“No, sir.”
“Just keep your eyes open for anything unusual.”
The pilot moved forward to speak, clearly not happy. “Commander.”
“Yes, Lieutenant BobET?”
“Why are we helping the enemy?”
“These people are not our enemy at this time.”
“But they’re Morins! They should all be dead!”
LemAN glanced around at the rest of his crew. Some of them had the same expressions of hatred that BobET did. Then he looked over at Teagan who was hugging her arms around herself.
“Just because someone is different from you does not mean that they are our enemy. Yes, they originally came from the home world that the Morins did, but they have been hunted for many, many years. Sometimes we have to give others a chance to prove themselves to us. I don’t expect your fear and anger to simply go away, but you have a duty. I expect you to push aside your personal feelings and do your job.”
All the males nodded and mumbled, “Yes, Commander.”
He waited for the crew to get what they needed to start work and leave the shuttle then turned his attention to the pilot.
“Lieutenant BobET, is there anything else you want to say to me?”
“I just don’t think we should help them. They made it this far alone; we should let them continue on without interference.”
“Lieutenant, you heard what your fellow crew members said—these people will die. Also, the Morins are hunting them. We would be leaving females and young vulnerable to their attack. You, as a Katieran warrior and a male with pride, should not believe it’s okay to allow that to happen.”
Many expressions raced over his face. LemAN could understand his reaction. He expected the leaders would also share the same mentality. He, out of anyone, should hold a grudge against anything Morin, but life taught him that females and young were precious and a gift and should be protected no matter what. It was what the Goddess would want him to do. He had to follow his conscience.
Finally the lieutenant sighed. “I understand and will do my duty.”
“I expect no less. Could you go out and check the outer shell of the shuttle before we head back to theHorizen?”
“Yes, sir.”
LemAN waited until he was completely alone with Teagan before pulling her back into his arms and kissing her. He inhaled her scent and felt some of the tension ease from his body.
“Are you okay?” Teagan asked, laying her head against his chest.
“I’m better now that I have you in my arms.” He pulled her with him as he moved to sit in a seat and had her sit down over his lap.
“You look worried.” Teagan caressed his face with her fingers. Goddess, she was good for him.
“I feel like the weight of responsibility for these Morinians, their lives, are in my hands. It’s a lot to handle. I don’t know how the leaders do this.”
She kissed his lips softly and pressed her forehead against his. “There’s no one more qualified to handle this situation than you. What can I do to help?”
He smiled. His mate was amazing and kind. He felt truly blessed to have her in his life. “Nothing yet. First, I have to discuss with the prime leaders and see if I can get approval to further aid them and where we can take them.”
“Why not back to Katiera?”
“If Prime Leader RendEL agrees then that’s what we’ll do, but we already have problems with the purist rebels regarding bringing Earth females to our world.”
“They will totally lose their minds over bringing what they consider the enemy to your home world.” Teagan finished his thought.
“Yes.”
There was silence as they both held each other. LemAN was grateful she understood that sometimes he just needed the quiet to work things out.
