Page 25 of Rescued

Nikathy gave me his most winning smile and a cocky wink.

“Right on schedule.”

I sighed in resignation. Nikathy was too slimy for his own good sometimes.

“Fine. You can stay, but only until Divoron. Then you’re on your own.”

“Divoron? What business do you have there? Wait! Is that…perfume I smell?” His eyes went wide and I stiffened. “There’s a woman aboard, isn’t there? My, my, you really have gotten in over your head this time, haven’t you?”

“My personal affairs don’t concern you.”

“Oh, trust me, I’m not concerned. If anything, I’m elated to see that you’ve finally settled down. Poor Aamira didn’t take the news so kindly, but that’s to be expected.”

“She’s going to Divoron. There was a slight delay. Everything will be settled within a few days.”

I tried to keep my voice firm, but even I noted the way my assertion went limp at the end. A few days, and this would all be over like some kind of fever dream. But I had made promises last night. I had given her more of myself than I’d ever given anyone except maybe Adreax, my brother in all ways but biological.

Just thinking about the night before made my cheeks grow warm and my cock twitch. If I wasn’t dealing with Nikathy’s intrusion at the moment, I might go crawl back into my bunk and have another taste of her. I was reminiscing about the way she smelled as she curled up next to me, the way her body fit so neatly against mine. It was impossible to think of anything else.

“We’ll see about that,” Nikathy cut in, snapping me back to reality. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say Adreax set you up!”

My mouth fell open. I was going to protest, but the suggestion struck me like just the sort of absurd ploy that Adreax and Tayla would pull off together. Ever since they’d found one another, they had spent a disproportionate amount of their energies trying to find a mate for me. But no. That couldn’t have been it, because they had no way of knowing that I’d take Caimbrie back to my ship. It was just a coincidence.

Nikathy was laughing to himself and going to sit in the co-pilot’s chair. I recoiled. That was Caimbrie’s chair in my mind. I hadn’t realized that I’d assigned her a special place next to me, but seeing him there made it obvious.

I thought with disgust of the promises I had offered Caimbrie in the darkness, under the heady intoxication of her closeness. Uncomfortably, I realized how easy it had been for me to let my guard down and fall asleep beside her, a practice that I could not afford to get accustomed to, for it could mean the death of me. Caimbrie was changing me, and I wasn’t sure I liked this new version. In any case, it certainly wasn’t what I agreed to when I answered Adreax’s call for help.

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