It's a rush of bodies and nerves as we all hurry to the main hall, anxious to hear what Telenoch has to say after his trip. We all tumble through the door, falling over one another. The guys come in shortly after we do, rushing into the entrance to meet us.

"Has anyone seen Telenoch and his entourage?" Jax asks, looking around the room.

We each shake our heads and look at Bartlett and Halloway who stand at the back of the room. "The secure room, they're waiting for you."

"Serina," A voice hisses behind me as we move to the back of the hall.

Slowing down, I let everyone walk past until only Lorna and I are left. Once we're alone, Lorna looks around, worry written across her face. "Lorna, what is it?"

"None of my people alerted me of movement at the borders."

I fail to understand her meaning, unsure of the significance. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that either my people didn't tell me of a perimeter breach as they should've, or we have a hole in our security." She looks in the direction of the secure room where we're to meet with Telenoch then shakes her head. "I have no doubt that my people would've alerted me which would mean that we have a hole, and Telenoch knows about it and hasn't told us."

There's suddenly a tight feeling of pressure on my heart. To think, the people we're supposed to be working with could be keeping important information from us. I take a deep breath and shake my head, there's any number of things that could explain why he hasn't informed us of the breach.

"Let's keep this between the two of us for now, yeah? We'll give him a chance to tell us and if he doesn't, we'll have to tell the others and go from there."

She hesitates, looking between me and the door. With her fists clenched, she nods and with that, we join the others.

The door seals behind us and there's a moment of stiff silence. We each shift, finding our own spots. "What took the two of you so long?"

I raise an eyebrow at Astrid, crossing my arms as I lean back against a wall. "We'll talk about it tonight," I mumble under my breath, making sure only she can hear me.

"Thank you for seeing me," Telenoch says as he steps forward. "I thought it was important to speak with you all immediately."

He stops speaking and looks at each of us. The silence pricks at my patience. "Are you going to tell us what you wanted to say or are you going to continue to make us wait?" Jax rolls his eyes, exhaustion making him irritable. "So much so for 'immediately', eh?"

Astrid pales at his tone. She quickly throws out her hands and shakes her hand. "I'm sorry for his attitude, Telenoch. We, humans, are often...irritable when we don't get enough sleep."

Telenoch nods with a small smile before speaking softly in Celx. "Of course, thank you for the clarification, young scholar." He follows with the Galactic Common translation.

There's another moment of wordless tension, everyone growing more irritated by the minute. "Telenoch, please, it's the middle of the night and we'll need to mull over whatever you tell us before any of us has a chance to go back to sleep."

"Right, I often forget how much sleep you humans need." He lowers his hood and holds his hands in front of him. "I met with Huia,"

There's a collective moment of horror upon hearing the name of someone Telenoch himself has said was previously well ingrained in the ranks of the Loyalists. Huia, formerly knowns as Lady Grah before she was stripped of her title for openly supporting the Loyalists, was the disgraced niece of the reigning King and Queen of the Celxians.

Telenoch told us her story when first warning of the dangers the Loyalists posed. He said that it all started with her sympathizing with the concerns of the Loyalists when their people were first told of our arrival; she understood their fears of being replaced on their own planet. After months of quiet understanding, Huia started to voice her agreement with their movement to convince the royal family to end the colonist contract with the GTA. From there, she moved on to become a political activist against our arrival, the public face of the Loyalists. After repeatedly speaking against the crown, she was stripped of her title, making her some kind of living martyr for the cause. It wasn't until only nine months ago that she returned to her family, hoping to repent for the crimes she had committed.

"You did what?" I screech, unable to accept what I'd heard as the truth, surely, sleep deprivation had made us all hear something we hadn't.

"I met with Huia," His hands move in front of him, clasping together in a motion that has become a signature move of his. "She's been an informant on the Loyalists for the royal family, I felt it was only natural to seek her insight."

"You went to meet with the one person who has been most adamant about our destruction for her insight on how to defend ourselves against the Loyalists?" I start to look around, eyes wide in disbelief.

"I do believe that is what I've said, twice now in fact."

I raise my hands and clench them into fists, wanting nothing more than to strangle the native ambassador standing before me. "Telenoch, how could you be so stupid?"

Everyone looks at me, shocked for my blatant disrespect towards our main connection to the royal family. Telenoch frowns, irritation all but written on his brow. "We made a deal that she would help us, she won't break her word."

"Oh, you made a deal?" I set my hands on my hips and lean forward. "Did you shake on it too? Well, that's iron-clad, sorry I said anything."

"You don't understand—"

"No, I understand plenty. I understand that you made a deal with the one Celxian that hates us the most, putting our lives in her hands! Are you blind?!"

"Serina!" Everyone yells at me, Jax even sets a hand on my shoulder.

In the thick silence, I take a moment to catch my breath, my breathing having turned shallow and rapid. I also look at everyone else, releasing my fists when I see the shock and horror written on their expressions.

"You okay, Doc?" Jax looks down at me and gives my shoulder a small squeeze.

I nod, moving a hand through my hair. "Yes," I give Jax a thankful glance and he steps away. "I haven't slept, I overreacted. I'm sorry,"

There's an awkward silence, many people in the room had never seen me go 'full-flare'. There's a moment of senseless murmuring of agreement until Astrid smiles, an explanation on her lips.

"You're just under a lot of stress with your pregnant patient and all. This could've been any of us in the right situation." She says, looking at everyone before fixing her gaze on Will, urging him to agree.

"That's right," He shifts his stance, uncomfortable with the look Astrid just gave him. "Anyone of us."

"Right, let's focus again on my meeting with Huia," Telenoch says, pulling the conversation back to his horrendous mistake.

