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“You are the lead navigator,” Orion ignored her and persisted. “If not yours, whose fucking place is it?”
His mother must have subvocalized something to the man, because he nodded in her direction and made a hasty exit.
“If you think you’re going to come in here and start barking orders before I’m even dead, you're very mistaken.” Mother’s voice was a raspy growl. “You’ve been away for over a decade, and now you expect to have an opinion?”
“Yousentme away.”
“I couldn’t allow my careless son to doom this entire colony with his silly piloting exploits.”
“And what do you think you’re doing now? All you know about these planets is their atmosphere! Has the cancer gone to your brain? You'll probably be dead by the time we get there, so it’s me you're dumping this on.”
His mother drew herself up from her chair, imposing in her stillness. “Get out.”
“Are you even listening? You can’t just risk all these—”
“Orion, I think I’ve made myself clear. You can leave now.”
With a last look at the data projected before them, Orion shook his head and stalked from the command center. He’d rather not give a shit about any of this, except now he had to because he was here, stuck on the ship his mother was conceivably sending to its demise.
CHAPTER28
KAIA
Amonth later, Kaia was beginning to feel glad for the extra calories Orion had her on because the strength training regimen and the sparring took it all out of her. She thought she’d get a break on days she was scheduled for the sim rig—running flight scenarios in the fake cockpit of one of ten ship models. But the concentration required to complete those simulated missions drained her in some ways even more than lifting heavy shit and putting it back down.
Whatever she was doing seemed to be serving her joints well, though. She realized the other night that she hadn’t actually found them aching or felt the need to rub them down lately.
Still, Kaia cheated at the gym when she could. She’d loiter. Take it easy between sets. Grab very long water breaks. At first she almost felt bad about it, until she noticed everyone else in the pilot’s gym did the same thing. Well, everyone except for Peter, who’d been brooding since he learned of Kaia’s ties to Orion. He pumped that barbell over his chest, back arched and braced as though it were about to snap, with barely a break to breathe.
After a while, she wasn’t even sure that it was cheating. It seemed like stalling for an inordinate amount of time was just part of the “power lifting” program the academy had them on.
The mutual stalling was conducive to striking up conversations. She’d even gotten to know some of the regulars. Most full-fledged pilots didn’t bother talking to rookies, but it seemed her position held a certain draw. She dutifully made small talk and asked about their day. Sometimes they shared useful info, likeColossalweapons configs around the outer hull or other tidbits she’d then transmit to Loran under the guise of notes about her old ship back on Riker 109. To anyone else, it would look like her good friend Loran was justveryinterested inAhton’s Take.
The gym had plenty of muscle-laden regulars. But none of them were as big and intimidating as Orion. It was a given; his uhyre genes ensured his size and strength advantage.
She was up against that advantage now as she twisted his arm, forcing him to release her, and followed up by jutting a knee into his groin with all her strength.
“Good.” Orion barked, taking a step back. “You’re better with standing grapples now.”
“'Better'?” Kaia laughed. “I just kicked your ass.”
“That’s a bit of an overstatement, don’t you think?”
She rolled her eyes. “Whatever. I’ve gotten out of every hold you had me in for the last two weeks.”
Kaia had been having weekly sparring sessions with Orion for a month now. She was growing more confident in her abilities, and in her growing strength, even if some of her new gym “buddies” did call it “newbie gains.”
She was even beginning to learn to ignore the hard-on her sparring partner always got during their training, having resigned to the fact that it was just a normal part of what he was. As was the way his hands would sometimes claw up her shirt or to her ass, digging harder than he needed to keep her still, or keep her down. At first it was terrifying, not knowing when he’d snap. Because an uhyre always snapped. But he hadn't. Not yet, and Kaia realized she’d begun to trust him not to. It felt almost good, relaxing into this dynamic. Even if she did end up replaying their sessions in her head every night like some kind of masochist.
It was getting worse. The thinking. She didn’t know why her body loved fighting him so much. It sure as hell wasn’t smart, and it sure as hell wasn’t sustainable. But sometimes Kaia couldn’t fight the ache she was left with after their sessions. She’d slip her hand between her legs to her clit, already swollen beneath the pads of her fingers. She’d take care of herself to relieve the pressure, and all the while she would think aboutanythingbut him. Then she’d pretend it never happened.
“So you’re just gonna pretend I’m not letting you win here, huh, princess?” Orion snapped her back to the present on the mat.
“Oh, fuck you.” She was already flushed and on edge at the memory of what he was making her do. Now not only was he minimizing her abilities, he also wouldn’t stop calling her that ugly, mocking nickname. Kaia dismissed him with a flap of the hand as she turned to walk off the mat.
He gave her no warning. One second she was turning her back to be done with him, the next a wall was slamming into her from behind and sending her down. They rolled as they hit the ground and for a moment she was atop him, but not long enough to get an advantage.
He soon had her on her back, hands pinned over her head. His knees clenched tight around her thighs, forcing her legs together. She squirmed against the unpleasant friction between her thighs. Her knees knocked, bone grinding against bone to shoot lightning up her legs. She was suddenly reminded of a vid she saw from Old Earth, of one of those giant snakes constricting around a hoofed mammal. The ones that swallowed their prey whole.
