Page 31 of Destined For Her Alien Daddy

I turn off the projection. “No one enters C-9 until I inspect it.”

Anita opens her mouth.

“No,” I say.

“You don’t even know what I was going to say.”

“You were going to suggest coming with me.”

“I was going to insist, actually.”

“No.”

“Ghar.”

The sound of my name in her voice nearly weakens me. Not because it is soft. It is not. It is sharpened by frustration and alive with purpose. I prefer when she calls me Security Wall. That irritates me. My name in her mouth does something else.

“You are not entering a compromised tunnel where unknown infiltrators may have placed traps,” I say.

“If the tunnel contains inscriptions or artifacts, you may not recognize what matters.”

“If the tunnel contains a bomb, you may not recognize how fast you are dying.”

Brakk lifts one finger. “He has a point.”

Anita points at him. “Traitor.”

“I betray everyone equally.”

I look at Anita until her anger meets mine head-on. The equipment bay seems to narrow around us. Sparks tick from the hauler’s cooling seam. Outside, wind drives dust across the floodlights.

“You will not win this argument,” I say.

“Because you are pulling rank?”

“Because I will physically stand in the door.”

She steps closer. “You know, that strategy loses some intimidation value after the third time.”

“Then stop making it necessary.”

Her eyes flash. “Stop treating me like a hazard.”

“You are a hazard.”

“So are you.”

The bond pulses between us with the cruel precision of a struck nerve. Brakk suddenly becomes extremely interested in his filthy rag.

Anita feels it too. I see the moment she does. Her pupils widen, and her breath catches before she clamps down on the reaction with visible fury.

I step back first.

“I will inspect C-9,” I say. “You will review the scan data and prepare a list of archaeological indicators I should document.”

She stares at me. “You want me to make you a checklist?”

“I want you alive and useful.”