Page 104 of The Sterling Acquisition

They lay there in comfortable silence, both reluctant to break whatever strange equilibrium they’d found. Finally, Dante’s caffeine dependency won out.

“Coffee,” he announced, extracting himself from the tangle of limbs.

Orion made a sound of agreement. “Bring me some too. And clothes, if you can find any that don’t smell like violence and corporate desperation.”

Dante padded naked through the unfamiliar house, following the scent of freshly brewed coffee. Everything about the space felt lived-in, comfortable in a way that Gensyn’s sterile housing never achieved. Apparently, actual human habitation required a certain amount of controlled chaos that corporate architects had never mastered.

It was... pleasant. Another data point for his growing file of “Reasons My Handlers Would Recommend Immediate Personality Restructuring.”

He rounded the corner into the kitchen and stopped short.

A woman was leaning against the counter, coffee mug in hand, watching him with unconcealed amusement. The shoe vendor from the market—her distinctive scars were unmistakable.

Well, this is awkward.

“Ay, Dios mío,“ she said, her voice carrying familiar warmth and humor. “Look who decided to wake up. You look a lot more relaxed than when I saw you trying not to get eaten by Berserkers, corporate boy.”

Dante ran a quick threat assessment out of pure habit—position, exits, weapons, resistance capability—then felt ridiculous for it. This woman had literally saved their lives. If she wanted them dead, she had plenty of opportunities that didn’t involve letting them sleep in her guest room.

“You must be Lilac,” he said. “Thank you. For yesterday, for the boots, for...” He gestured around the kitchen. “This.”

“De nada.“ She poured another mug, steam rising invitingly. “Coffee?”

“God, yes.”

The first sip was perfect—rich and dark with just a hint of sweetness. Real coffee, not the synthetic optimization blend Gensynprovided. Dante couldn’t suppress the sound of appreciation that escaped him.

Lilac chuckled. “Figured you’d need the good stuff when you surfaced. You two looked were in rough shape back in the Neutral Zone.”

“Where are you from originally?” Dante asked, genuine curiosity overriding operational caution.

“East LA, born and raised. Came out here about fifteen years ago when SVI decided my family’s shop would look better with their logo on it.” Her expression darkened. “Turns out being a ‘glitched’ Alpha makes you an easy target for asset forfeiture.”

Dante winced. He’d read reports about SVI’s acquisition tactics, but hearing it from someone who’d lived through it was different. Gensyn preferred regulatory manipulation to outright theft—equally effective but less likely to create the kind of enemies SVI specialized in making.

“What about that?” Lilac nodded toward his wrist, where his bio-monitor was still cycling through error messages. “You planning to keep broadcasting your location to your corporate overlords? Because we have scramblers to keep them from finding you here.”

Dante glanced down at the device. “It’s malfunctioning. Has been since...” He paused, realizing he wasn’t sure when the errors had started.

“Mijo, that thing isn’t broken—it’s having a panic attack because your biology’s all scrambled.“ She held out her hand. “Give it here. I’ll take care of it.”

“Can you disable it without triggering alerts?”

“Sí, but better to not have Gensyn sniffing around at all, ¿verdad?“ She wiggled her fingers impatiently. “Come on. You trust me enough to sleep in my house but not enough to let me cut your electronic leash?”

Valid point.

Dante unstrapped the device and handed it over, watching as Lilac examined it with practiced eyes before tucking it into her pocket.

“I’ll get it back to you in pieces later, if you want souvenirs,” she said with a shrug. Then her expression shifted, eyes focusing on his neck. “Oye, that’s a nasty bite mark you got there. One of those Berserkers tag you during the fight?”

Dante’s hand moved automatically to cover the mark, heat rising in his cheeks. “No.”

Lilac’s eyebrows rose, and a slow grin spread across her face. “Ah. I see.” She picked up the second mug of coffee, pressing it into his hands. “You know, most people put on pants before having coffee with strangers, but I appreciate the confidence,mijo. Does your pretty Omega want coffee too?”

Dante glanced down at himself, realizing he’d been standing in her kitchen naked for the entire conversation. His training should have made him immediately aware of the tactical disadvantage, but somehow it had felt... normal.

“I should probably—”