I hooked my arms around his waist. “You need to let me do this on my own.”
“I wish to protect you.”
I cocked an eyebrow.
“I’m aware you don’t need it, but I want to.”
“Star.”
“Fine. I shall come to spend time with you.”
Cupping the back of his neck, I tugged him down to press a kiss to his lips. Monqilcolnen returned the gentle pressure. Neither of us deepened it, knowing we didn’t have time, but it was so nice. Never would I have thought I could enjoy this outside of sex. The intimacy of touch.
We finished getting dressed and headed to Talvax’s office. The sooner we got this done, the sooner we could spend our leisure time together or have me move in, as Monqilcolnen wanted.
I dragged my tail down the length of his before signaling I was outside of Talvax’s office. She called out, “Enter.”
When I came inside, leaving Monqilcolnen in the corridor, she wasn’t alone.
Urgg, Seth, and Bartholomew stood in front of her desk. The latter two were a greenish-white and swayed precariously. If I had to guess, they were still under the influence of alcohol poisoning. Urgg appeared exactly the same, but barbarus had a strong constitution and a fast recovery rate. To be truthful, I didn’t know if they could get alcohol poisoning.
Why had all four of us been summoned? Once again, that niggling sensation returned, this time with more force. We’d done something last night, hadn’t we?
I swallowed when my gut curled, and my stomach rose, burning my throat. I wiggled, and my tail flicked, then curled around my ankle before ripping away. Not once had I gotten in trouble since I joined the navy. I’d put all of that behind mewhen I was a kit. I was no longer a troublemaker. I did my absolute best at all times. I followed all the regulations as best I could. I was an excellent officer.
Talvax stood, her tail whipping and her shoulders impossibly straight. “Do you know why I ordered you to come?”
“No, love of my life, more beautiful than the red sands, more—” Urgg broke off when Talvax growled.
Seth went even paler. I wrapped my tail around his wrist to lend him comfort, even if I had none to spare. If Kalvoxrencol learned Talvax had scared Seth, even their close friendship wouldn’t stop him from protecting his mate. But it would hurt Kalvoxrencol, which in turn would hurt Seth. I would protect my friend as best I could.
“I do not recall,” I said, forcing myself to speak.
She whipped toward me and prowled closer. My spine straightened and my pulse picked up. The urge to flee built in my muscles, and I had to fight against the instinct.
“Interesting,” Talvax said. “Lieutenant, please enter in your code.” She handed me a screen.
I did, and a message popped up.Talvax is the loveliest creature in the world, and Monqilcolnen is subpar, though not ugly.
By the light of the Crystal, I remembered now. Urgg and I had made a bet, and I’d lost. My tail fell from Seth’s wrist and coiled around my ankle. “I recall.”
“Do you?” she asked.
Urgg spoke up, “It was a bet. My fault, my love. I won and forced Wyn.”
She crossed her arms and leveled Urgg with a glare. “Do you know how embarrassing this is? Every single time someone accesses their system on the ship, this message pops up.”
“You are lovely,” Urgg offered.
Talvax growled. She faced me again. “Can you remove it?”
“Of course.” One of the other engineers should’ve purged the trivial code from the system by now if NAID had been unable.
“Do so. Now,” she ordered. “It’s repopulating and replicating faster than it should. It should not be growing, but it is.”
All of the blood rushed out of my head as a buzzing flooded my ears, and the room swayed, making me crash into Seth. He caught my weight with a grunt, holding me tight.
“Wyn,” he called, shaking me.
