Chapter 238
Zaeryn walked down the wide hallway with his hands in his jacket pockets, genuinely relieved to finally be out of the public eye.
He moved at an easy pace, his footsteps the only sound in the corridor besides the low ambient hum the Citadel always seemed to carry, like the building itself was thinking.
Up ahead, two figures stood speaking near a set of reinforced doors. One was a Warlady in full tactical armor, rigid and alert even at rest. The other was High Commander Lysara, and there was never any confusion about which one of them the other was reporting to.
Lysara noticed him almost immediately. Her gaze found him the way it always did, without moving her head first, like she’d already known he was there and was just deciding when to acknowledge it.
She said something low to the Warlady beside her.
The woman gave a single nod, glanced once at Zaeryn, then turned on her heel and strode off down the corridor without a word.
Only then did Lysara face him fully. Arms folded, weight settled, looking like a woman who had never once in her life been caught off guard and wasn’t about to start now.
"Zaeryn," she said. Her voice was calm and precise. "Your arrival was not scheduled. Why are you here?"
Zaeryn stopped a respectful distance away. "Daphne called me. She told me to come."
For the briefest moment, something shifted in Lysara’s expression. Not surprise exactly. More like a private acknowledgment that explained something she’d been mildly curious about.
"I see," she said.
Her eyes stayed on him for another second. Whatever she was thinking, she kept it where she kept everything else. Somewhere no one could reach.
"Doctor Virellith is in her office."
"Thanks, Commander."
Lysara gave a single nod and went her way.
Zaeryn continued down the corridor.
The hallway toward Daphne’s section was quieter than the main corridors. Fewer personnel, fewer doors, and the lighting shifted to something slightly warmer, like the Citadel had quietly decided that this wing didn’t need to feel like a military installation every second of the day.
He stopped in front of her office and knocked twice.
"It’s open."
Zaeryn stepped in.
Daphne was behind her desk, exactly where he expected her to be. Her lab coat was still on, her blue hair still pulled back, and her attention was fixed on the holographic display hovering above her workstation like he hadn’t just crossed half the sector to get here.
She didn’t bother looking up to see who it was.
Zaeryn closed the door behind him and leaned against the frame, arms crossed.
He gave her about five seconds and she still was ignoring him.
"You know, for someone who demanded my immediate presence, you’re doing a really convincing impression of someone who doesn’t know I’m here."
"I’m finishing something," Daphne said, her fingers moving across the display. Her voice was perfectly level. "Shouldn’t take long,"
"Uh huh."
"It will take a moment."
"Take your time." He didn’t move from the door. "I’ll just stand here."
Daphne’s fingers paused for exactly half a second. And then resumed.
Zaeryn smiled to himself and waited.
It took another thirty seconds before she finally swiped the display closed and looked at him. Her violet eyes found his with that particular sharpness.
"You took longer than I expected," she said.
"I had to take public transit."
"Transit." She repeated the word like it had personally offended her. "You took public transit. To the Citadel."
Zaeryn dropped into the chair beside her desk, jacket still on, legs stretched out like he owned the place. "It wasn’t that bad. Only three women tried to figure out if I was a humanoid." He smirked, tilting his head. "Question. Do I look like one?"
Daphne propped herself up on the edge of the table, one eyebrow raised, violet eyes flicking over him like she was scanning data. "A humanoid?" She let out a short breath that was almost a laugh. "No. You just look unusually handsome for a male. People see that and their brains short-circuit. They need a category that makes sense to them."
"I guess." Zaeryn rubbed the back of his neck, the words landing different now that he said them out loud. Maybe he should stop getting annoyed by the comparison if the reason was just that he looked good. He met her eyes again.
She was still perched there, lab coat open, watching him with that calm, sharp focus she always had. He stood up slow, closed the distance in two steps, and gripped her thighs with both hands. One smooth pull and her ass slid right to the edge of the desk, legs spreading wide so he could step between them.
A soft moan escaped Daphne’s throat from the sheer sensation of his touch. She looked up at him, her hands coming up to rest on his shoulders, fingers curling into his jacket.
"Did you miss me?" she asked, voice low, lips barely an inch from his.
"Not as much as you missed me," he answered, and closed the gap.
The kiss was easy, unhurried, the kind that felt like they’d done this a hundred times and still liked how it landed. His hands slid around to her lower back, pulling her closer until her chest pressed against him. She tasted pleasant and uniquely her. It was in these moments that Zaeryn realized he had missed her, a lot despite not having realized it before.
He felt different when he was with her, just like he felt different when he was with his different bond mates.
They all had their own distinct pull on him. A unique flavor of chaos and comfort that made him forget the target on his back.
With Sage, it was effortless brilliance and sarcasm. With Marceline, it was bold, undeniable heat. But with Daphne, it was the thrill of unraveling someone who spent her entire life staying perfectly put together. She was a puzzle he actually enjoyed solving.
A low beep went off on one of the consoles.
Daphne broke the kiss first. She pulled back just enough to catch her breath, her chest rising and falling against his. She leaned her head on his shoulder, looking past him towards the console. "That needs my attention," she said, pulling back and letting her thumbs lightly tracing the collar of his jacket. "Don’t worry, I will have all the time for you later on." Her eyes stayed locked on his. "Clear your schedule or whatever appointments you have with your other bondmates for the rest of the evening."
Zaeryn grinned. "Planning to have me all to yourself? Done."
She gave him a slow smirk and pushed him away slightly, sliding off the desk. "Let me finish up everything, then we can leave."
