Page 133 of Serpent In White

I slept in my office last night.

It’s been a strenuous few days, and after wandering to the lake, then seeing Darian… Well, needless to say, I couldn’t just go back to my cabin alone. I mean, Icouldhave, but my brain was too busy, my thoughts too hectic.

It’s irritating. Mind-blowing orgasms are supposed to clear your head, not muss it up more.

So instead, I went to the lab and fucked around with my hybrids for a few hours until the sun was coming up. I actually don’t remember passing out on the couch, but that’s where I woke up just now.

And glancing across the room at my clock, I see that it’s after nine.

Jesus.I haven’t slept this late in years.

Getting up slowly, I stretch my arms out and rub my eyes. I use the en suite I have off my office, and when I’m freshened up, I open my office door slowly, peering out into the lab to see what’s going on. People are mulling about, working. Understandable, since it’s late. Even so, you can pretty much always find at least a few someones in here working, at all hours. We could be consideredworkaholics, though we don’t see it that way.

Our work is important. We create fuel, medicine, recreational and therapeutic psychedelics, which are exported in trade. We keep this place as self-sustained as possible and growing stronger every day.

My team is solid. Between the chemists and the Tribe, everyone knows how things work by now. We’re like our own little family within a family. I trust them not to spill our secrets or make comments on things they don’t need to be concerned with.

Like me coming in late, disheveled and dripping wet with mud all over my dress whites, then sleeping for hours in my office.

Stepping out of said office, I keep my head down as I make a beeline for the exit. I’d like to try to escape without anyone stopping me. Unfortunately, no such luck when I push open the door and almost crash right into Jeremy, one of my top patrolmen.

Disguising my shock and the insecure air I haven’t been able to shake since last night with Darian, I clear my throat. “What?”

“Sir, Head Priest sent me,” he starts, then pauses, his eyes shifting all over the place, as if he doesn’t know how to tell me what he needs to tell me.

It only serves to irritate me further. “And? Get on with it. What’s the problem?”

“There’s an Outsider on the Expanse,” he grunts.

“A breach?” My brows shoot up.

“Uh, not exactly…” His blinking becomes rapid, and my head shakes to showcase my confusion.

“What the hell does that mean?”

“She’s a… guest,” he fumbles. “Brought in by Abdiel Harmony.”

My limbs actually freeze. I can feel it, like someone pressed the spectral pause button. “What…? He brought her… from where??”

Jeremy does a little shrug, making it apparent that he only has the information he’s just given me, no more, no less. Scoffing, I rake my fingers through my hair, reaching for the walkie on his belt. But then I stop myself and brush past him, toward the exit. I need to get to Darian.

We need to talk about this face to face.

My pulse is increasing steadily with my bemused frustration as I stalk the long corridor, my mind a jumbled mass of queries.

Abdiel’s back?Relief floods my chest at that thought alone, though it’s stomped out quickly when I remember hebrought a stranger onto our land.Why on Earth would he do such a thing?

And Darian is allowing her to stay? That’s ridiculous. Typical Darian, putting us all in danger because of his giant heart overflowing with human compassion. Bleh.

He and Abdiel are so similar in some ways, it’s startling.

Still, there’s no way Darian is pleased with Abdiel encountering random strays and bringing them back to us, especially after all the shady things that have been occurring lately with trespassers.

There are no coincidences. This is happening for a reason.

But what is it?

Shoving myself through the large doors, I’m hit with late morning sun which blinds me momentarily. I rub my eyes hard, trying to push away the grogginess and the stress of my overall existence as I stomp to my ATV.