by Roxie Ray
“Why are you calling me?” he asked grumpily.
“I wanted to see what you thought about that woman Brittany met.”
“You mean Sophie?”
“Yeah.”
Kain rubbed his fingers over his scruffy jaw, his brow furrowed. “I think she seemed nice enough. I didn’t get any bad vibes from her or anything. Didn’t seem like there was any reason to be suspicious.” A pause. “Still, it wouldn’t hurt for me to keep a close eye on her.”
“My thoughts exactly.” I didn’t want to be suspicious of someone just because they were talking to Brittany. I wanted her to have friends, after all. One more thing to keep her here on Hollander with me. But after everything that happened, I wasn’t willing to take any chances.
“Let me know if you think there’s anything suspicious about her,” I said. “And you’ll be off bodyguard duty soon enough.”
Kain laughed. “If not, I expect double the number of communicators to make up for it.”
I rolled my eyes at him. “Any luck with your investigation?”
We’d both been interviewing witnesses but oddly enough, no one was able to recall anything about that day.
“Nothing new. You know you’ll be the first one I come to if I find anything, Niall.”
“I know. And if I haven’t said it yet, thank you. I really appreciate you doing this for me.”
Kain snorted. “Yeah, yeah. I guess I’m just amused that you’ve lost your mind over a woman.”
“Just wait, Kain. Your day will come.”
“Yeah, right.” Kain wasn’t interested in settling down. But then again, I hadn’t been either until Brittany came into my life.
She’d changed everything. And I was ready to start thinking about what that meant for us. Where I wanted this to go and what our future could hold. Which meant I needed to solve this investigation, and fast.
I signed off the call with Kain, then reviewed all the information I’d gathered once more. It felt like I’d done it a hundred times already, but I was determined to figure it out. I would find who was after Brittany, and I’d deal with them.
Then Brittany and I could move forward with our life together.
16
Brittany
I danced around the laundry room as I worked, singing along to a song from my teenage years. Niall had found a way to stream some old music from Earth through some speaker-like gadget that looked like a tiny flying saucer. It was similar to my parents’ old-school CDs that I remembered seeing when I was a kid, except the little disc hovered and followed me around the house as I worked, and all I had to do was say the name of the song I wanted to listen to. Pretty handy.
Niall told me earlier in the week that I didn’t need to keep acting like I was his housekeeper—that things had changed between us now. He hadn’t specified exactly how, but I knew his feelings for me were growing every day, just as mine were for him.
Still, even if I wasn’t just a housekeeper, I’d signed a contract even though he’d waved that fact away when I’d brought it up, as if it didn’t matter now. Plus, I needed to keep myself busy. I’d never been the type of person to just sit around the house all day. Though I wasn’t opposed to making half-days of it and spending the afternoons in the gardens or the pool. Maybe at some point I’d feel safe enough to venture down to the beach.
Kain would no doubt accompany me, though, and he wasn’t exactly my first choice for a beach companion. Hopefully, Niall would get this thing figured out soon, and I wouldn’t have to worry or have a bodyguard at all.
Sighing, I pressed the button for the laundry machine to begin its folding cycle. I didn’t want to think about the fact that whoever had tried to hurt me was still out there. If I dwelled on it too much, I knew I would go crazy. I was already going stir-crazy. It had been three days since I’d had coffee with Sophie, and I wondered if I should call her up and see if she wanted to do something later.
Once I was certain the laundry machine was folding the freshly washed and dried towels, I turned to grab some cleaning supplies from the shelf near the window.
Just as I was reaching for a scrub brush, the window in front of me shattered, shards of glass flying everywhere. I screamed, instinctively throwing my arms up in front of my face and dropping to the floor.
My heart raced, my breath caught in my throat, and an acrid burning smell filled my nose.
What the hell was that?
I barely had time to register what happened before Kain was bursting into the room, his hulking frame barreling toward me.
“Brittany! Are you okay?” He squatted down next to me and scanned me from head to toe.
“I… I think so?” Gingerly, I uncurled myself from a ball on the floor and tried to make sense of everything.
“What happened?” Kain was already back on his feet, taking in the shattered glass with an expression of fury. Then he gazed at the wall right behind where I’d been standing, and he narrowed his eyes to slits before he stormed to the window and looked around.
I turned to look at the wall and gasped. A hole as big as my fist was burned into the wall, smoke rising from it.
Before I could even ask Kain what could do something like that, he hauled me up and clutched me to his chest, racing from the room.
“Kain! What’s going on?” I managed to ask as he barreled down the hallway toward the library.
“Stay in here,” he commanded. “There are no windows. You’ll be safe.”
He set me down and looked like he was about to leave again, and I wedged myself between him and the door. “Not until you tell me what that was.”
“What that was, was an attempt on your life. With a photon phaser at that.”
Photon phaser?
“A gun that shoots lasers,” he said. “It shattered the window and would have put that hole right through your body if the shooter had better aim.”
I felt the blood drain from my face, and my knees felt like jelly. Someone had tried to kill me. Again.
Only this time they’d attacked me here in my own home, where I should have been safe.
