“What was that crap in there about me?”
“I don’t know…”
“Bullshit! Commander Estro asked me to come, but it was clear from the moment you stepped through the door that you weren’t happy about it. In fact, you haven’t seemed happy about me being on board the command ship and going through the warrior training for a single second. Have you been purposely sabotaging my training?”
She flinched at the tone of his voice. “No! I didn’t… It wasn’t on purpose. After yesterday, I thought about what you said and had to admit I wasn’t entirely fair to you. I was coming to talk to Commander Estro about having someone else take over your training.”
That information should have made Corey happy, but instead it seemed to only infuriate him more. “Dumping me off on someone else to make your life easier?”
“I was trying to do the right thing!”
Corey was about to respond, but then they were interrupted by little Thomas.
“Corey!” Thomas yelled out breaking away from his mother’s hand and running to jump in Corey’s arms.
“Did you hear that I’m going to be a big brother?”
“I did. Congratulations to you. You’re going to be the best one ever.”
Thomas beamed at him, and then turned to look at Nix shyly. He leaned to whisper, “Who’s that?”
Corey made the introductions, “Lieutenant Saber, this is Thomas, Lily and Jared’s son. Thomas, this is Lieutenant Nix Saber.”
“Are you a warrior?” Thomas asked, looking at her uniform.
Nix smiled gently. “I am.”
“But you’re a woman.”
Corey responded without thinking, “She certainly is.” He must not have meant to say that, because his face began to turn red, but he tried to cover it up by adding, “One of the best warriors I’ve ever met.” It warmed her on the inside to hear him say that and it sounded sincere. Seeing him hold little Thomas melted her.
“It’s nice to meet you, Thomas,” Nix said, staying focused on the boy so as not to have to meet Corey’s eyes.
Lily came forward. “Sorry, he got away from me.” They exchanged a few pleasantries before Lily and Thomas moved down the corridor. Corey turned to face Nix once more.
“Look, you don’t have to like me and I don’t have to like you. We have an assignment to complete and we need to be able to depend on one another to do what needs to be done. It could be dangerous in the tunnels, especially with the way the rebels have been striking out.”
She sighed, knowing he was right. “Fine. I’ll put aside my misgivings so that we can concentrate on this assignment. When we’re done, I’ll ask Commander Estro to have someone else take over your warrior training, to be fair to you.”
“It’s a deal.” Corey moved to let her leave and she felt the heat of his body as she passed by him. Damn, why did he have to be so attractive? She needed to get this mission over with as soon as possible, pass Corey on to someone else to deal with and keep her distance from the male from Earth.
She thought back to the first time she had met him. Commander Estro had brought him into her training center, disrupting a practice fight she was in the middle of. She locked eyes with Corey when she looked up, and totally didn’t see the fist coming straight for her face. She fell back hard, knocking the breath from her temporarily. A pale hand reached down to help her, and when she took it, it had changed her life forever.
*****
“Let me help you up,” the thin, pale male said.
She took the hand, squeezing a little harder than necessary out of frustration. The male didn’t complain about the pain as he helped pull her back to her feet. Nix checked him over from head to foot. He was a few inches taller than her, with curly red hair, intense brown eyes, and unhealthily thin features, but still very attractive. It was his eyes that drew her in; they seemed to have a weight to them that she had only ever seen in much older, more seasoned warriors. It made her wonder what this male must have gone through to have eyes like that.
“Thanks,” she muttered, brushing nonexistent dirt off her ass self-consciously before she caught herself. Turning her gaze to Commander Estro, she asked, “What can I do for you Commander?”
“This is Corey Nash from Earth. He will be training full time as a warrior. Corey, this is Lieutenant Nix Saber, one of my top warrior trainers.”
She almost smiled at his praise, but then realized what he had just said about the Earth male. “Commander, no offense, but our warriors start warrior training at ten or twelve. This...Nash is much too old to begin our training program. And we don’t have any new trainees on board for him to train with, they’re all on Drasta. To start him at that low a level, it will take a very long time to reach warrior status.”
“We’re going to accelerate his training.”
“Excuse me?”
