“Does that mean I don’t have an opinion anymore?”
“It did when you brought Claire on board.” Anpaytoo snapped the words out, and Shank jerked back as though burned.
“Okay, I had this same conversation with my father, but it centered around me wanting a horse and him holding it against me that I let a pet gerbil die when I was six. Six,” Allie shot right back. “Maybe we can admit that young people make mistakes and move on to the here and now.”
Anpaytoo gave her a cold smile. “Yes, young people do make mistakes. For example, you seem to think taking my son into a dangerous situation would be a good idea. So how is that anything other than a mistake?”
“Mom, I fought Nicve marines. I don’t think Allie is some huge black hole of danger.”
“She’s talking about dragging you into a quest that would put you up against the entire Command fleet.” Anpaytoo slapped her hand down on the desk.
“And you put him in a ship when he was what, fourteen, and then left him to try to survive an oxygen system failure. That’s not a manhood ceremony—it’s torture.”
Anpaytoo stood. “How dare you!”
“Hey, let’s stay on topic,” Shank blurted out desperately as he moved to the side of the desk fast enough someone might have thought his pants were on fire. He also gave Allie a nasty glare.
“I think we are on topic,” Anpaytoo said. “We are discussing the foolishness of youth.”
Allie reined in her temper—hard. She wanted to tell this woman off so badly she could taste it like bitter lemon in her mouth. “So, you’re not going to support us or give us a ride to this ship you know about. That’s fine. Drop us at the nearest station, and we’ll make our own way.”
“Really? You will avoid all the Command staff and SC and bounty hunters?” Anpaytoo had the nerve to laugh.
“We have so far.”
“No, you haven’t. You have sat on family ships, and we have evaded them for you.”
Allie took a deep breath. “Okay, that’s slightly true, but I did manage to contribute my bit to the cause with the slip.” She could see that barb strike home. Anpaytoo might not like her, but the woman did admire her piloting skills.
She sat back down in her chair, her next words dangerously soft. “And we would not have needed to use a slip had Command not been searching for you.”
“And me,” Shank threw in. “Not to get in the way of you two ignoring reality in order to better bash each other, but this was my plan. I talked the others into coming out here. I suggested the family ships and using the jail code. That was all me, Mom.”
Anpaytoo sighed. “And here I had a passing thought that you might have grown up.”
“Okay, enough,” Allie snapped. “You don’t have to insult the man every five seconds. Just because he’s made his own choices and done something other than follow your pirating rules doesn’t make him a bad person or immature.”
“Allie,” Shank said, grabbing at her arm. She ignored him and focused on Anpaytoo.
“You may have gotten the shitty end of life from the government— Actually, I know you got the shitty end. But now you’re turning around and shitting on him because he doesn’t fit into your narrow little worldview.”
“Allie!” Shank shouted.
“That’s not what I would call a mature reaction for a woman your age,” Allie finished.
Anpaytoo sat behind her desk, her mouth drawn down at the corners and her teeth clenched. Shank stood at the side, his eyes wide with panic, and Allie realized a few minutes too late that she probably should have worked harder to rein in her temper.
“And shouting probably isn’t mature either,” she added. Anpaytoo’s eyes narrowed. Oh, they were so dead.
“Chankoowashtay, your woman and I need some time. Please leave.”
“Mother.” Shank stepped forward so he was pressed up to the front of the desk.
“Shank, leave. Now.”
Allie recognized a pissed-off mother tone of voice even if her own mother hadn’t raised her. There was something universal in that particular timbre of ire—like it was built into the DNA of all humans to cow in the face of their mothers.
Shank hesitated, his gaze finding Allie, but she jerked her head toward the door. If Anpaytoo wanted to rip her a new asshole, it was better to have a little privacy. Shank looked supremely unhappy, but he gave a quick nod. He paused at Allie’s chair and let his hand rest on her shoulder in a moment of support, but he finally walked out, leaving Allie to deal with his pissed-off mother.
