Dark Fire

by Cynthia Sax

  The human was tenacious, had acted as though the Rebel agent’s evasion was a personal affront to him and his abilities. He wouldn’t give up.

  She had to bring Dare to the caves. He’d see her world. She cringed. It wasn’t pretty. After spending time in it, he’d realize why she could never fit into his credit-heavy, neat and tidy society.

  She’d listened to his stories of his home planet, as many as she could before falling asleep. The other Dracheons had judged him harshly. He’d tried to hide his hurt over that but she’d heard it in his voice. They’d shunned him merely because he was primitive, was a bit of a beast.

  Cave dwellers made him look civilized.

  And those were her kind. She was a thief. Her parents, whoever they were, had abandoned her. Fuck. The only reason she knew her name was because Three-Eyed Mak had muttered it once in her presence. Why would uppity, self-important beings like the Dracheons embrace her?

  They wouldn’t. She wasn’t the female for her warrior. He deserved a different mate.

  Her gaze shifted to the Rebel agent. That was the type of being he required. Her heart ached.

  “What is the plan?” Dare dragged Faylee’s attention back to the no-win situation she’d found herself in.

  “You’ll follow me.” She didn’t have much of a plan…yet. “Don’t say anything. Don’t take any action without my okay.” She warned him.

  One wrong move and they’d all end up dead.

  Dare nodded.

  She stuck her head out of the doorway, looked to the right, to the left. Beings wandered along the main pathway. She glimpsed the ragged garments of some of Three-eyed Mak’s boys. There were no Humanoid Alliance yes-males waiting for them.

  She dashed forward, keeping to the shadows as much as possible. Dare followed her silently, carrying the Rebel agent, drawing gazes. That couldn’t be prevented. He was huge, an imposing figure, even shrouded with fabric.

  He was also quick, keeping pace with her, despite the extra weight of the unconscious female. Conscious of his height, she entered the caves through the largest opening.

  The wall of stench hit them. Dare sucked in his breath, didn’t otherwise respond. They trudged through the muck. She navigated by memory along the dark tunnels.

  “You brought strangers here?” One of the boys sitting on the ledge to her right asked. “Boy, he’s going to beat you into the next planet rotation.”

  Three-eyed Mak would be angry. Faylee extracted a flattened nourishment bar from one of her pockets, set it on the stone. The boy broke it into pieces, handed it to his friends.

  Another boy held out his hand as she approached him. He wouldn’t meet her gaze.

  She placed one of the domicile owner’s rings in his palm. That should help him meet his quota.

  The child bobbed his head, disappeared.

  “He knows where you were, boy.” The next boy advised.

  Three-eyed Mak knew everything that happened in the settlement. She responded by giving that boy a quarter of a nourishment bar.

  As she progressed into the depths, the temperature dropped, the dampness and stench increased. She distributed treats, giving the most needy of boys her stolen loot.

  Saving the goods for Three-eyed Mak wouldn’t accomplish anything. He’d beat her for guiding strangers into the caves, demand her life in return for sourcing the ship. Nothing she gave him would change that.

  She entered the tiny cavern she’d claimed as her chamber. It was bare except for the pile of dirty rags on the stone floor.

  She pointed to her makeshift sleeping support, signaling that Dare could set the Rebel agent down there.

  He must have misunderstood her unspoken instructions. Her warrior blew fire over the rags. They burst into flames.

  Shit. She clenched her jaw. They would be sleeping on hard rock this planet rotation.

  It would be warm hard rock. The fire heated the space, illuminating it. Insects skittered into the cracks in the wall. The puddles on the floor reflected the light. Smoke billowed out the entrance.

  If Three-eyed Mak wasn’t aware of their presence before the fire, he would be now. Faylee gestured to Dare and swiped her thumb and finger across her lips.

  He nodded.

  She hoped he understood he was to remain silent. Three-eyed Mak didn’t like high-credit beings. He wouldn’t respond well to her warrior’s educated tones or to his interference.

  Dare pulled the fabric from his shoulders, spread it on the rock, set the Rebel agent upon it. Blood trickled from the female’s forehead. Her eyes remained closed.

