“Yes.”
He kissed her neck again. “I’’ll go cook for your crew, my queen.”
“Your captain.”
“That too.”
“Cyr?” Veda had found Cyra.
Did her best friend realize she’d been avoiding her?
“You can’t hide from me any longer,” Veda said as she stepped into the galley.
So much for eating at an odd time. “I haven’t been hiding.”
“Have you come to your senses yet?”
“About what?”
“Really, Cyra? You’re going to play it that way. Dez. Have you made the correct decision about Dez?”
There was no decision to make. “I’m delivering him to Kolben, along with the dogs and the food from Arbotriz.”
“Are you insane? You’ve been spending every night with him. He’s your mate and you’re in love with him.” Veda crossed her arms and raised a judgmental eyebrow. “Unless you’re just using him as a sex slave.”
The words slapped her. She gaped at her friend’s harshness. “I would never use a sex slave. I’ve never treated Dez as a slave or used him in that way. We’re enjoying each other, for now. We both agreed to this.”
“So, you love him.”
Love was such a huge word. Dez hadn’t dropped it for cycles, but it seemed Veda was ready to take over. “I never said I was in love with him. We agreed to spend the time we had together. That time is ending.”
“You are so ridiculously stubborn, I can’t even begin to understand how you think. You have a male who worships you. He adores you and has done nothing but help you as you took over being captain of this ship. Yet you plan to drop him on a god forsaken planet and leave him to die.” Veda shook her head.
“I’m not leaving him to die. Don’t be so dramatic.” Cyra picked up her empty dishes and cleaned up the galley, hoping Veda would let the conversation drop.
“He hasn’t told you.” Veda’s voice was low as if she was talking to herself.
Cyra glared at Veda. “Told me what?”
“I did some research. His people…they can’t be without their mate for very long or they’ll die.”
“Oh please. Just because you read that on some site doesn’t make it so. He would have told me.” Wouldn’t he? “Besides, I’m not his mate.”
“Don’t be dumb on purpose.” Veda huffed and left.
Cyra stared at the empty doorway. She dreaded their arrival on Kolben but she couldn’t change anything. It was an unfortunate situation that Dez believed she was his mate, not a dire medical emergency. They weren’t the same species. She couldn’t be his mate. It was an impossible.
Chapter36
Varik darted backto the engineer’s station on the deck of theHarlan Johnson. Thankfully, the small ship allowed for him to skip from station to station. More of the crew remained on Arbortriz than he’d calculated, including some who had previously claimed loyalty to him. Let them rot on that flowery little fuck fest of a planet. Wait until those idiots realized it was a female dominated society, and they’d be expected to act subservient. They’d be begging him to come back and pick them up. As if he would return for traitors.
At least Jarn was still with him, along with a couple maintenance tech types and the junior comm tech. Maybe a few others. Didn’t matter.
“We’re at the entrance to the bridge, Var— I mean, Captain.” Jarn shifted in his chair, his face reddening. Varik would spank him for the slip later.
“Make the announcement, Karnek.”
The comm tech instructed the crew to prepare. Everything should already be locked down, they’d had plenty of warning.
