by A. G. Wilde
She opened her eyes to see Lauren look up at him with the utmost adoration in her gaze.
Riv stared down at Lauren as he continued. “He wouldn’t want you to be burdened by him. He wants you to be happy.”
Nia’s heart thumped.
She was happy with Ka’Cit.
When she was around him, she felt alive.
“Is that why he hasn’t visited since he found out about the baby?” Lauren whispered and Riv nodded.
“Fuck,” Nia whispered.
It didn’t seem like a big deal to her, but in his culture…
He’d have felt like an unworthy male, one undeserving of a family if he could not provide his mate with a family.
But she wasn’t Merssi.
Yes, she’d wanted kids in the future, but that wish wasn’t set in stone.
It wasn’t a life goal, merely something to share with the man she loved and if that man couldn’t bear young, she was sure they could find other things to share.
A breath shuddered through her.
She had to go see him.
Now.
He thought he couldn’t give her what she wanted…but what she wanted was him.
“Riv,” she said. “I need a favor.”
42
Riv’s hover car wasn’t nearly as fast as Ka’Cit’s had been, but as the darkness came over the landscape she made good time whooshing across the savannah.
Behind her, Riv’s Sanctuary was but a dark dot in the distance and ahead was the nothingness of the plain.
She had no idea where she was going, but the hover car had a self-driving function and Riv had punched in the coordinates to Ka’Cit’s farm.
She only hoped he was home.
As she stared ahead, her heart beat so hard in her chest, she could hear the blood pumping in her ears.
What if Riv was wrong?
What if that wasn’t the reason why he’d stayed away?
What if she was heading all the way out there to confront him only to find out that Riv had been wrong.
It didn’t matter.
She still had to know.
She needed the closure, at least, so she could continue on with her life instead of pining for what never was or what could have been.
As she focused ahead, she was sure she saw something in the distance—something that wasn’t a natural formation on the plain.
Niya bit the inside of her lip and squinted.
Slowly, the structure in the distance was beginning to take shape and the closer the hover car got to it, the more Niya frowned and squinted.
Maybe heading out at dusk hadn’t been the best thing to do. She could hardly see properly.
Still, her heart thumped in her chest.
The closer she came to the structure, though, the more uneasiness grew in her stomach.
Maybe this wasn’t the place she was heading to and the hover car would zoom past it, because the structure ahead didn’t look anything like Riv’s Sanctuary.
Niya frowned, her mouth falling open as she looked at the thing coming up ahead.
There was an electric fence zinging around the property and the main building looked a little like Riv’s house…but those were the only similarities between the two.
All around the property were piles upon piles of…metal.
Metal everywhere…almost like a scrap yard.
Niya stared at it, confused, and when the hover car continued on and didn’t change direction, her confusion only grew.
Where were the animals and the robot’s tilling the hay? Where were the fruit trees? Where were the fields of rai?
“Destination ahead. Manual controls engaging in 5…4…3—”
Niya jerked to attention and grabbed the hover car’s steering.
She reduced the speed as the vehicle neared the energy barrier, her gaze searching the compound for any movement.
She couldn’t just go through the barrier, it would fry her alive, but as she neared it, the barrier stopped zinging and disengaged.
Oh…right.
She’d heard Riv and Sohut talking about that.
Ka’Cit had apparently coded his and their hover cars to be able to pass the barriers on both farms without external input.
Memory of that time he’d stopped by the satellite to upload English to the servers came back to her.
He was like that. Handy in that way.
As she piloted the craft into the compound a lamp post turned on, surprising her, but it seemed it was motion activated.
“Hello?”
It was quiet…and maybe it was just her, but it was eerily quiet.
“Hello?”
No answer, and for a few seconds after she stopped the hover car, she cocked her ears to listen, her eyes still peeled for any movement.
Maybe he wasn’t home.
“Hello?” she called again for good measure.
Nothing.
The piles of metal in the yard made the place a bit spooky and with the quietness, she had the urge to leave.
“Get a grip, Nia. You’re just creeping yourself out,” she whispered as she glanced around at the piles of metal.
As she stopped the hover car and stepped out of it, the uneasiness didn’t ease up. It grew.
Why was it so quiet?
The air was so still, it made the hairs at the back of her neck stand on end.
Not far from where she’d parked was a smaller pile of metal scraps, about a foot tall. Just to make her feel better, she moved over to the pile and took up a piece that looked like a sawn-off pipe.
She gripped the weapon, just in case, as she walked toward the dwelling.
Another light came on overhead, lighting up the house.
The door was closed and so were all the windows, except one.
Raising her free hand, she knocked on the door and waited.
“Hello? Anyone home?”
No answer.
Releasing a breath, she turned and glanced around the premises. She was about to walk back toward the hover car when she side-eyed the open window.
