“I will speak for you,” I told him, and he subsided.
I surveyed the rest of the room, then gestured to the captain’s son.
“How many of you want to be included on our mission to return this cub to his father?”
I had half expected the room to erupt into shouts. Instead, I received a quiet show of hands, backed by angry determination. I glanced up at Mack.
“We’re gonna need Doc.”
“Yup. I’ll ask him to assemble a team while we eat. Looks like it’s gonna be another long day.”
25—Return to Alpha 9
It was a long day, but not as long as the days that followed as we did our best to get the Shady Marie to haul her ass back across the systems to Alpha 9. There was training, and trust exercises, and recording everyone’s skills and attributes. Doc’s team was run ragged—but that didn’t mean he forgot about me.
Oh, no. He took the time to chase me down, and make sure my ribs were healing to order—and then he took Mack aside, and made sure his legs were mending according to schedule. I wanted to laugh, but one look at Mack’s face warned me against it. We spent time on the mats, and time on the range... and what had passed between us when he’d gotten me back aboard the ship faded.
...Until we were coming into the Alpha 9 system.
I was standing on the observation deck studying the station and its beanstalk tether, when Mack came in behind me. He moved with enough deliberate sound that I knew I was no longer alone—which was more courtesy than Tens had given me. Him I only noticed when I turned my head to look at Mack and discovered Tens standing at a point out of range of my peripheral.
Still, he hadn’t bothered me, either, so maybe the man had just wanted to be alone, too. Tens cocked his head, acknowledging us with a slight nod, before leaving the room.
“I’m not the only one who wants a bit of privacy,” he said, closing the door behind him—and I swear I heard the locks engage.
Mack had turned to watch him go, his eyebrows rising as the door closed.
I watched him stare a moment longer, and then blink. There was no point in drawing it out.
“So,” I said, “You wanted to be alone?”
He swung his head towards me, his eyes dark, his face brooding.
“That’s not what he said.”
I waited. He was right, that wasn’t what Tens had said, but I wanted to hear what Mack had to say.
“You’re a piece of work, you know that?”
I crossed my arms, half-turning away from the view, and feeling uncharacteristically unsettled and angry.
“Get to the point.”
“I wanted some privacy...with you.”
My mouth went dry, and fear shot through me. I backed up a step, and hit the glassteel window.
Mack stilled.
“You okay, girl?”
I leant on the window, and closed my eyes. He was standing two meters away and he was still far too close. I took a breath, and he waited until I opened them, again. When I did, I didn’t give him a chance to speak.
“This is easier when we’re trying to beat the crap out of each other,” I managed, and he smiled.
“I’d say I was sorry, but that’s not my style...and I’m not. You can be a right sonuvabitch.”
And I couldn’t help but smile.
“Speak for yourself.”
We were both silent for a moment, and I turned back to the window.
“So, what do you want, Mack?”
This time, I felt the air move as he closed the distance between us, moving as quietly as any ghost. I felt the heat of him pass behind me, and the solidity of his presence come to rest at my side.
“You know I have feelings for you.”
It wasn’t a question, and I nodded, feeling my lips curve into an involuntary smile as my face heated. Again, I felt my throat go dry, couldn’t figure out why speaking was so difficult.
Mack seemed to be having the same difficulty, for he rocked on his feet, and then cleared his throat, reaching out to lay an awkward hand on my shoulder.
“I just wanted you to know that, before...” He gestured at the station before us, and I nodded.
“Yeah, Mack. Thanks for that.”
My reply came out clipped and short, and I wanted to kick myself. In truth, all I wanted was to feel his arms around me, to lean into his warmth as we both stared out into the dark... I just couldn’t find the words, or discover how to unlock my limbs to move an inch closer to him.
For fuck’s sake! It was just like being thirteen, again...only a million times worse, because I liked the guy... Okay, more than liked the guy, and I just couldn’t bring myself to say so. What in all the fucks was wrong with me?
“Nothing,” he said, and did exactly what I couldn’t.
He moved, engulfing me in his arms, pulling me into the warm shelter of his chest and holding me tight. I waited for him to say I was broken, but he didn’t—and, as that thought crossed my mind, his arms tightened around me.
“Not broken,” he said, and I felt his lips press a gentle kiss to my hair. “Bent, perhaps. Maybe too badly dented for the marks to ever polish out, but not broken. Not to me.”
And a tiny hiccup of laughter bubbled out of me. I pressed my head into his chest, and wound my arms around his waist, pulling him close, and he rested his chin on my head, both of us sighing contentedly at the same time. We stood like that for what seemed to be an eternity of peace, and then I lifted
