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The ankite points the blaster at their chest. “Then you can take the third option of a bolt to the chest and your body dumped in a nearby garbage compactor.”

“All of this over some fucking schematics? You’re threatening to kill us just for trying to save lives?” Eden asks in disbelief.

“Be quiet, human, or I’ll make you.” The pale green ankite next to her scowls, and she cries out as he shoves her to the ground. “Those schematics, and stopping the unauthorized distribution of them through their ‘philanthropic’ organization, are worth more than your pathetic life.”

Fury rises in me. “If you touch her again, I will destroy you.”

They scoff. “Human pussy must be incredible to make you threaten me when I could literally kill her and you before you even touched me.”

“It’s pretty damn great, but scum like you won’t get the chance to experience it. Not when you’re stuck on that prison colony you mentioned before.” My heart stops when I hear Mezli’s voice. What the fuck is she doing here?

She steps out of the shadows with a cocky grin. No. No no no no no. She shouldn’t be here. Now both of my mates are in danger and I’m useless to protect them.

“Don’t give me that look, Lord Nafar,” Mezli says. “I wasn’t about to let you two have all the fun without me.” She winks at me, and I’m so upset and stunned that I miss the rapid flash of our fake data smuggler disarming the ankite next to them, and aiming the weapon back at them.

“What was that about being able to kill us before we even touched you?” The fake contact’s over-the-top gruff accent is gone, replaced by the calm, cool tone of a professional.

“To the void with you!” The ankite next to Eden curses, reaching behind their back for their weapon. Their brow furrows as they find their holster empty, and they spit out a curse, whirling around just in time for Eden to pull ablasterout of her jacket and aim it at them.

Divine Goddess, how did she get that?!

The ankite scowls at her and lunges, but they’re far too slow. Eden drops her aim to their leg and squeezes the trigger with a shout. The ankite stumbles, crying out in pain as a bolt of energystrikes their thigh. Eden scrambles away and looks at her hands in horror.

“Fucking hell, Eden! You’re a badass!” Mezli exclaims as she helps our mate to her feet. Mezli gently takes the gun from Eden’s trembling hands and levels it at the injured ankite in case they try to do anything stupid.

“Shit, what the hell were you thinking?” I curse, rushing over to my mates. “You could have died. You both could have…” Hot tears spill down my cheeks, matching those on Eden’s shell-shocked face.

Mezli reaches out and pats my arm with one of her lower hands. “There, there, sweet Phelix. Your mates have everything under control. Everything okay over there, Hadrell?” she calls over to the hooded figure with their blasters still trained on the ankite.

My mouth falls open as they push their hood back and I realize it’s the seladin from the other night.

Hadrell laughs at my shocked expression. “Of course. You got this covered? I can’t be here when station security arrives.”

“Yeah. They should be here any second. I’ll comm you with payment details.” Mezli’s confidence in the face of blaster fire and life-threatening situations is somewhat terrifying, but oddly arousing. She’s magnificent. Both my mates are.

The seladin nods. “You better.” They turn to leave, but pause. “Oh, congratulations on your mating. I expect an invite to the ceremony when you make it official.”

Mezli snorts and waves them off, and they disappear right before a swarm of station security converges on us.

Everything is a blur as they take over, cuffing the mercs, confiscating the blasters, and taking us to a nearby security station to question us. This part I expected—Paul used his connections at the human embassy to report Eden’s kidnapping and her unauthorized smuggling onto the station. He kindly left out any details on theabsurd spy shenanigans she and Mezli had engaged in, or my less-than-legal data distribution plans.

When they finally clear us to leave, giving Eden a small fine along with the paperwork required to make her visit to Spire authorized, I’m exhausted. But we can’t rest yet. Now that it’s just the three of us, we need to talk.

36

Overwhelming fatigue hits me as I step through the door to Mezli’s apartment. My mind flashes to the first time I was here. I’d just arrived on the station and my head was abuzz with thoughts of covert operations as the “agents” brought me to meet with my partner. That Eden was so clueless, it hurts to think about. All of her optimism and enthusiasm were drained by the last few days, leaving this new, exhausted version of me behind.

Phelix and Mezli bypass the small living room, leading me gently to Mezli’s bedroom. Mezli sweeps the pile of outfits still left there from before we went out to the club to the floor—god, was that only two days ago?

“Lie down,” Phelix rumbles as heguides me to the bed.

I want to argue. I want to explain why I lied, explain that I never meant to hurt him, and explain that I don’t blame Mezli for how she reacted. But all that comes out of me is a feeble croak of acknowledgement before I sink down onto the mattress.

Mezli sits beside me and strokes my arm, while Phelix moves to my feet to take off my boots, rubbing them once they’re bare.

Tears leak out of me at their comforting touch. They’re acting like they cherish me, even after all that’s happened. “I need to…”

Mezli lets out a soft chuckle. “If you say you need to apologize, I’m going to have to punish you. No more apologies!” She looks over at Phelix pointedly. “From either of you.”

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