would be a pity, wouldn’t it?”
None of them had a chance to reply because Ella appeared and stood behind Raze, rubbing his shoulders as she announced, “Dinner is ready.”
Raze took one of her hands and kissed it before standing and taking his place next to her. While the other men joined their mates, Cipher walked to Brook’s side. Ella directed Vicious to the seat of honor at her right and Brook to the seat on Raze’s right. The others filled in the spaces as they liked. Wanting to make sure Brook was comfortable, he took the seat to her right. She smiled at him, and he sensed that she had settled in nicely with the other mates.
“So, no worries about my cooking skills,” Ella joked as she sat down at the head of the table. “I catered so you’re all safe from food poisoning and having to chuck the burned bits under your chairs.”
Laughter rounded the table, and they began to serve themselves family style. Ever the social butterfly, Ella kept the conversation light and funny. As Brook was drawn into conversation with Naya and Dizzy, he looked around the table and felt such gratitude for his friends and their willingness to welcome his mate.
Vicious frowned and glanced at his watch. “Raze, may I use your comm unit?”
“Of course.” Raze gestured to the room he used as an office. “There’s more privacy in there.”
Vicious nodded. “Excuse me.”
Not letting the general’s abrupt departure dampen the mood, Ella said, “So, we received some rather good news today.”
“Oh?” Dizzy grinned at Ella as if she already knew what was coming.
“Not that news,” Ella said, pinning Dizzy in place with a look. She turned to Naya. “Do you want to tell them?”
Naya smiled. “Ella and I are going into business together. Today, we were given an alcohol import permit!”
“We are going to be the sole importer of beer, wine and spirits from Calyx to the fleet!” Ella wiggled in her seat and clapped her hands. “Go us!”
Amid the laughter and congratulations, Naya explained their business plan. “Ella has the contacts in the alcohol industry, and I already have the import logistics down with my shop. We decided to merge and bring the very best that our planet has to offer to the restaurants, bars, shops and clubs up here.”
“When the skyport opens, we have a five-year exclusive permit for supplying every business on the port with alcohol.”
Cipher didn’t have to be a genius at math to figure out how much money the two women stood to make on their venture. Ella would have no problem funding all of her charitable works, and Naya would be able to establish the business empire she wanted to build.
“What did I miss?” Vicious asked as he returned to the table.
“Naya and Ella announced their liquor business,” Menace explained as he gazed adoringly at his mate. After all the two had been through, Cipher was so glad to see them happy.
“Oh! Did your license come through today?” Vicious reached for his glass. “Orion mentioned that he had put in a good word for the two of you with the planning council.”
“That’s shocking to hear,” Ella muttered. “During our meeting, he did nothing but scowl and ask questions that made us feel doomed.”
Vicious shook his head as he sipped his drink. “That’s just his default setting. Don’t take it personally.”
“Maybe he needs a reboot,” Naya suggested wryly. “If ever there was a man on this ship who needed a wife…”
“He had one,” Hallie remarked offhandedly in between bites.
Vicious snapped his attention to his wife. “Says who?”
“Says him,” she answered. “He told me himself.”
“When?”
“At your birthday dinner,” she said, setting down her fork. “You had wandered off to talk to someone, and he sat down beside me and said that he missed having a woman look at him the way I look at you.” She seemed a little embarrassed as she said, “I think he’d had too much to drink. When I asked him about the woman who had looked at him like that, he told me she had been dead for more than twenty years. Apparently they were teenage sweethearts, but she died before their first anniversary.”
Vicious stared at his wife with an expression of wonder. “Terror was right. You would be an incredible interrogator. Everyone just spills their secrets around you.”
“Not everyone,” she said with a frown. “Especially not Terror.”
Vicious sighed and sat back in his chair. “That’s why I needed your comm unit, Raze.” He gestured to his