Page 88 of Grulen

Everyone took seats.Rivezt tugged Lin onto his lap.

Quietly, he asked, “Bataavi, are you hungry or thirsty?”The small woman shook her head.

“With us is Lieutenant Devik Tolvex, head security officer on theInvictus, and his fated mate, Emmy Norton Tolvex.”

Emmy’s brown curls bounced, and her fingers waggled a hello.Once Morgan got over her envy of Emmy’s skin tone reminiscent of butterscotch—so different from her own perpetually pale flesh—she got a good look at her T-shirt.She laughed out loud when she read “I’m not anti-social.I’m just not user-friendly.”

“Oh my god.I just realized how much I missed graphic T-shirts.”Morgan giggled.

Emmy grinned.

“I brought a bunch of them.Most are about coding.”She sounds Australian.

“So, I’m guessing you’re into computers.”

“Yep.”Emmy snagged a piece of breakfast meat and gestured it at the toast.“I see you found the fresh bread Ava sent over.”

“Ava?”

“Six of us came over on theInvictus.Long story there for another time.Ava’s a Canadian chef and found ways to make a number of Earth foods from ingredients out here.”She tilted her head.“Let’s see, you’ve already met Talia and Rachel.The other one is Natasha, she’s a Russian physician.”

“Morgan is an exceptional cook,” Grulen said.

“I’m sure I don’t have the training that Ava does.”

“That doesn’t negate how well you prepare meals,ciebala.”

Morgan ignored his comment.

“Lin, tell us about yourself.”

“I’m a botanist.I graduated from the University of Chicago.”English isn’t her first language, but she sounds fluent.

“That’s a good school.”

“Do I know you from before?”Grulen looked at Tolvex.

Tolvex grinned.I’d forgotten how attractive most Svesti males are.

“Obviously, you don’t remember me.We’ve met several times.In fact, I was the last person you saw when you leftInvictus.”He turned to Rivezt.“Ash’n, does he still have his tracker?”

The healer frowned.Why did Grulen have a tracker?

“I never checked.If I could now?”he asked Grulen.

“Of course.”Grulen sat still when Rivezt pulled out a scanner and ran it over his head.

“Yes, his tracker is still there, inactive.I’ll have to extract it later.”

“Morgan, so you’ve been with the Wing Raiders for several months?”Emmy poured herself some juice.

“I didn’t tell either of you.Morgan was the other female rescued at the same time as Talia.”Rivezt glanced meaningfully.“She’s also the human who volunteered with our healers during their research.”

Tolvex exhaled heavily.

“That was you?I’m so glad you’re okay.We should have found you sooner.”

Morgan ducked her head in embarrassment.

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