“Can it wait?” I asked.
“Only if you want to blow up the first time we boost the engines,” she snapped. “I am going as quickly as I can.”
“Sorry,” I said, tugging Yani’s spare set of coveralls out of my butt crack as I moved to the panel. My hips were definitely curvier than the Drolgok’s. But at least they were dry. I hadn’t wanted to take the time to fish new clothes out of my quarters.
Yani’s brightly sweatered front half disappeared back into the cabinet, and while I ran the calibration sequence, I called the results to her. When the final connection was tweaked, the regular lights within the bay came online, and the emergency ones finally dimmed.
“I only need to check the initiation sequence on the starboard engine,” she said. “Go talk to our friends and find out our next move.”
I hurried down the hall to the bridge, where I found Rhodes sitting in the pilot’s seat and Xandros pacing. The vibes coming off the big Drake were erratic as hell and put me immediatelyon edge.
His much darker brother was staring at a navcube holograph, tapping various locations to zoom in. As I entered, he grunted in a rather frustrated manner and turned to me.
“Was that Givnia?” I asked.
“No,” he said. “I am looking for another location, but this entire sector is Nirzk territory. We need to leave it, if we are going to find you a suitable place.
I frowned. “Suitable for what?”
“For you and Yani.”
It was like getting hoofed in the gut. I was aware of Xandros watching me closely, and the air in the bridge was suddenly charged.
Ihadsaid that. Told Zyair to drop us off and fly away. And now Rhodes seemed to be willing to do just that.
But things had changed. I’d bonded with Xandros and Zyair.
I met Xandros’s gaze. It was guarded, with every possible mental wall up between me and him. Rhodes must have known that we’d bonded. His brother was testing us.
Testingme.
This was it. The moment where I decided my future. Only I knew now that it wasn’t just my future. Not anymore.
I straightened, and held Xandros’s gaze. “Set a course for Givnia,” I ordered.
Xandros’s eyes flared sapphire, and I smiled.
Deciding we were rescuing Zyair was, of course, not the same thing as actually accomplishing it.
First, we had to get off this world without the Nirzks seeing us do it.
“This planet is not security shielded, but the traffic anywhere close to a settlement will be,” Rhodes stated from the pilot’s seat.
“Are we planning on flying back into the asteroid belt?” I asked, pushing damp hair offmy face.
One dark brow tweaked upward. “It is called abeltfor a reason,” he said. “Other than the shipping lane, which is kept clear, it surrounds the planet. Every craft entering the lane will be monitored.”
I leaned over to adjust the settings on the now fully functioning navcube. “The belt is thinner in spots,” I said. “There’s one such spot about a two hours’ flight from here.” When I straightened again, I caught Xandros staring at my butt. It was rather tightly outlined in Yani’s coveralls, but seriously…
Despite my worry for Zyair, a flush of heat rushed through me. “Hey. My eyes are up here.”
His gleamed at me. “You have a very nice ass.”
“For fuck’s sake, Xandros,” Rhodes exclaimed in Drakonian, except he actually used the wordfuck’s. “Keep your mind on the task at hand.”
Xandros’s hands opened and closed, as if handling was something he’d been considering. “You are jealous you have not yet touched it,” he replied in the same language.
I cleared my throat and said in English, “Neither of you will be touching it if you don’t stop discussing me as if I’m not here.”
