“Damn, baby. There’s so much I can do with that.” Innuendo lit his brown eyes, and I laughed.
“This poor doctor. He’s going to be terrified of us,” I said.
“Nah.” Shade smiled. “He’s made of sturdy stuff.”
“Is that another joke?” I rolled my lips in, picturing things that were totally inappropriate.
“Maybe a little.” The warmth in Shade’s eyes spread through my whole body. “But it’s also the truth.”
Smiling, I looked around at the people who had slowly spread out into the main cargo hold of theEndeavor. The worst heist ever had turned out pretty well in the end. We had the Overseer’s new supply of A1 blood. We still had time to stop the GIN Project. No one had died, although I was fairly certain I couldn’t stand up much longer and could really use a nap—preferably with a cat taking up half the pillow.
My gaze landed on Gabe. He stared at me like I was a stranger, and a sharp, unpleasant twist screwed up my stomach. The universe had played a cruel trick on us. Seven years of waiting and then a month too late. Regret didn’t grow inside me, though. Not like it used to, and had for so long.
“Can you help get them settled?” I asked Gabe, nodding toward the refugees. “See what they need?” Food, for one thing. Raz was going to have to resupplyusafter this.
Gabe acknowledged my request with a nod that seemed forced and mechanical. His eyes swung back and forth just once between Shade and me. A muscle bunched in his jaw. “Yeah. I got it.”
From his tone, I knew he understood more than just my instructions. As much as it kicked me in the heart to disappoint him, I didn’t want any gray areas. I wanted Shade.
I turned away, a thousand memories tugging at my soul. First kiss. First heist. First plans for a future together. First pretty much everything. But things were different now. Time didn’t stand still or go backwards. Neither did people. I’d changed. Hadn’t Gabe? There was no picking up as though nearly a decade hadn’t happened.
I’d wanted only two men in my entire life. Gabe had pursued me, and I’d pursued Shade. I had no doubt I’d still be with Gabe if we hadn’t been separated and caught. Now I was with Shade, who’d chosen me, too. My heart and my body knew that.
Shade’s knuckles brushed mine as we moved away from the rear air lock. “You all right, starshine?”
His softly spoken question spread through me like warm honey, sweet and concerned and just the glue I needed to keep myself together.
I limped a few steps before answering. “I’m glad you’re with me.”
Shade waited until we rounded the corner before sweeping me into his arms and carrying me to the bedroom.
Chapter 18
TESS
We finished lunch together, this time just the crew of theEndeavor. We were a changed landscape that I was finally getting used to. We’d gone from a family of five to a solid crew of seven, and four of us were new here. It had taken a near-deadly mission, but the wariness surrounding Sanaa’s and Gabe’s arrivals felt far away now. Everyone breathed easier. The next steps seemed less…insurmountable.
We’d spent the last few days helping to settle the escaped prisoners on the DT Mooncamps. It took some convincing to get them to stay put while we figured things out, but in the end, they’d agreed that sitting tight for the time being was better than getting recaptured and forced back into being unwilling blood donors. In most cases, parents were already with their children, having gone in for early GIN testing together. That helped, and when Raz separated and distributed the group around his Mooncamps, he kept families and friends together. Eggs went in different baskets, though, even in this case.
Frank and his crew helped Raz more than we did, moving people around in theUnholy Stenchand helping clean up unused living spaces and rustle up furniture and other necessary items. All six Mooncamps pulled together to help, and our role tapered off once everything was in motion. We dove into deep planning mode and tried to get theEndeavorup to full power and ready for some big jumps before we had to take her out again. Repeatedly leaping through hyperspace with holes in the hull might be doable, but it wasn’t intelligent, and we worked frantically on repairs when we weren’t working on a plan to break into Starbase 12.
Luckily, I had a strong and handy crew and Raz had a huge supply of space-worthy metal. The day of the massacre, countless ships had taken off from Demeter Terre in a panic, not knowing where to go. Whole families and crews died before they decided, the blood agents already inside them, leaving thousands of ships floating in orbit around their poisoned planet. Demeter Terre still had a ring around it, but it wasn’t dust and gases. It was ghost ships. A reminder of what they’d suffered. With the Mooncampers’ blessing, Raz collected metal from it for repair projects.
We shared a large hangar with theStenchthis time, and I hadn’t been able to help observing certain interactions while we banged away at repairs on theEndeavor. The doctor we’d found had slipped seamlessly into the Nightchaser’s life, taking responsibility for things that were spreading Frank too thin. He hadn’t decided yet if he was staying on the Mooncamps or taking up Frank’s spontaneous offer to join the crew of theStench. It was hard to miss Frank’s hungry glances at the man. Or the way the doctor looked baffled and a little pink but kept walking by Frank, even when he didn’t need to.
I kept hoping he’d trip and fall into Frank’s arms. And that I’d be there to see it.
“Tess?” Shade tilted his head at me in question. I brought my eyes back into focus. Everyone around the kitchen table looked as though they were waiting for me to say something.
“Sorry.” I scrubbed my hands over my face. It wasn’t like me to zone out on an important conversation, although in my defense, we were bordering on Frank-like repetition, even though we were leaving theStenchand her crew out of this.
It was game day in a way, though, wasn’t it? Or at least the kickoff. We were about to find out if my uncle had left me anything useful. We had a solid plan for the Starbase 12 rescues now, but it could still be adjusted. Uncle Nate’s drop point was in Sector 10, on Galligar Prime. Sanaa had finally coughed up the coordinates, and we’d set them before sitting down to lunch.
“You look a galaxy away,” Shade said.
“No, maybe just a few star systems over.” I wrapped my hands around my coffee mug and drank some of Jax’s brew. He made the best coffee, somewhere between eye-popping and smooth enough to swallow without a grimace. The kitchen had turned into planning central lately, and here we were again, most of us with coffees, our empty lunch dishes piled in the middle of the table.
“Let’s recap.” I glanced at Shade, hoping he would do the rundown of the plan for me this time. I was sick of my own voice by now.
