“Eye . . . fucking?”
“Oh, Stars,” Jaiya muttered, her face burning bright red as she looked away.
“Yeah, man, when you watch someone who you think is bangin’ and wonder how it would be to fuck ‘em.” He gave Jaiya a gentle shake. “I am just tryin’ to make my captain happy. I mean, I don’t know ifIwould ever be into horns and a tail, but free love, am I right?”
“Edam, you had one job!” Jaiya barked. “What did I tell you?”
“Sorry, Captain,” the offender’s brother answered sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. “I didn’t want to step between whatever dressing-down Nix was going to get. I am not foolish enough to try to piss off a male who’s that much taller than me. That’s a disaster waiting to happen.”
“More like my brother’s a space rat,” Nix mumbled. “Tries to sneak away whenever there’s trouble.”
“Okay, guys. How about you shut your fuckin’ traps and go stand at the end of the line,” Zaera ordered. “You have embarrassed your captain and the rest of the crew enough to last the rest of the day.”
“More like the rest of the month,” Jaiya mumbled.
“Okay fine, the month.”
“If you need any help, man, hit me up.” Nix winked, letting go of Jaiya’s shoulder.
Idris watched the two brothers walk away, for once doing what they were told.
“Unless you need me, Sire,” Zaera said, giving him a quick head bow. “I am going to go and leave you two alone. If you need me, I’ll be talking to the two troublemakers.”
“Jaiya, I . . .”
She crossed her arms, face averted, refusing to look at him.
“Prince Idris, while I appreciate your concern, the way you handled yourself was uncalled for. You stopped a debriefing because one of my pilots teased me.” Jaiya jerked her head toward his podium. “But instead of just letting me handle my crew, you embarrassed me with your display of jealousy over some male almost half my age,” she spat, glancing over her shoulder, her eyes aflame. “It’s insulting. I am an adult and fully capable of handling my wing. If they didn’t respect me, I wouldn’t be here.”
“I’m sorry, Jaiya.”
“Idris . . . can you please just go, before you embarrass me any further?” Turning towards him, she crossed her arms, closing herself off to him. “Just leave. You have a hangar bay filled with people just waiting for you to address them. Don’t leave them hanging.”
“We’ll continue this later.”
She pursed her lips and nodded.
He focused on her lips and how he wanted to kiss them, to possess them.
Tightening his hands into fists, he drew in a deep breath and exhaled, fighting for control. He was starting to feel the aftermath of the battle. All the adrenaline coursing through his veins needed an outlet, but first, he needed to do his job.
And burning his battle lust alone tonight wouldn’t feel right . . .
Once again, he had failed her, but this time, he’d made a fool of himself in front of the whole starbase.
Stars. Would she ever forgive him?
“Sire, you should reveal the results of the mission, so everyone can run off and burn off their battle lusts however they see fit,” Erlyn commented from his side.
Ignoring the advice, Idris passed him and returned to his podium.
The silence was deafening. The whole room watched him, waiting to see what he would do next. He could see crewmembers fidgeting, twisting their tails together, and against the wall, Jaiya surrounded by her wing. Zaera had an arm wrapped around her waist, as if daring Idris to come over and cause another scene. The rest of the wing were clustered together, a short distance away from their leaders.
Their laughter and playfulness were now gone. He had done that.
His hands shook as he gripped the podium’s edges, but not from fear.
He wasn’t going to be a puppet to his own biology, desperate to find his release in order to find some peace.
