Watch
Syl and I both looked up when Krit stomped into the main room of the apartment. 
We had spent the rest of the day getting Max, Logan, Cade and Zack resituated. 
Then we had come back to the apartment and relaxed, just doing simple things 
like cleaning up. 
I couldn’t help but stare when I realized he wasn’t wearing anything but his 
boxers.
“Alright. Who took my pants?” Krit demanded.
I felt myself turning red. Syl snorted into her drink.
“This isn’t funny.” Krit snapped, “Zack and Cade are gonna be here any minute 
and I can’t find my pants. One of you took them. I want them back right now.”
“Don’t look at me!” Syl said, scrambling off the couch and retreating to the 
kitchen, “Why would I take your pants?”
“Ty?” Krit pressed, staring at me.
I couldn’t look him in the eye. But I couldn’t stop staring at him.
“Okay, normally this would all be very interesting. But not now. Where are my 
pants?” Krit repeated.
“You had pants?” I heard myself say. 
“Ty! What did you do with my pants?!” Krit demanded.
“You need pants?” I continued.
“Ty!”
“In my mind you didn’t have pants.”
“That’s naughty!” Syl said. 
“Yes.” I agreed. 
I mentally smacked myself and forced myself to focus.
“I...I didn’t mean to. I thought it was part of the laundry.” I tried to 
explain.
Krit groaned.
“Please tell me that you’ve already washed them and they’ve been drying for a 
half an hour.” Krit pleaded.
“I just washed them. Sorry.”
“Great. Perfect. So I have no pants and Zack and Cade are coming.”
“You look better without them.” I offered, trying to make him feel better. 
“Glad you think so. Don’t think Zack will, though.” 
“Ew.” Syl commented.
“Don’t you have another pair of pants?” I asked.
“Blood stains. Grease stains. Ripped.” Krit said quickly.
“Damn.” Syl threw in another comment.
“You got that right.” Krit agreed.
“I really am sorry, Krit.” I said sincerely, making myself look him in the eye.
“It’s okay, Ty. You didn’t know any better.” Krit sighed and ran his hand 
through his hair, “I just don’t like meeting the C.O. with my pants off, you 
know?”
We all jumped when we heard a knock on the door.
“Ah, hell.” Krit swore.
Syl glanced at him questioningly.
“Should I get it?” she asked.
“Might as well.” Krit said, defeated.
I hadn’t known it was possible to feel attracted to someone and yet feel bad for 
them at the same time. Poor Krit. I hadn’t meant to upset him.
“Cheer up, Krit.” I said, getting up and going over to him, “They’re nice 
boxers.”
I was so glad to see Krit flash his familiar mischievous grin at me. I think my 
heart actually skipped a beat. It almost felt like we were back to normal again.
“You think so?”
“Krit, why the hell aren’t you wearing any clothes?”
“Hi, Zack.”
“Nice boxers, Krit.” Cade added appreciatively.
I think Krit actually blushed. Zack glared at Cade.
“Cade!”
“But yours are so much nicer, honey!” Cade added quickly.
“Krit, put some pants on!” Zack growled.
“Umm...” Krit began.
“He can’t.” I put in.
“Why?” Zack asked.
“There’s really a good explanation for this.” Krit said.
“You see, I was doing the laundry.” I began.
“And she thought my pants were part of aforementioned laundry.” Krit added.
“And Krit doesn’t have any other pants to wear.” I finished.
“Oh, god.” Zack groaned.
“So, Cade. How have you been?” Syl asked casually, attempting to slip out 
unnoticed.
I was amazed to see she actually accomplished it. Zack barely blinked as Cade 
and Syl crept past him.
“Does this happen...often?” Zack asked.
“No!” Krit and I both said.
“So you don’t normally socialize with my sister without your clothes?”
“Of course not!” Krit said. 
“And...” Zack shook his head, “I don’t want to know. I don’t care how wet your 
pants are. Go put them on. Ty, outside.”
We both obeyed. That could have gone a lot worse.
***
“Zack, you didn’t...” I began.
Zack held up a hand towards me, indicating silence and continued to push Ty 
roughly down the hall towards the stairs. I glanced worriedly at Syl and 
followed at a safe distance.
“Do you do these things on purpose? Are you trying to push me over the edge?” 
