Page 59 of Stealing Jia

I clapped my hands loudly.“Enough. You will sit there and be quiet.”

The evil twins gave me their version of sad puppy dog eyes.“Kay.”

My dad laughed.“You have quite a menagerie, Jia.”

“Don’t I.”My gaze fell on Cason. His infant sized battle armor was too adorable for words.

“Ax. Ax,” Cason babbled happily.

“Yes, you look very handsome.”

Pepe trotted over to show off his red spiked harness. “Me have armor too.”

“The mesh will stop a laser blast, or a sword thrust. You can tap the icon key here.”Trayon pointed to my gauntlet.“And the mesh will completely cover him,”Trayon advised.

I tapped it and the mesh quickly covered Pepe. “Awesome.”

Chiara crawled up on the table. She proudly wore a wraparound gold band with Trayon’s clan sign on it. “While our quarters are being cleaned Father Trayon thought it was a good time to meet your father.

I bet he did.“Dad, this is Trayon my mate.”

“We met during the battle of Pictoris 335. You’d better take damn good care of my daughter,”Dad growled.

Holy Mother! Testosterone overload.

Trayon’s tentacles slowly rose from his head like angry snakes.“I will do everything in my power to keep her safe.”

“Really? How did Jia end up alone on the Rodan ship?”Dad snapped.

“Whoa!” I held up my hand.“First, I wasn’t alone. Second, we were outnumbered three-to-one and the shields were failing. I did what was necessary to keep my family safe.” I met my father’s irate gaze. “In my place, you would have done the same thing.”

“I’m a trained warrior and you’re…”Dad broke off.

“Not? I guess it’s just a coincidence that Threll got blown to hell along with those Rodan ships.”One of Trayon’s tentacles gently stroked my face. I smiled up at him.“It’s a dad thing, tesoro.”

“Which is the only reason he is not picking his teeth up off the floor.”

I patted Trayon’s chest.“I appreciate the restraint.”

“Sorry. Being a father is new to me.” Dad rubbed a hand over his face. “You and Kaylee are so much alike, it terrifies me. I’ll never understand why you deliberately put yourselves in harm’s way.”

“I’ve been in harm’s way since I was six years old.”

“And I wasn’t there to protect you,”Dad said grimly.

“I survived. What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger. Isn’t that what the Americans say?”

Dad took my hands.“I don’t want to lose you, like I lost your mother.”

“You won’t. Believe me, I’m hard to kill. Now, can I introduce you to my family?”

“Please.”

Pepe sniffed Dad’s armored legs.

“This is my son Cason,”I held him up.“Isn’t he a cutie?”

Dad’s eyebrows crawled up his forehead when notice Cason was a Rodan.“Yeah, he’s real cuddly.”

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