3013: Renegade

by Susan Hayes

  Not that Griz was having a great day either. Today Alayna was addressing what she called their “pathetically inadequate” security set up. She had ordered an array of parts, and according to the last update Griz had sent via their wrist units, she was now happily reworking their entire security system. Judging by the pictures Nikolai had included, the process included gutting the old system, which was now sitting in piles of tangled old wires and dusty processors at various locations throughout their house. Both he and Griz had quietly agreed that she could tear the house apart if she wanted to. What mattered was that Alayna was thinking about their place as her home.

  When his wrist unit beeped again, he expected another status update from Nikolai. What he got instead was a vision of his partner staring into the view screen, his eyes glittering with barely repressed fury. “You need to get back here. Now.”

  “Middle of the work day, Griz. I can’t cut out of here for another hour or two unless it’s an emergency.”

  “Get your ass home, Ghost. My fucking parents are here and it’s going to get ugly, fast.”

  “Fuck! I’ll be there as soon as I can. Don’t kill anyone.”

  Nikolai’s grin turned feral. “It’s not me you need to be worried about right now. It’s Alayna.” With that, he signed off, leaving Colin to scramble around his office as he shouted orders to his staff and grabbed his keys out of his desk. If Nikolai’s parents were making a surprise visit, then it could only mean one thing. They’d found out about Alayna and were coming to inspect their son’s chosen.

  There was no way this was going to go well.

  Nikolai had been rebelling against his controlling and judgmental parents for his entire life, a life that Colin had been a part of since they had met at the age of ten. More than twenty years later, Griz and his family had settled into an uneasy truce. Nikolai didn’t contact them, and they left their eldest son alone to live his life. At least, that had been the deal up until now.

  As Colin drove, he snapped off a series of inquiries and commands into his wrist unit. Nikolai’s family had to have come by private shuttle, but he needed to know where they’d landed. If they had used the base’s airfield without Colin being alerted, he was going hand out demotions and punishments. This was his base, in the city he’d been tasked to protect, and he was getting very fucking tired of not knowing what the hell was going on.

  * * * *

  Alayna’s day had been going really well, right up to the moment someone knocked on their front door. She and Nik had made a day of reworking their outdated security system. He had been keenly interested in how she had gotten around the system they had, asking questions and discussing various elements with her as they’d dismantled the old set up and started installing the new one.

  It was the first time she’d been so open about her skills, and she was relieved when Nikolai showed nothing but curiosity about what she was doing, and why. Things were going so well she had been considering how to steer their conversation toward the one topic she’d been avoiding. Alayna wanted to tell them the truth about what she was doing in their house that night, and who Wraith really was. She wanted to do it before they held the ceremony that would mark them as hers.

  Over the last few days and nights, she had come to accept that while the Alliance was an imperfect system, not everyone within it was corrupt, or uncaring. She was starting to hope that maybe she could use her experiences to help Nik and Colin find a new way to connect with the renegades and the people they protected. But before she could do that, she needed to be honest with them.

  All those plans had gone sideways the moment their guests arrived.

  Nikolai had gone to answer it, leaving her to finish up the last few tweaks on the central control panel. It had only taken a few seconds for her to catch the curt tone to his words of greeting, and then she’d heard several voices speaking at once, none of them sounding at all friendly.

  I’m not going to hide here while Nik has to deal with whoever that is by himself.

  She dusted the worst of the grime off her hands and headed for the front door, with the voices getting louder and more insistent the closer she got.

  “Why are you even here?” Nikolai demanded of their guests, who were gathered at the threshold of the front door. All conversation stopped as she appeared, and Alayna found herself the focus of three people that all shared a single, pained expression. Before she could say a word, Nik slipped an arm around her waist and tugged her against his side. “Mother, Fathers, may I present Alayna Grekov-Neilson, our chosen. Alayna, may I present to you my mother, Janice Grekov-Burrows, my fathers, Carl Burrows and Petr Grekov, and my youngest sister, Sonja. They were just leaving.”

  Nik’s fathers were both tall and well-built, and if it weren’t a few lines around their eyes and the gray in their hair she would never have imagined they were old enough to be parents to a full grown man. Nikolai clearly favored his biological father, Petr. They shared the same big build, dark eyes and swarthy complexion. Carl was fairer, with only a trace of darker hair left among the gray. Neither of them was smiling.

  “We came all this way to see you, son. The least you could do is invite us in for a few minutes before throwing us back out the door,” Petr said, taking a step inside.

  “I didn’t invite you to come at all.” Nik pointed out, standing his ground. Alayna could feel the anger coming off him in waves.

  “You claimed a woman and didn’t even bother to tell us. Of course we came as soon as we found out,” Janice chimed on.

  “And how the fuck did you find out about Alayna?”

  “Language, Nikolai!” Janice scolded her son with a haughty tone that grated on every one of Alayna’s nerves.

  “I’ll speak however I like in my own damned home, mother. If you don’t like it, I suggest you leave. In fact, I’ve already suggested that. Twice. So why are you still here?”

