Victoria's Challenge Read Online Free PDF Page A

private confidence.”
    Now his eyes shoot to hers.
    “She had no right to say that to you.”
    “She does, because I did. William… she’s not coming back.”
    “What do you mean, not coming back?” His voice is still.
    “After the tour , she told Lucas he should come home and spend time with his father and brothers without having to worry about her intruding.” Cassandra’s tears start to flow again. “William, when I told this was her home, she said no, it’s not. Her home was on Earth. She’s pulling away, letting go.”
    “We won’t let her.”
    “She said we’ve done our duty and it was time to concentrate on our own family.”
    “What!”
    “William… she wouldn’t say Lucas’ name, called him Major…”
    “What else? ” He can tell there’s more and isn’t sure he wants to know. “Cassandra, tell me.”
    “She wouldn’t call you Uncle . It was always High Admiral, the Major’s father, the boy’s father, or my husband. Whatever was said, has her believing she’s interfering in the rest of the family’s life, that if she’s involved, we all suffer.”
    William didn’t know his heart could ache like this . He still remembers the day she asked if she could call him Uncle because that made him just hers, special, now she was trying to take that away. He won’t allow it.
    “I’ll contact Lucas, find out what happened.”
    Cassandra’s hand stops him as he goes to rise.
    “You can’t. She asked me to give her space. To give her time to decide what she wants to do. Now that she knows the truth.”
    “But she doesn’t . She doesn’t know he loves her.”
    “And that’s not for us to tell . William, if you contact him, she’ll never trust us again, with anything, you know that. We’ll truly lose her then.”
    “What a mess. ” William pulls his life mate into his arms, and together they watch the Carinian moonrise.

Chapter Three
    “Very good Cade.” The nine cycle beams up at her as she hands him his paper. “Now since you all did such a wonderful job on these essays, I’m going to cut you all a break…” She smiles at the eager eyes. “No homework for the weekend.” The excited yells she receives has her shaking her head. “Go, enjoy your time off.”
    Opening the hatch, she smiles at her students’ mass exodus from the classroom. When she’d been that age, a weekend without homework would have been a punishment, not a reward. Shaking her head, she cleans up the room before gathering up her things.
     
    Dodge has had enough. Lucas is driving the flight crews crazy, calling last minute inspections, changing patrols, reaming people for no reason. Everyone is on pins and needles. It’s been this way for two weeks. It wasn’t the Major’s style.
    “What the fucks wrong! ” He demands, entering the office.
    “What do you mean?” Lucas leans back, steely eyes pinning Dodge.
    “You’re climbing up everyone’s ass like we’re first cycle cadets! The deck hands are scared to crack a joke. You reamed Flash for moving too fast ! What’s going on?”
    “You questioning me, Dodge?” His voice is ice cold.
    “When you’re acting like this . YES! It’s not your style to intimidate, bully and just be plain mean, Lucas. So yes, I’m questioning.” Lucas surges to his feet, but Dodge refuses to back down, locking eyes with him until Lucas, with a heavy sigh, turns away, rubbing his neck.
    Moving to his charts , Lucas stares unseeing at them. He knows he’s been snapping at people, been demanding but he didn't realize it had gotten so bad. It’s been over two weeks since he's talked to Victoria, he can’t take much more. “Have I really been that bad?”
    “Fuck yes!”
    “Shit.”
    “So what crawled up your ass?”
    “Nothing . Look, I’m sorry…” Before he can finish, an explosion rips through the flight deck followed by screams and alarms.
    Both men run for the hatch.
     
    “Tori, are you going to Emans tonight?” Jager stands close, as she secures