She sniffed and wiped her hand across her eyes.
“No, everything will be okay. Ben is perfect, and our lives were perfect. I don’t understand how this happened… We had plans.”
“As I said before, he obviously wasn’t very attached to them,” Lerix growled, spurred by irrational jealousy.
She drew back as if he’d hit her and Lerix winced. He hadn’t meant to sound so cruel. Just thinking that she still considered that male perfect after it was made clear what he had to have done rankled.
Lerix raked an impatient hand through his hair and exhaled loudly.
“I didn’t mean it like that,” he muttered. “I just meant that you are putting more effort into getting him back than he is worth. I don’t want you to regret chasing him.”
“A bit late for that, isn’t it?” Cara smiled at him, her eyes downcast. “I spent my life savings to come here and find him. It has to be worth it. I have to believe that.”
He swiped a hand over his face, his tail tightening into a coiled knot as frustration and disappointment seeped into his blood. “All right. If that is really what you want, we will do what we can. I have to warn you—if he wasn’t protected by your pheromones, he may be very difficult to get back. Kadesh females are skilled at holding onto their mates. Even the worst of males find it difficult to escape the grasp of a Kadesh female.”
Cara bit her lip. “You don’t think there’s any another reason that he wouldn’t have been protected by my pheromones? Besides him cheating.”
He looked her steadily in the eye. “I won’t lie to you, vonri, not even to make a difficult thing easier to bear. No, if he’d been with you even one day every week and no one else, your pheromones would have been undiluted on him.”
She looked down at her balled-up fists. “I was afraid you were going to say that.”
Lerix opened his mouth without thought to comfort her when he heard a noise at the far end of the car. A quick glance at Cara affirmed that she hadn’t heard anything. Lerix growled to himself. Humans had such dull senses that it was a miracle that they were still surviving as a species. In this situation, it worked in his favor.
He grazed the back of her hand, bringing her attention back to him.
“I am going out for a few minutes. Can I bring you back anything from the dining car?”
“Uh, sure.” She gave him a genuine smile. “Just a little something to eat—whatever you recommend—and maybe some water.”
She reached down to pull out her credit chip, but he stayed her hand.
“I have this,” he said with false cheer. “You have been paying for everything, so this will hardly break my finances. I will be back in a blink.”
“Thank you, Lerix.”
He waved her thanks away as he stood and made his way out of the cabin. As soon as the door slid shut behind him, his posture immediately shifted into one of predatory alertness. Balanced on the balls of his feet, Lerix slipped soundless down the corridor of the car, dipping into the shadow of a cabin as he saw the lean and shadowy form of a Korovik assassin.
Lerix slipped closer so that just as the male exited the cabin he was searching, his tail snapped out around the Korovik’s neck, wrenching him back into the shadows between the cabins. The male struggled to reach for the long daggers at his waistband. Lerix snarled as he knocked it away and then gripped the male’s head firmly, yanking it with enough force to audibly break the assassin’s neck. He let the body fall to the floor and looked around quickly. No one stirred from any of the cabins, much to his relief.
He took a moment to look over the assassin, noticing the way the gold scales were thoroughly smeared with the grease of a dark pigment more suitable to his line of work. Clearly a professional. It seemed that Koriee was holding a grudge after all if she was sending assassins out after him.
With a growl, he dragged the body into the empty cabin the Korovik had been investigating and dropped within. Unfortunately, he’d misjudged how tall the male was and the feet were dangling out. He’d just shoved the feet in and pressed the plate to close the door when Cara’s cabin door slid open.
Lerix adopted a nonchalant pose and leaned against the door of the cabin he’d dumped the body in, his tail coiling loosely around his leg. Cara looked down the opposite end of the corridor and then noticed him. Her face lit up. She strode toward him and Lerix hoped that she wouldn’t notice anything amiss… like the smudged trail of black body grease from the assassin’s scales leading from the corridor into the cabin. She pulled to a stop in front of him and tilted her head.
