Page 24 of Discovery
Chapter 9
Teagan noticed how everyone was treating her differently. It was as if they all knew she had spent last night with LemAN. She didn’t mind them knowing but she felt a little awkward now at how they kept their distance. She’d worked hard to make friends on the ship. Once they realized she wasn’t interested in them romantically, some stopped trying to impress her, leaving her alone, and those that remained she felt genuinely liked the things she talked to them about. It seemed that one night with LemAN had pushed some of those few friends she had made farther away.
Sighing, she sat down alone at a table in the corner and stabbed at her food. Her guard, a warrior named Lt. ShajAY, sat down across from her.
“Is there something wrong, Miss White?”
“My name is Teagan.” She looked around at the males in the room eating. Some of them glanced her way but made no move to greet her. She glanced away from them, hurt and disappointed. “Why are they being so distant?”
ShajAY looked around. “They are showing respect to Commander LemAN’s mate.”
Yeah, they did know about last night. Still, they shouldn’t shun her because she was with LemAN. “I thought they were my friends,” she said, and couldn’t help the hurt in her voice.
Suddenly chairs from across the room scraped and banged. She glanced up to see four men she had considered her closest friends coming toward her. Damn, she forgot about their super-duper hearing. She felt heat rise to her face.
“May we sit with you?” Lt. ComEY asked.
She waved her hand at the empty chairs. “Sure.”
Lt. VoyER sat next to ShajAY but ComEY sat next to her. Medic TartAN and Chief Engineer MattEN took up the other empty seats. She felt a little awkward at first and knew she needed to be the one to break the silence.
“So, MattEN, did you ever get that nucleic regenerator to work without freezing up?”
His face lit up and he started going into detail about how their first attempts failed but now, thanks to her ideas, they felt they could hold the power longer.
VoyER leaned over and spoke low to her. “Congratulations on your mating.”
She blinked in surprise. “We’re not actually technically mated because…you know.”
“It’s a matter of time. Everyone here can smell his scent on you. It’s like a type of marking to keep other males away.”
“Oh, I guess I heard about that but didn’t quite grasp the concept.” Remembering how VoyER had been interested in her, she worried that she had hurt his feelings. “Are you okay with this? I didn’t do anything on purpose to hurt anyone.”
He patted her hand. “We’re friends and always will be. I saw the commander earlier this morning before coming down to eat. He looked…different.”
“Different? How?”
“More relaxed than usual. Like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. The usual bags under his eyes were gone. You’re good for him.”
Now that he’d said it, LemAN always did have bags under his eyes. He must have not been getting much sleep. Well, she was determined he would from now on.
The awkwardness faded away and it was just her and her friends hanging and talking about techy stuff. Time seemed to pass without her even knowing. She laughed at a joke that someone told and felt a presence standing over her. She looked up and her eyes caught on LemAN’s.
“Hi.”
The lusty possessive look he gave made her heart race and her body react with excitement. She wished the place was empty so that they could test out the sturdiness of the tables. She knew she was blushing.
“Hello.”
ShajAY fumbled to stand, as did the other men. “Commander, I did not realize the time.”
LemAN waved him and the others off. “I need to speak with Teagan, so if you will excuse us…” He held out his hand and she didn’t hesitate to take it.
She stood up and let him lead her out of the meal room. It suddenly occurred to her that there was something else besides sleep that she hadn’t seen him do much of. “Have you eaten yet?”
He shrugged and kept walking. “I don’t have time.”
She yanked on his hand until he stopped. “Stay here for a minute.” She turned and ran back into the meal room. A minute later she returned with a tray of food.
