Page 2 of Veiled Vixen

Crux and Serpint are staring down at me, leaning so close to my face both my hands come up and push them back.

Serpint laughs. “There he is. Welcome back, asshole. Have a nice trip?”

I suck in a deep breath of air and then cough like crazy when it comes back out. “No,” I croak. “No, I didn’t.” My voice is raspy and deep. “Where the fuck—”

“You’re back on Harem,” Crux says, offering me his hand.

I look at it for a moment, wondering why he wants to shake my hand, then realize I’m lying inside a cryopod and take it, allowing him to help me up into a sitting position.

But I’m not in medical. I’m in my fucking quarters.

“We had you brought here,” Crux explains. “To make waking up a little easier.”

“Yeah, you were always a wuss when it came to cryosleep,” Serpint says. “And for some reason that bitch princess of yours didn’t mind when we said this would be better.”

“Who?” I ask, looking around at my quarters. I feel like I haven’t seen this place in several lifetimes. And then I laugh a little. Or kinda cough. Because I lived several lifetimes since I left here.

“Veila,” Crux growls. “She brought you here.”

Both hands come up to my head and grab my hair. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Yeah,” Serpint says, grabbing one forearm while Crux grabs the other. “We’ve got a lot to tell you, brother. So nap time is over.” They pull me out and drag me over to the couch, then unceremoniously let me flop back into the cushions. “We’re at war, did you know that?”

I sorta remember this. But only vaguely. So I don’t respond.

“Nyleena,” Crux says. “Remember? Tray told her and Luck to distract the Baby and Succubus so you and Tray could leave with Booty and Asshole?”

I scrunch up my face, because that wasn’t how it happened.

“Yeah, you two fuckers,” Serpint says, falling into the couch cushions next to me and pulling me into a hug so my face is smothered by his chest. Then he gives me a head noogie, which I immediately pull away from. “You and Tray, good plan, man. Leaving on Booty with the Asshole. Baby was pissed off about that.”

I look at Serpint and he’s smiling at me, one of those clenched-teeth smiles that isn’t really a smile, but more like a… warning. Then his eyes dart up to the ceiling real quick, and then focus back on me.

Ah. I get it. That’s the Harem Station Brothers Universal Signal for Don’t forget, he sees everything. Meaning ALCOR, but actually, right now, meaning Baby.

I nod. “Right,” I say. “I remember now.”

“Well, things have gone from bad to worse since you left,” Crux says. “Let me just summarize—”

“Dude,” I say, putting up a hand. “Can you just… give me a minute? You know how much I hate waking up from cryo. And before that I was—”

“I get it,” Crux says, interrupting me. I take that to mean he wants me to shut the fuck up until he can stealth-debrief me. So I do. Shut the fuck up, that is. “Get him something to drink, Serpint. That drink we give the princesses when we first wake them up.”

“On it,” Serp says, jumping up to his feet and crossing the room to the autocook.

While he’s punching in codes for the drink Crux takes a seat on the coffee table in front of me and leans forward. “A lot has happened since you left with Booty, Valor. Like I can’t even stress how much has changed here while you’ve been gone.”

“How long?” I ask. “How long has it been?”

“Six weeks Harem time,” Crux says.

“What? How is that possible? It was only a few days—”

“You’ve been here in cryo for a while. Veila didn’t want to wake you up until we had things… settled.”

“What things?” And now I’m getting a very bad feeling. Six fucking weeks. “Where the hell is Tray? And—”

“I’m getting to that,” Crux says, once again interrupting me. He flicks his eyes at the ceiling.