“What are you doing?”
He coughed and shrugged a shoulder. “Just relaxing and stretching my legs a bit. I was just getting ready to head into the dining car.”
She looked at him doubtfully for a moment but seemed to buy his excuse.
“Oh, well, I’m glad I caught up with you. I decided I wanted to get out of the cabin a bit. Would you mind if I accompanied you to the dining car?”
He graced her with his most benign grin. “I would be delighted. Shall we?” he said, offering her arm so he could hustle her pass the room as efficiently as possible.
Her small hand slipped into his arm, and heat rushed through his blood like magma racing to the crater of a volcano. He felt his cock instantly harden. He was surrounded by nothing but her rich scent at that moment. The smells of the other male were barely lingering as traces under the onslaught of her arousal at his touch. It was intoxicating. Never had he scented a female whose natural perfume was so delectable to him.
Lerix battled down his desires as he hurried her out of the cabin car into the dining car before she took any notice of the mess.
He didn’t think out his plan very well and that became obvious the moment they stepped into the car, her pheromones perfuming the air. As soon as they stepped inside, several solitary male Kadesh turned their heads toward her as one, their nostrils flaring with undisguised interest. Glancing down at the female, he almost chuckled at how oblivious she was to the attention. Instead, she smiled up at him.
“I’m starving. I hope they have a good menu.”
He squeezed her arm gently as he helped her into a seat, shooting a threatening glare at every male over her head when she picked up a menu screen to look at some of the images of foods the car carried. His scales bristled with a visible warning. The males looked away and returned their attention to their food or the menus in their hands.
Lerix froze for a moment when the door slid open, showing a second Korovik assassin. The male’s eyes widened, and he reached for a weapon. With perfectly honed skill, Lerix slipped a long-bladed knife out of his sash and threw it, half the length burrowing into the male’s head as he fell back through the doors.
Cara glanced up. “What was that sound?”
“Hmm? Oh, nothing. I think someone is having trouble in the cabin car. I am going to see if anyone needs help while you look over the menu a bit more. I think this train has a larger sweets menu, if I am not mistaken, that you might enjoy.”
“Oh, okay,” Cara said with a measure closer to her usual enthusiasm as she slipped her finger along the screen of the menu.
With another dark look at the males who studiously ignored them, so that none of them would get any ideas in his absence, Lerix dipped back through the door.
He glared down at the body lying in a puddle of its own blood. Great. That was going to be even harder to keep Cara from noticing. He certainly didn’t want her panicking about assassins with all of her other worries. Worse, this male looked larger than the other one had been.
With a disgusted huff, Lerix slipped his hands around the male’s torso and dragged him into the cabin his companion was currently decomposing in. He wrinkled his nose. The bodies were barely beginning to break down, but it was wreaking havoc on his sensitive olfactory system. Hopefully the trainmaster would notice and remove the bodies to keep the stench of death from lingering. Of course, it went without saying that he hoped it was long after he and Cara were far away.
After washing the blood and dirt off his hand in the cabin’s facilities, Lerix stepped over the bodies thrown into a careless heap and exited the cabin. He looked in a few wall compartments and found a long corridor rug that looked like it was reserved for special accommodations with its fine embroidery and elegant tassels. With a grin, he stretched it along the length of the corridor, expertly covering the puddle of blood.
Hands on his hips, he looked with approval at his handiwork before returning to the dining car.
Cara looked up with her eyebrows raised.
“Did you get it taken care of?”
“Without a problem,” he affirmed, plucking the menu from her hands. “See anything that appeals to you?”
“Umm, I’m not sure,” she said as she wrinkled her cute little nose up.
Lerix chuckled. “I have a good idea. Something sweet guaranteed to raise the mood of females everywhere.” He turned and flagged a server as Cara propped her chin in her hand, watching him with amusement.
