by Anna Hackett
Control, Dayna. As the fancy elevator zoomed downward, she rubbed the stone between her breasts. The hunger was still there, banked for now. Not for the first time, she wondered what feeding off Rillian would feel like.
She’d been so close to feeding off him the night before. She stared at the back of his head. His hard body had been pressed against hers, all that lethal strength and the pulse of power. Desire curled hot and hard in her belly.
The elevator opened and the mass of noise hit her. They stepped out onto the main floor of the casino.
Yep, it didn’t matter how many times she walked the casino floor, the sensory overload packed a punch. Just like its owner.
Rillian strode at the front of their small group. The crowd parted for him with ease. He sure caused a stir. Nearly every head turned to watch him—men with envy, and women with…well, most of them were watching him for a very different reason. The desire she saw made her stomach sour.
A singer was up on a nearby stage. She was long and lean, and dressed in a slick, red catsuit that looked painted onto her body. Her dark, curly hair was piled up in a complicated design. Her voice was a high warble, and the music sounded discordant to Dayna’s ears, but many in the crowd were watching with rapt expressions. The woman’s hungry gaze followed Rillian across the room.
Get in line, lady. What, did every woman on Carthago fall at the man’s feet?
They moved toward a gaming table in the center of the room. It was comprised of two sections, with a narrow bit in the middle, and a blood-red top. Unlike the other tables in the room, however, there were no eager players standing by it. It had been cordoned off by the security guards.
And draped backward on one chair was a woman in a bright-blue dress.
Dayna didn’t need her former detective skills to know that the woman was dead.
“No one saw anything?” Rillian asked.
Tannon shook his head.
“Security footage?” Dayna asked.
The big man glanced at her and she wondered if he ever smiled. “We’re analyzing it now.”
Dayna took in the victim. Most of her face was covered by pale-blonde hair. From what Dayna could see, her features were beautifully made-up, and the victim had faint scales on her blue-tinted skin.
But Dayna made herself look past the makeup and the long, blue dress. She stepped closer, and saw one of the woman’s hands dangling down by her side. As the others talked, Rillian barking out questions, Dayna crouched.
The woman had callused hands. Her nails were quite short, even though they were painted fire-engine red. For a moment, Dayna felt like she was back on the force. This felt familiar and she felt in control. She didn’t feel like that wild, scared woman she’d been last night.
She grabbed a pen from her pocket and touched the woman’s fancy, heeled shoe. They were strapped to her ankles, but when Dayna pushed the shoe down, she could see that the material had left raw, red marks on the woman’s foot. They were new. She wasn’t used to wearing them.
“Dayna?” Rillian’s voice came from close behind her.
“Sorry.” She stood. “Force of habit.” She shoved her hands in the pockets of her trousers.
He studied her steadily. “Come with me to the security room. We can watch the camera footage.”
Excitement winged through her. She nodded, glad to be involved. She followed the small group out of the main casino.
The second trip in the elevator was much shorter. When they stepped out into the high-tech security room, she gasped. There were screens everywhere, and more black-uniformed security members sitting at computers. In the center of the room was a holographic projection of the entire casino. It was covered in a scramble of red, orange, blue and green dots and lines. Damn, she wanted to know what they all represented.
She wasn’t too proud to admit she was a little bit turned on.
Rillian stopped beside her, his shoulder brushing hers. “I’ve seen women look at the rarest jewels the same way you’re looking at my security room right now.” His voice was ripe with amusement.
“I’m not impressed by jewelry.”
He was silent for a beat. “I’m not surprised.”
Someone pushed out chairs for them at a comp screen, but neither of them sat. They stood and watched the footage replay on a screen. The woman had arrived, flanked by two big men. She moved over to the table, placing her bet. The camera angles weren’t great and there wasn’t a good view of her face. Then, Dayna watched as one of the men moved, and their view of the woman was completely blocked. Then both men stepped away and left. The woman was slumped in her chair, looking like she was resting.
“Nothing unusual, sir,” one of the security team said. “Maybe her lovers wanted to get rid of her?”
Dayna cleared her throat. “The man on her right purposely blocked the camera. The other did something to her, you can just see his arm move, and whatever it was presumably killed her.”
Everyone in the room turned to look at Dayna. But she’d worked NYPD for over ten years and survived the Thraxians. It would take more than an alien security team to rattle her.
“Neither man gave us a clear view of their faces. They knew where your cameras were.”
Rillian’s dark gaze narrowed, silver sparking in his eyes like lightning. “Go on.”
“She’s not a glitzy party girl. She’s got calluses on her hands, and it didn’t look like she was used to wearing the fancy shoes she had on. And she didn’t seem particularly happy coming in with them.”
A female security team member cleared her throat. “She came willingly. She didn’t look scared.”
Dayna nodded. “Yes, but you never get a full view of her face. However, if you look, you’ll see her shoulders are tense, her hand is clenched in a fist.”
“She was under stress.” Rillian glanced back at the screen. “Tannon, keep analyzing the footage and inform me on the results of the autopsy. I want to know who she was, and why she was killed in my casino in such a deliberate fashion.”