Zack yelled at Ty.
Even with them outside and me still inside I could hear him clearly.
“Zack...” Ty began to protest.
“You know, I’ve always been able to put up with Krit. He annoys me and he’s one 
of the most insubordinate...but now! Now I find myself wanting to kill him in 
many various, but equally painful ways. And every time this desire to kill Krit 
comes around it has something to do with you. I don’t know what kind of game 
you’re playing, Ty...”
“Zack!” Ty yelled, obviously furious, “I can’t believe you’re actually saying 
that! You think I want you and Krit to be at each other’s throats? You think I 
want to be caught in the middle like this?”
“Then, why?” Zack returned.
“Why? None of your business, that’s why! I’m a big girl. I can take care of 
myself.” Ty said.
“None of my business? My sister endangers herself and two X5’s by insisting on 
staying with them and that’s none of my business?” Zack yelled back.
“I don’t want to fight with you, Zack.”
“Then why are you?”
“Because you’re being an asshole!”
“Apparently, that’s what I’m good at.”
“God, Zack! Why can’t you just leave this alone?”
“Because you’re acting stupid!”
“You know, you’re being the biggest freakin’ hypocrite, Zack. You and Cade get 
to be together, but not any of the rest of us. No, that’s not allowed. That’s 
stupid. That’s compromising our positions.”
That hurt. I knew the remark was directed at Zack, but it still hurt. I didn’t 
want to endanger Zack.
“I’m trying to protect you! Why do you have to make that so difficult? You and 
Max!”
“That’s because you’re pulling the same thing on both of us! We finally find 
someone we want to be with and you have to start with this! Can’t you understand 
that, Zack? Try thinking about it from our positions. What if I were trying to 
make you leave Cade? What if I exploded at Cade every time I thought she was 
even breathing wrong around you?”
She had a point. Zack really was being hard on Krit. Okay, maybe Krit standing 
around without any pants on wasn’t the best way to greet the big brother of the 
girl you’re interested in, but apparently that couldn’t be helped. Maybe I 
should stop this. I was getting the feeling that if this went on any longer it 
would become physical. I didn’t really want Ty to get hurt. Although, in the 
mood she was in, she was bound to get in some hard blows to Zack while she was 
at it. And Zack’s a pain when he’s hurt.
“Zack?” I called like I was looking for him. 
The two outside immediately went still. I walked outside to join them.
“Not interrupting, am I?”
“No.” they both said stiffly.
I raised an eyebrow. Ty took the opportunity to stomp back inside the apartment 
building. Zack turned his back on her retreating figure.
“Zack, did you need to do that?” I asked gently.
“Didn’t know you were eavesdropping.” 
“Overhearing.” I corrected, “You are being awfully rough on them.”
“Someone has to be.”
I stepped around in front of him so he would look at me.
“She made a couple good points.”
“You’re not siding with her.” Zack said in disbelief.
“No.” I said, stepping closer to him, “I will always be on your side.”
That wasn’t completely true, but it sounded good.
Zack’s hands moved to my forearms, rubbing gently. I kissed him.
“I can’t just let Krit have her.” Zack said.
“That wouldn’t be you.” I nodded.
“She’s my little sister.”
“And you want to protect her.”
“I can’t stand the thought of what they could be doing together.”
“Don’t think about it.”
Zack kissed me.
“What do I think about then?”
I kissed him back.
“We’ll find something interesting.”
***
“I think, when we get the chance, you had better go shopping for more pants.” I 
said slowly as I reentered the apartment.
“Ty!” Krit said.
He looked like he was about to come over and hug me, but checked himself.
“My brother is extremely infuriating.”
“It’s a talent of his.” Krit agreed.
“He chewed me out. He thinks I enjoy these little scenes.”
I was beginning to feel an intense desire to take out my anger on something, 
preferably by beating the crap out of it.
“I’m sorry.” Krit said.
I jumped and my whole attitude changed.
“No, Krit. I don’t blame you. It’s Zack I’m mad at. You didn’t do anything 
wrong.” I assured him.
“Well, I wouldn’t say that.” Krit replied.
“Yeah, that probably is going a little too far.” I agreed, “You’re not exactly 
angelic.”