  Faylee handed him the cleaning cloth she’d stolen from the domicile. Her honorable warrior shook his head, signaling his disapproval.

  She raised her hands and looked around her. Did he see any cleaning cloths in the space?

  Ask, he mouthed, pointing at his chest.

  She shrugged. In his world, asking got results. In hers, it garnered curses from privileged beings who felt she expected a handout.

  She didn’t expect anything from anyone. Not anymore.

  Dare dabbed at the Rebel agent’s wound, treating the beautiful female as though she was fragile. Vicuska’s red curls glowed in the firelight. Her skin, after being cleaned, was the color of the sand.

  The female would fit into the Dracheons’ fancy society. Faylee didn’t.

  She positioned her body so she could see Dare and the entrance at the same time and she waited for Three-eyed Mak to arrive.

  Mere moments passed before boot heels rang on stone. Three-eyed Mak was a master thief. He could move silently when he wanted to.

  That he announced his approach meant he was angry, very, very angry.

  Faylee widened her stance and squared her shoulders, bracing for the confrontation, for the hurt, the ridicule, the shredding of her pride and the destruction of her dreams.

  She’d endure that to save the lifespan of the only male she’d ever kissed.

  Three-eyed Mak entered the chamber. He was alone. That was another indication of his rage. None of his followers dared accompany him. They feared his wrath.

  The male scanned the space, noting Dare, the Rebel agent, the unauthorized fire. His gaze settled on her face.

  She flinched at the fury in his eyes.

  “Them Humanoid Alliance bastards be huntin’ those fancy arses.” The crime boss thundered, his body shaking. “’N ye brang them here?”

  She bowed her head and waited for the pain. It would come. It always did.

  He folded his fingers into massive fists. “Ye want us to die. That it, ye ungrateful brat?” He swung his arm.

  Dare slid in front of her, moving faster than her eyes could follow. He caught the male’s fist, plucking the huge hand out of the air.

  “You don’t touch her.” Smoke curled around her warrior’s nostrils. “Ever.”

  “The boy be mine.” Three-eyed Mak yanked his hand back. “The caves be mine. Ye have no say here, ye fancy arse.”

  “I am yours, sir.” Faylee lowered her voice, the tones straining her throat. “I put us all in danger. I deserve a beating.” She would take it if it meant Dare got the ship he needed. “The fancy arse will stay out of this.” She leveled a hard glance on her warrior. “He knows this isn’t his world.”

  Dare didn’t back down, the fool glowering at the only male who could help him.

  “This be my world.” Three-eyed Mak’s chest puffed out. “’N ye ain’t to use the word arse. Ye know that, boy.”

  “Yes, sir.” She slipped between the two males. “I didn’t know where else to bring them.” She kneeled on the hard stone. “They have to leave the settlement and the Humanoid Alliance is watching their ship.”

  “Ye askin’ me to find yer fancy arse a ship?” Three-eyed Mak frowned. “That’ll cost ye, boy.”

  It would cost her everything, her dreams, her future. She glanced over her shoulder at Dare. He was a good male, an honorable male, had treated her, a cave dweller, a thief, a nobody, with caring.
<
br />   He deserved to live.

  “You will own me forever, sir.” Those words hurt as she said them, striking a blow at her heart. “Anything you ask, I’ll do.”

  “Faylee—”

  “Boy.” Three-eyed Mak sharply corrected Dare. “’N this be between him ’n me, ye fancy arse. Shut ye mouth.” His gaze returned to Faylee. “If I tell ye no more helpin’ the other boys?”

  “I won’t help them, sir.” It would eat away at her soul to stand by, powerless, as the other boys were beaten and starved, but she would do it.

  “Ye never be free.” Three-eyed Mak gazed down at her, his expression unreadable. “Boy be all ye ever be.”

  She would never live as a female, never be held by another male, never have children, happiness. Thieving and solitude and beatings would be all she’d ever know.

  But somewhere in the universe, Dare would be alive…because of her.

  “I accept that, sir.” She stared at Three-eyed Mak’s big boots, not wanting him to see the devastation that acceptance caused her.

  “Hmmm…” The male rubbed his scarred chin.

  Would he agree to her offer? She waited, uncertain what she’d do if he said no.

