Luna opened one eye and chirped a sleepy greeting before closing the eye again and settling her nose more firmly under her tail. She had the right idea. Torran and I had been gone for so long that the sun was already peeking over the horizon, but if I didn’t get a few hours of sleep, I’d be worthless.

I sent Kee a message letting her know that I was back safe and planning to crash for a few hours, then I messaged everyone on my team, asking them to keep digging, specifically on the parking garage building and the monitoring station. I let them know that they were on their own for food until I felt human again.

That done, I flopped into bed, clothes and all. Luna moved from the other side of the bed to curl up on my chest. It was her favorite spot, and I’d learned to breathe with her weight compressing my lungs.

I fell asleep to the low rumble of her purr.

I awoke to sharp claws pricking at the skin under my collarbones. Luna stretched again and the claws dug deeper. As soon as I grumbled at her, she sent me a mental picture of her empty food bowl.

I was contemplating her murder when she blinked her big, violet eyes at me and rubbed her head against my chin. The little devil knew exactly how far she could push me and how to win her way back into my good graces. It would be impressive if it wasn’t so annoying.

I petted her for a few minutes while the fog of sleep slowly lifted. A check of my comm proved that I’d been asleep for a little over three hours. It wasn’t nearly enough, but it would have to do.

A hot shower knocked most of the cobwebs from my brain, and by the time I opened the door, I was ready to face the day.

Which is the only reason I didn’t trip over the tray on the floor.

The tray had two covered dishes with accompanying labels. Someone had written my name in a neat block script on the larger container’s label, and the smaller one had Luna’s name on it.

I squinted at the text. Was this Torran’s handwriting or had one of his staff taken care of it?

I carried the tray to the kitchen. If I was up anyway, I might as well be sociable. Both the kitchen and dining area were empty when I arrived. Unsurprising, since it was well into midmorning.