“Whatever do you mean?” Krit asked innocently.
Trust Krit to deflate all my anger. I laughed and hugged him. Then I remembered 
that he was in his boxers and jumped backwards, turning red.
“I’m just gonna go...check on those pants.” I said, embarrassed, backing away.
I had been staring at the floor, but when I chanced a glance up I saw Krit was 
grinning. 
***
“I need to do something about this.” Zack said suddenly, breaking off our kiss.
“What?” I asked, annoyed with him for doing so.
“Ty and Krit.” Zack said, turning away, “I’m the C.O. They need to take me 
seriously.”
“Zack, what are you talking about?” I asked, shaking my head.
“I’ll put them on watch. Krit hates watch and Ty doesn‘t like it much either. 
It’s boring as hell and we should have someone on watch anyway.” Zack rambled.
“Zack, honey, I’m going to kick your ass if you don’t shut up.”
“Cade, this is important.” Zack said over his shoulder.
I kicked him in the back of the knee and fell against his back, knocking him to 
the ground. I also had one of his arms twisted behind his back. I sat on his 
back and waited for him to threaten and complain.
“Cade, what the hell are you doing?” Zack demanded.
“I warned you.” I replied.
“Get off!”
“I don’t want to hear another word about Ty and/or Krit. Understood?”
“Fine.” Zack said, squirming.
“Say ‘Understood’.” I pressed.
“Understood.”
I got off and Zack sat up.
“We need to figure out what to do about this Royce guy.” I said.
Zack nodded.
“A well-thought out plan would be nice.” I said. 
Again Zack nodded.
“But first, dinner?”
Zack nodded a third time.
“I’ll meet you there.” he said, “Just give me a minute to take care of some 
things.”
I gave him a warning look.
“Don’t worry. I won’t kill Krit. I promise.” he said.
“No injuring him, either.” I said, getting up.
Zack followed suit. I gave him a quick kiss before heading to our motel. I 
trusted Zack. I really did. It’s just that Zack has a tendency to forget his 
promises when he gets angry. And Krit and Ty seemed to have the gift of making 
him angry.
But Krit and Ty could both handle themselves. And I really was hungry. So I 
would let Zack do whatever he thought he needed to do.
***
I sighed and glanced over at Krit. He was looking down the street, scanning for 
any potential problems. I looked down at the ground and felt his gaze shift to 
me. When I looked up, he was looking at the street again.
We were on watch. Watch is dreadfully boring and Zack had assigned us to it as a 
punishment for our behavior. Although, he said it was for disobeying orders 
originally and coming to Montana. And that‘s why Syl had gotten punished, too. 
But Syl had gotten off easy and was running errands. I think it was even worse 
punishment being on watch with Krit right now. I still didn’t know how to act 
around him, how to talk to him, even how to look at him, after how I had acted 
when I was in heat.
“Ty, don’t move.” Krit said suddenly.
I froze, my mind thinking of all the million different things that could be 
wrong. Krit slowly approached me, his hand brushing the back of my neck, his 
fingers touching my barcode and making me shiver. And then I realized that he 
was tucking the tag of my shirt in. I relaxed, feeling embarrassed and squirming 
so the tag was in a more comfortable spot. Krit smiled.
“You’re cute.” he said.
“What?” I asked, thinking I must not have heard him right.
“You. You’re very cute.” he told me.
“Well. I’ve never been told that before.” I said.
Krit’s arms were suddenly around my waist. I looked up at him and my hands were 
suddenly flat against his chest. I could feel his heart beating through them and 
the rise and fall of his breathing. I suddenly felt like everything was okay 
again.
“You’re cute, too.” I told him.
“Thank you.” Krit said, bringing his face down so that his nose was almost 
touching mine.
“You’re welcome.” I breathed, not able to talk any louder with him this close.
Krit kissed me in response. I was suddenly glad that I had been genetically 
engineered to be able to hold my breath longer than a normal person. Breathing 
was so unappealing compared to this.
But apparently, Krit needed to breathe eventually and I realized that I did, 
too. So I took a deep breathe and then stood on my toes to reinitiate the kiss. 
Krit happily responded.
Being on watch had never been so interesting.
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I totally promise you’ll see where we’re going with this soon. Until then, 
reviews please!!!
Ty