Adiron (Corsair Brothers 1)

"After that," I finish, "Mathiras made sure that Zoey ate new foods in small amounts. Very small amounts."

Her smile is wide. "Mathiras sounds very caring and conscientious."

"He has to be. He's stuck with a bunch of idiots." I grin, fully acknowledging that I am one of those idiots.

Jade's expression grows thoughtful. She stares down at her tea, and I can tell her mood changes. Her smile dims and the sadness creeps back in. "Have we had any word from anyone? Anything from Helen or Alice? Or even Ruth?"

I doubt we'll hear from Ruth any time soon. She's probably even now scratching her way out of Straik's keffing posh (scented!) holding cells and vowing revenge on him. Helen or Alice, though… "We might not hear anything from them for a while," I tell her. "The pods are dialed in to our ship here, but the farther away they get, the better the odds are that someone else can intercept a message. It's best to not let anyone know that we're here alone, or we're just inviting trouble to our doorstep."

"Of course." I can see the acceptance on her face. "I just…miss them. And I worry."

"Well, yeah. Of course you worry. They're stuck with my brothers, after all," I tease, but her smile is gone. I think for a moment and then offer an alternative. "You know…we can always go check. Maybe something came in while we were here."

"I'd love to check," Jade says in a soft voice. She reaches across the table and brushes her fingertips over mine. "I know there's nothing there, but I'd still like to check anyhow."

"I figured."

"Thank you, Adiron."

As long as she keeps touching me, I'll give her anything she keffing wants. Anything at all.

37

JADE

I'm having fun.

A teeny, tiny part of me feels guilty that I'm enjoying myself when the world's going to shit, when the others are stuck in escape pods, when Ruth is missing…but I push that thought aside. I'm allowed to have a little fun. Life can't just be one big unending shitstorm, right? There have to be pleasant moments to look forward to.

This is definitely one of those pleasant moments.

I loop my arm through Adiron's as we stroll toward the bridge. Tonight, the lonely, sterile halls of the Buoyant Star don't seem quite so desolate. I've got Adiron for company, and even if he's not the most serious of types, he's exactly what I need to distract me. He finishes another story about his sister Zoey—it's clear he adores her—and turns to me with a smile. "After that, she joined her mate and the crew of the Jabberwock. They navigate together, which, I gotta be honest, I'm not entirely sure how it works. Probably a lot of fighting over the controls. Zoey's a tyrant when it comes to setting flight paths and running fuel estimates." He shrugs. "Sentorr's a decent male, though. A little more stiff in the collar than I'd expect my sister to fall for, but he adores her."

"She sounds easy to love," I say as we head down the hall. I can't resist putting my other hand on his arm, touching the enormous bicep that bulges against his ridiculous uniform. The man is absolutely a mouthwatering snack, and I can't stop thinking about the times I saw him naked. I really should have paid more attention to what I was looking at. I remember broad shoulders and narrow hips that led down to a fascinatingly tight butt. I remember a flicking tail and strong thighs.

I absolutely do not remember if I saw his cock, and that makes me sad. It has to be as magnificently built as the rest of him, right? Surely fate wouldn't be so cruel as to make him this mouthwatering and then give him a sad little sausage.

Not that I intend to do anything with him, but it's not a sin to look.

"You got quiet," Adiron says, nudging me. "What are you thinking about?"

Oooh. I come up with an answer on the fly. "Just wondering about you. You have a sister that got married, but you and your brothers, none of you are married? Is that not a thing in your culture?"

Adiron makes a sound of assent in his throat. "Mathiras is devoted to life on a ship. Kaspar doesn't like to be tied down. And we come from a family with an old name, which means there are a lot of expectations. Unfortunately, we've all more or less shamed the family by going into a life of piracy. My sister Vanora—my real sister—is still on Homeworld. She mated well, increasing the family fortune and name. The rest of us aren't mentioned in polite circles." He shrugs. "It's fine."

"You mentioned why Mathiras and Kaspar never settled down, but I noticed you avoided yourself," I point out.

"I almost mated a female," he says after a moment, his expression thoughtful. "It was right after the war. I'd just started spending time on the ship with my brothers, and I met an exciting mesakkah female on a station. Her name was Shaalyn and she was the most beautiful creature I'd ever seen—bold and alluring and very, very sexual."