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One delicate brow rose. “Do I? How so?”

“Bit terrifying.” He kept his attention on the screens, lips twitching at the corner. “Doesn’t need to shout. Everyone knows when they’ve disappointed him anyway.”

She snorted. “He sounds delightful.”

“He is.” He grinned as he looked sideways at her. “Once you get past the threats, weapons, and terrible haircut.”

She laughed, low and surprised, then set the paperwork aside. “Okay, I’ll bite. What’s he like, then? Your old boss.”

Rann considered that. Ryke would hate this conversation, which made it all the better.

“Loyal,” he said after a moment. “Smart. Too smart, sometimes. He acts like he doesn’t care about anyone, but he’d burn down half a planet to get one of his people back.”

Stevie’s expression softened. “Sounds like a good man to work for.”

“He is. Just like you. Saw that about you as soon as I met you.”

Stevie looked away, a flush on her high cheekbones.

“Yeah, get on with you. Flattery will get you everywhere,” she chuckled dismissively, looking at her paperwork, but he didn’t miss the quick glance upwards at him again.

Oh gods, Ryke would absolutely draanthing adore her.

He’d take one look at Stevie, with her sharp tongue and little crease at the corner of her lips, and he’d be done for. Oh, he’d pretend otherwise. He’d grumble about unexpected complications, and human females that didn’t do what they were supposed to do, and anything else he could think of to gripe about.

Then he’d move heaven and earth to claim her.

Rann sat back in his chair again, warmth spreading out from the center of his chest. Stevie was B’s friend. If B came with him, she shouldn’t be cut off from the people she cared about. And Ryke would make sure Stevie was protected. Cared for.

His hands tightened on the controls as the thought landed harder than it should have.

If B came with him.

No. Not if. It wasn’t a case of if B came with him, not anymore.

B was his female. His.

And before long, she’d figure that fact out too.

He guided the old ship around one last lazy tumble of rock, then eased the engines back as clear space opened ahead of them. The asteroid field glittered in the rear cameras, a spreading smear of stone and ice against black.

Stevie gathered her papers into a neater stack on the console in front of her. “Well. That’s one problem dealt with.”

“For now,” he said.

She shot him a look. “You say that like you expect another?”

“I’ve met your crew.”

She snorted. “I’ll give you that one.”

He let the silence sit for a moment, hands loose on the controls even though every muscle in his body wanted to go find B.

“How long have you known B?”

Stevie’s eyes slid toward him, bright with interest. “A while. Why?”

“Just curious.”