Of course, Malin wasn’t participating. He sat there sulking, his scowl deepening with every answer Nayla gave.
He wasn’t the only one.
Lana, too, hadn’t said a word. She sat on the opposite side of the fire, her face pale, her stare locked on the press of his thigh against Nayla’s smaller one and the way their fingers were intertwined and resting on his leg.
He resisted the urge to curse. He really hoped Lana wasn’t going to be a problem. She was friends with the other females. If she turned against Nayla, it would be harder for him to get the others to accept her. But he would. He didn’t care if he had to have a sit-down with each and every one of the females on this mission. They were going to befriend his female.
A small squeeze of his hand drew his attention. He smiled down at Nayla.
She didn’t smile back. “Your eyes angry again.”
Hells. He’d have to fix that. “I’m good.” He ran his thumb along hers.
“Enough!” Malin erupted. “This is ridiculous. This is not a damn cocktail party. We are under siege and she’s the reason.” He threw his hands in the air. “We need to be discussing plans, not getting all touchy-feely.”
“We will.” Grif mined for patience. “I’ve already briefed you on what Nayla told us about the terrain and defenses we can expect. At the suns’ rise, she’ll show us the underwater tunnels we can use to cut our travel time in half.”
“How do we know she’s not leading us into a trap?”
“That’s enough.” An outburst of violence was the last thing Grif wanted Nayla to see her first night at the camp, but the male’s tone was beginning to irk. “I told you before, she’s here to help us. I expect you to afford her respect. Nayla is a guest, not a prisoner.”
“Bullshit.”
Grif’s bid for control slipped a notch. “Not here, not now.”
“Why? You afraid for everyone to hear you’re thinking with your little head and not the big one?”
“Malin, you are out of line,” snapped Bain. “Grif is in charge of this mission.”
“Should he be, or has he lost all objectivity? You see her. She’s fucking hot as hells, all big tits, wide-eyed innocence, and golden shimmering skin. Catnip to a guy like Mr. Perfect over there with a hard-on to rescue every female he can.”
Grif was up and out of his seat—only Nayla’s tight grip prevented him from launching himself across the fire.
“It okay.” She tried to soothe.
But it wasn’t. Not by a long shot.
Except he was in charge now and he needed to keep his cool. Especially since he was out to prove to Nayla that Others were not violent savages.
“Malin, this is not the place for this discussion. You have something to say to me, let’s take this to your tent.” His gaze strayed pointedly toward the noncrew females and Nayla. He preferred to pound the snotnose male into the ground away from prying eyes.
“No.” Lana shot up, her fists clenched. “We do not want to be left out of any more discussions. We are a part of this community. It’s time we get this all out in the open so we can put it to rest.”
Ah, hells. This was going to be ugly. He understood Lana had been through a lot, but he wasn’t going to tolerate Nayla being hurt. “Lana, I won’t have you—”
“Malin” she spoke over him, “stop being an asshole.”
For the second time, Grif’s mouth snapped shut.
The other male’s eyes went wide. Lana was usually soft-spoken so Grif suspected Malin had never heard that tone from her before.
“You have no right to bully this poor girl.” She sucked down a breath. “She’d been through enough.”
Relief swept through Grif. “Thank you, Lana—”
“And you,” she pointed a trembling finger at him, “I know what you did and I…” she looked at the other women, “we won’t stand for it. Not again. You may be in charge of this mission, but it doesn’t mean we’ll let you walk all over her.”
Gesturing to the other two females, she marched around the fire, wedging herself between him and his charge, giving him no choice but to let go of Nayla’s hand or body check Lana back across the fire.
He chose the nonviolent route since the angry female was clearly on team Nayla.
From the dazed, slightly pleased look on his female’s face, he suspected he made the right choice.
“Nayla is under our protection now,” declared Lana.
“She can stay with us in our tent,” declared Britta, looking at him as if he was the enemy. Cam nodded in agreement.
The fuck? He was already shaking his head when Malin outyelled him.
“No damn way, Lana.” The male was beside himself. “A hostile next to you while you sleep? Are you crazy?”
“You’re the hostile,” snapped Lana, making Grif like her even more, despite the objectionable tent-sharing plan, “and you need to stop thinking you’re the boss just because I let you kiss me. It was one time, and it was a mistake.”
The crew got busy studying their boots.
“Lana…” Malin didn’t sound so tough now.
“No. It’s not happening again. Accept it.”
Grif would have wished himself anywhere else. He almost felt sorry for the scowling male, but he knew this was useful for Nayla to witness.
Especially since Malin plopped his bitter ass back down and started mumbling to himself.
Even from over the crowd, Grif read the surprise in Nayla’s gaze.
“We’re taking her to our tent where she’ll feel safe to talk.” Lana leveled a warning glare in his direction before wrapping her arm around Nayla’s tiny shoulder. The female wasn’t too tall herself, but she looked like a giant next to his pixie. “She’s one of us now.”
He’d never forget the expression on Nayla’s face. The surprise and pleasure, the hungry need and flaring hope, the flash of joy—all of it would be branded in his mind forever.
He wanted her wearing that look for all time. He didn’t care what he had to do to make it happen.
“Don’t try and follow us.” Sweeping Nayla forward, Lana and the other females surged away.
“Hold up.”
Everyone froze. His tone brooked no other response.
He had no problem with folks speaking their mind, but, in the end, he made the final call. That reality wasn’t up for discussion.
Civilians, though, sometimes didn’t quite get the pecking order until they were reminded.
Lana swung back around, fear and fire in her gaze. He liked her a hundred times better for it. His girl needed all the protectors she could get, even those who were frightened themselves.
He held up his hands in a gesture of peace. “You’ll get no objection from me…as long as Nayla is okay with the plan.”
He didn’t want his wild thing pushed into anything, and he wasn’t unaware of the nerves beneath her astonishment. She was as scared as she was excited by the other female’s support.
“You always have the right to say what you want,” he told her. “To me, to them, and especially to Malin.”
From the corner of his eye, he saw Lana and Cam startle, as if neither had expected him to give Nayla a choice, but he was too focused on the shy smile blooming right in front of him to care much about anything else.