was always meant to be mine. I’d been hers from the first rotation we met.
Some of my brothers were enjoying spirits after dinner and letting off some steam after grueling training. I’d spent much of the last two rotations in shooter drills, since I was the best shot in the whole clavas. I hadn’t slept last night, and instead spent the dark yoras working on the feeder. The missed sleep had been worth it to see the look on Justine’s face and hear her sincere thank you. As tired as I was while I trudged my way to my hut, I also smiled to myself, because yeah, the work had been worth it.
I pushed open my door and kicked off my boots. My hut was less a home and more of a control center. It was where I monitored what my eyes were seeing along our borders—strategically placed lenses which detected motion and heat signatures. A small comm I kept on my belt alerted me to any unusual readings.
I sat down in front of my wall of screens, leaning back in my chair as the darkness descended on our planet. Other than a few roaming antella and pivar pack scouts, there wasn’t much to see. I puttered around with the control settings on my large switchboard and checked my fuel settings which kept all my tech up and running. Confident all was well, I let my head fall back on the chair, so I faced the ceiling.
My knee still tingled where Justine touched it, and my cock remained hard in my hands. I ignored it, fantasizing about the day I’d sink into my mate’s sweet heat. When Justine’s pretty eyes would darken with lust and she’d whisper my name in her husky voice. Nero.
I fell asleep with her name on my lips.
Pounding on my door woke me up out of a dead sleep and I jerked from my chair, nearly toppling the whole thing over. Gaining my feet under me, I scrubbed my hands over my face. Squinting at the position of the sun’s rays through my window, I estimated it was about mid-morning. Fleck, I’d slept longer than I’d meant to. And that was probably Xavy or Sax wondering where I was.
I opened the door, expecting the blue face of a Drix warrior only to find the big brown eyes of the little human I couldn’t stop thinking about. Or maybe I was still dreaming. “Justine?”
“That’s me,” she held up a wrapped leaf bundle. “I brought you breakfast.”
I stared at her, still unsure what was happening. Justine was delivering me food? What kind of alternate universe did I wake up in?
“Breakfast?”
“Yeah. Between you and me though? It’s not that tasty. Tabitha tried some weird combination of spices in the taranta eggs, but Xavy threatened dismemberment if we made her upset, so we all stuffed it down and pretended it was great. I fed mine to Luna when Tab wasn’t looking. I brought you some, but don’t feel obligated to eat them. You can fill up on the fruit and biscuits. I made the sweet butter, so it’s pretty rad, if I do say so myself. Anyway, it’s all in there.” She held up a steaming mug. “Here’s some pula too.”
I’d never heard Justine talk this much. “Um. Thank you.” I took the bundle from her hands.
She didn’t leave. In fact, she remained standing in front of me expectantly. “Can I come in?”
Seriously, this was flecking weird. “You want to come in?”
“Yeah, that’s what I asked, wasn’t it?”
I took a step back and she brushed past me. Then I noticed a leather wrapped bundle strapped to her back. “Going somewhere?”
But she wasn’t paying attention to me anymore. Her attention was fully focused on the screens that took up two entire walls in my hut. She reverently touched the control panel, her fingers dancing just above the controls, and I was about to order her away from the important buttons when she withdrew her hands herself and clasped them at her back. Her head tilted left and right to take in my pride and joy. “Wow,” she whispered. “I knew you were the tech guy, but this is just … beyond.”
I walked over to my small table where I often ate and unwrapped the leaf. The scent of fresh, warm biscuits made my stomach rumble. I hadn’t realized how hungry I was, so I sat down and dug in as Justine continued to snoop around my room. She was right, the