself. “Crashed it right into the academy’s holographic combat simulator. Wipedout half a year’s worth of simulations in one go. The whole system went offline for weeks.”

Nock burst out laughing. “That’s insane! What did you do?”

“Daryus immediately started practicing his apology speech, Xandros tried to convince the instructors it wasan accidental systems test, and me? I just told them we were making sure the academy’s emergency response protocols worked properly.”

“Did they buy it?” Nock asked, still laughing.

“Not even for a tick,” Garth admitted. “We spent the next month scrubbing every deck in the academy as punishment. But you know the crazy part? We still won the mock war game—because technically, our crashtook outthe enemy team’s entire base.”

Nock shook his head, grinning from ear to ear. “You three are unbelievable. No wonder they called you theTerrible Triplets.”

“Yeah, well,” Garth said, leaning forward with a smirk. “Just remember who you’re dealing with, streamer boy. We may be older now, but we’re also very powerful.”

To me, Garth said, “Kevin had a rough year even after we were able to reunite him with his parents, so anybody who makes him smile needs a reward."

NOVA

"I got something foryou," Zaarek said when we were finally alone in the amazing room Garth and Silla had prepared for us. He looked a little bit forlorn, come to think of it, he had looked a little depressed for the rest of the evening.

"Is everything okay?" I asked him.

"Everything is fine," he assured me in the way where you know it's not.

"Zaarek, talk to me."

He held up a beautiful dress instead. "I saw this at the space station and I was going to give it to you, but with everything that happened, I forgot until we checked the cargo to make room for all the stuff Silla ordered for us."

It was by far the most stunning dress I had ever seen, let alone owned. "Oh Zaarek, it's gorgeous."

"Try it on," he said with a wink.

"Only if you tell me what's bugging you."

"Bugging?"

I sighed. "Bothering."

"Do you want to go back to Earth?" he surprised me by asking.

"What? No!"

"It's okay if you want to," he said, but his encouraging smile didn't reach his eyes. "We'll figure something out…"

"Zaarek, no." He was still holding up the dress and I stepped in front of him, to rise on my tiptoes and to take his face in both of my hands. "I love you. I want to be with you. There's nothing for me on Earth…" Not even the hope of finding my brother. If he was still alive and had never come forward before, it would be impossible to find him now. Millions of people had been displaced. I had to lay him to rest once and for all. "Nothing!" I repeated with vehemence, wanting to convince him and myself.

"Are you sure?" Zaarek pushed.

"Absolutely."

He tried to suppress the sigh of relief moving through his body, I knew he did, but I felt it nevertheless.

"Hey, in the future, when something is buggi—bothering you, just tell me, okay? There's no reason to be miserable if it can be solved with a simple communication."

He leaned forward and kissed me, then he pressed the dress into my hand. "I can't wait to take this off you."

I giggled and removed my clothes, while he intently watched me with smoldering eyes. I might have overdramatized wiggling my hips slightly as I wiggled into the dress, but seeing the growing bulge in between his legs through his tight pants might have added to the dramatization.

Once I had the dress on, I couldn't believe seeing my reflection in the mirror and I wished Silla would have given us time to change before the dinner earlier. I would have loved to show this dress off.

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