Chapter 41
The door chimed again. For the third time in three minutes.
Wraith lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling like it owed her money. She glanced at the door with a hint of a sneer.
Ignored it.
It slid open on its own thirty seconds later.
“Command override. Cute.” She didn’t look at Helios. Refused to turn her head.
“I came to find out whether you were done being childish.”
“Nope.”
“Can I come in?”
“I think ignoring my door answered that.”
She could picture him closing his eyes, counting to ten. Good luck to him. There was nothing he could say that—
“Please, Wraith?”
Fuck.
She made him wait. At count one-oh-three, she sat up, shot him a glare, and muttered, “Ugh, fine. But we are not cuddling.”
Another mental image I didn’t need right now. Thanks.
Even his thoughts were sarcastic. She was bringing out the worst in him. Again.
They’d butted heads the entire trip out of the Void to real space. Back on the Eventide, she’d gone from stony silence to fully locking herself in her quarters two days ago.
As he crossed the threshold, he pulled a protein bar out of his pocket and tossed it to her. She snatched it from the air. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
He sat at her desk and waited until she’d taken a bite before speaking, “You know I had to submit the report on Phantom and the rest. It’s literally my job.”
Her look was withering, and she didn’t bother to swallow before saying, “Get out.”
He raised his hands. “Not the best start. Right. But it’s context. For what comes next.”
She set the half-eaten bar down on the bed next to her and met his gaze. “If you’re going to tell me we have to go after them, I’m going to tell you to go fuck yourself.”
His eye twitched, and keeping his voice light was more of a struggle than he’d care to consider. “You’ve already told me to do that this week. Twice. Maybe come up with something a bit more creative.”
“Don’t ask for something you’re not prepared to handle.”
“Don’t alienate the one person standing between you and permanent termination.” The words were out before he could stop them.
Shit.
Didn’t mean to say that… out loud.
Wraith’s eyes widened and Kael hoped she’d lash out. A physical bout would go a long way to calming his nerves.
But she smiled, shifted to her hands and knees, and crawled across the bed towards him.
He knew she was baiting him. Still couldn’t breathe.
“Go ahead,” she whispered, close enough that he could feel her breath on his skin. “Terminate me. I dare you.”
Wraith watched his pupils dilate. Was near enough to catch the delicious spike of pure male panic.
And unfortunately, just close enough to catch a flicker of emotional feedback.
He wasn’t reaching, not quite.
And she had no intention of showing him how to do it.
But there was an echo—part pain, part resignation.
Void damn it all.
She wasn’t ready to stop being mad at him. Might never be ready, she admitted. Because him filing a SID report on Elijah and Seori was a betrayal that stung worse than… anything.
She pushed that thought down.
Okay, she could back off on the childishness, just a little.
Kael shifted to follow her as she leaned back—perhaps a little slower than necessary.
Her lip twitched.
“Okay, Major, why are you really here?”
She was going to kill him. It was inevitable. He just had to accept it.
Kael ran a hand over his face, trying to gather his fractured thoughts.
Why was he here?
For a second, the Void hummed in his veins, its song a question and an invitation.
Not happening, he thought at it.
The hum fell quiet.
Rational thought resurfaced.
“They denied it,” he told her. “All of it. Even with the data Phantom sent through. Claimed it was manufactured.”
Her look was pitying, merciless. “Were you really expecting anything else?”
“I was expecting them to be less ham-handed about it.”
Wraith blinked.
Finally! A crack in her shield.
“They sent back a full assessment less than a day after I filed my After Action Report. Now, under normal circumstances, you might get an assessment back in weeks. If it’s urgent and there’s a reason for you to know.”
Kael stood up and started pacing. He could only manage three steps forward and back, but he had to move.
“But when an AAR includes corruption, a potential inside job, or a rogue military wing? Sure, it’s urgent, but they’re going to take their time to check everything. Twice. And then they sure as fuck won’t be sending it anyone below the Admiralty.”
He turned to Wraith, met her gaze.
“I should have been summoned for an in-person debrief. Or killed. Not given an assessment report that included incidents that weren’t even in my initial report.”
Wraith stared at him, mouth hanging open.
He’d have laughed if he weren’t so Void-damned angry.
“You know,” he said finally, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you speechless.”
“You believed him,” she whispered. Shut her mouth.
“No. You believed him. I believed you.” He shrugged, “Then I verified.”
Wraith opened her mouth. Closed it again.
“Take your time, Captain.”
Considered violence.
Regretfully put it aside as her thoughts coalesced enough to unclench her fists and ask Helios the most important question: “Have they tried to kill you yet?”
“Twice.”
He glanced down at her, “I’ll tell you all about it if you help me figure out what the fuck to do next.”