Zero's Heart - Mina Carter Page 0,57

He looked up at them.

They both nodded.

“Shipped out of Helios here a few times.” She pointed to another system nearby. “Purely military base.”

“Yeah, I went through Helios station a time or two,” Sparky admitted begrudgingly. “Before they shoved me into Mirax.”

“Okay, so yeah. This should be a walk in the park. Looks like a small moon base, mostly scientific staff,” she continued, pulling up the plans Eric had included. “Minimal resistance. We should be in and out without too much trouble.”

“Perfect. Skinny, plot us a course,” T’Raal ordered. “We’ll reconvene an hour out and go over the final battle plan. Until then, get some rack time.”

He looked up. “That means fuck off out my sight, you ‘orrible lot.”

There was laughter as the group around the table split up and went their separate ways. But, Zero was a little quiet as they left, pausing her with a big hand on her arm as soon as they were off the bridge.

“I don’t want you on the battle team,” he said abruptly, his face hard and expressionless.

“What? Don’t be daft,” she laughed, expecting him to be joking. But his expression didn’t change.

“We’re going into an unknown location with dubious intelligence. You’re already on SO13’s watchlist,” he insisted, still holding her arm. “What if they’ve used your brother to draw you out?”

She yanked her arm free. “What? By making up stories about experimentation on aliens? From a brother it’s known I don’t get along with? In case you hadn’t realized, Zero, I’m not exactly the white sheep in my family.”

His brows snapped together. “Yeah, well. I don’t like it. It doesn’t make sense. And you were injured. You could get hurt again.”

The anger she’d been doing such a good job of keeping under wraps flared, burning the walls she’d kept it contained behind to ashes in the blink of an eye.

“No. It doesn’t make sense. You know what else doesn’t make sense? Keeping one of the two people who actually have a fucking clue how human security forces work off the team. Yeah, you Warborne are good, but I served for years. I’m not some delicate little flower you need to protect. I’m more than capable of looking after myself… a fact I thought I’d already proven!”

“Yeah, and in doing so you almost crippled yourself!” he bellowed, the anger in his eyes matching hers. “I will not allow you to put yourself in danger again.”

Her eyebrows almost disappeared into her hair. “You? You won’t allow it? Tell me, when did what I do become your decision? When we fucked? Sorry, sunshine, but me letting you shove your cock inside me, good as it was, does not mean I cede all life decisions and control to you. Ever. Now, if you’ll get out of my way, I need to speak to Allen about this battle plan.”

Shaking with pent up rage, she shoved past him and marched away up the corridor before she could do something she regretted.

Like burst into tears over an asshole man.

Eris didn’t return to their quarters that night.

Grumbling under his breath about women and their moods, Zero had gotten ready for bed and tried to sleep. He wasn’t too worried about her going and getting herself into trouble. The Sprite was a small ship and everyone on board knew she was with him.

She’d probably gone to Red, he reasoned. Who would have offered Eris the spare bunk in her room until she’d calmed down enough to see sense. There was no way she should be heading into combat, not after the kind of major treatment she’d had. He was surprised Talent hadn’t raised an objection in the briefing. But… he was still a relatively new member of the crew. Probably didn’t want to rock the boat.

He sighed and looked at the underside of the bunk above. The Sprite had originally been a troop carrier, so each room had two bunks. Most of the crew used the extra for storage. There were forty-eight rivets in it, he noted idly.

Yeah… Eris would be fine. She’d sleep and then realize he was right. She should leave the combat to him and the Warborne, all of whom were hardier races than humanity. Sparky… well, he liked the human, but the guy was quite frankly insane. If Sparky wanted to hurl himself headlong into danger at the drop of a hat, Zero couldn’t do anything about it. The man wasn’t Zero’s responsibility.

“When we fucked? Sorry, sunshine, but me letting you shove your cock inside me, good as