"My thanks." The lead tech planted his fist to his chest again, then let it drop. His gaze skittered sideways, like he didn't know where to look when faced with an actual live female. "And the thanks of my team. We were tearing apart the wrong subsystems. You found the fault."
Harper jumped at the address, sitting up straighter as everyone looked at her. The tech first, then the other males gathered around the perimeter of the briefing pit. There were no females among them, and the sight of a room full of large, armored males focused on her must have been intimidating.
"It was just data," Harper mumbled, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. Her cheeks flushed a dusty pink. "I just... I recognized the pattern. It's what I do."
"You saved the station," a security officer said from the upper gantry. "And the ships we have docked."
"And the core didn't explode. That’s a win." A tech near the opposite smiled at her, before he caught Kirr glaring at him and decided that the ceiling was currently the most interesting thing in existence.
Harper shifted, looking like she wanted the floor to open up and swallow her whole. "If it won, people died." Her eyes fell. "I wasn't trying to prove anything."
He squeezed her shoulder, his thumb rubbing a slow circle against her collarbone. She wasn't just some civilian who got lucky. She was his and he wouldn't let her diminish herself. Not here. Not when she had just proven herself worthy of song.
"Raise your head, Harper," he commanded softly.
She looked up at him, her eyes wide and uncertain.
He looked around at his men, at the techs who had sneered, and at the warriors who had questioned his judgment. He let his gaze sweep the room, daring anyone to challenge him now.
"She didn't just keep the power on," he said, pitching his voice to carry to every corner of the command deck. "She walked into a room of males who were ignoring her and made me listen. Then she proved you all wrong when you said she didn’t know what she was doing."
The room went deadly quiet again, but this time it was reverent.
"Hundreds of lives," Kirr continued, his hand tightening on her shoulder. "My warriors. Your brothers. The patients in stasis. They breathe this minute because she did not hesitate." He looked down at her, letting fierce pride bleed into his tone. "Remember this."
Her breath caught, and the flush on her cheeks deepened, turning a darker red. She stared at him, her lips parted. He watched the fear drain from her face, watched her finally get it. He wasn't just protecting her. He was making sure everyone saw her.
Then the need to touch her, to claim her, to celebrate her existence, snapped the last thread of his professional restraint.
Draanthing protocol be damned.
Bending down, he hauled her out of the chair as if she weighed nothing more than a ration pack.
She gave a soft squeak of surprise, clutching at his shoulders as he lifted her high. He didn't stop there. A laugh burst out of him as he spun her around, swinging her in a wide arc while the stunned command staff stared. Their terrifying War-Commander, laughing. With a female in his arms.
"Kirr!" she gasped, laughing and gasping with her feet dangling two feet off the deck.
He pulled her against him, letting her slide down his body until her face was level with his. He didn't give her a chance to speak. He didn't give her a chance to breathe. Instead, he captured her mouth in a hot, hard kiss. A brand.
He devoured her, not caring that they had an audience.
Let them watch. She was his.
She melted against him, her arms tightening around his neck and her fingers tangling in the short hair at his nape. She kissed him back with a heat that matched his, a desperate sound caught in her throat that vibrated straight through his chest and settled heavily in his groin. He was hot and hard in a heartbeat.
A growl rumbled low in his throat as he took his time tasting her.
He broke the kiss only when the need for air became critical, but he didn't put her down. He held her against him, her feet still dangling, her body pressed flush to his hard angles. Her eyes were glazed, her lips swollen and wet.
“Lady Goddess,” he growled, so low only she could hear. “I want you. I want every draanthing inch of you.”
"Kirr, get me out of here…. Please," she whispered, hiding her face in the curve of his throat.
The plea landed in his gut. The heat in his blood shifted. Victory to something darker. He remembered the kitchen counter. He remembered how she'd wrapped her legs around him, how they'd been seconds away from this before the alarms screamed.
"Absolutely, kelarris."
He shifted his grip, ready to carry her out of there. He would carry her through the corridors and straight to his bed.
