Amber
Something was up, because they called Rylen in before sunrise, and the atmosphere at breakfast was quiet and tense. I slid into a seat next to J.D. Sean was gone, too.
“What’s going on?” he asked me.
“I have no idea.” I sipped my coffee and peered around at the soldiers, downing their food and rushing to put their trays away. Devon came in and grabbed a muffin to go.
“D!” I called. He turned and came over to us. “What’s going on?”
“They received contact from headquarters during the night.”
“As in alien headquarters? In Nevada?”
“Yep.”
“Oh, my God,” J.D. whispered, setting down his spoon with a clatter.
“We’re all meeting this morning.”
I wiped my mouth and stood. “Well, then, we’re going too.”
J.D. looked up at me with a nod, and we followed Devon to the main building for the briefing. Rylen saw me and jogged over.
“I just checked for you in the room. I thought you’d sleep in.”
“I was restless after you left early.”
“I’m sorry.” He gave me a quick kiss. “Glad you’re here.”
Rylen went back to the front, and I took a seat with J.D. in the far back of the small auditorium.
From across the room, Officer Sean looked over with his stylish red hair and gave J.D. a nod.
“His hair’s looking awesome,” I said.
“He has amazing hair. Thank God they don’t make him buzz it off.”
“One benefit of the apocalypse, I guess.” Less stringent rules about appearance.
J.D. gave a dry snort. “So wrong.”
I lowered my voice. “How are things with you guys?”
A mischievous grin crossed his lips. “Let’s just say, your impromptu wedding caused some squishy feelings in me, which led to forgiveness on my part for when he so rudely manhandled me into leaving the cabin, and, well . . .”
My eyes widened. “You finally kissed?”
He sipped his coffee. “Andstuff.”
I turned to the front, smiling, as Colonel Latham took the podium. He looked like he hadn’t slept all night, disheveled salt and pepper hair, collar slightly crumpled. I scooted forward in my seat.
“We have two major points of discussion. As most of you know, the Baelese believe that this base is still under their control, and they have been communicating with us. Up until last evening, all comm was fairly straight forward, yes or no type answers. Last night they confirmed that the breeding time for their people is in two weeks. Because their numbers were so small here, they’ve ordered that only forty percent of their Alaska crew mate. And they’ll need a list of who is fucking who by the end of the day.”
My heart thumped hard as a loud hum of whispers rose up.
“We believe we have found a list of the Baelese who were stationed here. At least, we hope like hell that’s what the list is. And we hope like hell that we are making correct guesses about which names are male and which are female. Because if we get this wrong, folks, they will know this base has been compromised. One simple suspicion could be all it takes for the shit to hit the fan. Comprende?”
Everyone nodded. J.D. whispered a curse beside me.
