be a freeloader in your home for the next moon cycle. I need to keep busy. How about…” She glanced around and grimaced. “Can I stay here as your housekeeper? I can work for you guys, cleaning and organizing your house, in exchange for somewhere to live and eat. I just need somewhere to hide for one moon cycle and then all of this will be cleared up. I think if I remain inside and hidden it will be safe for you.”
“The whole colony knows she’s here,” Scar pointed out.
“Yes, but they know her as Zayzon’s future human Bride,” Chief responded. “No one knows her actual name or any specifics about her. If she remains hidden this will stay the same. And none of us will tell them your name.”
“I don’t understand why she needs to be our housekeeper,” Trunk said. “This domicile doesn’t need to be cleaned.”
His Bride’s jaw dropped. “Of course it does. This place is a huge mess.”
“What is she talking about?”
“I don’t know.”
“Hook left and never brings his Bride over here. There must be something wrong with the compound. They did give us the most remote quarters on the colony. I think we’re just used to it now.”
“Heh.”
“Okay,” Chief answered. “You can clean our domicile. This is fine.”
Lila smiled, looking genuinely pleased at the idea. “I promise I won’t do anything you won’t like. I actually have lots of experience with this. I have organized my entire home, as well as the homes and quarters of family and staff. I need to keep busy this moon cycle or I’ll lose my mind.”
“Staff? You have staff?” Scar asked.
She frowned and didn’t respond to this either.
“You do not need to acquire a job in order to stay where you belong,” Zayzon groused.
“Zayzon, I’m not your mate. I’m not your Bride. I’m just a human in need of a favor—a place to hide. You need to let me give something to you in return for what you’re all doing for me.”
He blew out a breath and gave her a curt nod.
“I’m worried though. I was hoping that my presence here would remain secret, but now they know I’m here because of the implant and your proposal.”
“No one is going to alert New Earth to your location,” Chief said. “They consider you Xylan now. Alerting New Earth or anyone else is not needed. Also, you’ve been entered into the database as Lila of One.”
“Oh, good. That’s perfect. I’ll get started on organizing this place tomorrow.”
“Okay, but don’t touch any of my food,” Cannibal declared.
His Bride barked out a laugh. “I won’t touch your food. I promise.”
8
Finally, after lunch Zayzon had enough of his brother’s prying and his female’s non-answers. He scooped Lila into his arms and carried her back to their room.
“Wait,” she yelled out. “Get Max.”
He stopped. “Max?”
“The tiny cleaning bot. His name is Max. You can’t just leave him in the front room. This isn’t his normally programmed location. He’ll be confused.”
Zayzon grimaced and turned, trying to look for this damn bot.
And then Heavy stepped forward and handed the little bot over to his Bride. “Here it is,” he rumbled. “I like the name.” He winked at her.
She gave his brother a wide smile of gratitude.
Grr. Zayzon needed some sleep. His brothers needed sleep too. Even his Bride needed rest after her late-night arrival. “I worked a double yesterday,” he said as he strode down the hall with both Bride and bot in his arms. “And I have to work again first thing tomorrow at sunrise. I need a nap before dinner, and you need rest too.”
“Okay,” she breathed.
He loved having her this close. When he’d reached adulthood, he’d found ways to begin casually scenting all of the unmated females on Timbur, without being obvious. Never had his senses lit up like this. None of the females on the colony were his Bride. He’d finally decided “fuck it,” he wasn’t going to mate because he didn’t want to bother searching off planet. He’d taken himself off the mating database because he was tired with dealing with the flood of requests for his hand—some respectful and some downright stalkerish. And there’d been too much going on these last few years, with the death of his parents and the banishment of his brother, and the Fever Brothers’ demotion. He shook his head, bemused at how strongly he’d felt that he wasn’t going to ever find his Bride and how he’d never, ever want to mate with a human, as his