Zorin gazes away from me. He fought for me last night, saved me from falling from the cliff, and seemed like he was ready to tear my clothes off with his teeth. Today, he’s emotionally detached like I’m just his job. “Then what the fuck am I even doing here?”
“Viriden has conferred with the federation on the matter of your participation.” Zorin nods toward a door where a new team of guards stands watch. They sport Federation badges and carry weapons on their belts that the regular guards don’t. “You are safest here this week while we hunt down enemy ships and try to resolve the situation.”
“Am I going to get to see him? Viriden?”
“Later today.”
I was starting to fall for Zorin last night. Now, I’m getting the impression that yet again, how I feel doesn’t matter. But it will be nice to meet the man my mother respected.
Zorin scans the room as he rests his elbows on the table and finishes chewing his food. “As much as my Shifter hates me right now because I’m following orders he disagrees with, we both agree with Viriden’s assessment. You need to be safe. That’s more important than whatwewant.”
I’m already looking for loopholes, hoping there’s a way we can still try to be together. It means more than he knows that he fought for me when so few have in my life. And I’m afraidhe’ll leave if he can’t get what he wants. Time always exposes conviction or lack thereof. “What if you don’t follow orders?”
He folds his hands up on the table. “If you get pregnant and are taken and killed, and it’s my fault, Viriden will be forced to send me to an Isonian detention facility, which is a dark cage on a prison ship in permanent orbit in their system. Because I work under them now, my betrayal of their orders means I endure their punishment, though the Federation will surely agree with any decision the Isonians make. Isonians are like Amphirans. They have been in the stars for a long time. They are powerful in different ways from Amphirans, but they are just as deadly.”
“Mindorans don’t have jails?”
“No. We still handle our trouble makers the old fashioned way.” He grimaces as he downs the last of his coffee, and it draws my attention to the scars across his face.
“Even if it is unjustified? Or morally wrong?”
He pauses a moment, then sets his mug aside. “The federation’s system is not perfect either. They’re still working out the kinks of differing intergalactic systems of order.”
“I won’t tell if you don’t tell,” I offer, reaching across and slipping my hand into his.
Zorin’s breath catches. He looks down at our hands like he can’t believe I’d do such a thing.
“Isonians will know that we lie. There are many truth seekers among them.” Even as he speaks of our inability to continue what we started last night, his fingers close around mine, gently rubbing them like he can’t get enough of the way my skin feels. “But I will protect you the same. My Shifter will guard you like his mate, even if we cannot be together.”
“Because of orders to protect me?”
“No. Because we have chosen. Orders don’t matter in that regard. They only keep us from touching you the way we want.”
“Oh?” I bite my lip, trying not to smile to eagerly. “And what way is that?”
Zorin’s cheek twitches. He draws my hand to his mouth, cups it between his, pries a finger free, and covertly takes it into his warm mouth. His plush tongue curls around it and licks it with such sensuality that my heart stumbles into a sprint.
When he pulls back and gives me a dark look, the delicate flesh between my hips slicks with curious need.
He sniffs the air and growls low. “That…onlyeverywhere.”
17: Tessi
The Mindoran who walked into my room earlier appears beside our table and glowers at Zorin as he sniffs the air. “Holster it. It’s about time for your first event. Ohni wants you both to participate.”
Zorin releases me and hangs his head. “Tessi, this is Rorsar. He is a medic from our other squad. He is part of my M-pack, my Military Pack. Both of our squads are here, minus my brother.”
Rorsar nods. “Azrim is still roaming the woods back home. But Isonians are keeping an eye on him while they monitor portal activity. Now, please, get out to the events before we get in trouble. Mindorans do not need a worse reputation than we already have.”
“What reputation?” I ask, wondering what I’m missing.
Rorsar jerks his head in my direction, then steps out of the way.
Zorin leads me outside to the ropes course, an array of buildings with rope bridges, spires, and nets to climb in the race to ring the bell atop the tallest tower and hunt for one of the special prize eggs.
“So?” I ask.
“We’re just...primitive compared to most of the other federation planets. Most of our packs do not permit technology, so no coms or tablets or hovercraft. No modern medicine. No weapons. They are the traditional packs.
