Echo Book 2

11. Girl Talk

The next few days go the same. The boys work on guns and shields. Eriska and I help around the office. Then we finish furnishing the house. I still have no idea why they made an entire wing of guest suites. We have hotels for that. The wing is empty for now. I'll figure out something for it.

Then Malax and I go to the ship with the planet leaders, Kefic and Bryce and their wives. I stare out the windows with the wives for 6 hours while we get to the meeting planet.

I am immediately shocked. There are so many ships floating outside of it. There are 3 as big as mine. Then 10 the size of Tim's. I wonder if he's here yet. I shouldn't think like that, but I can't help it. Maybe it's the mate bond they talk about. It should go away once we reject it. The thought makes me sad, but I know it's for the best. I can't be who he loves.

"WOMAN. I swear." Malax picks me up over his shoulder. "We can't stare out the window all day."

I see another ship zoom in. I wonder if that's Tim.

He puts me in a shuttle with everyone, and we go to the landing pad.

Dipak and Alden are on the stage. "KEHLANI'S PEOPLE THAT DIRECTION. NADINE'S THAT WAY."

Malax is rubbing his face and shaking his head.

Most are trying to sort out where they're supposed to go. Others are standing around talking or just completely lost.

Malax gets us over to Nadine. "We can stay on the ship."

"No. It's fine. We have your rooms."

5 minutes of staring at mass confusion later, Tre comes over and pulls us into a building. He gives Bryce and Kefic rooms on the first floor. Then Malax and I get a room on the top level at the far end.

I stand in the kitchen rubbing my face.

"Yea, that was a lot, baby. They're trying though. Let's wind down. I'm sure it'll be 2 hours before they sort it out."

"Yea." I open the fridge. "The kitchen is perfect. Even some snack food."

"The bedroom is perfect too. Nice big bed to make love to you on."

I rub against him and giggle. "Let's see the balcony."

We get outside and the place is so beautiful. We're between an ocean and a mountain range. The mountains are a dark redish pink. But the sand on the beach is pink. The ocean is so bright blue. It's perfect. From our balcony, it's all we can see.

"Malax, this is..."

"Yea, it is."

Then a giant bright blue bird flies over us. It's 5 feet long. It looks like a 5 feet long snake. But it has 3 wings on each side. At least I think they're wings. They are big, like wings, but are round with feathers coming off of them in the shape of fingers. 3 on each side. Then the bird has a 3-foot-long tail with a few feathers on the end.

I scratch my head and watch it fly into the mountains.

Malax kisses my head. "Never saw anything like that before."

"I'm going to bring the suppra down at some point and explore."

"That sounds fun. There's a fish walking down the beach, baby."

I glance at it in time to see it fly away. "I don't think that was a fish."

"Maybe not."

"Good afternoon."

Malax catches me from jumping off the balcony. Dipak is standing beside us. "He's being broadcast, baby. It's not him." He puts his hand through Dipak.

"If you're new with us, The AI can broadcast us like this. We call them brains. There is 1 in your room. Feel free to ask for things. It can wake you up, get extra pillows, or soap. Whatever you need. There is a food list in your room of things they can get, day or night. Now the room you are in is assigned to you. Your voice will open the door. Simply say open. If someone knocks, you can ask the brain who it is. The resort itself has many things to do. There is a spa, several pools, the ocean, a few game rooms, the cafeteria. There are also activities, like the beach desserts. You have an activity list and a resort list in the room. Everything is open to you. The schedule of events is posted on a board in every hallway. There is also a copy in your room. Meetings will begin tomorrow at 9AM. Dinner will be in the ballroom at 6PM tonight. There is a map of the resort in your room. We will see everyone at 6."

I wiggle against Malax. "Well, you did promise me a vacation."

"Does seem like a resort. Too bad we have work meetings to attend." He kisses my neck as someone knocks on the door. "Of course."

I laugh. "Enter."

Nadine and Thora run in. "What do you think?"

"I love it. It is so beautiful. It's spacious and comfortable. The views are insane. How did you even find it?"

"I have a list of places that might work. When we find somewhere, I write it down. A lot of testing has to go on before we can actually build."

"I bet. I'll buy it when you're done."