Kain looked toward the door, and I was sure he was about to charge out to find whoever it was, but I was too terrified to let him.
“Please,” I begged, clutching his arm both to plead with him and to keep myself from collapsing to the floor. “Don’t leave me here alone.”
He pressed his lips together, and I could see the internal battle being waged. In the end, he must have decided that leaving me would only put him on the receiving end of Niall’s wrath.
“Fine,” he muttered, and I sank to the carpet with relief. But my very bones were shaking, adrenaline pumping through my veins. I suddenly felt nauseous and dizzy, and I lay back on the carpet, closing my eyes and trying to keep myself from puking my guts up.
Someone had tried to shoot me.
I heard Kain’s footsteps as he paced the library, his voice echoing off the walls, but I couldn’t make out what he was saying through the ringing in my ears.
Then he was shoving a communicator into my hands. I stared at it blankly for a moment before I realized Niall was on the line.
“Niall.” I closed my eyes once more.
“Brittany.” He sounded beside himself. “Are you okay?”
I took a steadying breath. Then another. My stomach churned. “I’m alive,” I said weakly, my voice trembling, which only made him growl.
Something about the protective sound of it snapped me out of my fear-induced haze, and I forced myself to a sitting position.
“They tried to kill me, Niall,” I said, my voice much stronger now, anger replacing the fear. “Why would someone want me dead? I haven’t done anything.”
It made no sense. I’d been here just over a month, and I’d barely come into contact with anyone. I kept to myself for the most part. What could I have possibly done to warrant someone hurting me? Nothing, that was what. And it was definitely me they wanted to hurt this time. It made my blood boil, and I cou
ld hear the anger in Niall’s voice too when he spoke.
“No, you haven’t. And I swear to you, I’m going to get to the bottom of this. I won’t let anything happen to you. I’ve already spoken to Kain, and he’s going to take you up to the main house until I can get there. I’ll alert my parents, and they’ll ensure you’re kept safe. The entire royal guard will protect you, Brittany. I promise.”
“Okay,” I said, taking another calming breath, which steadied my heartbeat. Just hearing Niall’s voice made me feel better.
“Brittany… I—”
Long seconds ticked by while I waited for him to say more.
“I’ll see you soon.”
That wasn’t what he was going to say, I could tell, but I didn’t have time to wonder about it because Kain took the communicator back and helped me to my feet.
“Come on, human,” he said, but it wasn’t said in a derogatory manner. It almost sounded like a term of endearment. I would have smiled at him if I wasn’t so preoccupied with everything that just happened.
I hung on to my anger as Kain led me up to the palace, shielding me with his own massive body. It was easier to be angry. Otherwise I might break down again.
As soon as we crossed through the side gates, a swarm of guards surrounded us and locked the gate behind us. Kain didn’t speak until we’d entered the house and gone down a long hallway that forked left and right multiple times. I wasn’t even sure where we were in the palace, as I’d never seen this part before.
“I’m bringing you to the royal family’s personal quarters,” he said as we stopped in front of a large Plastisteel door and he pressed a button. “It’s the most heavily protected place in the kingdom. You’ll be safe here.”
I nodded as a camera whirred above us, no doubt zeroing in on our faces. Then a panel to the right of the door blinked and a soft robotic voice said, “Please step forward for your bioscan.”
Kain went first, standing in front of the panel where a bright bluish-white light flared and enveloped him completely. A second later, it was done, and he stepped back and gestured for me to take his place.
“Your turn.”
I arched a brow. “What is this?”
“A bioscan. Obviously.”
Obviously. But what did it do?
Kain was out of patience, it seemed, because he placed his hand on my lower back and pushed me forward. The light flared once more, and the sensation that hit me was unlike anything I’d ever felt before. It was like a thousand tiny painless needles pricked my body. But just like with Kain, it was over almost before it began.
I shook my head as the light dimmed and the panel flashed the words ‘Access Granted.’ The door whooshed open and Kain pulled me inside.
“That was…weird.” Almost enough to make me forget the horrors I’d just lived through. Almost, because on the other side of the door was Merida and a man that had to be the king, judging from the stark resemblance to his son. If I’d thought Niall shared facial features with his mother, it was obvious he took after his father.
Merida rushed forward and embraced me. “Oh, Brittany. Niall just told us what happened.”
I glanced over her shoulder, taking in the large circular room. At least a dozen of the royal guards stood around the perimeter.
When Merida released me, her brow furrowed in worry, her husband stepped forward.
“Brittany. I’m King Titus. I do apologize that we’re meeting under such dire circumstances.” His voice was regal and kind, and his silver eyes were gentle, setting me at ease. “Please, follow me. I promise there’s no safer place you could be right now.”
He turned and headed through a doorway opposite from the entrance we’d just come through, and Merida took my hand in hers, giving me and then Kain a tight-lipped smile.
“Thank you for bringing her, Kain.”
He bowed to the queen. “Of course. If it’s all right with you, though, I’d like to go back down and investigate the scene.”