Dayna straightened. “I’d like to help.”
Those silver eyes met hers. “Okay.”
She relaxed. “Thank you.”
“Your observation skills are impressive.”
That faint praise made her want to flush. “It used to be my job.”
“Sir?” a female security member called out. “Facial recognition came back with the match. The victim was a casino waitress here at the Dark Nebula. She’s listed as a single mother who started work here about two months ago.”
Dayna’s stomach sank. The woman had been a mother?
“Dayna was correct.” Tannon tapped on a screen. “Yana Dray wasn’t a party girl or mistress. She was a waitress at the Dark Star restaurant here in the casino.”
God. For a second, Dayna was eight years old again, watching the big detective with the balding head and tired eyes telling her and her parents that Gwendolyn was dead. Some child was out there, about to get the same news.
A muscle ticked in Rillian’s jaw. “She was one of ours.”
Everyone in the security room went quiet.
“Wait.” Tannon tapped again. “A message from the team removing the body. They found a note beneath her.”
“A note?” Dayna stepped forward, and watched as an image flashed up on the screen.
It was covered in alien text Dayna couldn’t read. She had an implant that allowed her to speak and understand various languages, but she couldn’t read them.
“What does it say?” she asked.
Rillian’s mouth turned into a flat line. “This is just the beginning. Abandon the House of Galen, or more will die.”
Rillian sat in his office, with the imperator of the House of Galen on his comp screen. He’d just finished outlining the situation for Galen.
“Drak.” Galen’s scarred face was unhappy. His right eye—the one not covered by a black eyepatch—was cold.
“This has to be the Thraxians. We need to find Zaabha, Galen,
and shut it down once and for all. The Thraxians and the Srinar have overstepped too many boundaries.”
The Srinar, a plague-ridden species who liked operating in the darkest spaces of Carthago, were allies of the Thraxians. They had to be shown a lesson as well.
“Agreed,” Galen said. “I have Zhim and Ryan working on the map that Neve and Corsair recovered. It’s not going well. They tell me that part of the map is missing. They need some sort of key to unlock it and we have no idea what or where that might be.”
Rillian sat back in his chair. “At the witch’s lair?”
“We searched it from top to bottom. We didn’t find anything.” A muscle ticked in Galen’s jaw. “There’s more. The House of Thrax has gone into complete lockdown. They aren’t accepting fights, not seeing anybody, not even taking in more gladiators. My guess is that they are pulling back to protect Zaabha.”
“It’s too late for that,” Rillian said darkly. “Especially when they’re leaving dead bodies in my casino.” He felt his anger spike and forced it down. “Killing my people.”
“The Thraxians don’t understand subtleties. They probably believed it would get you to back off.”
“They don’t know me very well, then.”
“And I have two women I intend to rescue from Zaabha.” The imperator’s voice was unyielding. “I won’t stop until Ever Haynes and Sam Santos are free.”
“You have my support.”
Galen inclined his head, then his single, ice-blue eye narrowed. “How’s Dayna?”
“She’s a fighter. She’ll make it, but she’s…stubborn.”
Galen almost smiled. “That seems to be a common trait for the women of Earth.” The man’s voice was dry.
Rillian steepled his hands together. “You’d know. Everyone’s talking about the infamous Galen going soft for damsels in need of rescue.”
The imperator snorted. “With my gladiators falling in love with Earth women every time they step into the arena, I hardly have a choice.”
“Keep your eyes open, Galen. If the Thraxians are warning me off helping you, that means they’re coming for you.”
Galen’s gaze narrowed. “I’ll be waiting. See you at the exhibition match tomorrow.”
Rillian nodded. “Dayna is apprehensive, but excited.”
“The women, especially Winter and Mia, are eager to see her.”
After ending the call, Rillian checked in with Tannon, only to discover that there were no updates on Yana Dray’s murder. Frustrated, he wandered toward the conference room.
Dayna sat hunched over her comp screen, tapping away. It was nice to hear her working so close to his office. He shook his head. He’d always valued his space, but for some reason he liked this woman here. He knocked on the door and when she called out a distracted hello, he walked closer.
She had papers spread over the table and a frown creased her brow.
“Dayna?”
She looked up at him and blinked. “Yes?”
He moved closer. “What are you doing?”
“Going over Yana’s murder.”
“How long have you been working?” he asked.
Her frown deepened, and she tilted her neck to stretch it. “What time is it?”
“Late.”
“Shit. A while. I lost track of time.” She set the comp down. “Not the first time I’ve gotten lost in a case.”
“Have you eaten anything?”
She shook her head.
He pulled out his sleek personal communicator and ordered some food. When he looked back, she was tapping on the comp again. “Have you found anything?”
“I did find an image of one of the men from a better angle from a secondary camera. I sent it to Tannon.”
Rillian walked closer, glancing out the window at the lovely view of the flat-topped Raddos Mountains in the distance. “I know who murdered her.”
Dayna’s head shot up. “You do?”
“This is a message from the Thraxians. They don’t want Zaabha found.”
