“Unobserved,” the male agrees.
“Then assume variability,” Varek says. “No reliance on pattern. Adjust routes accordingly.”
They nod, already shifting at the instruction.
“Stagger departures,” he adds. “No more than two at a time through the canal route. If pressure increases, abandon it.”
“Understood.”
He lets the moment settle, then finishes, quieter. “Avoid unnecessary risk.”
The three of them straighten, something steadier in how they hold themselves now, before slipping back out through the door.
I stay where I am, shoulders taut, watching him.
The whole exchange ran clean. Efficient. Every question placed exactly where it needed to be, every answer shaped into something useful. He never wastes words, never circles a point twice. Ten words where anyone else would use fifty.
And it works.
People lean into it. Follow it. Trust it.
I’ve seen men try to lead by force before—loud voices, sharper edges, making sure everyone remembers who holds the power. Varek is different. He sets the direction, and the room moves with him like it’s the most natural thing in the world.
It does something to me. Low. Immediate.
I shift my weight, adjusting my stance like that’ll take the edge off. It doesn’t. My dick is definitely on board.
Brilliant.
Apparently competence is my downfall now.
I lean against the wall, trying not to think too hard about the fact that this is the same male who was growling at me five minutes ago about tunnel hinges and canal water.
Six months.
That’s how long I lasted in Dathanor after he first took me there.
Six months of caves glowing with strange alien light, rebellion strategy meetings, and every single Riftborn in the place looking at me like I was something important simply because I was standing next to their commander.
I couldn’t handle it. There were too many expectations. Too much… him. So I left and came to the city and started building this place instead.
And Varek—annoyingly enough—let me.
He didn’t argue. He didn’t try to drag me back to the rebellion. Hell, he didn’t even show up unannounced.
He just made sure the right people understood that my warehouse was off-limits to trouble. Which, as it turns out, is how I ended up running half the underground escape routes in this district.
Funny how life works.
For years we barely spoke. Maybe the occasional message through the network—logistics, updates, information about patrol routes. Nothing personal, which was a relief as much as a pain in my chest that I ignored.
Then a month ago, the guards spotted him during the citadel chaos, and suddenly he was back in my warehouse like no time had passed at all.
Except it had.
A lot.
I push off the wall. “You know,” I say casually, “you’re annoyingly good at that.”
