After an intense and not so very pleasant session of angry accusations, crying and at last, acceptance, Sera had been sweating and barely awake.
Ash forced her to take the pain medication she’d been refusing, and once her mother had gotten on her case as well, Sera finally gave in. They’d taken a helicopter back to Ash’s house and settled her in immediately.
And then Brandt had looked to Ash and shrugged, and they’d simply sat with her for the pleasure of being able to watch her without pressure. Without anything more than wanting to be assured she was well.
Ash had dozed off in the chair opposite Brandt’s, not wanting to mistakenly roll over and jar her arm in his sleep. Brandt knew Sera would be grumpy about being alone in bed when she woke up, and it made him smile.
In the background, he heard the ping of his comm unit, and with a careful check of her breathing, he left the room quietly and headed down the hall.
He sat for a moment before accepting the communication. “Hello, Mother. Are you well?”
“Brandt Pela, are you insane? The buzz all over the ’Verse is that you’ve married a concubine!”
“No. Not a concubine. I’m sure you saw the press conference, so let’s not play games. You know who and what she is. And you know I received permission to marry her. She’s a Pela now, and I trust you’ll receive her as such.”
Not that he believed it, but he said it anyway.
“You had your sister arrested. How could you take this woman’s side over your own blood?”
“There were no sides. There was incriminating evidence, and as a matter of fact, it’s Sera who argued that she felt Kira should be charged as an accomplice instead of a member of the conspiracy. She’s being questioned, and if she’s innocent, they’ll let her go. So I suppose you should hope she’s getting another marriage dissolved, and you should start looking for another male for her to marry. Most likely a Walker, because I’m sure the taint of this whole thing will make other Families want to steer clear of us for a while.”
Why that amused him, he couldn’t say, but it did. He heard his father chuckle in the background, so it wasn’t just him.
“Now, my wife is resting after having been shot in the line of duty, so I need to go back to her. I’ll be in contact soon. My love to everyone.”
He cut the communication and smiled. He was free. Free to live the life he wanted with his woman and his best friend. No longer did he have to pretend every day of his life. He’d save the ruses for those times when they went covert. The weight of judgment fell from his shoulders, and he walked back into the bedroom to face a life he’d never dreamed of but couldn’t wait to live.
Epilogue
Sera looked through her laser sight and typed the measurements of the squat building in the distance on a keypad.
“It’s awfully large to simply be a supply depot. Infrared shows extensive underground tunneling and space. I doubt they need all that room for shoes and outdoor gear.” She sat back, packing up the equipment and moving down the hill she’d been situated on while she staked out the buildings below.
Ash waited in the transport some distance away, waving as she and Brandt jogged to the doors.
She still hadn’t gotten used to the wig he’d procured for the assignment. Short, spiky, bright red hair. He wore green lenses in his eyes and had taken supplements to darken his skin. An odd combination, but he looked like many other residents of Levin, one of the desert ’Verses on the frontier.
Brandt also had red hair and green lenses. A mustache and a fake scar on his chin marked his face, along with extensive tattoos on his arms and chest.
“Do you two need a lift back to the settlement?” Ash’s accent was perfect. Rough. It made her shiver.
“Sure.” Brandt opened the door, and she got inside, saying nothing as they drove into the tourist settlement on the edge of the vast nature preserve people traveled from far and wide to traverse and camp in.
It also seemed to hold some Imperialist agents moving their weapons around.
Back at their hotel, fairly luxurious for the area, she’d gone to her room and bade her “brother” good evening.
Ash snuck up the back hallway to his room and then knocked on her door, adjoining his.
When she opened it, she was naked. He looked his fill as he stalked inside. The whole mission had been like an elaborate sex role-play game. She stood there with short black hair, tipped with bright red. Her normally blue eyes were instead a brilliant green, and tattoos covered her whole body. Prosthetics had changed the shape of her nose, and while he knew it was Sera, the bit of not Sera thrilled him as much as he knew his changed looks turned her on. All the excitement of fucking a stranger but still being with your mate.
Brandt came in right as Ash had lowered his face to her cunt and breathed her in.
“Should have known you two would be at it already.”
“Well, come on then, you’re behind now.” Sera laughed.
“I wouldn’t want that.” Brandt knelt, and she sat up, leaning forward to kiss him. Ash watched a few moments before adding his mouth to theirs.
“Perfect. What do you want to guess those other covert teams don’t have nearly the fun undercover that we do?” Sera asked through the link.