  “The cunt be needin’ somethin’ for her noggin.” He abruptly changed the subject. “See Med ’bout that, boy.”

  That would leave him alone with Dare and the Rebel agent. She stood, looked over her shoulder at her Dracheon warrior and then back at Three-eyed Mak.

  “Yer fancy arse be safe.” Three-eyed Mak glowered. “Get.”

  Not having a choice, she left to retrieve the pain inhibitors. She couldn’t anger her boss. They needed the male’s help.

  Dare could defend himself. She’d seen him fight. He would survive the confrontation.

  She hoped.

  Chapter Seven

  Three-eyed Mak was the ugliest male Dare had ever seen. He was scarred, had chunks gouged out of his face, was missing teeth, had a hardness that came from a lifespan of fighting and killing.

  But the male hadn’t tried to hit Faylee a second time. Another being would have done that in an attempt to assert his authority.

  That suggested he had restraint and intelligence. He could be reasoned with.

  Dare’s Drache wasn’t interested in negotiations. He glanced at the exit. It wanted to follow his mate, protect her.

  “The boy be safe.” Three-eyed Mak’s accent was thick. “This be my world ’n the boy be mine.”

  “The child is mine.” Calling Faylee a child irked Dare. It felt like a lie. He reached inside one of his holsters, extracted a packet of sunstones, tossed it to the male. “This should buy the child’s freedom.”

  “That all the boy be worth to ye?” Three-eyed Mak’s unsightly face darkened as he weighed the packet in one of his palms.

  “A Dracheon values his mate above all else.” Dare suspected his well-informed opponent knew that about Dracheons and realized who Faylee was to him. “The child is worth everything to me.” He lobbed a second packet at the male.

  “This ain’t everything.” Three-eyed Mak shook his head.

  Fraggin’ hole. “This is everything I have on me.” Dare gave him his last packet of sunstones. He had nothing left to purchase a ship or other supplies.

  “It be a start.” Three-eyed Mak gripped all three packets in one hand. “The boy be right eager to trade his life for yers.”

  His mate’s proposal had flattened Dare. She’d offered her freedom, forever, in exchange for a ship, something he needed. “I would willingly trade my life for the child’s.”

  Three-eyed Mak narrowed all of his eyes at him. “Ye allowed the boy to walk into a fight. He could of died.”

  Dare gritted his teeth. “The child disobeyed my orders.”

  She had entered the battle to save him, him, a Dracheon warrior. He wanted to both kiss her and smack her ass until she couldn’t sit down.

  “Yeah.” Three-eyed Mak nodded and grinned, an expression that made his countenance even more hideous. “The boy ain’t no good with orders. Had to beat his arse a few times myself.”

  A growl rolled up Dare’s throat, the thought of another male’s hands on his mate’s delicate form angering his beast. “You won’t beat the child again.”

  “I ain’t afraid of ye, ye fancy arse.” His adversary shook his head. “This be my world. I could smite ye out like that.” He snapped the fingers of his free hand.

  Dare could burn the male to ash before he knew he was being attacked. But Faylee was currently being protected by her former owner. “The child doesn’t belong in your world.”

  “Yeah.” The male’s shoulders slumped. “He can’t be here no more. That gray-haired Humanoid Alliance bastard already be searchin’ for the boy, thinks he be a girl.” Three-eyed Mak glared at Dare, as though blaming him for that slip. “But utter than that, he know who he be lookin’ for ’n will find the boy. Them bastards ain’t never givin’ up.”

  Faylee must have realized that. Dare looked toward the exit again. She hadn’t offered her freedom in exchange for the ship. She’d offered her life. “I’m not worthy.”

  “Ye ain’t.” Three-eyed Mak agreed. “But ye be the boy’s only hope.” He tossed two of the packets back to Dare. “Ye be needin’ that.” The male pocketed the third packet.

  Dare studied the male. “You care for the child.”

  “The boy be alive, ain’t he?” His adversary turned away from him, feigned interest in the cavern wall.

  There wasn’t much else in the space to look at. Faylee had no sleeping support, no spare garments, no containers of beverage. Once the fire was extinguished, her makeshift chamber would be cold and dark.