Curiosity got the best of her and she went on tip-toe to glance inside.
Blatant invasion of privacy, but did she want to be the girl who didn’t look and regretted it later.
As she eased up enough on her toes to see inside the house, her eyebrows rose.
She’d expected it to look like the grounds did, for some reason, but inside the house was…spotless and full of modern decorations.
The furniture was arranged neatly, the floor was clean, everything was in order.
Dropping back on her feet, Nia moved away from the window.
She guessed she’d chosen a bad time to visit. He wasn’t home.
She was just about to turn away when something caught the corner of her eye.
Something that made her breath catch in her throat and a chill run down her spine.
A tail.
On the ground behind one of the huge piles of metal, a tail was visible.
And not just any tail—a reptilian tail.
A tail like…
Oh God no.
With shaky steps, Nia moved toward the tail and the closer she went, the more the body was revealed.
It was one of those gator-guards and Nia stopped walking as soon as she saw what it was.
Fuck.
She glanced behind her, gripping the pipe she held in her hand.
The gator-guard’s tail twitched and her soul almost left her body.
Not far from him was a fallen blaster and Nia swallowed, calculating what she should do in a matter of seconds.
It was clear.
Darting forward, she jumped over the creature’s tail and grabbed the blaster.
It was still fully charged and she pointed it at the guard.
For a few moments, there was no more movement and she was about to allow her shoulders to sag when yellow eyes suddenly opened and stared directly at her.
It took everything within her not to shriek and
jump backward, but Nia stood her ground.
The guard opened his mouth and hissed.
“Jekinnn,” it said.
Nia gripped the blaster and pointed it at the guard’s head.
Something had obviously happened here.
Now that she was on this side of the pile, she could see there was another guard laying farther down the path motionless.
“Where is he?” She jerked the blaster at the guard and he opened his mouth and hissed once more.
He didn’t seem to be able to move, however, and a dark fluid was staining the ground beneath him.
He was hurt, maybe fatally, and the other one looked dead.
Her body was shuddering with each breath she took and the gun shook in her hands even as she tried to calm herself.
There was only one reason why there would be injured guards on Ka’Cit’s property.
He’d been attacked.
And he was nowhere to be seen.
The reason for that made her tremble some more.
But he could handle himself.
She was sure he was alive.
He had to be alive.
“Where. Is. He?” She spoke through gritted teeth and the guard eyed her, his gaze moving to the blaster in her hand.
Maybe he thought she was bluffing because she was trembling so hard—misinterpreting her panic for fear.
But she wasn’t afraid of him. One thing was sure, the guards didn’t scare her anymore.
What she was afraid of was the fact that Ka’Cit was missing.
As the seconds passed, her mind went through several horrible scenarios, each worse than the last.
When the guard still didn’t answer, something snapped inside her, breaking through her already-thin patience.
She didn’t have time for this.
Gripping the weapon, she disengaged the safety and the guard’s gaze registered some shock.
It was the same as the blaster she’d used at the satellite station. She knew what she was doing.
“Don’t play with me. I am not in the mood. I swear, I will plant a bullet in your head if you don’t tell me where he is. Now, where…is…he?”
The guard hissed again, hatred flooding his gaze, and for a moment, another wave of panic filled her that he wouldn’t tell her the information she needed.
He didn’t have to say a word. He didn’t owe her anything and he was her enemy.
But something changed in the guard’s gaze, something she couldn’t read.
“We came for you,” he said.
“What?”
The guard tried to laugh and ended up coughing up what looked like blood.
“I knew I was right.” He struggled to speak now and pulled in a huge breath through his snout. “I saw you at the service satellite. The Crusher said he didn’t know anything about you. But,” he coughed again, “the general should know I was right. They will kill him and come back to find you.”
Nia’s heart slammed against her chest, the guard’s words slowly making sense.
They’d come for her?
They’d tracked Ka’Cit down because of her and in trying to protect her…
Nia jerked the gun at the guard, pointing it straight at the fiend’s head.
“Where did they take him?”
The guard pulled in another rugged breath. “You cannot save him. They have probably already killed him by now.” He tried to laugh and ended up wheezing and coughing up more dark fluid but his words sent a chill down her spine.
No.
She refused to believe it.
She couldn’t be too late.
“Your kind is weak. Easily disposed of. You should be happy the masters want to collect you.” The guard hissed again. “That phekker was an idiot for not telling us who he sold you to.”
His words made some sense.
Ka’Cit smuggled things. No doubt they thought he’d sold her somewhere on the black market.
But instead of telling them the truth, he’d protected her to the end.
“Weak being…” The guard eyes her.
Weak?
Nia planted the muzzle against the alien’s snout, a snarl on her lips.
