Page 69 of Ren: Warlord Brides
“Will you explain, or am I to pry the information out of you?” Havik asked, which earned him another elbow prod from Thalia. “What? I would be careful not to get too much on the furniture.”
“That’s not the point,” Thalia said.
“You complained last time that it was difficult to clean.”
“Maybe stop threatening violence on Ren in front of his mate?”
“Tea? Coffee? Cookies! I made cookies,” Emry practically shouted as she rushed to the cabinets. She pulled out the storage container with her most recent batch and started the coffee maker. While she busied herself, Ren gave a quick rundown of everything since they met on Pashaal’s ship. Well, mostly everything. He went into great detail about her hijacking the ship.
“My mate is a badass. Such skill! Such ruthlessness! Other males should envy me that my mate is so vicious,” Ren said, his voice dripping with pride.
Three sets of eyes swiveled to her. “You stole the ship? This ship?” Thalia asked.
Emry shrugged. “What? Like it’s hard?”
Ren then produced the chip discovered in Pashaal’s necklace.
“Are you certain this device contains what we need?” Havik eyed the chip with skepticism.
“I am certain. Zalis will need to decrypt it,” Ren said.
“You suggest we abandon our mission and go searching for your mate’s sister?” Havik folded his arms over his chest, unimpressed.
“It’s a side quest,” Thalia said.
“This is not our mission,” Havik grumbled.
“It’s mission-adjacent. Besides, I want to catch those fucking sentient being traffickers and make them pay.” Thalia closed a fist as if to demonstrate her resolve.
“We do not know if this Gemmarae was abducted,” Havik replied.
“She was,” Emry and Thalia said at the same time. Something unlocked inside Emry, tension uncoiling or rusty spokes turning. It felt so validating to have someone believe her.
“Gemma fits the profile,” Thalia said, once Emry gave a slight nod to continue. “She’s a vulnerable woman, no family, and a high probability of a genetic match. And she has a history of tampering with her info in the system. She’s not in the database, so the government won’t come knocking on her door once a year for testing. Gemma is the perfect candidate to be abducted.”
“But she does have a family. Me,” Emry said.
“And you’re off-planet.”
Great. The one thing she did to protect her sister left her exposed. Freaking fantastic.
All this talking wasn’t solving anything. Gemma was still out there, lost, and scared, and they just kepttalking.
The tray slammed down on the low table, rattling cups, and saucers.
“Milk? We have a nut milk,” Emry said, using a cloth to mop up the spilled coffee.
Thalia took a cup, muttered her thanks, and handed it to Havik. The big red guy looked at the coffee cup in confusion before passing it to Zalis, who appeared even more confused.
“I am doing this,” Ren said. “You will help me, or you will remove yourself from this ship.”
The two men stared at each other, challenge in their eyes. Tails snapped and lashed behind them. Havik stood a head taller than Ren, broader, more imposing, and terrifying in nearly every measurable way. Emry swore smoke rolled out of Havik’s ears.
Ren clenched his fists but did not break eye contact. He had told her he was the smallest in his clan, that his life had been unending torment as a consequence, but Emry hadn’t understood what that meant. Ren was large… for a human. He was imposing… for a human. For a Mahdfel? Diminutive.
“You cannot force me off my ship,” Havik growled.
“You are old and slow. I can break your knee and drag you out by your tail before you know what happened.”