  It was clean compared to the tunnels outside. The stench and filth had angered him. No one should live in those conditions.

  His mate, the most important being in the universe to him, had spent her entire lifespan in the tunnels, eking out an existence, fighting for every scrap. She had very little, was the poorest of the poor.

  Yet she’d generously shared what she had with others. The kids waiting in the shadows had been painfully thin, their eyes large, their hands outstretched.

  She’d given them her pilfered nourishment bars, freely doling out the precious treats she’d hidden away. The little trinkets she passed to them were items high-credit beings were unlikely to miss. For the boys, they meant the difference between seeing another planet rotation or starving to death.

  She had sacrificed her honor to survive, to ensure others lived, and he had labeled her a common thief. Bile burned the back of Dare’s throat.

  He, who had been judged harshly his entire lifespan for a condition he’d been born with, had judged her in the same way.

  “I’m a complete ass,” he muttered.

  “That ye be.” Three-eyed Mak agreed a little too enthusiastically.

  He walked to where Vicuska was lying, gazed down at the unconscious Rebel agent, the expression on his ugly face unreadable.

  Dare stepped toward them, preparing to intervene.

  The male pulled out a small container from his chest covering. “Get up, ye lazy cunt.” He splashed liquid on Vicuska’s face.

  She wheezed and spluttered.

  “The cunt be healed. It be a fuckin’ miracle.” Three-eyed Mak grinned at him, his eyes twinkling.

  Dare swallowed a laugh. The male had a bizarre sense of humor.

  “Ye stay here, ye fancy arse. Tell the boy I be back at sunrise.”

  Three-eyed Mak swaggered out of the cavern, leaving Dare with the Rebel agent. He couldn’t leave the injured female and search for Faylee…which he suspected was the male’s reason for rousing Vicuska.

  “Woo wee.” The Rebel agent wrinkled her nose. “It smells like someone died in here. What is this place?”

  “You’re in the caves.” His beast would have liked the primitive surroundings if it hadn’t been his delicate mate’s home. She deserved much, much better. “You’re safe.”

  “Am I?
” Vicuska’s gaze drifted down his form, pausing at his groin.

  His Drache snarled, rearing back. He belonged to Faylee. No other female should look at him that way.

  “You are.” His tone was curt. “I’m Dare. I was sent by Kralj, the Ruler of the Refuge, to escort you to the settlement.”

  Vicuska opened her mouth.

  “The other Rebels are dead.” He answered that question before she could ask it. “We’re arranging transport.” And his mate’s freedom.

  As though his thoughts beckoned her, Faylee’s delicious scent amplified. He moved to the entrance, gazed into the darkness, his beast attentive.

  It howled with happiness as he spotted her small form. She hurried soundlessly along the tunnel, an injector gun clasped in her right hand.

  Her eyes widened, meeting his.

  She was back. Relief rushed through him. He could protect her now.

  Her body brushed against his, a brief, light caress. Bliss radiated from the points of contact. She glanced at the Rebel agent. Her head immediately lowered, her hair falling forward to hide her face.

  “Three-eyed Mak will be back at sunrise.” Dare relayed the male’s message. “We are to stay here.” It wasn’t his ideal waiting place but it would suffice. “Is that the pain inhibitor?” He held out his hand.

  His mate silently passed the injector gun to him.

  They weren’t alone. His lips flattened. She wouldn’t speak to him while Vicuska was listening to them.

  “Three-eyed Mak and I came to an agreement.” He continued talking to his female while he injected the Rebel agent. “I’m responsible for you now. You can talk, be yourself. I’ll keep you safe.”

  His stubborn mate shook her head.

  “You’re the boy I bumped into a planet rotation ago.” Vicuska stared at Faylee.

  The boy? He frowned. Even a female thought his mate was male?

  Faylee extracted the memory chip from one of her pockets, held it out to Vicuska.

  “You little shit.” The Rebel agent snatched it from his mate’s dirty fingers. “I’ve been looking for that.”

  Dare’s beast growled, not liking the female’s tone. “That little shit saved your life.” He set the injector gun aside, hooked one of his arms around Faylee’s waist and drew her protectively toward him. “Don’t ever speak to her like that again.”