cover of the trees. Then on farther. He could hear the faint whirring of the drone now, but it was getting fainter rather than louder, and he slowed their pace. It sounded as though it was flying along the edge of the lake.
“I think we’re okay,” he said, halting and turning to face her. She was naked and she blinked back at him.
“That was a little abrupt,” she said. She bit on her lip, a worried frown on her face. “Are they looking for me?”
“I don’t know.” But at a guess, yes.
His gaze wandered over her. She was beautiful: her body slender, her breasts full, her nipples hard, and blood rushed to his groin. He couldn’t remember ever wanting a woman like this. They’d made love over and over again through the night, until his body was sore and still he hadn’t had enough of her.
He stepped closer, meaning to kiss her and more when he heard a rustle in the bushes behind her. As he stared into the trees, he caught a flash of sable fur. A glint of golden eyes in the shadows. He exhaled and closed his eyes for a second, bringing his body under control. Then he stepped back and tossed Destiny her clothes. “We need to go back.”
Disappointment flashed in her eyes, but then she nodded. “I know.”
Nothing like an early morning drone chase to get things back to normal.
He pulled his clothes on quickly.
“Thank you for last night,” she said. “Whatever happens, I’m glad we made love. It was beautiful.”
He opened his mouth to say—what? That they hadn’t made love? He didn’t make love, he had sex. But he closed it again because he didn’t want to dim the glow in her eyes. Not yet anyway. That would no doubt happen soon enough. He just nodded instead and bent down to tug his boots on.
When they got back to the tunnel entrance, Dylan was leaning against the wall, waiting for them, arms folded across his chest, one eyebrow raised.
Milo decided to get in first, before the wolf could make any stupid comments. He had that I’m-about-to make-a-stupid-comment look on his face. “So what’s happened?”
“I got back last night, and they were watching the shuttle. And not discreetly. At least ten men, plus Silas. I presume they were there to take us in whether we wanted to go or not. Luckily, I spotted them before they spotted me and got the hell out of there. But they could be monitoring the comm frequencies.”
“Crap.” Had they been seen in the tunnels? Was there surveillance they didn’t know about? But he didn’t think so.
“Likely, they’ve just gotten suspicious. Maybe we’re not toeing the line enough and Kinross wants to weed out any trouble, make an example of us before it escalates or gives the others ideas.”
“Could be,” Milo said, but there was another possibility. “Or maybe he’s looked into the Trakis Two—followed up on that red flag we found against Rico’s name. He’s prepared and he has a lot of information. And if he tried to talk to Rico…”
“Let’s hope that didn’t happen,” Dylan muttered.
Rico had somehow managed to do the five-hundred-year trip from Earth and still maintain secrecy. Milo could only presume that he’d had very little interaction with the rest of the fleet, because Rico had never been particularly good—actually fucking awful—at diplomacy. “Come inside,” he said. “And I’ll tell you what we found. It’s not good.”
Destiny touched his arm. “What’s happening? Is it because of me?”
Actually, he didn’t think so. “No. I think it’s about us,” he said. “But it looks like you have two house guests for a while.” Until they sorted this mess out, they weren’t going anywhere without the shuttle. They couldn’t even contact Rico.
A smile blossomed on her face. “That’s wonderful.”
“Not really. It’s actually totally fucked, but we’ll make the most of it.”
He put a hand at her waist and steered her around, left it there as they headed back to the ship, Dylan behind them. Once inside, Destiny took the lead and they followed her not to the bridge but to the room next door, some sort of galley-cum-meeting room. There was a table and chairs for six. Whoever had built this ship had definitely been humanoid. She went to a cabinet and pulled out a bag, brought it to the table. It contained what was left of the food they’d brought her. As they sat down, she emptied the contents onto the table and picked out a chocolate