"How?"

Malax laughs. "She wants to study it. The rooms make it convenient for her. Hell we can rent out the rooms for our people and make the money back."

"They would like vacations here. The pink sand wins it for me. But yea, I'll keep this building as my own. The other 4 or 5 buildings with rooms, I'll rent out to people who want to vacation on another planet."

"How are they going to get here?"

"I'm sure Kehlani will come off a ship or 2."

"I don't know about that."

I smile.

Malax nods. "Have that one girl do the food, woman. What was her name? She owns the gold wine. That s**t is good."

Thora sits on the couch. "Starlet. She did her boys' meal plans at their resorts. She is amazing at food and wine."

"I'll let Dipak know you want it. Usually we tear them down."

"What a waste. So, you do this every year in a different location?"

"Yea, the boys don't want everyone knowing where we are. All 3 queen of queens and the high kings are in the same place. It would be a good place for an enemy to attack."

Malax gets in the fridge. "It is smart to change locations. Do you give the location out?"

"No. Only the kings know where it is. They pick up their people, and we meet here."

"They could be tracked."

"Alden and Dipak go crazy on defense. There are even 5 war carriers up there."

"I did see those. Those are nice. I started building some for us." He opens a cupboard. "Why the hell is it so hard to find cups?"

"Upper cupboard by the fridge."

"That does make sense."

I laugh. "Our kitchen is still being sorted out. We're used to searching for stuff."

He nods. "Forks are in the pantry for some reason."

"Go sit down. It's hard to put stuff away when you don't know where away is." I get him a cup of juice. Then put some grapes and crackers on a plate for him.

"Thank you, baby. You're amazing."

I kiss his head and put it in front of him. "I know."

"How long until dinner?"

"1 hour."

"Any news from Tim?"

"No. He was with us for 1 day at home. We had dinner, then he had to leave to pick people up. Haven't heard from him since."

"Dipak banned him from this building. He was already trying to get in."

"Why?"

"To see you." Thora shakes her head. "She's denser than you were."

"I don't think I was dense."

"Every damn boy. And you had 9 of them. Every single one, we had to go through this." She does a whiny voice. "He doesn't like me. He'll never like me."

"I think Tim might like me."

"I was wrong. She's not as dense as you."

"But everything that happened with Kehlani. I'm not going there. I'm not even getting in that mess."

"Oh, it's never half as bad as what you hear." Nadine gets Malax cheese and some more grapes.

Thora nods. "Yea. You'll have to talk to him some more. Obviously, he's trying to spend time with you. But hear him out. You may be surprised and mates have a crazy pull to each other."

"And you can't refuse a mate without understanding everything. It's not fair to yourself or them. Soulmates are true and so rare."

"Be honest and you'll make it through. But don't hate him because of rumors. Let him tell you the truth."

"And he will because he wants you."

"Hell yea he does. That man is going crazy. I heard Victor saying he wouldn't leave her galaxy. Then he punched Malax."

"How is Malax taking the multiple mate idea?" Nadine stares at me.

Malax nods. "I'm alright. If he's her mate, there's nothing I can do about it."

"Mine tried to kill each other."

"No, remember Marcus. They found out before you did. They knew what was coming so they didn't freak out. It's the same thing with Malax. He understands, and I'm sure your boys are helping him. Giving him someone to ask questions too."

"They are." Malax makes a cheese sandwich with his crackers.

"It's giving him time to adjust to the idea."

"So, has Tim kissed you yet?"

"No. We're not like that, and I'm not doing that."

Nadine takes Malax's food. "We're having dinner in half an hour. Dinner is not crackers and cheese. We can dress sexy for dinner. Watch how hard Tim stares at you."

Malax takes his plate back. "He had better not stare at me."

We crack up laughing.

Dipak comes in. "You know you can shut the door. What are you 3 planning?"

Malax eats a cracker. "We're going to dress sexy, so Tim stares at us." Then him and Dipak laugh.

Thora rolls her eyes. "It's a good idea."

Dipak makes a cheese sandwich. "Yea, it's always a good idea to tease a grown-ass man. I'm sure that'll be fine."

Malax stands up. "Let's go to dinner. I need a break from the girl talk."