AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She smirked and arched a brow with a wicked look. “Good try. I didn’t mean it like that. Plus, I know for a fact itisnight on Pi Vista.”
Which meant she knew where Rook was. Since Ghost Unit had kept their presence here as low key as possible, she had to have damn good intel or a connection to someone in the Oolun home. He leaned toward the latter based on what he was learning about her and was about to ask when a scraping sound drew his attention.
Tensing, he glanced both ways in the hall but didn’t see anyone. The staff should be down for the night and his team wouldn’t have followed him out here. He waited and one of the balcony doors rattled.
“What’s wrong, Rook?” Seraphina asked, sensing his distraction.
The door eased opened a small slit and in hopped a gray furry animal with furled ears, a button shaped pink nose and wide set eyes. A lepoos. Instead of answering, he turned the comm around. Seraphina’s response was instant. “Awww.”
He snorted at her predictable reaction and went to get the animal out. Gently nudging the lepoos with his booted toe, he waited until it cleared the balcony and hopped away. Once he confirmed there was no one else around, he locked the door and went back to his position against the wall.
Seraphina’s face still held softness from her glimpse of the lepoos. It shouldn’t be possible but the smile she wore and the gleam in her eyes touched him. She wasn’t Tempest in this moment. She wasn’t an assassin or a target he had to be on guard against. She was simply Seraphina, amused at the antics of a tiny creature.
The urge to protect her rose again. A pinching sensation clutched at the area around his heart and for a brief moment, he couldn’t suck in air at the thought of something happening to her. His next words burst forth without warning. “Don’t come for Jarad. Stay away from here.”
She shot him a knowing glance. Laughter sparkled in her gaze and a wide smile stretched her lips, inviting him to join in. “They have guards around him, huh? Maybe a whole team waiting for the moment to catch the big, bad woman out to hurt the poor, innocent crime boss.”
To his surprise, despite the fear taking hold of him, Rook chuckled. “Not so bad and not so innocent.”
Seraphina’s brows quirked. “Oh, really? Pretty sure you almost had your face carved open by someone.”
More humor rose to the surface. How did she make him feel this light? On a mission he was always composed, in control. As Team Leader, he had to be. Yet, talking with Seraphina put him at ease. Softened him in a way he wasn’t used to. Fighting to keep another grin from sprouting, he said, “That’s in the past.”
“Ahhh. I understand.”
He shifted his weight and adjusted his shoulders against the wall behind him. Being able to speak to Seraphina after worrying about her was a relief and he didn’t know what to do about the surfeit of emotions. Which probably explained why he admitted, “We know you didn’t kill Niehl Quai. The other shooter admitted he’d accepted a contract on him.”
“It’s no surprise to me that there’s probably a plethora of individuals throughout the Alliance who wanted Quai dead and Jarad for that matter,” she answered.
He barely muffled his groan. Back to that. “Leave Jarad to the professionals.”
“Like you?” Her lips twisted and her nose curled.
If she’d been standing in front of him, he would have grabbed her close and kissed her snarky mouth. Instead, he had to settle for staring at her true face and absorb the delight on her expression from sparring with him.
***
The mild banter withRook relaxed Seraphina further and she breathed a sigh of relief. Her panic attack had been unexpected and frightening but he’d talked her down and now she didn’t want to end the comm.
It had been ages since she simply talked with another, had light conversation or even shared a simple story. Rook had flipped his comm around to show her a lepoos, the native herbivore to Pi Vista and incidentally confirming his location.
She wouldn’t point that out but it spoke to the sweet core of the man behind the soldier.
“I’m trained for this. You’re in way over your head,” Rook said in addition to his warning for her to leave Jarad alone.
Not that she would. She muffled a smile and leaned closer to her comm. “You’re cute when you’re riled.”
He froze. “Riled?”
The background changed as he moved. Shadows deepened and his footsteps echoed as he appeared to go into a room and closed the door behind him.
“You think I’m...riled?” he repeated in a voice she couldn’t decipher.
Shivering from his dark tone, she licked her lips and met his stare. Her pulse jumped but out of pleasure, not fear. When he dropped his voice and used that gravelly texture it brought to mind the way he spoke during sex sharing. “Yes.”
His eyes narrowed. “I’m concerned for your safety.”
“You’re worried about Jarad’s safety,” she returned with a glare of her own.
