Ember cupped his cheeks and kissed him. “Love you, precious.”
“You, too. Be careful.”
Bastien held his hand out. “When this is over, you and me, bud… long camping trip. No one else. Male bonding. Uninterrupted. Lots of porn.”
“Bastien!” Ember snapped at him.
Florian smiled. “Promise?”
“Absolutely… minus the porn, though, as I don’t want your mom to hurt us.” He hugged his son. “And a Cabarro never breaks his word.”
“That’s what Mom says.”
Bastien held him a little longer even though he knew time was of the essence. It was hard to let go. But he had no choice.
Kissing the top of his son’s head, he forced himself to do the last thing he wanted.
He released him to Cin’s care. “Thank you.”
She hugged Bastien. “Don’t worry. We adore little Bastien as much as we do big Bastien. It was Alura we voted out of the family.”
He laughed. “I always loved all of you. Really missed you.”
Cin kissed his cheek and hugged him. “We missed you, too, little brother. And just so you know, Tasi and I told Alura that we’d take you up on that threesome any time you wanted.”
He burst out laughing until he realized that his son might have heard her. A quick check told him that Florian was thankfully out of range. “You’re lucky you didn’t find yourself in jail alongside me.”
That sobered her. “No. We found ourselves left for dead and under assault by the Eudorans and under friendly fire. Trust me, there’s no love for Alura among us anymore. She killed it the day she betrayed us all for your uncle. Go kick her ass, with our compliments.”
“Don’t worry,” Ashley said as she came up behind Bastien. “I plan to cut her head off and hand it over to all of you to play ball with before everything is said and done. Just like our ancestors did.”
Bastien had to do a double take since they were both dressed up for the party. When they were in battle clothes, it was easy to forget how much Ashley and Cin favored. When they were dressed up and not standing side by side, it was hard to tell them apart. He’d gotten into trouble a couple of times for mistaking them. Which he’d felt terrible about until Tasi had told him that she’d accidentally groped Ash by mistake a time or two herself, for the same reason.
With a curt nod to her sister, Ash and Cin took Florian out, and Bastien and Ember followed Ryn to get the details he had.
Ryn led them to the North Bay, where he’d docked his ship. Without a word, they went to the flight deck. Ryn’s first officer, Yra, materialized in front of them, ready to shed blood. Though not very tall, the blue-skinned, red-eyed Starken was tougher than nails and more than capable to take down an entire League hit squad.
Until she saw Ryn. Then she relaxed into a smirk. “One day, Ambassador, I’m going to shoot you, thinking you’re here to steal your own ship. When are you going to start warning me?”
“Probably one day after you shoot me for not doing it.”
She rolled her eyes.
Bastien laughed. “Your crew is a little paranoid, Dane.”
“And with reason.”
“How so?”
“It’s how he met his wife,” Yra said drily. “She took our entire shipment while he had his pants down.”
“I really wish you’d quit telling everyone that story!” Ryn snapped.
“Why? Mack tells it more than I do.”
Grumbling, Ryn went to his con to power up the ship to basic maintenance level. “I curse the day I chose to surround myself with lippy women.”
“Yeah, ’cause mouthy men are so much better.”
