Captain Zaven Adhzivian has spent eighteen months calling what he feels for the only human on his team loyalty. Discipline. Duty. But watching someone from her old life try to shrink her back down to a category — alien-loving, unrecognisable, other — breaks something loose in him that won't neatly go back into a box.

Sasha's spent four years being fine. Tonight, in front of him, that stops being true.

He can't undo the hurt done to her. All he can do is stay with her — and mean it.

This is a novelette about what it's like to not quite belong. Phantom Vengeance: The Side Quests is a companion series to Phantom Vengeance. Standalone stories. Bigger gut-punch if you already know these idiots.