The Alliance Boxset Books 4-6

Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

Destin leaned back against the lift and ignored Trig. He had not felt this relaxed – ever. His body was still humming from the experience a short time ago and he could not quite hide the pleased smile that curved his lips.

It had been a long time since he completely let go of the strict control he kept over his mind and body. He wasn’t exactly sure what the hell had just happened upstairs between him and Sula, but whatever it was, he wanted more. He’d felt a connection to her that went beyond what they shared on board the Star Raider. The wild abandon, with an almost primitive explosion of need, had excited him with a vision of what the future could hold.

“You smell like you had a good time,” Trig muttered with a sigh.

“Keep your damn nose out of my business,” Destin retorted dryly.

“That’s a little hard to do when you have a sense of smell like we do,” Trig replied, glancing at Destin with a pained expression. “We are also in an enclosed space and I have to tell you it has been a long time since I’ve been with a female, so you ‘rubbing it in my face’, as Jordan would say, isn’t helping matters.”

“Breathe through your mouth,” Destin suggested, straightening when the lift slowed to a stop.

“Great, then I get to taste it as well as smell it,” Trig muttered under his breath. “That doesn’t help, Destin.”

If he wasn’t feeling so good, he might have been annoyed. At the moment, though, he was feeling good and he wasn’t going to allow some s*x-deprived Trivator to get under his skin. In fact, the more he thought about it, the more the image of the fierce alien having a set of blue-balls, if they had them, amused him.

“You don’t know what you are missing, Trig,” Destin replied with a deep, satisfied sigh.

“Something tells me you are going to enjoy rubbing in that fact,” Trig muttered, following Destin when he pushed open the door to the office three floors below his apartment.

“If it drives you nuts – yep!” Destin chuckled before he grew serious when he saw the group waiting for them.

“They don’t look too happy to see you,” Trig murmured under his breath.

“I’m sure you being here isn’t helping,” Destin replied before stepping forward with a serious expression. “Let’s go to the conference room – assuming there is one – and deal with your concerns.”

“Is the alien coming, too?” Jason asked with a hint of a sneer in his voice.

“What’s with the alien glued to your ass, Destin? Since when have they been privy to our meetings?” Richard asked with a frown.

“Yeah, you never let that other one interfere with what we were doing,” Troy added, shifting uncomfortably when he glanced between Destin and Trig.

Destin studied each face intently, trying to determine which one of them might support him. Out of the seven men standing in front of him, none of them looked like they were on the fence about this particular issue.

“Come on, guys. Get your panties out of the crack of your ass. I thought only women wore them that way. It’s good to see you back, Destin,” a cheerful voice commented from behind Tim. “Move your ass, Tim, before I put my foot up it as well.”

“You’d better watch your mouth, Beth, or I’ll be telling Mary on you,” Mike warned, half-serious, half-joking.

“If you do, you’d better plan to never sleep again, Mikey,” Beth laughed, squeezing past Tim and walking up to Destin. She stared at him for a moment before she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him. “Grandma said to give you a hug when you got back,” she whispered near his ear before releasing him and stepping back. “How’s Kali doing?”

Destin smiled at Beth Clark’s glowing face. She had filled out over the last few months. He had known Beth since she came home from the hospital twenty years ago. She was the granddaughter of Mary, one of his most staunch supporters. Mary and Beth had lived in the apartment beneath them. A few months after the Trivators appeared, they had come out of hiding and found him and Kali.

“She’s doing great. She wanted me to tell you and Mary hello. I’ll show you some pictures of her and Ami later,” Destin replied.

Beth shoved her hands into the back pockets of her faded jeans. The movement pulled her pink T-shirt tight across her breasts. She gazed with amusement at the alien standing next to Destin when he smothered what sounded like a muted grunt or groan. She tilted her head to the side, and her dark brown eyes twinkled with mischief. The long rows of tiny black braids fell to the side.

“Hi, I’m Bethany Clark, but everyone calls me Beth,” Beth said, sticking her hand out.

“No, we all call you Pain-in-the-Ass,” Justin snorted under his breath loud enough to be heard.

Beth glanced over her shoulder and glared at Justin. “You’re just jealous because I can make it through the patrol without getting winded, old man,” she said, tossing her mane of dark braids over her shoulder and looking back at Trig. “Ignore the sour pusses; most of them are just mad that Destin took some time off and didn’t bring Kali back.”

Destin watched Trig’s reaction to Beth with a raised eyebrow. Trig looked like she had thrown a right hook instead of trying to shake his hand. The Trivator’s gaze was frozen on Beth’s warm, dark brown face. Beth used to tease Kali and him when she was little, saying she was the chocolate filling between two vanilla cookies. In other words, the delicious part. Right now, Trig looked like he would love to be the one eating Beth up.