As Telenoch recounts his trips, I slip back into the shadowed corner of the room, fuming at his idiocy. I manage to listen to bits and pieces of what he says before I have to block his voice out; I wasn't able to tolerate much of the meeting this early in the morning after not sleeping.

"After she told me what had changed in the organization in the last moon cycle since I'd joined you all, we discussed the outlook of the colony against the Loyalists."

I twist the family ring around my finger and wish I could talk to Shawn and Jada. Shawn would make me feel better by reminding me of something stupid and funny I did as a child. Jada would give me advice as a fellow elder and tell me how to approach the situation from a different, positive angle.

"We brought up the concern of location. While the colony is secure and hard to breach, the Loyalists are native and know the area better, therefore they know how to use the environment to their advantage."

I lean my head back against the wall, my head finally feeling the weight of approaching sleep. While not enough to fall asleep during the meeting, I'm sure I won't have a problem sleeping when I get back to the cabin. I'll have to message Rose and let her know that I'll more than likely be coming into the infirmary late today and to start teaching the newest nurses venipuncture without me.

"I'm sure that with the help of Elders Lorna and Jaxon, we'll be able to come up with a plan to defend the colony when the time comes."

With that, he concludes what he has to say and I roll my eyes, ready to leave. A few last words are spoken then we open the door and file out of the room. As soon as I'm out, I take a deep breath, glad to be out of the small room, and the tiniest fraction of stress leaves my body.

I hurry out of the building and stand outside the main hall, arms crossed over my chest to keep myself from strangling someone. As glad as I am to see that the sun hadn't risen while we were stuck in there, there's a small piece of me that wishes it had so I had an excuse to run to the infirmary and hide in my work.

"Do you trust me?" I turn around at Telenoch's voice behind me. He holds out his hands, palms together, with a hopeful expression.

I uncross my arms and bite my lip. "One-hundred percent."

He nods and turns to go his own way, his guards falling in line behind him, having no clue what transpired in the secure room. They move in the direction of the outskirts of the colony as Raiden comes up behind me. He leans down to speak in my ear. "One-hundred percent?"

My hands ball into fists, not forgiving the fact that he could've jeopardized our safety, not to mention that he didn't say anything about the security hole in our borders. "I rounded up...way up."

I can feel stress and irritation sinking low in my stomach, taking residence in a form so pure that I know I won't sleep as I had hoped. As I hear the others come out of the building, all logical thought leaves my mind, losing the battle against my need to destress and not feel the weight of the colony on my shoulders, even if it's just for a morning.

"Wait here," I tell Raiden then walk over to Astrid.

I pull her away from Will momentarily and call to Elena and Lorna over her shoulder. "Girls' night is over, go wherever."

They nod, Elena immediately catching up to Jax's side and taking his arm, Lorna disappearing to whatever dark place she dwells. Turning back to Astrid, I smile and set my hands on her shoulders. "I need you to do me a favor,"

My back hits the wall but the pain doesn't register through my fogged mind. The only things I can focus on are Raiden's mouth devouring mine and some barrier of restraint that tugs at the both of us to stop. I don't want to stop.

His mouth leaves mine, moving to the rest of my face, kissing my cheeks and working his way to the sensitive spot below my ear while I struggle to catch my breath. Able to drag in air again, I move my hand into his hair, pulling his lips back to mine. Raiden makes a noise deep in his chest and pride swells in me, he'd thought that he'd been in control, oh how wrong he was.

My free hand moves down, slipping under his shirt to run my fingers along his hard stomach. Something in him changes and he moves his hands from my hair to hold my hips. He kisses me a moment longer then pulls away, out chests rising against the other in ragged, uneven breaths.

"I thought Aorians were supposed to be the reserved prudes of the galaxy." He smirks at me, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

I roll my eyes and drop my head, kissing along his jaw until I reach his ear. "The majority are, but as you'll find, I'm not your typical Aorian." My lips brush his ear as I speak, my breath moving the hair in front of me.

His mouth crashes back onto mine and I can't stop the surprised gasp that is captured by his lips. His kiss is urgent, pushing me to open up to him which I'm more than willing to do. His teeth graze my lower lip and his leg slips between mine.

Raiden holds my cheeks, effectively holding me back when he pulls away again, frustration beginning to sprout in my stomach. "What would they say about you sleeping with someone you hardly know?" He raises a brow, obviously knowing that his stalling is picking at my nerves.

"They think that the body is simply a vessel of the soul. 'Pleasures of the flesh, the physical extension of the need of the soul.'" I quote something that we learn right as we hit puberty. We learn that every need is natural and simple. Even though we learn that these needs should wait until marriage, most don't listen to that half.

Raiden's eyes flash with something I don't bother trying to decipher. Instead, I catch his mouth while he's distracted. We kiss without interruption and I move my hands back under his shirt, continuing my previous exploration. His hands move up from my hips to my waist, my shirt moving up as the material is pushed out of the way.

I move my hands to his back, nails grazing across his skin on the way over his waist. He pulls away from me again and my frustration spikes. I'm about to speak my irritation, but Raiden pulls his shirt over his head and tosses it to the side, only to start kissing me again.

My shirt soon joins his, the cool air in his cabin chilling my skin until his hands explore my body, sending fire along my nerves wherever he touches. Bless Astrid for getting Will out of here for the rest of the morning, although, I would be surprised if they weren't eager to do the same as Raiden and me in our cabin.

Feeling bold, I pull at his shoulders and flip us around so his back is now pressed to the wall. Raiden moans into my lips and picks me up. I wrap my legs around his waist and my arms around his neck, nails digging into his shoulders. My hair falls around us, the long locks acting like a blonde curtain. His hands hold me up under my butt and he kissed down my neck as he starts to walk us across the cabin.