Chapter 10

Walking down the hall in my new clothes and listening to Layleen break down what-all she did as Ghosha's personal assistant, I felt like a whole new world was opening up in front of me. I was going to be in charge of things like scheduling meetings and arranging transportation, keeping folks from bombarding Ghosha with their needs, making sure he ate and rested… Some of that seemed easy enough, and Layleen assured me that she'd get me up to speed on the rest. We'd have a month or so before she'd need to step away for the birth of her babies. I tried to let her confidence in my abilities fill me up with some, too.

I'd bagged groceries for a while as a teen and worked as a waiter for a few months last year. But the grocer and the restaurant owner had gotten on the bad side of the town council, and Mama had made sure I wasn't associated with them anymore. Now here I was getting an important job with folks Mama would absolutely hate. That I was sleeping with my boss wouldn't go over well with her either.

I thought my connection to Ghosha—being his mate—meant my new job was even more special. I wanted to help him. I really believed he'd saved my life and, though I was pretty sure he wouldn't want me to, I felt like I owed him. If doing work behind the scenes that kept him on schedule, got him where he needed to go, and made sure he didn't suffer from the stress, well then, I was going to be the best damn assistant in the whole universe.

A door opened before we'd fully approached it, and a tall man with dark hair and eyes smiled delightedly at me. "Hey! Hi. It's so great to meet you. I'm Logan, by the way. Alam's husband."

I shook his hand and said my name even though I was starstruck. He was Logan Parrish, the cop who'd saved the wolf prince's life and gotten married to him just a few weeks ago. Pastor Halbert positively hated Logan for being the first to show everyone that Norlons wanted human lovers—he'd screeched several sermons on the topic.

Logan frowned over my shoulder at Ghosha. "Hold on. You've only been mated for a few days, right?"

"Correct," Ghosha said.

"Alam, jeez!" Logan turned to speak into the room behind him. "They're still in their honeymoon phase, for Pete's sake. Why did you interrupt them?"

"I had to!" Came a voice from inside. "The ship is bursting with volunteers, and it's Ghosha's responsibility to deal with them. I wasn't prepared to leap into phase two, so we need to go over what's next."

Ghosha encircled my neck from behind with one of his big hands. "Don't worry, Logan, our mate bond is quite fixed in place at this point. I'm satisfied that Squire is mine, and I am his."

That made me blush even as I grinned because we'd been fucking like bun— I stopped that thought since I was standing next to Layleen. I refocused on the conversation.

Logan's gaze flicked back and forth between us. "Oh, well, okay. If you're sure."

"We're sure," I said and pressed back against Ghosha's hold on me. He gave my neck a brief massage, and I peeked up at him to see he was smiling.

Stepping back, Logan made room for us to come in. Their quarters weren't so different from Ghosha's, though I immediately noticed they didn't have a giant log leaning against a wall. Was that… Oh my god, could that actually be a scratching post? I giggled and tried to cover it by coughing into my fist. I was so going to have to ask Ghosha what he did with that log.

Like the first time we met, there was something altogether intimidating about looking up at the wolf prince again with his midnight fur and bright blue eyes. He looked regal, and I wasn't sure if I should bow, but it felt like the right thing to do. Before I could, though, he reached for my hand.

"Congratulations on your mating, Squire," he said with a smile as he enveloped my hand between both of his. "May Ghosha endeavor to deserve you."

I frowned a bit at that since it seemed like a dig at my mate. "He's everything good and perfect in the whole world," I said as I took my hand back.

Ghosha chuckled and curled his arm around me. "Careful, Alam, I think he bites."

The prince rolled his eyes and turned away. "Come sit down, you bothersome beast. We have much to discuss."

Oh, they were friends. The kind of friends that gave each other shit, but still friends. Okay, that was cool. I walked over to a couch and sat down beside Ghosha. The prince sat in a chair and gestured for Layleen to take the other one, while Logan perched on the arm of the prince's chair.

"I'm not upset exactly," the prince said, "that we've had so many accepted volunteers or that they're here on the ship now. What concerns me is moving the timeline up so quickly."

"And that I haven't briefed you on what's next," Ghosha said.

The prince frowned. "Yes, that."

I felt a little responsible for messing things up. "Um, Mister Prince, sir, I'd?—"

"Oh goodness, you can call me Alam, Squire. I don't mind."

"Oh. Okay. Thanks."

He smiled and nodded at me. "You were saying?"

"Right, um, just that I apologize if getting mated and all messed up the plans you had."

Alam fidgeted in his seat as Logan snorted. After a glare at his mate, Alam smiled again at me. "There's no need for apologies, Squire. I'm happy for my friend to have found his mate. Ghosha's been quite the advocate for all of us to find human mates."

I couldn't help chuckling. "That's something I'd wish on everyone."

Ghosha took my hand and kissed the back of it, making me feel all swoony.

"So," Alam said, "when do we call for the ship to come take everyone to Nor?"

Ghosha cleared his throat and shifted in his seat, his hand tightening on mine. It took me a minute, but then I realized he was uncomfortable. Maybe even worried. Why was he looking at me, though?

"What's wrong?" I had to ask.

He reached over and curled his fingers around mine, enveloping my whole hand. "I will need to accompany the volunteers to Nor and oversee their placement in the brothels."

That wasn't exactly a surprise. He was in charge of the whole program, so it made sense that— Oh. Either he would go without me, or I'd be going with him. That was the bit that had him so concerned. Three days together, and we were up and moving.

"I'm going with you," I said firmly. "I'm not staying behind."

It looked like he was fighting back a smile as he nodded and said, "I apologize for not speaking to you privately about the possibility, but I'm very pleased with your stance." He looked to Alam. "I'll arrange for the ship. I imagine they'll be able to arrive here before the end of the week."

Shittin' fuck, that sounded like I could be on a whole other planet by the middle of next week. Me! On an alien planet! I couldn't help laughing like a giddy kid about that.

"Come here, Squire," Layleen said with a tablet in her hands. "See what I'm going to do now."

I stifled my giggling and went over to sit on the arm of her chair. She showed me how she was contacting the captain of the Shendo-kine, letting him know to get underway as soon as possible. That she was basically texting the captain of a whole other ship on the other side of the galaxy was just mind-blowing. That she had to translate what she wrote for me was a problem.

"Don't worry," she said quietly since the others were chatting, "there's an immersive program you can do to learn to speak and read Norlish."

"I've never tried to learn another language." I'd wanted to learn Spanish once, but Mama'd had some racist thoughts about that.

"It's much easier than English," Layleen said, "so I think you'll pick it up quickly."

"Do I go to a class or something?"

"Oh, no, you'll learn on a tablet like this one. I'm having one sent to your room right now." She changed a few screens and said, "Here's how I ordered that." And she went through the steps to get stuff delivered. It'd be way easier to do once I could read Norlish, but the doing of it looked about the same as any online shopping.

"You're going to be an excellent assistant," Layleen whispered up to me, "because you love him. That's the only type of assistant who succeeds."

Because I loved him. She could see it, so maybe it was true. I'd never been in love before, but it had to be showing for her to say that so confidently.

I loved Ghosha.