“Uh, I think it is time we moved into the conference room. There is a lot going on and some possible new threats that I would like to discuss with everyone. I’d also like to know what has been happening since I’ve been gone,” Destin said, turning to look pointedly at Tim. “Tim, you can start the briefing.”

The group slowly turned and filed through the door behind them. They continued down the hall and into a large room. In the center was a table with a few modern features. It reminded Destin of the conference rooms he had been in on the Star Raider.

“This is totally cool, Destin. I asked the ladies who installed it to show me how it works,” Beth said, sliding down to sit near the head of the table. “We each have a control station. Destin, your console has the ability to lock any of us out.”

Destin listened to Beth explain the operation of the console before turning the meeting over to Tim. His second-in-command started off hesitantly at first, his gaze moving to Trig when he started explaining some of the resistance they were still facing and some issues with rolling out the housing for the residents by sections, trying to focus on families first. Soon, the intense discussion and the need to be proactive in rebuilding the city relaxed the group, and they grew more comfortable in discussing each project they were currently working on.

“What about you, Destin? You said you had a possible situation that we needed to be aware of,” Tim said when the last of the current agenda was discussed.

Destin glanced at Trig, then looked at the men and Beth sitting around the table. He had fought alongside each of them for almost ten years now. They had patched each other up, listened to each other when the grief or stress became too much, and watched each other’s backs so they could grab a few hours sleep without fear of getting their throats slit.

“There was a situation on Rathon, the Trivator home world,” Destin said, leaning forward and resting his elbows on the table in front of him.

“What kind of situation?” Mason asked.

“A group of aliens known as the Waxians tried to assassinate Razor and Hunter’s families, including Kali and Ami,” Destin replied with a heavy sigh.

“Well, if they have so many f*****g problems on their own world, why did they come screw ours up? Wouldn’t it have made sense to just keep your trash to yourself?” Jason asked in a bitter voice.

“Watch your language, Jason. Mikey might tell Grandma on you,” Beth murmured.

Jason picked up a pen on the table and threw it at Beth. Destin was not sure exactly what happened next. One second Trig was sitting slightly off to the side, the next, Jason was on his back on the conference room table with Trig snarling down at him, his hand wrapped around Jason’s throat.

Destin pushed his chair back and stood up. The other men did the same and aimed their guns at Trig. Only Beth seemed to have her head in the game. She had launched onto the table and knelt between them, her hand pressed against Trig’s shoulder.

“Down, big guy,” Beth whispered in a soft voice. “You don’t strike me as the temperamental sort. What triggered you?”

“Beth, get away from him,” Mike muttered, thumbing the safety off his gun.

“You boys are always playing rough,” Beth replied, not raising her voice. “He was just playing, Trig.”

“He threw something at you,” Trig gritted out.

Beth chuckled. “Where were you when I was ten and the local gang was throwing rocks at me and Grandma? Jason didn’t mean nothing. He’s just sore over losing Kali. Let him go,” she whispered, sliding her hand down his arm to his wrist and wrapping her fingers around it. “Let him go, big guy. He didn’t mean no harm.”

Beth’s loud gasp filled the room when Trig suddenly released Jason and wrapped his arm around her, pulling her off the table and into his arms. Loud curses echoed over the sound of Jason’s coughing. Destin ignored them all. He had seen this aggressive, protective behavior before – in Razor. His gaze moved to Beth’s face. Instead of being scared, she looked confused… and amused as hell.

“Beth, why don’t you take Trig for a cup of coffee?” Destin suggested with a pointed look.

“Coffee? Hell, I’m thinking a keg of beer,” she muttered. “Do I walk or do I get carried?”

“I think carried for the moment,” Destin said with a nod of his head. “You can work on the walking once he calms down.”

Beth looked at Destin with a cheeky grin. “Has he had his rabies shots?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I don’t know. You’ll have to ask him that,” Destin replied, running a tired hand down his face.

“Destin…,” Trig muttered, looking conflicted and a bit dazed.

“I’ve got seven men with enough firepower to stop a tank, I think I’ll be safe,” Destin interrupted, dropping his hand back down to his side. “Go on. Get a drink, calm down, and avoid Mary at the moment if you value your life.”

“Who is Mary?” Trig asked.

“I’ll explain,” Beth promised, seeing the expression of exasperation on Destin’s face. “That way, big guy. To the fancy coffee machine."

Destin watched Trig carry Beth out of the conference room. He shook his head and glanced around the room. With a wave of his hand, he indicated to the men to put their weapons away and return to their seats.

“What about Beth?” Mike asked, staring at the door with a look of indecision.

“Trust me, Trig is in more danger at the moment than Beth is,” Destin replied, sitting down in his chair. “Now, where was I…?”