Zaeryn stepped back and dropped into the chair again, giving her the space. Daphne straightened her lab coat like nothing had happened, and pulled the holographic display back up.
Her fingers moved across it with the same focused efficiency she’d had before he walked in.
"So, how did your first meeting with your sis go?"
"Better than I expected," Zaeryn said. He leaned his head back against the chair, watching the soft blue light from the terminal reflect off Daphne’s face.
"Is that right?" she murmured, not looking away from the data streaming in front of her.
"Yeah," He let out a quiet breath, recalling the whole meeting and being grateful that Viora gave him a chance. "She didn’t try to lock me in a gilded cage," Zaeryn added, a trace of genuine relief coloring his tone. "And she didn’t interrogate me about my life choices. We just talked. It was almost perfectly normal."
"Normal is a highly subjective metric," Daphne pointed out. She tapped a few icons, dismissing a cluster of graphs on her screen. "But I am glad she did not add to your stress levels. Your biology is already dealing with enough unique adaptations without introducing family drama into the mix."
Zaeryn chuckled. Trust a brilliant scientist to reduce a heartfelt family reunion to biological stress markers. It was incredibly on brand for her.
"So," he drawled, shifting in the seat to get more comfortable. "Since my evening is officially yours now. What exactly are we doing?"
Daphne finally stopped typing. The holograms vanished with a soft hum.
She turned her chair to face him, crossing one leg over the other. The smirk was back on her lips, faint but undeniable.
"Leaving," she echoed softly. "With you."
Zaeryn opened his mouth to ask the obvious question. Where exactly was "leaving," and did it involve food? His stomach was starting to make some very compelling arguments about his severe lack of a decent meal today.
But before he could get the words out, his wrist comm started buzzing, continuously. That meant whoever was calling wasn’t going to just let it drop.
He looked down. The name on the display was Ingrid.
For about two full seconds, Zaeryn did absolutely nothing. He just stared at it with a face full of realization. How could he have forgotten something as important as this important?
"Oh shit. She totally slipped my mind," he said to himself more than anyone else.
Daphne paused halfway through operating her console. She tilted her head, giving him a look that was both curious and entirely concerned. "What happened?"
"Ingrid." Zaeryn ran a hand over his face, suddenly feeling like a complete idiot. "I totally forgot she was at the house with me."
"You forgot." Daphne repeated the words slowly. All of a sudden she wasn’t concerned anymore, she looked unimpressed. She looked at him like she was trying to dissect the sheer biological impossibility of his statement.
"She came over earlier," Zaeryn explained, gesturing vaguely with his free hand. "And then you called, demanding my immediate presence. I just grabbed my jacket and left. I completely forgot she was still there."
Daphne actually frowned. It wasn’t an expression she wore often. She usually preferred variations of smug amusement or cool detachment. "Really? She came all the way to your estate to spend time with you, and you simply wandered off without telling her?" She shook her head once, slowly. "Poor girl."
"Hey, it’s not like I left her locked in a closet," Zaeryn defended himself, though he knew his argument was incredibly weak. "She was hanging out with Ravena. I just slipped out. It honestly slipped my mind."
And that was the truly embarrassing part, wasn’t it? How did a guy forget a beautiful, incredibly eager woman waiting for him in his own home?
In his defense, Daphne called for him, and he couldn’t deny her. And most importantly, this was very new to him. Not long ago, he only had one girlfriend , Sage.
Now he was mismanaging a growing circle of gorgeous, demanding women and failing spectacularly at basic scheduling. It was a good problem to have, sure, but it still required some serious logistical skills he apparently lacked.
The comm was still buzzing aggressively in his hand.
"You should probably answer that," Daphne suggested mildly. She leaned back against her desk and crossed her arms. She looked exactly like someone settling in to watch a highly entertaining train wreck. "Before she decides to dismantle your estate brick by brick."
Zaeryn let out a heavy breath and answered the call. Ingrid’s holographic projection appeared above his wrist. She was still at the house, he could see the familiar wall of the lounge behind her. Her yellow hair was slightly pushed back, and her face had that very specific expression that said she was angry but had decided to be civilized about it.
"Hey, Ingrid."
"Skip the ’Hey, Ingrid’.Her voice was crisp, carrying that icy, aristocratic authority she usually saved for the Lyceum. She crossed her arms, her posture radiating irritation. "I didn’t clear my schedule just to find out my new boyfriend decided to sneak out of his own house like a coward."
"I didn’t sneak out," Zaeryn said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I had a sudden emergency come up. I had to leave immediately."
He glanced over at Daphne. The supposed emergency in question narrowed her violet eyes at him, delivering a glacial look of profound judgment that made him feel even more awful.
"An emergency," Ingrid repeated. She said it the way someone repeats a word they’ve heard but don’t believe. "I don’t know if I should believe tou. What kind of emergency?"
"Daphne needed me to come to the Citadel. I should have told you before I left. That’s on me."
Ingrid’s expression didn’t change, but something behind her eyes shifted. "Oh, the chief scientist and your other bondmate?"
"Yeah." Zaeryn responded.
"So she calls and you just go despite already promising to spend the whole day with me." she said and it sounded more like a statement and less like a question.
"It sounded urgent." Zaeryn explained himself. He felt bad about this.
If he was going to have healthy relationships with everyone then this was where he had to improve. "I will make it up to you. This will never happen again."
"Right," she said finally. "Well. I’m heading home. We’ll talk later."
"Ingrid....."
The call ended before he was even done.