  “We’re not leaving until we’ve gotten to know your chosen,” she replied, raking her ice-blue eyes over Alayna in clear disapproval. Nikolai’s mother was statuesque, her blonde hair touched with silver, and Alayna decided she disliked the woman immensely. That didn’t mean that she was going to let Nik throw them out. Whatever they had come all this way to say, it was likely best that they be allowed to speak their piece before being shown the door.

  “Let them come in, Nik. This is your family, and I would like to meet them.” She paused and gave Janice a saccharine smile before adding, “Even if this visit has come as something of a surprise.”

  “It’s your decision, Alayna. This is your home too, and I’ll respect your wishes.”

  “Thank you, Nik.”

  He lowered his head and murmured in her ear. “Don’t thank me yet.” Then he straightened up and spoke in a clear voice. “My chosen has invited you into our home. The first whisper of an insult, and I will throw you all right back out again.”

  “I raised you to have better manners than this, Nikolai. No wonder you had to settle for—” Janice cut herself off before Nikolai could take offense, but the look she gave Alayna made it perfectly clear what she meant. “Perhaps you should take a moment to go wash yourself up, Alayna. I cannot imagine what you could have been doing to get yourself quite so…grubby.”

  It took every bit of Alayna’s self-control to bite back the first retort that popped into her head, and almost as much to reject the second and third comments that followed. “I do apologize for not being dressed to your standards. I was in the middle of installing a new security system when you arrived. If we had known you were coming, I would have done my best to finish the installation quicker.”

  She was already regretting letting them in the door.

  The last thing Nikolai wanted to do was to spend time with his parents, and he most certainly did not want them spending time with Alayna. They didn’t deserve the pleasure of her company. Alayna was nothing like the cosseted, simpering women that his family would have preferred. If his mother was here to put her new daughter-in-la
w in line, then she was in for the surprise of her life. He didn’t care what they thought. He knew Alayna was the right woman for him, and that was the end of it. He settled his hand more firmly on Alayna’s hip and moved forward, putting himself slightly in front of his chosen as he rumbled a soft warning.

  “Remember, this is my home, and Alayna is my chosen. My fathers would never allow someone to enter their home and insult you, mother. Don’t expect me to act any differently than they would.”

  His fathers both stiffened, but before they could say anything Sonja bounded out from her spot near the door and launched herself into his arms. “Hey, big brother! I’ve missed you.”

  “Hey, yourself.” He grinned down at his little sister and felt a pang as he saw how much she had grown up since he’d last seen her. It had been six years now, and the gangly girl he’d hugged goodbye before heading off on his last tour had grown into a beautiful woman. “You grew up on me, sprite. I barely recognized you.”

  “You were gone a long time,” she replied and hugged him again, harder this time. He gave her one last squeeze and then coaxed her to let go of him, feeling more than a little guilty that he hadn’t made time to see her before they’d left the capital. Sonja was the one member of his family that he truly liked. She was a ray of sunshine in an otherwise somber, uptight family. Despite being a scroll, his family had so far managed to prevent her from being claimed. He had no doubt that she would remain unclaimed until they could find a suitably profitable match for her. Well, profitable for the family. He doubted their parents would give Sonja’s preferences much consideration.

  Sonja bounced past him and threw her arms around Alayna. “I’m so happy Nikolai and Colin finally found their chosen! Were you really installing a security system? Who taught you how to do that?”

  “Sonja, that is not how we raised you to behave. Do try to have a little decorum.”

  Alayna could feel Sonja tense at her mother’s words, and she deliberately hugged the girl back to prolong the encounter. Sonja seemed nice enough, which was more than could be said for her mother.

  “I was really installing the new panels, yes. My foster father taught how.”

  “So it’s true then, you don’t know your parentage.” Carl sighed and shook his head, clearly displeased with that information.

  “I was found in the badlands surrounded by twisted metal and dead bodies. No one stopped to check for a pedigree, no.”

  “We’re just grateful that someone found her,” Nik stated and then leaned down to kiss her brow. In a lower voice he added. “Head upstairs and clean up if you want, but don’t take long.” She shot him an appreciative smile. “I’ll be back shortly. Then your family can say whatever they came all this way to tell us,” she said, grateful for the chance to organize her thoughts before facing these vile people again.

  I will not be the one to start the fight. I will not be the one to start the fight.

  She kept repeating those words like a mantra as she headed up the stairs. She only got halfway before Janice asked a question in a voice pitched loud enough for Alayna to hear perfectly.

  “Where did you find her, Nikolai?”

  “They caught me breaking into their house and decided to keep me,” Alayna announced, the words tripping off her tongue before she could slap a muzzle on mouth. She bolted for her room, already feeling guilty for leaving Nikolai to deal with the fallout of her outburst, but damn it, the woman was so rude!

  She managed to wash up and get changed in record time and was just dragging a brush through her hair when there was a soft knocking at the door. “It’s me, Sonja. Can I come in?”

  “Uh, sure,” Alayna said, glancing up long enough to confirm that Nik’s sister was alone.

