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A soldier like him. What the fuck did that even mean? When he showed up at administration and couldn’t get a more detailed answer, he may have smashed a window and kicked in a door on his way out.
The memory of that time washed over him in a disappointing wave. All his dreams shattered with one comm call. And now Bastien expected him to believe things had changed?
“The other members who join this specialized team will be like you. Renegades and former grads from the academy.”
The answer caused Rook to let out a rich laugh. He dropped to his bed and sat hunched over, staring at his bare feet. “So, this is to be a misfit bunch of degenerates? Forgive me if it feels like you’re already setting me up for failure. I’ll decline. Thanks, but no thanks.”
He prepared to end the call again when Bastien sneered, “You are passing up the one chance you’ve always wanted because of pride. That wasn’t something noted in your file. Better to have it clear now, I guess.”
An instant denial rose but he choked it back. His face heated and the temper mentioned repeatedly in his records almost took over. Drawing in a deep breath, he said, “You know what? I’ll bite. How do I get more information?”
It wasn’t hard to hear the pleased tone in the next words. “I thought you’d never ask.”
***
“This doesn’t feel rightto me,” Seraphina said, pressing a hand to her belly to still the nervous quivers.
“You have to do whatever it takes to survive, Fina. This is hardly a big deal.”
“I know, but...” she broke off the thought and sighed.
Her best friend, Coco, faced her and arched a dark brow. “But what?”
Seraphina couldn’t put into words her rising concern. They’d done this same gimmick before with no problem except today she couldn’t settle. Her nerves jangled and her stomach tipped with nausea. “Something doesn’tfeelright.”
Coco gripped Seraphina’s forearm and squeezed. Her green eyes implored. “We score this and we can take a long break. Go to one of those faux designed beach places and listen to the sound of the ocean.”
Seraphina liked the ocean. The slosh of waves calmed her and reminded her of her home world. “Don’t we have enough for that now?”
They’d hit two other places this week and had credits aplenty.
Flashing her familiar cocky smile, Coco bumped hips with her. “Last one for the night. Promise, Fina.”
Maybe her friend was right. Picking the pockets of rich people who wouldn’t notice wasn’tthatbad a crime. If they got another high limit credit chip, they could eat for weeks—months and rent a place to stay instead of sleeping in the alcoves outside the city buildings with a knife clutched in hand to ward off the unsavory.
She sighed once more and sucked in a breath. “Alright.”
Seraphina owed Coco a debt that could never be paid. If not for her friend, she wouldn’t have survived being adrift and alone. They’d met in a group home for young children with no families, both fearful of the day they’d be kicked out to survive on their own. Coco had been in the home as an infant after being found abandoned in a mining camp.
Seraphina’s parents had died in a fire that wiped out their whole expedition team. Later, a freak storm had taken out the majority of their remaining colony members. At twelve, she’d felt as if her whole world had ended. The others at the home would have destroyed her. Almost had. Two girls in particular had cornered Seraphina on her second day there.
Grief a heavy cloud in her mind, she’d gone to the bathroom to wash her face. Sahar and Morga followed her and locked the door behind them. The girls had jeered and yelled insults on her first day, but Seraphina didn’t pay much attention at the time. She’d lost her family and that was bigger than any names someone called her.
Sahar struck first. A fist to Seraphina’s face sent her spinning toward the floor in shock. Morga followed up with a booted foot to Seraphina’s midsection. Curled in a ball as they took turns beating her, she thought she’d die on the floor of that bathroom.
Only Coco had kicked the door in, calm as you please for a cocky ten year old. She charged the other girls with a length of metal in hand and swung left and right. Sahar and Morga tried to flee her blows but Coco was on a mission and had trapped them in a corner until they were down, bleeding and crying.
Seraphina thought she was next and prepared for the blow, arms up over her head. Instead, Coco kneeled beside her and said in her twangy accent, “Get up, new girl. You gotta lot to learn.”
Seraphina took the hand extended to her, wincing as her side twinged in pain. True to her word, Coco taught Seraphina the ins and outs of surviving in a home where the caretakers turned a blind eye to all but the most egregious offenses.
Over the years, it felt like Coco was the older of the two, her experience and fiery personality blazing as bright as her green eyes.
“You got this. Don’t get scared now. I can see us on those beaches already, drink in hand. Can’t you?” Coco winked.
“Yeah.” Doubt still roiling in her gut, Seraphina squared her shoulders and lifted her chin. A moment of focus and the morph slid over her body. Her small breasts swelled to huge proportions, pulling at the snug top. Her hips thickened and the loose pants grew close fitting.
The changes to her face were more dramatic. The bridge of her nose enlarged, her eyes narrowed, thinning her vision of the area around them. Her cheeks tugged and elongated, pinching at the muscles in her chin.