Her face hardened. “I figured as much. That arena needs to be shut down. I wasn’t there long, but…it was horrible. The chanting spectators who wanted blood. The terrible cells. I never got to see the champion of Zaabha, but they shouted and screamed for her.” Dayna shook her head, looking like she wanted to shake the memories away.
“Are you still having nightmares?”
She brushed her hair back. “Something tells me I’ll have nightmares for the rest of my life.” She lifted her chin. “But that’s not what’s important. Sam and Ever need to be rescued. Yana’s family needs closure.”
Rillian studied the stubborn line of her jaw. He wondered about her previous job solving murders. Did they still haunt her too? “It must have been difficult to tell people their loved ones were gone.”
“Worst part of the job.”
“And you’d been on the other side, too.”
She nodded. “Hearing about Gwendolyn was horrible. It shattered our family. My parents were never the same and my mother died two years later. It’s what spurred me to want to be a detective.”
“But you were planning to leave it behind.”
She leaned back, emotion churning in her eyes. “I was burned out. Other people’s grief, the crimes I couldn’t solve, the victims I failed… I decided to go into security. I decided I wanted to stop crimes before they happened.”
A woman who gave her all to other people. She was damned admirable.
“And I want to find Ever and Sam more than anything,” she added quietly.
“We’ll find them.” He sat on the table beside her, his tone lowering. “And we will obliterate Zaabha.”
She stared at him. Rillian knew that particular tone had made many an opponent shudder in fear, but Dayna just looked curious.
“I believe you. Wow, I guess I don’t ever want to piss you off.”
“No, you don’t.”
She smiled at him, and Rillian wondered how long it had been since he’d spent time with a woman who didn’t preen and work to impress him every second. His female companions were attracted to him, but they still feared him.
Attraction stirred in his blood and he quickly squelched it. But he’d never met anyone like Dayna Caplan.
There was a knock at the door. Rillian answered and waved the server in to set the food down on the table.
Dayna looked skeptically at the tray.
“Eat,” he ordered.
She rolled her eyes, but plucked up an aggla berry. She tucked her legs beneath her on the chair.
“How is your symbiont today?” he asked.
She made a face, the light in her eyes dimming. “I try not to think about it.”
“It’s a part of you, now.”
“I don’t want it to be!” The words burst out of her. “It was forced on me.”
“Mine was, too.” He froze, mentally cursing himself. He’d never spoken about how he’d received his symbiont with anyone.
She looked up. “When?”
“When I was eighteen.”
She gasped. “So young.”
He shot her a small smile. “By the time I was eighteen, I hadn’t been a child for a very long time.” He flexed his hands, memories rising to the surface.
“How…did it happen?” she asked.
Usually, unwanted questions from anybody were swiftly shut down. There were things Rillian didn’t want to share, and it paid to never give your enemies, opponents, and rivals anything that could be used as a weakness. But strangely, he found himself wanting to reveal some of his secrets.
“I grew up in the back streets of Kor Magna. My mother—not that she deserved or wanted that title—was a smuggler and a master thief.”
Dayna sucked in a breath.
Unfamiliar emotions bit at Rillian. Drak, he’d buried his past way down deep a long time ago. Why was he dredging it up and telling it to Dayna?
“Go on,” she said softly.
He drew in a deep breath. “I w
as following in her footsteps, and making a name for myself as a smuggler. And I was a successful one, until I stepped on the wrong toes. My symbiont was punishment from a rival.”
Dayna’s eyes went wide.
“I wasn’t supposed to survive. But instead of dying like he had planned, I lived. And then I embraced my symbiont to make myself more powerful and successful.” He rose. “You should, too.”
“I…don’t know if I can.”
The emotion in her voice made Rillian’s fingers curl into his palms. He wanted to touch her, but he forced his hands to stay by his sides. “From what I’ve seen so far, you are a frighteningly capable woman, Dayna.”
“So I need to learn to…feed?”
“Yes. Most alien symbionts simply want to coexist happily with their host. If you can learn some give and take, you’ll feel much better.”
She tilted her head. “Is that what you do with your symbiont?”
No. Rillian pulled in a breath. He ruthlessly controlled his symbiont. It was one that could never truly be let loose.
“This isn’t about me.”
Her gaze narrowed. “You feed your symbiont.”
“When required.”
Those probing eyes didn’t leave his face. Drak, Rillian felt like someone she’d arrested for a crime. He was certain she’d been very good at her job.
“Your symbiont requires more than just feeding.”
“Enough, Dayna.”
“No. You’re asking me to accept this thing inside me, and do something that freaks me out.” She pointed at her chest. “I hate the idea of risking someone’s life by feeding from them. But you’re giving me half-truths. I get the feeling you don’t give your symbiont what it needs.”
Rillian gritted his teeth. He’d spent a lifetime building his strength and power. Hiding the things he didn’t want to show the world. “My life is none of your business and never will be.”
Her head jerked like he’d hit her. “Right. The cool, controlled Rillian won’t ever let anyone past his masks and shields. You spend your days handling me and everyone else in your damn little empire, but you never let your guard down enough to let anyone close.”
“I don’t want anyone close.”