Page 8 of Olivia

“Exactly,” he said. “I don’t have biological guards everywhere. They’re simply monitoring.”

“That’s not acceptable,” she said simply

“Dr. Oppyx,” he said. “I’m sure you contracted with me because of my reputation. But what you’re asking for… it’s not up to my standards, and it puts your facility and my reputation at risk. Besides which, you wouldn’t be getting any value for my services. Unless all you really want is my logo on your literature to give patients the impression of safety?”

He had probably gone too far with that last bit. But there was no point mincing words when people’s safety was at stake.

“Stark,” she said, her voice more casual as she said his first name. “Let’s be real here. You of all people know what’s supposed to happen here at Midsummer. I know couldn’t do that with a stranger in front of a livestream. Could you?”

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

Honestly, it had been so long since he’d been with a woman that Stark felt like he could do it on the spot, in a live planetary feed if it came to that.

But he understood what she was saying.

“At least let me voice my concerns with the owners personally before I go back to the drawing board again,” he said.

“The owners won’t meet with you until you have something reasonably viable on the table,” she said. “And between us, they’ve asked me to start researching other security firms.”

Red rings of Zarxiss…

His guys had families, and the holidays were coming. Even if he couldn’t use all of them, he couldn’t let them down by not trying.

You also don’t want to miss out on that perk,a little voice in the back of his head reminded him.

“I’ll send over an alternate plan in forty-eight hours,” he told her through gritted teeth. “It will come with a perma-stamp that includes a detailed rundown of my concerns.”

“Excellent,” Oppyx said. “Remember that we can’t have biological security viewing sensitive feeds or drones floating around within sight in the simulations. Privacy is our first priority.”

“That’s becoming more and more clear,” he said, unable to keep the sarcasm from his voice.

Stark had learned the hard way how important it was to secure perimeters and anticipate enemy infiltration. And though that experience was many years old, the memory of it haunted him daily and fueled the inner drive that had taken him from a poor farm boy to the owner of the biggest private security firm in the sector.

Stark Security didn’t make mistakes.

“Oh, and Mr. Rawling,” Dr. Oppyx said. “There’s one more thing.”

He resisted the impulse to roll his eyes. Barely.

“We’ve found a match for you,” she told him, her eyes twinkling again.

His heart began to pound.

This was the perk the center had offered that made an already generous fee seem irresistible.

All Maltaffians like Stark were capable of mate bonds. Because of that, most weren’t eager to settle down with a partner who wasn’t their bonded mate, since either partner finding their mate later would destroy any life they had built together.

It wasn’t a matter of loyalty. Mate bonds were undeniable.

So Stark was happy to wait for his own sake. But on Maltaffia, having an heir was crucial for any person who had wealth or property.

Every day that Stark spent without an heir there was a target on his head, and he was in danger of some distant relation trying to lay claim to his security empire.

Most days, he tried not to think about the other reason he wanted an heir. But the real truth was that he longed for a child to love and care for, wanted it more than he wanted his stupid empire.

His own family had been strict and tight-lipped. The kids worked the farm and did as they were told. There was no time and there were no credits for holidays or holo-books. And he often suspected that the loss of his older brother during a brutal winter before Stark was born had caused his parents to grow cold and distant even during the brief times of respite on the farm when he longed for love and laughter.

Stark dreamed of a home and hearth with a child toplay games with and who might scramble into his lap to read a book at night. The family life he would build for the two of them would be filled with joy and warmth, even if he never found his bonded mate.