Laughing, he drew her attention to his hands. “Why do you think I covered you up so fast? I’m trying to do the right thing and get us to lounge.”
She arched a brow. “Perhaps later then?”
“Drek yes.”
Grinning like two teenagers in the grips of first love, they swiftly toweled off, dressed, and left his quarters.
CHAPTER TWELVE
The rest of the crew trickled into the lounge as Janwar and Simone devoured what she deemed brunch, which was a combination of first and mid meal since they’d slept so late. Both had amusingly strong appetites and shared a laugh over it.
“So,” she began once she’d devoured every crumb on her plate, “what’s the plan?”
Krigara leaned back in his chair. “We’ve plotted a course for the planet Urkheht. The moon on Pulcra’s map is one of thirty-three moons that orbit it, so the Gathendiens chose a good place to hide.”
Janwar supposed he should feel guilty for sleeping late while the others worked but could manufacture no regret. He had never slept with a woman in the literal sense. He’d still been in school and living with his parents when they’d been killed. And after that, sex hadn’t been a high priority. Surviving and avenging his parents’ murders had.
Once he had barreled down that path, Janwar had only been able to find occasional relief with pleasure workers. And he couldn’t relax and sleep beside someone who might sell him out for the bounty on his head.
So Simone had been his first. And he was still reeling a little from the intimacy of it, of curling his big body around hers and letting her warmth and sweetness lure him into slumber. He would’ve thought he’d lie there wide awake, counting the hours until dawn, or wake at every tiny movement. Though sleeping beside a woman after exploring her body might seem natural to others, it did require absolute trust, something he had only ever given his crew.
And yet, he hadn’t hesitated to give Simone that trust.
Nor would he hesitate to do so again. That was how much she’d come to mean to him.
Blinking, he dragged his thoughts back to the topic at hand. “How long will it take us to reach the moon?”
“Two days,” Krigara said.
Janwar opted to ignore the fact that his cousin’s gaze was more watchful today.
Simone’s eyebrows flew up. “Really? Considering the enemies they’ve amassed and the nature of the experiments they’re conducting, I would’ve thought the Gathendiens would balk at building a supposedly secret facility so near a popular destination like Promeii 7. Particularly since so many people in the Aldebarian Alliance hate those bastards.”
“With good reason,” Elchan muttered.
“Exactly. Wouldn’t they want more privacy to do their evil deeds?”
Janwar shook his head. “The moon isn’t as close to Promeii 7 as you might think. The Tangata is just exceptionally fast. It would take other ships far longer to reach it.”
Krigara nodded. “And though it might initially seem unwise, the Gathendiens may find close proximity to a place like Promeii 7 convenient. It’s far beyond the boundary of alliance-occupied space. And Aldebarian Alliance laws have no meaning there.”
She glanced at Janwar. “You did call it the ass-end of the galaxy.”
He smiled wryly. “It is. Which also makes it a good place to waylay travelers of a certain species and take them to their base.”
Her brow furrowed. “Merde. I didn’t think of that. I hope those Purvelis we met at the pub will make it home safely.”
“As long as they followed my advice, they should.”
A moment passed, during which Janwar tried to ignore the surreptitious looks his crew kept sending him. He understood now why Simone had felt some reservations about T informing everyone they’d become lovers. Although they treated her no differently, his friends watched him like a bird of prey and didn’t seem to know how to react.
“Is it possible we’ll catch up to the ship before it reaches the moon?” she asked.
“I doubt it,” Krigara said. “But we’ll remain fully cloaked to keep them from detecting our approach, just in case.”
“What happens if we do reach the ship first?”
Janwar considered it a moment. “We’ll have a few options. We can postpone our trip to the moon and seize the ship. With that, however, we’d run the risk of them sending a distress call to the moon facility and warning them of our presence.”
“Or they may request reinforcements,” Soval added.
Janwar nodded. “We don’t know how big their moon installation is, if it’s primarily a research facility with a small staff or if multiple contingents of warriors are stationed there with a goodly supply of weaponry and fighter craft.”
Simone studied them. “I assume another risk would be the one I feared when I attacked the other Gathendien ship, that they may kill any Earthlings or other test subjects they have aboard at the first sign of an attack to keep us from getting our hands on them.”
“That’s possible, too,” he agreed.
Her look turned pensive. “I thought at first they had done that with the Purveli I found in one of the labs.” The ebullience she’d exhibited since waking up in his arms dissolved. “I thought they’d killed him as soon as the first alarm blared, and it really threw me. That’s when one of those bastards got me in the back with his tail spike. I just froze for a minute, and all I could think was Did he die because of me? Did I do that? Is this my fault? But then the pain struck. I had to kill the asshole who got me. And when I looked closer, I could tell the Purveli had been dead for some time.” Her eyes met his, full of regret. “I wish I would’ve found him sooner.”
He covered one of her hands with his. “I do, too.”
“Did you incinerate his body with the others?”
“No. We took him through decon, scanned his image, and put him in cryostorage. We sent the image and analysis of a blood sample to the Ranasura so Jak’ri and Ziv’ri could help them identify him and let their people know we’ll deliver his body for a proper Purveli ceremony once we’ve concluded our search for Kandovar survivors.”
Turning her hand under his, she twined her fingers through his. “You’re not nearly as nefarious as you want people to believe.”
Leaning closer, he said in a loud whisper, “Don’t tell anyone.”
She laughed. “I know this is a longshot, but is there any way we could slip on board the Gathendien ship without them knowing and perform a quick search and rescue?”
He tilted his head to one side as he considered it, sliding his thumb back and forth over her soft skin. “It’s doable,” he said at last. “T can provide us with the ship’s specs. Then a couple of us could take a C-23 over—that’s a small stealth craft we use in covert operations—fully cloaked, attach it to the belly of the ship, cut our way in, and see what we can find.”
“I’ll do it,” Kova said.
Beside him, Srok’a tensed, his jaw clenching. And Janwar girded himself for an old argument to make a new appearance.
“I will, too,” Simone said. Had she caught the tension arching between the brothers? She was an empath, after all.