“What is it?” Nayli asked, eyes widening. The women exchanged glances, then looked to him.
“Take-off warning,” he said. “You should secure yourselves. Afterward, I’ll escort you to the diner. My brothers will check on the others. I’ll wait outside.”
“We don’t know how,” Kora said.
His brothers slipped out, but Darren stayed and showed them the straps on the seats and bed. The system was straightforward — touch-activated, self-adjusting.
Kora flopped onto the bed with dramatic flair. “I’m taking your bed, Nayli.”
He secured Nayli on the sofa, then turned to Aelanna. She sat quietly, hands folded, eyes down. When he leaned over her to fasten the belt, her scent rose to meet him, captivating, and devastating. His body reacted instantly. He trembled, swallowing hard. She avoided his gaze, but he felt her awareness like a pulse between them.
He stepped back quickly.Too much. Too close. How was he supposed to survive days of this? Longing he couldn’t act on?
He stared at the wall. “You should strap in when you hear the warning. It will sound again before we enter a wormhole for an FTL jump, and for landing and take-off. Are your belongings secure?”
Can you hear yourself? You sound like a training manual.
“What’s FTL?” Kora asked.
“Faster than light.”
“What about you?” Aelanna asked softly.
Her voice — small, uncertain — hit him square in the chest. She looked up at him with anxious blue eyes, and his mind blanked.
“I’ll… I’ll find a seat in the corridor.”
“Can’t you stay here?” Nayli asked, patting the empty space beside her. “You can answer our questions. Girls? Do we want our personal bodyguard to stay?”
He shouldn’t stay. It was improper. Too intimate. But leaving them alone felt wrong too. The warning chimed again. Time was running out.
He met Aelanna’s eyes. She looked down quickly, twisting her fingers.
“If you’re sure,” he said.
Nayli beamed. “Sure!” She patted the cushion again.
He sat beside her, grateful for the barrier she provided between him and the human he could barely keep his hands off.
Aelanna suddenly gasped. “I left my bag open on my bed. Should I have done that?”
The third warning sounded.
Darren was already unbuckled and striding for the door.
The cabin door slid open before he reached it. The corridor lights shifted from sunset red to light amber as the third chime echoed through the cabin. He sprinted the short distance to Aelanna’s room, pulled the loose bag on her bed to him, closed it, and slung it over his shoulder. The ship’s engines rumbled beneath his feet, low, steady, gathering power.
He returned to the cabin just as the floor vibrated with the first deep thrum of the lift engines. The females looked up at him, wide-eyed.
Clutching the bag tightly by the handle, he shut the door behind him. “Straps stay fastened until I say otherwise.”
The ship shuddered, a rising growl reverberating through the walls. Darren braced a hand on the bulkhead. He’d done this a thousand times, but —bless the dimming— the females had not and their fear tugged at instincts he hadn’t known were still sharp.
He crossed the room and secured Aelanna’s bag beside her. She gave him a small, grateful nod.
The engines roared, and the artificial gravity wavered. Nayli gasped as the sofa jolted. Darren dropped into the empty space beside her, gripping the edge with one hand and bracing his boots wide, as he strapped himself in.
“Is it supposed to do that?” Nayli asked, voice tight.