Chapter 10
Cara was certain that Lerix was acting strange. One minute, he was there, and in the next he was running off with some excuse. He’d disappeared a total of six times on the train, and once again immediately after they disembarked with an excuse that he’d left something in their cabin that he had to fetch. He was up to something, but she couldn’t put her finger on what.
Now he was at her side, striding with his graceful rolling gait that required two steps for her to keep up with his one. She knew it made her look like a puppy trotting at his heels. A lost puppy, considering how often she managed to get distracted by their surroundings and trip over her own feet.
For his part, Lerix stopped every time, without complaint, to peel her off the road where she always seemed to end up. What had to have been the tenth time she landed on her ass, Lerix pulled her up with a soft chuckle.
“How do humans manage to do anything if you cannot keep your feet beneath you?”
Cara grimaced at the dirt, and likely something else mixed with it that she didn’t want to think about, smeared into her blouse. Fuck, this was one of her favorites too.
“As a whole, humans are not graceless. I just get distracted easily and don’t notice obstacles in my immediate vicinity,” she informed him, her cheeks burning with humiliation. When it came down to it, she had been rubbernecking like crazy trying to see all the long lines of the architecture, the overflowing pots of trailing flowering vines, and what looked like luminescent bees floating from bloom to bloom.
And that wasn’t even touching on the delicious smells in the air and the women wandering around decked out in the most beguiling fashion. Cara was starting to feel woefully underdressed within minutes, even wearing her best blouse and skirt. Her stained best blouse and skirt.
He clicked his tongue with amusement. “It is a wonder that another species hasn’t made off with all of you by now if your attention wanders that easily.”
She gaped at him. “Hey, that’s uncalled for.”
“You are right. In all likelihood, only your females would have been captured. Your males probably would be obliterated on the spot,” he grinned evilly as his eyes shifted to some point beyond her as if gleefully contemplating the matter.
Cara huffed and pushed ahead of him. He was such an ass. She hadn’t taken more than a few steps when she heard a scuffle and loud crack. She whipped around to see Lerix stretching, his brows raised innocently.
She crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
“Is there something going on that I should know about?”
His citrine eyes widened. “What do you mean?”
“Uh-huh,” she muttered
He looked at her for a long moment, his lips tilting up. “I do wonder how you are thinking to gain the attention of your male you are so intent to repossess from a female designed by nature to ensnare.”
Cara wrapped her arms around herself, pushing back her uncertainty.
“I don’t know.”
“Hmm.”
She wrinkled her nose in aggravation. “I don’t suppose you, being the resident expert, have any ideas.”
“Well, it is possible—”
An alarm blared as city guards rushed by them, heading in the direction of the train platform.
“Well…” Cara breathed in awe, watching the half-dressed guards, wearing little more than a ceremonial loincloth and a simple band of fabric tied around their waists for a uniform, exposing swaths of naked chests and abs, rush by them with weapons drawn. “What do you suppose that’s all about?”
“Eh, more craziness coming in that we don’t need,” an older male said as he emerged from the door of a nearby shop, his olfactory bridge wrinkling in distaste. “I just heard on my comm that they discovered six bodies piled up in an empty private cabin on the train that came from Birol.”
Cara felt fear curl through her stomach. “Oh my gods. We were on that train! We could have been right next door to a lunatic.”
“Well, it is possible that it wasn’t a lunatic,” Lerix said in a hushed tone. Cara frowned at him. Why was he defending some crazy person killing people?
“Whoever it is, they can’t be normal,” Cara argued heatedly.
“Normal is relative. I am sure that this individual is a perfectly normal person within reasonable definition of such.”
“What are you talking about? They killed six people!”
“Obviously, they had it coming,” he deadpanned.
Cara stared at him in bewilderment as the commotion on the streets around them returned to a more subdued state.
“How can any person deserve to be killed and piled in a cabin with five other bodies?”