Merida nodded, and then she was ushering me past the doorway King Titus had walked through. I didn’t have time to worry about Kain because my entire attention was focused on the room I’d just entered. I’d never seen anything so impressive in my entire life.
The walls were made of what looked like glass but was probably some high-tech material. The floors were a shimmering marble that literally glowed with a silvery white light. The furniture was all white and looked positively inviting. But it was the view that took my breath away.
We were high up on the mountain with a 360-degree view of Hollander, and I could see the horizon in every direction. It was magnificent, and it made me want nothing more than to stay here on this planet for the rest of my life—which hopefully would be nice and long.
That thought brought me back to reality and the reason for my visit here.
Merida led me to a sofa and sat down beside me, across from her husband who sat on an identical one. There was another man there with them, one I’d never seen before, a tall man with pale green skin and overly large eyes.
He gave me a slight bow and introduced himself. “I am Rahl of Planet Macros.”
I nodded, a little nonplussed about how I was supposed to respond. He was obviously someone important, and I glanced at Merida who patted my hand. “Rahl the Nourisher is a guest of ours, staying in our home. Tonight is his last night, in fact, before he must return.”
“I’m sorry for barging in on you like this but—”
“Think nothing of it,” Rahl said. “Are you okay? Would you perhaps like a soothing tonic for your nerves?”
“That would be wonderful, Rahl,” Titus answered for me, and I realized this was a polite way of Rahl excusing himself to give us some space.
He nodded and bowed again, then left the room quickly.
King Titus turned to me then, a worried look on his face. “I assure you again, Brittany, there’s nowhere else on Hollander where you would be safer than here. However, I have to ask you if you would mind telling me exactly what happened. I’d like to hear it from the source.”
I briefly told him everything I could remember, and his frown grew deeper and deeper.
When I finished, he heaved a weary sigh and shook his head. “This never should have happened. You see, our entire grounds are supposed to be secure. The entire mountain, in fact. No one should have been able to get close enough to Niall’s home without being detained. Not with the extra security we’ve had patrolling the grounds. It just doesn’t make sense. How did someone get through?”
“That’s exactly what I want to know.”
I turned at the sound of Niall’s voice, my heart beating faster at the sight of him. He rushed to my side, pulling me into his arms, and I clung to him. Even though I’d felt safe at the top of this tower—the family’s private quarters—being in Niall’s arms was where I truly felt the safest.
He cupped my chin and tipped my face up to his, scanning me for signs of injury or distress. “Are you okay? I’ve been beside myself the whole way here.”
The tenderness in his voice had a wave of tears threatening as all of it came back to me once more, and all I could do was nod.
He pulled me even tighter to him, tucking me in safely, and pressed a kiss to the top of my head before addressing his father.
“How did this happen? Our security is top-notch. Honestly, Kain was just an extra precaution. Brittany should have been safe on our grounds even without him.”
Even so, I’d never been more grateful that Niall had Kain there watching me. What might have happened had he not come dashing in when the shot was fired? What if the shooter had come inside to make sure the job was done?
I shuddered, not wanting to think about it, and Niall squeezed me so tightly I could barely breathe. But I wasn’t complaining. I was just so relieved to be in his arms again.
Just then, Rahl reappeared in the room, cutting short the opportunity for Niall and Titus to further discuss the matter. Which was fine by me because I was sudde
nly overwhelmed with exhaustion, the adrenaline finally having left my body.
“Brittany,” Rahl said, his voice calm and soothing as he approached me. “I have your tonic.”
He nodded a greeting to Niall as he stepped forward and handed me a small vial. “This is something I brought from my home planet. It never hurts to have a supply of various tonics and tinctures. You never know when they might come in handy.”
“Thank you,” I said, uncorking the vial and taking a sniff of the silvery liquid. It smelled like lavender.
Niall moved as if to release me and bow to the Macros leader, but Rahl simply waved his hand, brushing it off. “No need for formalities, Niall. I understand completely.” Then he turned to me. “The tonic will help soothe you and help you relax, Brittany. That is all.”
I nodded and sniffed the vial once more before taking a sip. It tasted like spiced berries, and immediately I felt more at ease. “Thank you so much.”
I didn’t know the man at all, but so far, he seemed quite kind. That was emphasized even more when he extended an offer for us to join him on his planet for a retreat if we ever needed to get away from it all.
“Thank you, Rahl,” Niall said. “Truly.”
Then, glancing between Rahl and Titus, Niall spoke again. “Kain is leading a team scouting the area for any evidence, and we’ll check the surveillance, but right now, if you will all excuse me, I’d really like to be alone with my mate. We can talk about the rest later.”
If his mother and father were shocked by the declaration, they didn’t show it. They simply nodded their agreement.
I thought I saw a small smile of approval on Rahl’s face, but I couldn’t be sure because Niall was already ushering me down another hall that I hadn’t noticed. “Where are we going?”
“To my old bedroom.” I could hear the strain in his voice and knew he had to be beside himself.
When we reached his room, he scooped me up in his arms and carried me to the bed, setting me down gently before climbing up next to me and pulling me into his chest, wrapping his arms around me like a cocoon.