Chapter 20

Jeffrey lay in silence beside the woman he loved, her skin cool against his. She felt so right here in his arms. He wished they’d never reach Zanthar, that they could live here in this perfect moment for all eternity.

Unfortunately, he could feel time slipping away from them already. He clutched her tighter, and she sighed happily in her sleep.

“My precious girl,” he murmured, pressing a kiss to the tendrils on her head that had finally gone still.

He was exhausted, his emotions having wrung him dry. When he’d seen her with the Hareema crouching over her, his insides had gone cold with fury and fear. When she’d told him that she would never obey him willingly, his rage had been white hot. And when she’d made love to him so sweetly, he’d realized that he could never let her go.

Jeffrey knew that there was a preponderance of challenges facing them. They were from different planets, in different fleets, halfway across the galaxy from one another. But none of that meant anything to him.

He would do whatever it took to keep her by his side.

With a smile on his face, Jeffrey finally allowed himself to drift off to sleep.

When he awoke, he was disgruntled to find himself alone in the bunk. He stumbled out of bed and pulled on his flight suit, wondering where Kat had gone to. The bunkroom was empty, and so was the mess. That only left the bridge, and as he made his way there, he tried not to let his disappointment engulf him.

“One of these days, I’m going to wake up with her beside me,” he muttered. “Even if I have to chain her to the damn bed.”

He entered the bridge and found Kat seated at the central console. The navigator turned around at his entrance.

“I didn’t wake her up, I swear,” he said, his hands coming up in front of him, palms facing outward.

“It’s alright,” he said, waving wearily at him. “Report.”

“We are less than ten minutes from Zanthar.”

Jeffrey scowled, eyeing Kat accusingly. “Were you just going to let me sleep through the landing? Get yourself off the ship and out of my clutches as soon as possible?”

She arched a brow at him. “Just following orders, Sir. Trying to get us home.”

Her voice was neutral, with no emotion in it. Flat.

Like his feelings.

It seemed the Ice Queen was back. He didn’t know why she always resorted to distance after they made love. But he was getting tired of the walls she kept putting up between them.

“Before we land, I’d like a word with you, Lieutenant.”

“I’m sure we can speak later,” was her reply.

“I seem to remember you promising to talk, after we made lo—“

“Okay,” she said, jumping up from her seat and shooting an embarrassed look toward her crewmate. “Let’s talk in the mess.”

He followed her down the corridor, enjoying the gentle sway of her hips as she headed down the hallway.

Once in the mess, she rounded on him. “What do you want?’

Jeffrey took a deep breath, attempting to keep his emotions in check. “I want to get a few things straight before we land. I was serious about what I said before. You belong to me.”

Kat’s eyebrow quirked upward. “I belong to you? I thought Earth outlawed slavery several centuries ago.”

His eyes narrowed at her response. “You know what I mean. You’re mine. And I’m yours.”

Kat stared at him. “I’m not sure what use I’d have for a primitive human male. I’m afraid we stopped keeping off-world species in zoos some time ago.”

Jeffrey recoiled from her words as if he’d been hit. Where was this flippant hostility coming from?

“Look,” he said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “I get that you’re scared. I am too. This thing between us is intense. But I’m not going to let you go, now that I’ve found you.”

“You don’t have a choice,” she said, pushing his hand off of her. “The mission is over. And this…thing…as you call it, it’s over too.”

She pushed past him, striding up the corridor, leaving him feeling as if she’d ripped his heart out of his chest and taken it with her.

Go ahead. I have no use for a heart now.

The landing on Zanthar went smoothly, even if it did take an hour for the protocols to be followed. He was subjected to yet another test of his humanity and he barely stopped himself from stumbling to the ground under the force of the bioelectric blast.

He made his way off the ship and to the briefing room, not bothering to notice if she was near him or not.

Jeffrey was in a daze, going through the motions, unable to make the world feel like anything more than a gray haze of hopelessness. She had rejected him. And now she sat across the table in the briefing room, talking as if nothing had happened between them. As if she hadn’t stolen his heart then thrown it in the trash.

The regent commended them for their valiant capture of yet another Hareema, and then allowed his brother, the Minister of Defense, to detail his plan for determining the extent of the Hareema forces on Earth. The plan hinged on his returning with the human crew to Earth aboard their vessel.

“Well the engine is shot,” Jeffrey stated. “The Earhart won’t make it back to Earth without major repairs.”

“Then get to it,” the minister replied.

The next day, after a night of tossing and turning at the memory of a pair of seductive dark eyes, Jeffrey found himself back in the engine room of the Earhart.

He forced himself not to replay the scene in his mind again, but he can’t help picturing Kat’s unconscious body at the mercy of the Hareema. He was standing there, staring down at the empty catwalk, when Captain Brooklyn walked up behind him.

“Not sure where to start, huh?” she said, giving him a smile. “How about a level one diagnostic?”

They worked over the panels, trying to isolate the problem. Jeffrey worked in silence, making the repairs while his captain called out the malfunctioning areas.

“Well, I must say, this is the first time I’ve seen you not live up to your name, Lieutenant Cheerful,” Captain Brooklyn said after a couple hours of work. “Want to tell me what’s eating you?”

Jeffrey sighed. “I just want to get home, Captain.”
“That’s not what I would have expected from you,” she replied. “You’ve never been homesick before. Are you sure this doesn’t have something to do with that attractive lieutenant you were paired with on your mission?”

He looked at her and realized that she already knew. “How could you tell?”

“Well, I knew something was up when I first made it to Zanthar. The way you two were looking at each other, I figured it had to be love or hate. And I don’t think hate would make you look like a broke-dick dog, pardon the expression.”

Jeffrey gave a small laugh that faded away fairly quickly. “You’re right. It’s definitely not hatred. At least on my end.”

“What happened?”

He launched into his tale, not bothering to hide their intimacy. “I just don’t understand it. We have a chemistry like you wouldn’t believe. But it’s like she’s a different person afterwards.”

“Maybe she’s not sure how to handle all of this. It seems like she’s the type who keeps a tight rein on her emotions. You could be rattling her, too much, too fast, you know?”

“Maybe. Or maybe she was just trying an alien on for size. She pretty much said she was slumming it with a barbaric human.”

Brook frowned. “Hmm. I think I have to give her more credit than that. I don’t think Major Ontarii would have a brutal bitch as his second in command. My guess is, you’ve gotten too close and she’s scared. She probably said that to hurt you, to drive you away so she can build back up her defenses.”

Jeffrey let out a heavy breath. “I wish you were right. But at the moment, I don’t think she’s afraid of me. In fact, I bet she isn’t even thinking about me at all.”