No. That’s ridiculous. Callie is the only woman for me, which means I can have no woman at all.
I eye the captain as she leaves the room. At her nod, I step up to the next door, hand raised, poised to knock when a decidedly loud moan comes from the room.
“Don’t!” she calls.
I slowly lower my hand and glance over my shoulder at her, my confusion plain. “You wish to talk to her.”
“Yes, but…”
“Do you want to wait until she is done fucking? Or do you want to move on?”
“Move on,” she says in a rush.
Ah, so she is a bit embarrassed after all. I can understand that.
But the next two doors… the occupants are also having sex.
“Are you sure you want to keep moving on?” I ask.
“Yes,” she says testily.
“What if they’re all busy fucking?”
She grits her teeth and says nothing.
Two more doors and we finally arrive outside a quiet room. I lift my hand, hesitate, and look at the captain, who nods, and I knock.
The door opens slowly. A young woman, maybe early twenties, stands there. Her eyes are wide as she takes in me.
“You’re new,” she whispers.
I grunt and step to the side to reveal the captain. The woman’s eyes widen.
“Can I come in?” the captain asks.
This time around, the captain is in the room much longer than before, and I can’t help myself. I leave.
Even though I hate myself, I find myself a female on another floor who isn’t busy. I just want to talk to her, to try and see if I can become friends with one, so that I can try to work on being just friends with Callie, but she doesn’t seem to understand that at all. She keeps running her fingers through my hair, but that is the most I will allow. Even though I’ve asked for her name, she is being coy and won’t answer. As if I’ll find that mysterious and want to come back again. No. Not at all. Maybe another female would be better, but it seems almost pointless.
My chip chirps, and I jerk back. Her eyes widen, and she tries to move closer to me, but I brush her away and turn my back to her.
It’s Captain Stox.
“Come to the second floor of the breeding quarters,” he snaps as soon as I answer, and he ends the call before I can respond.
Without a word, I leave her behind. I’m still fixing my hair as I approach not just Captain Stox but Captain Lara Barnes as well.
“Adir, is it true that you’re supposed to be helping Lara here?” Captain Stox askes, his tone mostly neutral.
My gaze flickers toward Lara before returning to Stox. “Yes, but—”
“But what?” he snaps. “You have your duty. Tend to it. You are to assist her in any way that you can, to do anything that she asks of you.”
His hands are curling into fists. Interesting. Yes, yes, I could see the two captains making quite a pair. They might argue and fight a bit, though. They are a bit similar in personality, but maybe that could work.
“I have other—”
“No, Adir. You do not have other duties. For the duration of her time here, you will assist Captain Barnes with whatever she needs,” he admonishes. “Do you understand?”
“I understand,” I say dully.
He glowers at me, clearly not appreciating my tone in the slightest. “Why do you keep disappearing?”
“To perform duties that I apparently will not need to perform any longer,” I say, my tone still dry.
Stox’s face reveals his anger, and I get the impression he wants to punch me. He’s frustrated with me. I get it. Honestly, if I were the captains, I would be frustrated too, but I’m frustrated too. I’m agitated and annoyed and so very exasperated. What am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to leave Callie?
Maybe the only way is to get her to hate me. Avoid her at all costs. If she hates me, she won’t want to be with me, and maybe she’ll turn to a breeder, and maybe he’ll treat her right, and—
No. That’s not what I want.
But it’s not about me and my wants.
Stox marches over to me and stares down at me. He only has a few inches on me, and he's trying to make each one of them count.
“You will treat Captain Barnes as if she is the overlord. You will attend to her and assist her, or you will be reassigned to another duty entirely. You will be stripped of your guardship.”
“She spends a long time in each room,” I protest. “I can attend to other tasks while—”
“Her mission here is more important than any task you might be doing. You have one hour to give these tasks over to another guard, and then, you will assist Lara however she needs you. Go.”
I grit my teeth. “Yes, Captain Stox. Whatever you say.”
“No. Whatever Captain Barnes says.”
I nod to him and then to Lara before turning on the balls of my feet and marching back to the stairwell.
Lara says nothing.
Before I reach the stairs, I overhear the captain ask, “It is Captain Barnes, isn’t it? Or Captain Lara? I’ve spoken with a few of the other officials from Earth, and I believe they use the second name with their titles.”
I snort. Yes, it’s quite clear that Stox has it bad for Lara. Will she tolerate him? What will the overlord think? I have a feeling the overlord will be far more lenient with a captain