“The next words that come from your mouth better be the information I want to hear or I will use this weapon and carve you to bits until you speak.”
The guard stared at her, his gaze locked on hers, but Nia did not waver.
“Tell me where they took him. Now.”
43
Ka’Cit didn’t bother straining against the bonds holding his wrists above his head. They thought this polymer was nearly impossible to break…and it probably was, to a normal person.
But he wasn’t normal, and he didn’t want them to realize he could get his hands free.
Even if he did though, he had no weapons and he was outnumbered.
Being stupid had always worked out for him. It might not this time.
It wasn’t his life alone that was on the line.
Hers was as well.
The room they’d placed him in was dark and a little bit too warm.
Beads of perspiration were developing in the middle of his back, tickling him each time one rolled down his skin.
He could hear them in the other room, playing some sort of deck game, and he was glad they were occupied.
He needed space to think and he’d never needed such a thing before.
But that was because he’d had no reason to live before.
Recklessness had always been his fuel.
This situation, though…it wasn’t just about him.
It was about her.
His ta’ii.
They’d been hunting her, the Hedgerud’s, ever since seeing her at that service satellite and him stealing the talix metal from them hadn’t helped either.
They were out for vengeance.
Ka’Cit growled underneath his breath.
Phek.
He could only hope Geblit had filed the documents.
If he didn’t get out of this alive, at least she’d be protected.
To think he was putting so much faith in the annoying little Torian…
Ka’Cit threw his head back and let out a groan.
Above him, his restraints rubbed against the beam they’d tied him to.
“Trying to escape?” The sultry voice had him stiffening and he slowly lowered his gaze to the female before him.
“What do you want, Herza?” His voice was thick with scorn and he was sure she heard it dripping from his tongue. “Apart from the credits they said they’ll pay you for doing this deal, that is.”
She pressed something and the light in the room came on.
Her tail was twitching behind her as she crossed her arms and walked over to stand before him.
She studied him. “I had to use a lot of resources to find information on you. I think I deserve those credits after you wounded my entire crew and took off with that thing. Don’t you think?”
She took a step closer.
Her movements were suggestive.
Feminine.
But whatever she was trying to do, it was having the opposite effect on him.
“Why would a man like you, the Crusher of all people, risk so much for a frail little animal.”
Ka’Cit’s jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed but he didn’t respond.
If he showed emotion, they’d use it against him.
They’d use it against her.
Herza uncrossed her hands slowly and ran a finger down his cheek, pressing her body against his in the process.
“I’ve always wondered what it was like, being with a smooth-faced.” She brought her lips up to his ear, brushing the tender skin there with one of her fangs. “They say people like you phek like you’re possessed.”
Her tail wrapped around his leg. “Maybe I should test you out myself, before they send you to the Tasqals and they torture you to death.”
Ka’Cit grunted. He knew what she was doing.
“Herza
,” he said, leaning his head against hers so he could whisper in her ear. “I would gladly die than go anywhere near you.”
She jerked off him then, her eyes flashing fire.
“How dare you. You have the nerve to deny me!” She took a step back, glaring at him before something clicked. “Raxu…” she murmured. “I can’t believe it. Don’t tell me you’ve…you’ve bonded with the hoo-man?”
Ka’Cit stiffened but he didn’t respond.
He watched as Herza’s gaze became enraged and her smile became wicked.
“No wonder they caught you so easily. No wonder you deny ever being in the hoo-man’s presence.” She scoffed. “You dare choose that thing over this.” She motioned to herself.
Ka’Cit’s gaze moved with disinterest down her body before he met her eyes once more.
“Yes.”
That only seemed to enrage her some more and she stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her.
With a deep breath, Ka’Cit allowed his shoulders to sag.
Pissing her off probably hadn’t been the best idea but he couldn’t help it.
Even now, her touch was making his skin crawl.
It wasn’t her hands or her body he wanted against his.
He wanted Nee-ya.
But that wasn’t ever going to happen so he settled for the memories instead.
And it was those memories that were going to help him to get through this.
He just had to find a way to get them off her tail…and his.
Nia walked through the Exchange, her gaze hard, her steps sure.
The blaster she carried hung in plain sight in one hand and she didn’t know if that was the reason nobody seemed to get in her way or if it was the deadly look in her eyes…
Probably.
Or maybe it was a combination of those things and the mask.
She’d found the mask in one of the metal piles as she’d hurried back to the hover car.
It wasn’t the one Ka’Cit had been wearing when they’d been together, this one was a little rusted, but it served her purpose anyway.
Dressed in her trainers, trousers, and brown tunic, she didn’t think she looked particularly threatening, but add the mask and blaster, and suddenly beings were double taking and moving out of her way.
Or maybe it was the focus in her gaze as she headed toward her destination.
She saw no one but the path and purpose before her.