He drew back so she could see the consternation on his face. “I do not understand how cheese is involved.”
With a derisive snort, she wrapped a hand around the back of his head and dragged him down for a kiss. She didn’t know how long he kissed her. It could have been minutes or hours. For the first time in ages, she was content simply to be in the moment, losing herself in him.
Eventually, he lay down beside her, curling his big frame around her and enveloping her in his purr and his warmth. She didn’t remember falling asleep, and she didn’t wake until the next afternoon—not even when he pulled her clothes back on and scooped her up in his arms, carrying them both to her bed.
CHAPTER 47
“Where are the masks?”Rentir called over the din of the crowd gathered in the hangar. “Hey—you! Away from the women until you have a mask!”
The miner in question glared at him, but he complied, skulking away from where he’d been trying to engage Seren in conversation. She looked relieved by his departure, her shoulders easing from where they’d been tucked up around her ears. Her attention turned back to Lidan, who was showing her something in one of theLitha’sengines. Seren shook her head, reaching in after him with a gloved hand.
All the women were wearing gloves and full gear, covering as much skin as they could to reduce the risk of an accidental bonding. Those with long hair had bound it up into braids and buns. Haerune felt confident that the presence of masks with the Aurillon soldiers had to do with scent markers, so the miner’s work masks were being distributed to the males who would come into contact with the humans.
Rentir wasn’t wearing one. Thalen was sure from Elten’s ramblings that they couldn’t bond with more than one woman at a time, and he was wholly spoken for. He picked Cordelia out of the crowd. She was standing at the wing of theLitha, watchingthe others make their final preparations with a shrewd gaze. As though she could feel the touch of his gaze, she turned toward him and picked him out of the others unerringly. Her gaze darkened as the corner of her mouth quirked up, and he felt an answering flood of heat and affection.
He strode over to her, sliding his hand around the bare nape of her neck and pulling her onto her toes for a kiss. Someone whooped and whistled nearby, and she put her hands on his chest to shove him away, but he snaked a hand around the small of her back and hugged her closer. With a huff against his lips, she softened, letting him deepen the kiss.
When he finally let her go, she dabbed at her wet lips with her sleeve, casting him a droll look. “That was unprofessional.”
He frowned at the criticism, his tail twitching. “My form is lacking? I will endeavor to improve.”
She rolled her eyes strangely and patted him hard on his arm. “Never mind, Ren. Are your men ready to go?”
He turned, looking at the group gathering around Thalen and Yelir. Ven met his eye as he donned a mask, dipping his head in acknowledgment.
“I believe so.”
Her eyes searched his as he turned back to her, and she brought a hand up to cup his cheek, her thumb brushing over him in that soothing way. “And you? Are you ready?”
He pressed his hand over hers, nuzzling into the touch. “To follow where you lead? Always.”
At that, her expression softened. She dragged him down for another kiss, this one slow and sweet and lingering. When she drew away, she kept her forehead pressed to his. “Whatever happens today, you’re coming back with me,” she murmured. “Alive, you understand? You don’t get to leave me behind now. It’s too late for you to bail out.”
“I told you—where you lead, I must follow,” he replied, turning his head to press a kiss to her palm. “As long as you are in this world, I cannot leave it.”
He kissed her again, pouring all his roiling, breath-stealing emotions into the press of their lips. There were no tongues nor the desperate heat that usually hounded him—just the need to convey something too powerful for mere words. The smallest whimper escaped her throat; he was holding back one of his own.
“You’re never getting away from me,” he breathed against her mouth.
She bit her lip, emotion swimming in her eyes as they dipped back toward his mouth, but a loud noise startled them apart. To their left, Lidan had slammed the casing of the engine shut. He held up a thumb in response to Rentir’s reprimanding look, which Rentir blinked at in confusion.
“It mean’s ‘all is good’,” Lidan said, raising his voice over the hum of conversation around them. “Eunha taught me.”
Skeptically, Rentir mirrored the gesture. Cordelia snorted derisively.
“Alright,” she muttered to herself. “Let’s do this.”
She turned away from them and fitted two fingers in her mouth, and whistled loud enough to nearly pierce his eardrum. “Rally up!”
Eunha and Nyx hustled over from the other women to join their Commander.
When the hybrids only stared at her, Cordelia’s expression hardened. “That means you, aliens! Get over here and get ready to be briefed!”
Yelir shared a look with Ven, but when Thalen strode over to join her, the others followed. Lidan sidled up beside Eunha, who gave him a disdainful look when one of his elbows bumped hershoulder. Xeth lagged behind, his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes straying to where Seren stood with the women.
Those not joining them listened in from the perimeter of the inner circle, murmuring low as Cordelia addressed the group.
“We get one shot at this,” she said, hands on her hips, her flinty gaze traveling over each of them. “That means no fuck-ups, no second thoughts, no hesitation. You falter, we fail. We fail, we forfeit not only the freedom of my captured crew, but all the hybrids on board. We get in, we get our people, we put theGidalandown.”