  Sonja entered and perched herself on the corner of the bed. “Don’t worry, the rest of them are all downstairs. Nikolai’s in the kitchen. I heard him telling Colin to get his ass home, so backup will be arriving soon.” She tugged at a lock of her dark brown hair and grinned. “I don’t think we’re going to be here very long. Not once my parents have their say.”

  “Do I want to know what they’re here to say? Or can I guess?”

  Sonja shrugged, her pale blue eyes twinkling. “You’re not on their list of approved women. Not that it’s a surprise that my big brother went his own way.

  “How do they even know about me yet?”

  “My guess is they paid someone to flag Nikolai and Colin’s files so they’d know what they were up to. That’s only a guess though, they don’t tell me much. I only got to come along on this trip because they’re worried I’ll wind up claimed by someone they don’t approve of if they let me out of their sight.”

  “But you’re a grown woman! Doesn’t it piss you off, being guarded all the time? There has to be something you want to do with your life besides being some elites’ chosen.”

  Sonja stared at her, mouth open. “Oh, wow. You are so perfect for my brother. My mother has no idea how much she’s going to hate you.”

  “Uh, thanks. I think.” Alayna opted to leave her hair loose. It really wasn’t fair for her to stay hidden away for the time it would take to re-braid it. She also noticed that Sonja hadn’t actually answered her question. Then again, her non-answer said it all anyway. Having met her parents, Alayna could see how hard it would be to break away.

  “I just hope…” Sonja trailed off and made a vague gesture towards the door.

  “You hope what? If you know anything that might help me get through this visit without killing anyone, I’d really appreciate the help.” She knew it was a risk to ask Sonja for guidance, but what choice was there?

  “I hope you decide to stay,” Sonja muttered, ending the hug so she could step back and meet Alayna’s gaze.

  With a grimace, Alayna flicked her fingers toward the tattoos that marked her golden skin. “I’m claimed. I’m staying whether I want to or not. Those are the rules.”

  “My parents are rich enough that they can get rules bent when it suits them.”

  “How rich, and how much can they really bend one of the Alliance’s most sacred laws?”

  “You ever hear of G-Mex Robotics?”

  “Yeah, of course. They’re huge. Make everything from household appliances to sex-droids to space station gizmos, right? What does that have to do with your parents and what they want with me?”

  “The “G” is for Grekov.”

  Alayna’s world dipped and shifted to the left, leaving her momentarily dizzy. “Your family owns G-Mex Robotics?”

  “Yeah. Nikolai didn’t tell you any of this, did he?” Sonja was trying hard to keep from laughing, but Alayna could see it was a losing battle for her.

  “Not a fucking word. All he said was that his family was rich and he didn’t see much of them. He seems to have left out a few key details. I’ll make him pay for that later.”

  “If you stay.”

  Alayna drew in a slow breath and focused on what Sonja was saying. The girl clearly thought it was within her parents’ influence to bend the laws that bound Alayna to Nik and Colin. Given who Nikolai and Sonja’s parents were, she was probably right. That meant Alayna could walk away and go back to her old life, back to Sam and their work helping the people the Alliance wouldn’t. The thought should have had her dancing for joy. Instead, all she felt was a hollow ache in her chest.

  What the fuck is wrong with me? I should already be packing.

  Alayna didn’t want to dwell on the conflict warring inside her, so she changed topics. “When your time comes, will you get a say in who claims you?” she asked and Sonja shook her head, her pale eyes darkening with sadness.

  “None. Nobody has made an official offer yet, but I think one’s coming soon. That’s why I’m not allowed to go anywhere without a guard these days. My parents don’t want me getting claimed by some random pair of elites before they finish brokering the best deal they can for me.”

  “It would be nice if they changed the rules so that we got at least some sa
y in the matter,” Alayna muttered, then realized that was exactly what Nikolai’s parents could be offering her, a chance to choose for herself if she wanted to be claimed by Nik and Colin. It seemed wrong that it was more of a choice than they were offering their own flesh and blood daughter.

  “If wishes were rockets, then beggars would fly,” Sonja said, managing a sunny smile that didn’t quite hide the sadness still lingering in her eyes.

  “If you want to fly badly enough, maybe you should consider stealing a rocket. Your brother rebelled, you could, too.”

  Sonja laughed and slipped a companionable arm through Alayna’s. “You are so perfect for Nikolai, it’s scary. If I ever decide to take up a life of crime, I know who to call.”

  “Just don’t ever tell your brother I suggested anything of the sort.”

  “You have a deal,” Sonja said and then glanced at Alayna. “Does this mean you’re staying?”

  “It means I’m enjoying the idea that I may finally have a choice in all this. C’mon. Let’s head back downstairs and get this over with.”

  ***

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Colin walked through the back door and into an atmosphere so thick with tension he could have tied knots in it. There were voices coming from the front hall, so he headed that way, trying to make out what was being said. He’d only made it part way across the house when the conversation exploded into angry shouting.

  “How dare you come in here and pull this shit! I want you out of my house!” Griz roared like his fuzzy namesake and Colin broke into a run. He arrived in the foyer to find Nikolai standing in the middle of the space with Alayna hanging onto one of his arms, trying to hold him in place.