“Did you forget about me?” she demands, crossing her arms.
My neon pink eyes narrow. I am not in the mood to deal with her superiority.
“I’m Captain Lara Barnes,” she snaps. “You’re supposed to see me around, remember? Where were you?”
I stiffen and straighten. She’s taller than a lot of the females here, but I’m still an entire foot taller than she is. “You are not my only charge,” I snap right back.
The look she levels at me tells me that she is judging me and finding me lacking, but I don’t care what she thinks of me. The only opinion that matters to me is Callie’s, and that’s a major issue. Ovian. It should only matter what the overlord thinks of me, what he demands of me, but no. I had to ovian that all up.
“For the duration of my visit here,” the captain says, her tone icy, “you are to stay by my side. Do you understand?”
My lips curl into a terrible scowl. “That will not be the case.”
“Why not?” she demands, hands on hips. I do not appreciate her tone at all.
“I will not be by your side at night,” I say smugly, “not even if you begged me to.”
As soon as the words leave my mouth, I regret them, but I cannot take them back, and I will not deny that there is truth to them. The captain is off-limits to me. Every female should be, Callie included.
“Do not worry,” she all but coos. “I wouldn’t dream of asking you to join me in bed. All I demand of you—that’s right, demand—is that you do your duty. That isn’t too much to ask, or do Novans not pride themselves on keeping their word? I was assured by Overlord Nestrol that you would cooperate with my mission. Do you mean to tell me that you refuse to do as your overlord commands of you?”
I bare my teeth, feeling feral, almost animalistic. She does not react at all, and I’m glad because it’s a move born of frustration rather than wanting to elicit fear or any other sort of reaction.
“Well?” she bites out. “Are you going to do what is necessary?”
“I am not to take orders from you,” I snap.
She lifts her eyebrows. “Overlord Nestrol assured me that you would—”
“I brought you here,” I grumble, even though it’s not strictly the truth.
“The driver did,” she counters.
She’s being a bit ridiculous, but she seems to be almost as on edge as I am. Did something happen? If something did, if it gets back to the overlord…
I really need to start doing the jobs I’m assigned, but I’m so messed up in the head right now that I barely know what to do. Which is ridiculous. I should listen to my overlord and only do what he orders me to do.
But that’s not what I want to do. It doesn’t feel right.
The captain says nothing else, so I break the silence.
“Didn’t you say that you didn’t want me around when you spoke with the females?” I point out, referring to one of the few topics we touched on during the ride here.
"Yes, but first, I need the women," she protests.
“Ah.” I can’t help smirking. “Are you afraid of interrupting?”
She tilts her head to the side, her face revealing nothing at all. I can’t tell if she is embarrassed by the idea or not. Interesting. She’s not one to take matters lightly, that’s for sure, but she’s also not going to be pushed around. She’ll stand her ground. If a Novan is to try to get with her, she won’t have it. It wouldn’t take a breeder to tame her, that’s for sure.
But despite admiring her strength, I do not want to have her for myself. No, seeing her strength only reminds me of Callie’s vulnerability all the more.
No, I can’t be Callie’s guard. I can’t be there for her. I don’t want to hurt her, and if I continue down this path, that is exactly what will happen.
“Wouldn’t you hate to be interrupted?” she asks smoothly, her words dripping with sweetness. “But, wait, you aren’t a breeder, isn’t that right? So you don’t have to worry about that, but if you were, I’m sure you would rather… finish without someone knocking on the door and spoiling the moment.”
I bare my teeth again. “For someone who claims she wants to do her job, you’re standing around talking a fair amount.”
“Considering that my job is to talk…” She smiles suddenly and suppresses a sigh. “Adir, forgive me. Maybe we’ve gotten off to the wrong foot.”
My eyebrows furrow. “The wrong foot.”
I look down at my feet, and I get the feeling the captain is suppressing a laugh.
Confused, I lift my gaze to meet hers. “Explain.”
She hesitates as if considering something before stating, "We need to start over. We started our relationship badly."
“Relationship?” My eyebrows lift. She can’t possibly mean a relationship. Not a real one.
She continues to smile. “Not sexual. Our working relationship.”
I purse my lips, considering her words. A working relationship. That I should be able to handle, but the question is, can I bring myself to only have a working relationship with Callie?
I don’t think I can.
But I must. I have to do everything in my power so that she can be happy. Which brings me back to figuring out a way for me to be able to forget about her.
But how?
Finally, I nod. “I suppose so. I thought you were capable of handling matters by yourself.”
She grits her teeth and exhales slowly. “I can handle things… once the women are away from the men.”
“Then I suppose you should start to get to work.”
Without hesitating, I march over to the nearest door and bang on it. After a long moment, the door opens, revealing a naked Novan.
"Out," I say. "Woman, you're requested, so you might want to put your dress back on."
Behind me, the captain sighs.
I’m doing what she wants. Why is she annoyed?
After a moment, she enters the
