I shrugged, "They're alive."
Amusement tugged at the older male's lips. "Take them away." He jerked his chin from the newly arrived soldiers to the ones on the ground. "What business do you have here, Space Guardian?"
"I came to talk to her," I pulled Alice from behind me. Her smile had died. Instead, her eyes shot daggers at me now.
"Talk to me? This doesn’t look like talking," she indicated to the injured soldiers.
"They started it," I said. "You saw."
"Lady Alice, do you know this male? Do you wish to speak to him?" The Pandraxian asked, changing my opinion about him being a rational male. Nobody would stop me from talking to her.
"Yes, it's alright, Commander." Alice nodded at him.
"I don't want any trouble here," the Commander told me. "But I will not allow a member of our colony to be mistreated."
"He won't harm me," Alice told him, raising my ire anew. What was it between the two of them?
"Alice?" another woman called.
"I'm alright, Daisy. No worries," Alice yelled back with typical exasperation, telling me the other woman had attached herself to my mate without her being too happy about it. I nearly laughed at how similar we were.
"Come," I took her elbow and led her up the gangway into my ship, away from the other people's prying eyes.
Without speaking, we made our way to the breakroom, where we both sat down.
"Wow," Alice remarked, looking around, "I had no idea this room could be this peaceful."
"It was nice having it back to myself," I agreed.
"So why are you here?" She came straight to the point.
Because I missed you. "Because… it was getting too lonely."
She tilted her head, not fully believing me. "You could have bought a pet if you were lonely."
I don't want a pet. I want you. “I could use an experienced engineer."
She folded her arms across her chest. "Hmm?"
I let out a slow breath, watching her. The way she refused to meet my gaze directly, the way she braced herself as if expecting another fight, or… it could be defensive. Did I dare hope that she didn’t want me to know how much she had missed me too?
I leaned forward, resting my forearms on the table, closing some of the distance between us. "Come with me to Darlam."
She blinked, taken aback. I hadn’t expected her to agree immediately, and the fact that she didn’t shut me down instantly meant I had a chance.
"Darlam?" Her brow furrowed, that engineer’s mind of hers already working, trying to piece together why I would want her there. "What is Darlam, and why?"
Because I need you with me. "Like I said, I could use your talents."
She studied me, arms still crossed. "I'm calling bullshit. You have repair drones for that."
I closed my eyes for a moment. Drew in a breath. Let it out slowly, like it might hold back the part of me that had been unraveling since I left her on Astrionis.
“I don’t want drones,” I said. “I wantyou.”
Her brow lifted. Still skeptical.
“I left you there because I thought it was the right thing to do,” I said, voice low. “Because I thought I was protecting you. Giving you space. Letting you have the life you deserved.”
