Page 36 of Guiding Desire

SENLAS

Congratulations!

You are the new owner of this Batty Bae alarm bot. Batty Bae cares about your sleep and about your time. It is designed to optimize both. Unlike other alarm bots, Batty Bae will bond to you, dedicating its big AI heart to always getting you up when you have to and letting you sleep in when you don’t. Batty Bae can move around to help it monitor your sleep and make it easier for you to rise in the mornings. Batty Bae’s smart interior is surrounded by a sturdy outside, and it will brighten the mornings for you for years to come.

(Found on the floor of the living space in Otanna Dangar’s house after her son’s eleventh birthday and subsequently moved to recycling.)

“Yousawthat,right?”Karmine asked while he got busy prepping a more elaborate breakfast than Senlas bothered with under normal circumstances.

“Saw what?” Senlas said, his back turned while he ground the lighter roast.

“He had a hard-on. He so wanted to fuck you.”

“He’s been in an explosion, he’s on three different types of medication and pumped full of phages, so whether he has an erection really isn’t the first and most important thing on my mind.”

Karmine stopped slicing the assorted bean tofu and leaned on the counter Senlas was facing so he could examine Senlas’s face.

“You’re a liar. A horny little liar.”

“I can still drop you off the building, you know.”

“Yeah? Well, I can burn holes in the backs of all your pants so that your butt cheeks are showing.”

“I couldGrabyour balls and justSqueeze.”

Karmine snorted. “No idea how you give anyone a hard-on from a single kiss with that attitude.”

Senlas gave Karmine alook.Karmine turned the shade of the hottest fire he could make. “That was…barely a kiss! And we were both in school! Everyone does stupid shit, and then physical reflexes happen.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“Okay, fine. Let’s stop. But, like, move on him. Show him you’re good in bed and you have all your bases covered.” He went back to cutting the tofu, stopped. “Youaregood in bed, aren’t you?”

“I’ve had no complaints.” Senlas frowned. “Other than size, but that’s not unusual, coming from Conduits.”

Karmine sighed. “Yeah, it’s not fair that they’re all cute and tiny.”

“Anything above D or E is just taller than the average, which you know.” Senlas transferred the grounds to the machine and turned it on, and while the aroma of fresh grounds and hot water making love filled the air, he leaned against a counter to watch Karmine put together oven roasted mung bean pancakes with vegetable filling and porridge with whatever leftover fruit he managed to dig up from Senlas’s freezer. “What exactly do you mean by having all my bases covered?”

Karmine shrugged without slowing down his multitasking heavy prep. Senlas could have done most of it by using his power, but unlike Karmine, Senlas simply didn’t know all the tasks that needed doing in order to make a warm breakfast for six.

“I mean, he’s understood that you can take care of him. You’ve shown him you will do exactly that when he gets hurt. That kind of thing is important for people. For regulars. Showing him you’re good in bed is the next step, then figure out what he wants from a family unit, give him that, live in happiness forevermore.”

“That’s fucking reductive.”

“Yeah? Well, then look at it this way: it’s not like he can choose to not be your imprinted, and the least you can do is make sure all his other needs are thoroughly met.”

Senlas pinched the bridge of his nose. The problem was that Karmine’s logic, however base it seemed, had no fault to it. Imprinted didn’t get a say in their Guardian. Not many Conduits would think to complain, because being bound to an A- or S-classer would give them all kinds of clout. Still, there was no opting out, and Orrey was very much not like any other Conduit.

Coldis walked toward them from one of the far guest rooms, his strides long and determined.

“What now?” Senlas asked.

Col waved him off. “Nothing. I’m just heading out. I’ll stop by the Judiciary and meet our Ferrean guests.”

“Oh, the guys from the convoy?” Karmine asked.

“Yes. I should have greeted the Guardians they assigned to the convoy yesterday, but then all this shit happened.”