He couldn’t move for the longest time, but knew if he didn’t, he never would. The inner voice screaming for him to hold tight was the same one that had shouted for him to take her onElara Five.
Gently, he disentangled their limbs, careful not to wake her. It would only make it harder. He’d said everything he could with his mouth and body over the past few hours, taking her twice more.
He tucked the blanket around her, and kept his gaze averted as he dressed. If he didn’t, he was liable to slide in next to her and make love to her one last time. His vambrace beeped again, spurring his movements.
It wasn’t until he stood by the door, that he took another moment to stare at her. Tucked securely in his bed, she looked like she belonged there. If only he could return after retakingOrionand find her in this exact same spot.
Throat tight, he touched the control to the door and stepped outside. It slid closed, blocking his view. Clenching his jaw, he swallowed all the emotions wanting to erupt from his chest and headed toward the bridge of thePhalanx.
The door to the lift opened on deck one. The expansive bridge covered two decks, three holotables at its center. People moved in all directions. Terminals lined the outer bulkheads, systems monitored by men and women wearing techie uniforms. Repetitive beeping sounds of systems checks intermixed with voices.
Images floated above the holotables, including one ofOrion,asMace headed to the briefing room on the port side: the war room. On the edge of one holotable lay the bio-weapon Cache had found on the smuggler. A team of techies examined it.
Scanning his hand, the door to the briefing room slid open, and he stepped into a long space filled with warriors. A bank of portholes lined the hull on the one side, a gray bulkhead on the other. Through the thick, oblong glass, smaller ships moved between the larger vessels of the fleet, stars glinting behind them.
Cache stood at one end of the holotable, Grey beside her. Her head jerked when she saw him, eyes narrowing but shadowed in relief.
Mace strode toward them. Commanders and sub-commanders fromOrionand others from theRebelandPhalanxconversed, the room buzzing. Mace nodded to those who acknowledged him, a few he hadn’t seen in years. Foley was there, standing beside Poole, and when their eyes met, momentary alarm swept through Mace.
If there was one person Nia needed to stay clear of, it was Foley. The urge to go over there, shoot Foley in the head to take care of the problem, made his steps falter.Not the time. They needed every person they had, even the homicidal ones, for the upcoming offensive.
Foley grinned at him, but calculation filled his eyes.
“I didn’t realize you’d returned,” Cache said with a frown when he stopped beside her. She narrowed her eyes at her vambrace.
“Or you would have already issued a formal reprimand?”
“Yes.” She tapped her vambrace, and his beeped in response.
He could take it as her being petty, but knew he deserved it. Instead of evacuating with Grey and the tyros, he’d gone after Nia. From a professional standpoint, he should regret the decision, but he didn’t. If he hadn’t gone after her, she’d be dead. His chest panged.
Cache crossed her arms, and Mace knew she had the urge to yell at him, could feel the rage pulsing from her.
“What happened to Lexi?” Grey asked, and Mace knew he would have had questions as soon as he’d received the message directly from her.
“A Guardian took her into custody.” His tight throat made the words hoarse.
Cache’s eyes softened for the briefest of moments. “We’ll find her.”
Mace gave her one nod. He would stop at nothing to see his sister safe, even if he had to take on a whole Guardian by himself. But they had to find out where they held her first.
Cache’s formidable expression returned. “Was she able to send the information on her work?”
“Yes. Everything is in the database of the Condor I arrived in.”
“I’ll get a team on it.”
“Did you pick up that shuttle she tagged?”
When Cache nodded, his heart raced. The need for blood consumed him.
“He’s in the brig.” She put a hand on his arm when he made to leave right then. “It needs to wait until after the briefing.”
He knew she was right, but the urge to take every bit of his rage out on the coward overwhelmed him. Mace clenched his fists, pressing them against the edge of the table to ground himself. Justice wasn’t going anywhere.
The briefing room door slid open, and Admiral Krispin entered. All the warriors straightened their posture. Conversations halted mid-sentence as he strode to the other end of the holotable. The admiral’s eyes surveyed everyone as they gathered on both sides.
His eyes settled on Mace for a second before he passed his hand over the surface of the table. Images ofOrionand the sectors surrounding it materialized in the middle of the holotable.
