by Regine Abel
The sound of the door opening startled us.
“What the fuck is going on here?” Amalia said, her tone cold and hard.
She stood in the doorway, glaring at us. Opalescent claws unsheathed, jaw clenched, Amalia looked like a predator about to spring on its prey.
That’s hot.
Lhor released me and sauntered over to her.
“Dervhen?” she asked, when she realized who her mate had been embracing. Turning back to face Lhor, she gave him a look where shock, confusion, and jealousy warred with each other.
“Claws, my love?” Lhor said. “Is someone in her season?”
That hit me in the gut. Valena had spoken of her season and I needed to do something about that.
“You better believe it,” Amalia snarled. “These claws are about to be all over your face if you don’t start giving me answers right now.”
That’s so fucking sexy.
Once again, I wished Valena had claws.
“I… hmmm,” Lhor said, before giving me an uncomfortable look.
I appreciated his hesitation at revealing what I confided in a moment of weakness, even to his mate.
“It’s okay to tell her. You shouldn’t have secrets with your mate,” I said.
“He had better tell me,” Amalia said.
“Seriously, Lia?” Lhor said sounding somewhat offended. “Do you really think I would cheat on you?”
“Up until two minutes ago, I didn’t. And Dervhen?”
“Zhul just told me that he used to be an Anchor.”
“Used to… Oh.”
Her eyes widened, understanding dawning on her. All aggression bled out of her. Claws receding, she cast a sympathetic look at me.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize…”
“Do not worry, Seha Praghan. You couldn’t have known,” I said in a conciliatory tone. “As for your mate, I have no designs on him. Even if I did, he only has eyes for you.”
Amalia blushed prettily and pressed herself against Lhor. He smiled at her, his eyes filled with so much love she melted into his arms. He rubbed his nose against hers before gently kissing her lips. She purred and her Veredian markings darkened slightly. My mind flew back to Valena and how her own markings darkened under my touch. The memory of her taste and the sexy sound of her moans filling my ears as I devoured her made my blood rush to my groin. Silencing my wandering thoughts, I looked away. After what Amalia witnessed walking in, the last thing I needed was her thinking I was getting aroused playing voyeur.
I cleared my throat once they broke their kiss and turned to look at me. “I didn’t mean to take so much of your time, Lhor. However, if I may be so bold, there is something I would love to pick your brains about while you’re both here.”
Amalia tilted her head, a look of curiosity on her face.
“I understand you both have some knowledge and interest in information technology.”
They both stiffened and exchanged an undecipherable look before returning their attention to me.
“We’ve dabbled,” Lhor said, his voice non-committal.
My pulse raced as I readied to take the dive. How they would handle what I said next could have serious repercussions for all of us.
“A female friend of mine, very dear to my heart, asked me about a problem she is trying to solve,” I said, choosing my words carefully. “Hypothetically speaking, if a person has a tracking implant that goes undetected by Capital District’s scanners, how would you track it safely, knowing tampering with the device could be lethal to that person?”
They both took on a serious expression, no doubt guessing this wasn’t quite theoretical.
“Does that ‘hypothetical’ person live in Capital District?” Lhor asked.
“No. They travel into Capital District four times a week for work.”
“Without direct access to that person, trying different scanning frequencies to bypass the dampening field would be fatal to her. Best case scenario, the tracker’s scramblers would kick in, modulating to a new frequency to dodge detection instead,” Amalia said.
“Then you would need the specific frequency and the tracker’s ID to be able to find it safely among the millions of people inside Capital District?” I asked, knowing the answer full well.
“Yes,” they both said together.
“That’s what I thought. Thanks for the confirmation.”
After a slight hesitation, I decided to go all in. They still wouldn’t have anything against me, but I needed to let them know somehow. I cracked my neck to release the painful knot there.
“My poor friend can’t seem to get a break. She’s fairly concerned about her condition.”
“Condition?” Lhor asked, wrapping an arm around Amalia.
“Apparently, she suffers from bouts of aggression a few times per year,” I said, wondering if I wasn’t signing my own arrest warrant by divulging too much. “She used to take something for it but since the embargo, it appears she’s unable to get any more of it.”
Amalia paled, her eyes piercing through me as understanding dawned on her. She fisted her hands, clearly fighting to rein in her own aggression.
“How much time before her season begins?”
For a moment, I thought to pretend I didn’t know what she meant by ‘season’ but I was already too committed to continue playing games.
“Four weeks, maximum five.”
“There is a tea my people drink to help soothe their temper,” Amalia said, while Lhor gently rubbed her back. “If Lhor brings some tomorrow, will you be able to give them to Valena?”
“Valena?” I asked.
“Isn’t that what you said your friend’s name was?” Amalia said, with the same false innocence with which I had responded.
My stomach dropped. For a moment, I feared her name might have slipped out, the way I kept calling Lhor by Rhal’s name instead. But after further thought, I knew I hadn’t.
“Actually, I haven’t mentioned her name. She’s a huge fan of yours and of your entire family, Seha Praghan.”
