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Heather swallowed and took another step back. “I can’t.”

“You can, and you will. Get in this office right now.”

“If there was any other way, I’d do it.” Heather kept backing away. She grabbed Loka’s arm and tugged him along with her.

“You work for me,” Diadora snapped as she followed them into the corridor. “You will come here and do your work if you value your job.”

“I do value my job.” Heather continued to scuttle backwards. “But I won’t have a job if the space station blows up. I know I can stop it. I know I can help.”

“If you want to have a job here tomorrow, you will give up this ridiculous mission and do what you’re paid for.”

Heather looked up at Loka. “Run!” She spun on her heel and sped away, ignoring Diadora’s shouted threats of sacking and pay cuts.

Loka was right alongside her.

They raced around the corner, and Heather slowed.

She groaned and slumped against the wall. “I’m in so much trouble.”

“Your boss is a horrible person. She should not have threatened you.”

“Diadora has her moments of being truly terrifying. Occasionally, she comes good. I don’t think she’s going to let me forget this. I just lost my job.” If Heather had, that was it; all her dreams had gone up in smoke. No outpost, no bakery, no space pad of her own.

“I will speak to her,” Loka said, “make her see sense.”

Heather caught hold of his arm. “You’d be wasting your breath. All Diadora cares about is hitting the Council of Representatives targets. She doesn’t care how it’s done. She will care that I disobeyed her orders.”

“You were right. Without a station, you can’t do your job.”

Heather threw her hands up in exasperation. “Exactly. Diadora won’t think that. Even when she’s calmed down and realized what I’m saying is true, she won’t care. If our targets aren’t met, it’s her head on the line.”

“Are you sure you want to keep working for My Single Alien?”

“Yes. Absolutely. Despite Diadora being tricky, I love my job.” Heather sighed. “Forget about my lost job. Let’s check on your experiments.” She grabbed Loka’s hand, and they hurried to the end of the corridor.

Again, Heather let him lead, so he could do his alien macho thing and make sure she was safe. She sort of loved it.

Loka spent a few moments checking out the experiments, his hissing sighs growing louder as he did so.

“I’m guessing it’s not good news?”

“Most of these will need to be destroyed.” Loka scowled as he scooped up a handful of dishes and threw them into the trash chute. “That’s weeks of work lost.”

“And your mother’s DNA?”

“Safe for now. But it will degrade if not stored correctly.”

Heather made sure to keep out of Loka’s way as he worked. She’d seen how uptight he got when she interfered. She didn’t want him to snap again, not after facing off with Diadora. Heather still couldn’t believe she’d just done that. She’d never stood up to Diadora before.

She hoped she could talk her around. Maybe Vegas could talk sense into Diadora and stop Heather from losing her job.

She couldn’t worry about that now. This thing was bigger than Diadora and her obsession with matchmaking targets.

Heather lifted her gaze when she realized Loka had gone quiet. He was staring at her. “Is something wrong?”

“I need a lab partner. Will you help me?”

Chapter 10