“Pillars.” Kyte tenses.
I feel it right when he does. Something’s coming. Something big. Am I ready?
7
Jeren
The trip back to the academy is silent, though Master Harlan’s glare can’t be missed. Lana sits on my lap, and Kyte and Ceredes sit on either side of us. She’s wrapped in a coat and an emergency blanket from the shuttle. Despite her worry and the power I can feel rippling inside her, she’s calm, her entire being centered with her Alphas around her.
“What are they going to do with us?” Her inner voice trembles.
“Harlan might glare us to death before we can find out.” Kyte smiles across the shuttle at Master Harlan, whose scowl only deepens.
“Your mom wouldn’t let you get kicked to the Rift, right?” Ceredes tenses.
“Not me, no.” Kyte cuts his eyes at me and Ceredes. “And Ithinknot you.”
“You don’t know?” Lana’s panic starts to rise.
“Kidding. I was only kidding.” Kyte rubs her knee. “I was only fucking them.”
A ripple eddies through the bond, one that seems almost like a tickle.Withthem, you mean. Then Lana laughs a little. Master Harlan’s glower flicks to her, so she stows it.
“Hmm?” Kyte arches a brow at her.
“You meant to say you were ‘fucking with them’ not ‘fucking them.’”
“That’s what I said.” Kyte shrugs.
“That’s not what you said.” I run my fingers up and down her back beneath the coat. Her Larenoan marks sing against my fingertips, telling the story of my people. But she’s a part of that now. Of the flotilla and our endless search for a home. Any home I ever have will include her, even if she chooses to live on Latrides or even Ceredes’s planet. Pillars, I’d follow her to the Rift and set up an outpost if that’s what she wanted.
She leans into me, her head on my shoulder. “How do you do that?”
“What?”
“You hide your thoughts sometimes.I feel like I’m open constantly ever since we sealed the circle. Like you could pop in at any time, even if I’m thinking about—I don’t know—stupid stuff. Silly string or picking my nose or—”
Now it’s my turn to laugh. “Who thinks about picking their nose? That’s just a thing you do. You don’t think about it.”
“I’m a lady!” she protests while still giggling on the inside.
“Ladies don’t have noses?” Kyte reaches up and tweaks hers.
“I’ve had quite enough of whatever it is you three are doing.” Master Harlan stands as the shuttle lands in front of the main academy complex. “The council is waiting.”
He strides out, and we follow, Lana hemmed in by her Alphas. Fleet soldiers watch us with suspicious eyes, their weapons holstered for now, but I get the feeling they’re on a hair trigger. If anything goes down, I’ll ghost with Lana while Kyte and Ceredes defend. We don’t even have to speak that plan to each other. Protecting our Omega is in our bones, and our love for Lana demands the same allegiance.
The corridor is likewise filled with soldiers as we’re marched past and into the makeshift council room at the end of the hall. Kyte’s mother is at the center of a long table with a handful of the most powerful Fleet commanders on either side. Tension seems to push against the walls, and my head pounds with each beat of my heart.
“Come.” Kyte’s mother points to the floor before the table.
We stride up, and I flick my gaze from one councilor to the next. Bartanz looks particularly stormy at the moment, as if whatever conversation they were having before they sent for us wasn’t exactly pleasant for him. Good.
“Your mom is pretty.” Lana elbows Kyte lightly.
“I’m prettier,” he thinks back.
“This is no joke, Kyte.” His mother flicks her wrist, and the doors behind us slam shut. The white room is wide and high, but everything feels close. Only a handful of soldiers came in with us, and a few masters stand along the back wall. Daviti looks waxen and Onin has both sets of his arms crossed. There’s space in here, but the room is still heavy, as if sodden and held down by an invisible weight.
