“Nix, female,” he grunted.
Lainey sighed, figuring as much. Then she alighted on another idea, but she had to play it cool, so Crystal wouldn’t get suspicious about her motives.
“What about Kate?” Lainey asked next.
“What about her?” Crystal asked, finally butting into the conversation, her eyebrows raised.
Lainey shrugged, picking at the edges of the cushion wedged on her lap. “I love you and all, but we’re both bored out of our minds. Maybe she could spend the afternoon with us one day. We could get to know her a bit. We didn’t really give her much of a chance.”
“There’s no reason to get to know her if we’re leaving soon,” Crystal argued.
“But we’re herenow,” Lainey countered. “There’s no harm in it, if she’s willing to come hang out. Besides, what else do you have to do? Nap some more?”
“Fine,” she grumbled.
Lainey turned her eyes back to Vixron. “So about our play date, Vixy…”
Their guard was watching her with a narrowed gaze and she smiled at him, hoping it looked innocent and less piranha-like than it felt.
His eyes narrowed further but he said, “I will bring it to the Prime Leader’s attention this next span.”
Lainey relaxed.
Now the only issue was how she would get Kate alone to ask her some very specific, very embarrassing questions, without Crystal or Vixy hearing.
I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it, she decided, settling back into her cushions for another long, mentally stimulating night of fire-watching.
* * *
“I hearfrom Vixron that you took over watch of the females this span,” Vaxa’an said, his tone a little too nonchalant that Kirov was immediately on guard.
“Yes, I did,” he replied, his eyes never straying from the Com screen, though his fingers paused in his work of reprogramming the network.
“There are other warriors that can provide Vixron’s relief. It is not your duty as an Ambassador,” Vaxa’an said. “It is beneath your rank.”
Kirov stopped and turned to face his friend and warrior brother, eyeing him. It was late at night and Vaxa’an was more irritated at the fact that he wasn’t with hisluxivaat that moment, not about Kirov standing guard over the human females.
“It was the easiest choice,” Kirov told him. “I had already been exposed to the females last night and it seemed a waste of time to send for another warrior guard when my dwelling is on the same terrace.”
A minor untruth, one that ate at him. But hisluxivawas involved in this and Kirov would not risk her being separated from him if Vaxa’an found out the truth.
“You intend to be Vixron’s relief from this point on?” Vaxa’an asked, incredulous. “No, I will not allow it. Your time and your mind are better spent on your projects.”
Kirov didn’t push too much, or else Vaxa’an would become suspicious about his motives.
“Yes, you are right,” Kirov relented, eyeing his friend. “Iwaseager to return to my projects.”
Another untruth. He would never choose his work over hisluxiva, which was something he thought would never happen. Kirov hadalwayschosen his work, over anything. It was a compulsion, his obsession. His work was the only thing that centered him, that made him feel like he wasn’t descending into madness.
Until he found her. Already, she was a balm on his mind, a soothing presence that calmed him unlike anything else.
And Lani refused to acknowledge what they were to each other.
Give her time, his mind whispered, though his Instinct was restless.
She was human. And while he was right in his suspicions that the other mated females might have told the remainder of the group about Luxirian Instincts, Kirov could guess it was overwhelming information to process.
So, Kirov would give her time. Only he feared they didn’t have much time left.