He shrugged. “They were bad at their job.”
“They were bad at their job?” she hissed incredulously.
Lerix inclined his head briefly. “Clearly.”
Suddenly, as if suddenly noticing that they’d been standing in place on the same stretch of road for the last ten minutes, Lerix looked around with a frown before encompassing her hand within his own as he continued down the street, effectively closing their entire discussion.
“Where was I?” he mumbled. “Ah, yes. It is possible to secure a male from a Kadesh female, although it takes a lot of work. You must work to increase your own natural pheromones to attract his attention and attempt to get your rival to retreat. This means you need to be in touch with your instinctual self. You will need to be fearless, strong—and very aroused.”
“Aroused?” she squeaked.
“Of course. How else do you think you will be able to harness your pheromones? The other stuff allows its perfume around you uninhibited, but you must embrace your arousal and use it to your benefit.”
Cara leaned forward and whispered, “I can’t just walk around aroused.”
“Why not? Beings do it all the time. When you had your first sexual interest, did you not walk around in a constant state of arousal around the male?”
“Well, I’m sure that’s different—”
“Not at all. It is just the scent of your body’s natural perfumes and secretions signaling your preparation to mate.” His scales rippled in a display that caught her attention as they winked like a wave of gemstones as he shivered. “It is the most erotic thing.”
Cara felt her cheeks warm to a blistering heat. “It may work that way with Kadesh males and with some other species, but humans don’t have that kind of sense of smell.”
“Oh, I am sure you react, even if it is on a subconscious level,” he said. “It is a primal draw on your senses whether you acknowledge it or not. You said you wanted to know how to defeat a Kadesh woman at her game—that is how. Flaunt your sweet musk. And trust me—yours is delectable.”
Now it was Cara’s turn to shiver.
“What resort did you say he is staying at?”
Cara blinked at the sudden shift.
“Uh, Resort Efkalad,” she said, distractedly.
He muttered under his breath before steering her to the left. “This way, I believe.” She panted as he forced her to match his quick-paced stride.
“What the heck is the hurry, Lerix?” she grumbled.
“Just trying to get us to our destination as quickly and efficiently as possible. If you recall, I have things to do after I get you settled in your happy little existence with your pathetic male,” he growled.
Cara blushed and intentionally slowed as she yanked her arm.
“If you don’t want to help me, then don’t. I don’t need this crap right now.”
He slowed and turned to look down at her with surprise and a flash of regret that disappeared almost immediately. Instead, he sneered at her with contempt.
“And how far do you think you will get on your own?”
Cara hadn’t been truly angry many times in her life, but this was definitely getting to be one of them. As of yet, this moment was only topped by the humiliation and heartache her fiancé put her through.
“I’ll manage. Just leave,” she snarled as she shook his hand off. Lerix bristled his scales in an alarming display before huffing angrily, his hands upraised dismissively before he turned and walked away.
Alone on the street, surrounded by strangers, Cara blinked back her tears. She tightened her grip on her bags and resumed the direction they’d been heading.
She took a few wrong turns, but after asking for directions and being surprised just how far off course she was, Cara finally found herself at Resort Efkalad. Sweaty, miserable and alone. Not even the stunning view of the waves crashing on a long stretch of beach dotted with sunbathers and tourists could raise her spirits. Worse, she was standing in a huge ornate office feeling absolutely disgusting from the layers of filth and sweat coating her clothes and skin.
In the corner of the vast lobby was a public comm system. Maybe her luck was looking up already now that she was rid of Lerix. Never mind the sudden pang that tugged at her heart every time she thought of him. His interest in helping her hadn’t been genuine. She was just the means to an end for him to get back home.
Well, she wished him all the luck in the world. She wasn’t going to go tattle on him to the authorities, but she was done with the charade. All she had to do now was call Ben’s room, and she knew he’d come down and everything would be the way it was supposed to be again.
A Kiss on Kaidava Page 7