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Cleo slid it out from under a pile of reports. “No, you’re good. It’s right here. I just wasn’t concentrating.”

She’d said that a lot over the past few days and seemed unable to focus on anything for more than a few minutes.

Cleo had to force herself to stop replaying the last image of Hunter as he stood on the docking ramp of that troop ship. She hadn’t been able to say a proper goodbye to him. She’d been too scared that she’d break down in tears in front of everyone. That would only have hurt Hunter and done neither of them any good.

And she’d said goodbye when they were alone in his bedroom. Just the two of them, with no barriers, and their feelings on full display. She’d let him all the way in, and now he was gone.

The door to her office opened. Daisy and Sloane strode in. Daisy carried mugs of what smelt like coffee, and Sloane had a plate of chocolate treats.

“Do we have a meeting?” Cleo turned to her screen to see what she’d missed.

“We do. It’s titled let’s check in on Cleo and see how she’s doing now the love of her life has left.” Daisy placed a mug of coffee in front of her.

“Oh, it’s that kind of meeting.” Cleo shook her head. “Thanks, but I’ve got a ton of work to do.”

“And that can wait.” Sloane placed the chocolate in front of her. “You’ve barely eaten, you haven’t slept, and I can smell you from here. I doubt you’ve had a shower since Hunter left.”

Cleo’s eyebrows shot up. “Not true. I... think I showered this morning.” She scraped a hand through her hair, grimacing at how greasy it felt. Maybe she had forgotten to shower. Even her autopilot wasn’t working, and she couldn’t even remember the basics. And had she cleaned her teeth this morning? Cleo ran her tongue across them. They felt furry.

Daisy pulled up two chairs on the other side of the desk and sat in one. Sloane took the other.

“What can we do to help?” Daisy said.

“You can check the shift rota for me.”

“No, not help with the boring admin work,” Sloane said. “Sugar, we’re worried about you. You must be missing Hunter.”

Cleo tried to swallow down the pain, but it lodged in her windpipe and made her want to choke. “I do miss him. I keep wondering what he’s doing, and I have no idea if he’s safe. I mean, of course he’s not safe. He’s fighting a war. I’ve done some digging, but I can’t find out where they’ve sent him.”

“Hunter is a big, bad Apexian warrior,” Sloane said. “He knows how to fight and look after himself. And whichever troop he’s been assigned to, they’ll watch out for each other. It’s the Apexian way. He already has a new band of brothers.”

“I don’t want him to have a new team. I want him back here.” Cleo choked on the words. She grabbed her mug and drank some of the hot liquid.

“I’m sure once he’s able to, he’ll get in touch. He’ll be missing you, too.” Daisy set down her mug. “I noticed you didn’t come to see him off.”

“I did, but I stayed out of the way,” Cleo said. “I didn’t want to make things awkward.” She’d hoped to keep up a strong appearance for the benefit of her crew, but it seemed like that was failing.

“Hunter will be back,” Sloane said. “The guys are petitioning Jagger to see if they can change his mind. It’s a long shot, but they’re arguing he’s too big of an asset to drop on a frontline and forget about. They’ve pulled all the cases he’s worked on to show how important he is to this mission.”

Cleo’s heart felt so full at the thought of everyone pulling to get Hunter back. “I don’t want them getting in trouble.”

“They won’t care if they do. They want Hunter back,” Daisy said. “We all do. It’s not the same without him.”

Cleo glanced at the empty chair in the corner where Hunter often sat, teasing her as she focused on some mindless report. He’d always been around to lighten the mood and help make even the dullest of admin tasks seem interesting.

“I’ve been thinking about resigning,” she blurted out.

“What? No way,” Daisy said. “You’re not going anywhere. We aren’t losing you, too.”

“Hunter covered for me. I was the one who gave the orders to capture the Siblet ship and bring the gabblefoot back here. I knew it was going against a direct order from High Command. I always tell you to follow orders, yet the one time I go out on a mission, I snap the rules in half.”

“You did what you thought was right,” Daisy said.

Cleo hiccupped to try to hide a sob that slipped out.

“Oh, honey. We’d have done the same thing. None of us would stand by and watch animals get tortured,” Sloane said. “If I’d been down there with Dallin, we’d have figured out a way to bring them back and mess with the Siblet.”

“I shouldn’t have done it.”