"No."
"No?" His small wife’s head popped out of the clothing before she marched up to him and stabbed him in the chest with a dainty finger, her shirt only half on. "No? And why not?"
Khaazai enjoyed her annoyance and growled with approval. "I will not have you on one of our warships as we face down a potentially dangerous foe."
"So, all that talk about getting women into the military was just a lie? A way to worm your way into my heart?" Zahra folded her arms in front of her chest. “You know all that winning of my heart that you did? Well, you’re about to undo it.”
Khaazai growled in annoyance. "You are my wife. I don't wish to see you harmed."
"Is this how our marriage will be?" Zahra huffed. “Because I won’t have it. I’ve been in the military before I met you, and if I choose to stay with you, I need to know you’ll support me if I decided to continue with my military career.”
Khaazai paused. He may still be learning human body language, but he did understand tone. He'd errored. As much as he didn’t want her in harm’s way, neither did he wish to push her away.
"Zahra." He paused, not wanting to say the words. "If you were to die... I simply want to protect you."
"I didn't have you to protect me before our marriage. I still managed to survive more battles than I can count." Her eyes glared up at him.
Khaazai sucked in a breath. He didn’t want her anywhere near this, but he also didn’t want her leaving him. Their year was almost up, and she could still choose to leave him. "You may come,” he inclined his head, “but if I tell you to do something, you will obey."
"Because you're my husband?" She growled.
"Because I'm a general and I outrank you.'' Khaazai growled back, unused to, but enjoying her defiance.
She opened her mouth, and then snapped it closed. "Guess I can't fight that logic." The anger burning in her eyes slowly faded.”
"Good. Now finish getting dressed. We need to greet the Sri’thaens. Perhaps they wish to congratulate us on our wedding."
“Doubtful.” Zahra rolled her beautiful eyes.
____________________________
"Where are you two headed?" Holly panted as she rushed to catch up to them as they walked onto the shuttle pad.
"To go say hi to the Sri'thaens." Zahra replied with a bit more excitement than she should feel, but with the Khuuz’eth on their side, she held out hope of drawing this war to an end sooner rather than later. It wouldn’t be instant, but it still gave her hope to an end. A light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak.
"Wait," Holly gasped, "are they attacking?"
"They haven't attacked yet, but they are coming with a couple of their warships." Zahra said as they reached the side of the triangular black shuttle. "You should be perfectly fine here. A couple of Sri’thaen war ships will have trouble getting past all the Khuuz’eth warships in orbit," she hitched a thumb over at Khaazai, "and their orbital defense system."
"Okay. Be safe." Holly reached out and embraced Zahra in a hug. "Try not to get yourself blown up. I’ve grown to think of you as a friend."
"Same, and we'll do our best." Zahra chuckled as she leaned into the hug and embraced Holly.
"We need to leave.” Khaazai said as he entered the shuttle, his gentle lover side gone, the practical general back to the forefront.
Not wanting to get left behind, Zahra extricated herself from the hug and hightailed it into the shuttle. She took her seat across from Khaazai, the shuttle door closed and hissed lightly as it pressurized the shuttle. Then the pilot got the engines started with a rumble and off they shot though they didn’t feel a thing inside the shuttle.
Feeling the pressure of his eyes on her, Zahra faced Khaazai. “What is it?”
“I worry about you.”
Zahra sighed with a smile. “I’m a soldier, Khaazai. Besides, you can’t protect me from everything.”
“Doesn’t reduce the urge to protect you.” His electric blue eyes never left her, and she sensed the sincerity in his voice.
Zahra smiled softly. It was kind of him to think of her and about protecting her. Other than her parents and maybe her sister, she doubted there’d been many people who wanted to protect her from the universe.
“It’s not like I would be happy sitting at our home waiting to see what happened. I feel an urge to protect you as well.” Zahra admitted. She saw his glowing blue eyes widen slightly at her admission. “Heck, I have protected you before.”
