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Fuck.
She understood then exactly what this was. Loran was toying with them. Orion had been attracted to her volatility, her lack of giving a fuck, just like Loran said he would be. And she saw the way Orion’s eyes flashed when he heard that she could fly.
Now he got to see it firsthand.
Loran “helped” her along by orchestrating an attack she could thwart to impress their mark. Did it work?
The steadiness in her hands during the scrimmage disappeared now that the danger was over, the energy draining out of her all at once. She limply shut off the weapons and re-engaged the shields, just in case. She unstrapped as Bretton switched the control back over to his station.
“Good work,” Bretton muttered next to her. “But you’ve gotta learn how to read a fucking radar.”
Kaia slumped in her seat. She didn't have the energy for a comeback, and he wasn’t even wrong. She looked out at the strip of space visible through the visor. Warmth that numbed her limbs and hazed her vision crept into her limbs. It always happened after an intense flight, and this one had been on another level.
Loran told her once, on a rare occasion in which he felt talkative in bed, that the hours after a skirmish were miserable for him. The adrenaline would pump through him with no outlet. Kaia learned to stay away from him during those times. For her, it was the opposite. Of course, she never got into actual scrimmages in her busted-up ship, but there were some close calls—collections where she'd been impatient, gone into the ruins of a battle before the area was clear. She'd have to evade the remaining fighters or drones until Loran sent backup to help, and sometimes he liked to wait, to make her sweat a little.
But after the intensity of those chases, Kaia was always calmer than ever. The cockpit door hissed behind her, and Kaia sighed. She doubted there would be much calm in her future for now.
“You are a fucking beast,” Orion swiveled her chair around and from her seated position, Kaia came face to face with the hard-on pressing through his crotch.
Eww.
“Thanks,” she said wryly.
“I’m fucking pumped. Did you see that, Bretton? We kicked that asshole’s ass.”
Bretton grunted, flicking at some button on the dash.
Orion had both hands planted on the arms of her seat, bending over her with an erection that left little to the imagination. And being in the presence of an aroused uhyre was not Kaia’s idea of a celebration. How long until he snapped? She needed to fix that, and fast.
“Wanna get your dick outta my face any time soon, or are we just gonna stay like this?”
Insults should help.
Orion frowned, straightening with his arms crossed on his chest. “Don’t tell me flying circles around that asshole doesn’t get you a little wet, princess. Who was that anyway?”
The first rule of lying was to do as little of it as possible.Loran had told her that once.
“My old boss.” Kaia shoved a hand through her hair, forcing her fingers through the matted tangles.
“Must not be happy about you running off to a better life, huh?” Orion nodded solemnly.
“Something like that.”
“Seemed to give up on us pretty fast,” Bretton mused, fiddling with the controls.
His powers of perception could become a problem.
“He’s not bad. He’s just… possessive. And now he’s down a scav.”
She didn’t like Bretton’s noncommittal grunt, but Orion was already changing the subject. “I’m starving. Let's eat.”
CHAPTER12
KAIA
She didn’t understand how these men could eat so much and not explode. An hour after breakfast, which she declined on account of having already had her nutrigel pack that morning, they had a snack. And within another few hours, Orion said he was once again hungry.
Nutrigel was designed to satiate. If they were thinking logically, they’d just stick to that. Instead, she glimpsed them eating all kinds of weird shit in the small canteen abutting the passenger cabin.
