Page 56 of A Mate For Matrix
K-Nine looked down at them with mild reproach. “This is betrayal,” he admonished to the oblivious kittens. “This is treasonous pack disobedience.”
Matrix stepped protectively closer to Jana. His instincts screamed at him to separate her from the aliens, from the unknown—especially the one still eyeing him with amused wariness.
But Jana was already shaking hands with Seal—who looked surprised but pleased—and then with Bulldog, who looked ready to wrap her in a big hug as Jana went off on a breathless recount of everything that had happened from the moment he and K-Nine met her until now.
“And there goes the debriefing and interrogation protocols,” K-Nine muttered. “At the rate Jana’s going, they'll know everything about our mission before she serves them refreshments.”
Matrix’s eye twitched.
“Oh, I probably shouldn’t have mentioned the dressing room, but that has never happened to me before. Just forget that part. Anyway, after the dressing room….” Jana continued.
Seal walked up next to Matrix, a knowing grin on his face, as Matrix was about to interrupt.
“Is she always like this?” Seal asked.
Matrix nodded while K-Nine snorted.
“Only when she’s excited,” K-Nine replied with a sly look at Matrix.
Matrix couldn’t help preening a little at the implication that Jana is always excited around him.
“I’m really glad we met you. Matrix was worried, especially after that creepy gray lady—no offense,” she added with a quick glance at Seal.
“None taken,” Seal responded.
Matrix ran a hand down his face. So much for security, not revealing much information, and learning where and when they were. He needed to have a talk with his mate once they were alone about… well, everything.
Seal nodded toward Jana. “Please tell me your mate doesn’t know a strange Earth dance called a Maori haka war dance?”
Matrix blinked. “A what?”
“A Maori haka war dance,” Seal repeated with a grimace. “Ti’Death’s daughter used it on me. Your mate reminds me a lot of her. If she does, I’ll be on Ti’Death’s ship, hiding. It would be safer.”
Matrix caught the neural link visual the other man shared with him of what he was talking about. Seal grimaced again in remembered pain and cupped the front of his trousers. Matrix winced when he saw the pole in the red-haired woman’s hands connecting with Seal’s crotch in a move that sent the man to his knees. K-Nine, connected with him, released a loud, uncontrollable bark of laughter.
“She’s wicked with a body brush. I know from first-hand experience, unfortunately,” he replied, relaxing a little at their shared experience with two women who, for the sake of the galaxy, should probably never meet.
The galley aboard The Nebulosity had never been so full. Or so alive.
Matrix sat at the head of the narrow table, his posture deceptively relaxed, though every muscle in his body hummed with restraint. Jana sat beside him, pressed close, her arm tucked lightly against his.
Across from them, the towering Triterian, Bulldog Ti’Death, lounged like a mountain wearing armor. Biscuit was curled up on his thigh, batting lazily at the thick leather straps on his gauntlet. Honeybun and Butter had taken a liking to Seal—more specifically, to the buckles of his boots, which they were attempting to undo with single-minded determination.
Seal bore it well. Matrix had to give him credit; the man hadn’t moved a muscle, even when Butter tried to eat his pant leg.
Matrix’s gaze drifted toward the corridor where K-Nine was monitoring the bridge from a split-feed interface while attempting to hack into Seal and Bulldog’s ship logs.
Discreetly, of course.
Matrix’s focus snapped back as Jana leaned forward, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.
“So,” she asked brightly, “what cool things have been invented in the last eight hundred and fifty years? Are there more people? More planets? What’s the music like now? Are flying scooters a thing? Oh! Do we have intergalactic shopping networks?”
Matrix found himself cautiously appreciating her disarming nature. Her enthusiasm was contagious if he went by Bulldog’s chuckles. They were also wildly dangerous and he could not afford to relax.
Bulldog chuckled, his thick fingers scratching behind Biscuit’s ears. The kitten purred so loud he could hear it across the table.
Seal gave a half-smile. “Some of those answers are classified.”
