the loop. And if Albrecht even thinks about going back on his word, you know we’ll bust you out.”
Loch sighed and ran a hand over his head. “Rhys is right; your father better not try any shit. And I suppose I won’t mind sharing a ship with these two again.”
“You don’t know how much your support means to me,” I said. I hugged each of them. “I’m going to miss you. I will try to visit even before I get my ship back.”
Rhys and Veronica left a little while later. They were trying to convert back to local time and it was already deep into the night. Loch stayed but we both knew our time was limited.
I signed the contract and sent it to Father, along with a note that I would arrive tomorrow, barring any trouble. Postponing my departure would just make it harder. Besides, the sooner I left, the sooner I could return.
I found Loch on the flight deck, going through the maintenance records for the ship. “Find anything interesting?” I asked.
“Just ensuring everything is ready for you,” he said. “I know it’s only one jump, but I won’t be there if anything goes wrong. It’s making me crazy.”
I bent down and pressed a kiss to his neck. “How about I distract you?”
He made a sound low in his chest. “I could be persuaded,” he said.
I swung his chair away from the console and straddled his lap, facing him. Then, with a grin, I proceeded to show him just how persuasive I could be.
Chapter 26
The next morning I found Loch back on the flight deck, staring moodily into a steaming cup of coffee. As far as I could tell, neither of us had slept well.
Loch met my gaze and his jaw clenched. He looked like a man getting ready to impart bad news. Nervousness settled into my belly as I imagined what he was going to say. Had he decided I was too much trouble for a relationship after all? What if this was truly goodbye?
“I’m going with you,” he said, his voice hard.
I blinked, sure I’d heard him wrong.
“If you won’t take me on Polaris, I’ll follow on my own. But either way, I’m going with you. I know it’s not safe and I don’t care.”
Relief and joy surprised a laugh out of me. “Okay,” I said.
Now he was the one who looked blindsided. “You’re going to agree, just like that?”
“Yes. In fact, I was going to ask you to come. I couldn’t sleep last night, so I spent the night thinking. I have a plan, but it’s dangerous.”
His smirk was sharp enough to cut. “I’m dangerous,” he said. “It’s time the Consortium figured that out firsthand.”
I shook my head. “If you go in as a threat, they’ll treat you like one and eliminate you. This is my area of expertise. You have to be willing to trust me and follow my lead, even when it seems what I’m doing is counterintuitive.”
I held my breath as his eyes raked over my face. Finally, he sighed and nodded. “I’ll defer to your expertise. But if things get dicey, I’ll get us out by whatever means necessary. Let’s hear your plan.”
“I’ll bring you with me as my bodyguard. Thanks to the contract with Father, I can get you diplomatic immunity. It won’t prevent the other Houses from attempting to capture you if they realize who you truly are, but it will give you some cover. Do you have a secondary identity chip and a clean identity?”
Loch nodded. “I contacted Rhys this morning to make sure it was still good.”
“That will make things easier. I’m going to have to let my sister Bianca know your real identity because I need her help. We’ll use your secondary identity for everyone else.” I sighed. “It’s still going to be risky. It would be much safer for you to stay here.”
“I’m going. And going as your bodyguard is a lot less risky than sneaking in, which was my other plan.”
I stared. “You’re kidding, right?”
His grin did not reassure me.
I sent Bianca a priority message while we waited for a jump point. I’d need her help as soon as I landed, so it was better to give her at least a little warning. Loch had clipped into the navigator’s chair while I wrote the message. I slid into the captain’s chair and tried to ignore my nerves.
After we received the jump point, I triggered the hangar’s roof door to open, then let Polaris take