Page 31 of The First Omega Made
“Okay?” I stared at Sarge, eyes wide. I’d never get used to those red eyes. They’d always be striking.
“Okay. That’s it. You’re still Sarge. I never really got to know Serjio well. We’re friends and you’ve done a good thing. Noel thought you were worth saving, so—okay.” Vil held his hands up as if absolving himself of the matter.
“That’s it?” Sarge’s chest shuddered, his face reflecting the utter relief I felt in my chest.
“That’s it.” Vil nodded. “Noel?”
“He’s mated now. He’s no threat to my autonomy, and if he misbehaves—Doc can intervene. That’s it.” Noel nodded too.
As the cool notes of relief melted through our bond, I tilted Sarge’s face up to mine. Tears pooled in his eyes. He’d not been able to cry in ages and the sight of it reminded me just how much he’d missed being whole. But then again, I didn’t know if his former bodies could cry. His dick worked, though, and that was a bonus.
“So, what now?” Sarge traced a hand up and down my leg absentmindedly as he waited for the other shoe to drop.
“New indestructible uncle. You get to spend more time babysitting.” Noel nodded once and crossed his arms, staring us down. He and Vil exchanged meaningful glances as the static in the air changed, like their conversation mingled with the bond I shared with Sarge and hadn’t learned yet.
Vil raised an eyebrow. “And one last thing… Promise me no drama with Gorm, please? I know you two had a thing going, and it’s over now…”
“Surrogate peen. S’all it was.” I waved Vil off. “He knows it’s over.”
“Alright.” Vil stared us down before turning his chair more toward a view screen in intentional distraction. “Back to your duties. We’re packing up soon. The ship is near full of precious metals and decontaminating it all is a bitch. We’ll come back here when we’re desperate.”
“Oh, right, the faniculum mold.” Sarge wanted to say something, but Vil waved him off.
“Did some research and everyone down there has been blasting all the main bodies with a plasma. Nasty stuff. We’re doing full decontams by leaving the stuff on the surface for a while before running short cycle. The radiation destroys it.” Vil gave us a thumbs-up, and I sighed in relief.
“I was worried it would tell you what I was. They’re not sentient so much as like a biological infectious computernetwork. Sentient AI.” Sarge shuddered. “Or think I was a threat and take us all out.”
“Thanks for the warning on that, but now that we know you’re a body snatching—what did you call him, Noel?” Vil glanced over toward his mate.
“Space leech.” Noel nodded once.
“Yeah, that.” Vil waved his hand dismissively. “You don’t have to keep secrets. I wish you’d felt safe enough to tell me a long time ago.”
“It’s a work in progress.” The tension in his body and our bond fully melted, and I stroked over his hair, enjoying the burnt-orange sheen.
“In any case, we’re all good. Try to get some rest and let the rest of us take care of things before we head off to Starbase Delta. Consider it a honeymoon.” Vil laughed and Noel cut his gaze toward him, brow raised. Something prickled in the air between them, and the corner of Noel’s mouth ticked up in a smile.
“Space honeymoon it is,” I said, clapping my hands. “Let’s go enjoy some fine food in the dining hall. I desperately want meat.”
Chapter Seventeen
Sarge
Snuggling in with Doc every night was a treat beyond compare. The new body took time to get used to, but every day was a little better, every hour clearer. And every time I buried my knot in his body made me that much happier.No wonder the hybreeds fucked like lyrets in heat.
“Fuuck.” Doc pulled a pillow over his face and snuggled into the obscene mesh of pillows and blankets they’d made by bringing my bed into Doc’s quarters.
“Get up. Wallace isn’t feeling great and needs a booster.” The maintenance on mid-percentage hybreeds was a little more involved than low percentage or high percentage like Vil who needed none. I only needed one every few solar rotations until Noel… I doubted I’d ever need one again.
Wallace, like much of the crew, was a melding. Noel’s DNA usually fostered low percentage hybreeds. Raziel’s and Nirem’s samples I could harness from Vil. But Wallace was unique. He had a little of both, and we’d been considering giving him a booster dose of Noel’s white blood cells to see if we could progress his change to no longer need upkeep. Wallace was twice a solar cycle.
“Always something, isn’t it?” Doc rose and stretched, reaching down to scratch himself. He’d told me there was always a moment of bizarre sensation when he couldn’t feel his balls or cock hanging out. He scratched the same area out of habit. Probably still felt good.
He rummaged through his clothing and threw on a shirt and skipped the underwear. Until we made it to Starbase Delta, we wouldn’t be able to get some. And we sure as fuck weren’t borrowing any from Noel or Vil.
When he went to put on a pair of borrowed pants, he worked the zipper and button with a squeeze that made him wince. Noel was a little smaller than him, so the pants hadn’t been loose to begin with, but the pinch made him glare at them. “New clothes themomentwe get to port.”
I glanced him over, enjoying the way the pants squeezed his ass. With a tempered breath, I looked away. If I stared too long, I’d want to jump him and we’d not get shit done.
