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“A little effort?” he demanded, narrowing his eyes at her. “Our first mission was to Qwo-woo Six where—”
“Where we spent three days talking to the Wooians,” Mattie finished for him.
The big Hybrid glared at her.
“I wasgoingto say where the damned teeny-fucking-tiny Wooians climbed all over me becauseyoutold them I was a ‘sacred talking tree.’ And I just had to stand there and take it so you could talk to their leader—“The Grand High Emperor of All Creation” as he called himself—who was about as big as my fucking thumb and decided to sit on top of my head!”
“I can’t help it that the Wooians mistook you for one of the sacred talking trees from their mythology,” Mattie exclaimed. “But once I saw that they had, it was an excellent opportunity to get them to talk to me. And it was an honest mistake on their part—you’re certainly nearly astallas a tree!”
“What about Cerius Prime, then?” Grath demanded. “You didn’t tell me we were going to actually dive into the ‘Divine River’ to talk to the Cerians! I spent two days wet to the fucking bones while you ‘communed’ with them!”
“Staying on the floating islands wouldn’t have earned their trust,” Mattie protested. “Ihadto dive into the Divine River. Didn’t you see how they opened up to me once we were submerged together?”
“What Isawwas you breaking the rules and diving in without even asking me to check the water for any kind of dangerous predators first,” Grath growled.
“Because it was a Class 1 planet!” Mattie protested. “So I knew thereweren’tany dangerous predators.”
“Cerius Prime is only considered Class 1 regarding its land masses,” Grath told her, narrowing his eyes even more. “Its oceans are Class 2 and therearedangerous predators in those waters. You’re lucky none of them got you before the Cerians agreed to talk to you and brought us into their stronghold!”
“Well, I just—” Mattie began, but Commander Sylvan held up a hand.
“Please,” he said mildly. “I understand the two of you have had your differences…which is precisely the reason I’m reluctant to send you to Vi’ri’tex to pretend to be a mated pair.”
“Commander Sylvan, please—we can pull it off! Iknowwe can,” Mattie pleaded.
Commander Sylvan looked at Grath.
“Protector Grath—what is your opinion?”
Grath blew out a breath and ran a hand through his thick, black hair.
“Look, Commander—if you send us, I’lltry. I have my oath to fulfill—I’ll do anything in my power to keep Dr. Porter safe. But unless the Vi’riens have couples that fight all the fucking time…” He shook his head. “I just don’t know how believable we’d be.”
“We wouldn’t fight if you’d be a little less grumpy and surly!” Mattie exclaimed.
“Well, maybe if you didn’t go rushing into fucking dangerous situations without eventellingme first, I’d be less grumpy!” Grath growled. “I said it when I first met you and I’ll say it again—you’retoo damn little and delicateto be running around the galaxy stirring up trouble on alien worlds!”
Mattie put a hand on her hip, feeling like her temper was about to blow like a volcano.
“How misogynistic can you be?” she bit out. “No, really—I mean it—are you going for some kind of record here?”
“Is it misogynistic to tell the fucking truth?” Grath demanded.
Sylvan frowned.
“It’s clear the two of you are at odds. I’m afraid the Vi’riens just wouldn’t believe you were a harmonious couple. And the consequences if they found out you weren’t mated would be dire.”
“So now I’m going to be limited in my choice of missions byhim?”Mattie demanded, stabbing a thumb at the big Hybrid. “This is ridiculous! I’m a scientist, Commander Sylvan! I should be able to collect data wherever I want—there’s no way I should be restricted by the Protector you assigned to me! Somaybeyou should give me another Protector.”
Grath crossed his muscular arms over his broad chest.
“Fine by me,” he growled. “Maybe they can assign me to a female that’s not as much trouble as you are!”
“And maybeIcan get a Protector who isn’t afraid to protect me!” Mattie snapped out.
The big Hybrid’s eyes narrowed until they were nothing but black slits.
“You doubting my courage, little girl? It’s because you’re so little and breakable that you’re such a pain in the ass to protect! The slightest thing might break you—kill you! I’m just fucking afraid that I might not get there in time before you get your damn self gobbled up. Especially the way you go rushing into situations without eventalkingto me first!”