Amalia smiled, though it didn’t reach her eyes.
“To answer your previous question, yes, I can bring the tea to her,” I said, realizing I’d just admitted to knowing how to reach Valena. The hard look in both their eyes told me they were forcing themselves not to react rashly to the situation. “She will be most grateful for your generosity. But now I must take my leave. I’ll see you tomorrow, Lhor. Seha Praghan, my regards.”
I turned to leave, but Amalia called out my name again.
“Dervhen, do not let any harm come to her.”
I held her stare, mine unwavering. “Like I said, she means the world to me. There’s nothing I won’t do to keep her and my family safe. Nothing.”
With a final nod, I walked away.
CHAPTER 10
Lhor
“He knows where she is and needs our help to get her out,” I said, still floored by what had just happened.
“I don’t know if he’s trying to get our help or not, but we need to get Khel and Detective Gravhin to arrest him,” Amalia said, reaching for her com.
“No, Lia,” I said, grabbing her hand. “We don’t have any proof.”
“He’s all but confessed!” she said, looking at me, disbelieving.
“You’ve studied enough law to know better, my love,” I said, trying to calm her down. “He hasn’t confessed to anything. Zhul dropped hints and let us draw our own conclusions. Not a thing he said could hold up in court as incriminating.”
Amalia pulled away from me with a huff. The start of her season was making her overly emotional, but there was something greater at play here, and we couldn’t fuck it up by overreacting.
“What’s going on between the two of you anyways?” she asked, giving me a suspicious look. “A few days ago, you were trying to convince Khel that Dervhen had nothing to do with the Blood Houses when today clearly proves it’s not the case. Then he comes to our defense over Wromhen’s stupid motion. T
oday, I find you hugging each other like you’re drowning. You’re on a first name basis and you’re even protecting him over Valena. What the fuck?”
Her voice rose steadily with each word. She stood glaring at me, the rapid rise and fall of her breasts testifying to her mounting anger. I bit back the grin that wanted to blossom on my face. She was so cute when she got worked up like that. But now wasn’t the time to taunt her. I’d tasted her claws before and wasn’t itching to repeat the experience.
“Since I don’t have any Rehmannia leaves here, we have two options.” Amalia gasped in outrage at that comment but I pretended not to hear it. “One, we lock this door and take some of the edge off, quietly. Or two, you try to keep calm while we sort this out, then we make a detour by the downtown apartment to take care of that aggression.”
Her eyes widened, then smoldered. She licked her lips then chewed on the bottom one while casting a brief glance at the door. I felt myself stiffen, her thoughts plain to read on her beautiful face. The Veredian markings on her arms darkened further. If we didn’t take care of her needs within the next hour or so, she would go rabid with lust and ravage me. Here was not the place for that, though the thought made me even harder.
“I got us a couple of new toys at the apartment,” I said, sweetening the deal.
“You tease!” she said, giving me a playful tap.
I grinned without the slightest remorse. “You’re going to like them… a lot.”
“Fine,” she said, through gritted teeth. “The apartment it is. Now spill it before I lose what little control I have left and jump you right here for the world to see.”
Chuckling, I grabbed her hand and led her to the work table.
“There is nothing going on between Zhul and me. Yes, we are on a first name basis since today because he asked me to call him Zhul. It would have been rude to decline, especially after the way he came to our defense.”
Amalia pouted prettily, a dubious look on her face. Unable to resist, I softly kissed her lips.
“Zhul ran into us just as Bhek was leaving,” I continued. “But in retrospect, I don’t think he was outside my door by accident. He wanted us to have this conversation.”
“About his Gem?”
“No. That, he definitely didn’t intend. I could almost feel his pain, Lia.” For a few seconds, I was transported back to the moment when I embraced him. There had been something strange about it, like a bridge or a connection wanting to form between us. “We’ll have time to discuss that later, including some things he informed me of that Khel and I could highly benefit from. But I think Zhul came here to give us a way to find the last Blood House.”
“The tracker?” Amalia asked. “We can’t use that without harming the host, who I’m sure is Valena.”
“Agreed. But follow the clues he gave us. If it is Valena, she isn’t held in Capital District but flown in to work four times a week.”
Amalia nodded, trying to see where I was going with this.
“He already knew what we were going to say about bypassing the scrambler and trying to lock onto the tracker blindly.”
“Exactly. So where does that leave us?”
“He wasn’t asking, my love,” I said kissing the tip of her nose. “He was telling us what to look for.”
“Right, but we still don’t know the frequency or the tracker’s ID. Which means we’re back to square one.”
“If my suspicions are right, he actually provided that info, too, by conveniently ‘forgetting’ his datapad on my table,” I said pointing at the device.
“Oh Goddess!” Amalia said, her eyes sparkling with excitement.
As expected, she reached for it with greedy hands and placed her palm over it. Her face took on a look of deep concentration as she used her hacking ability to bypass the security lock and access the contents.
“I’m in,” she said after a few seconds.
We both stared at the screen which opened directly to a tracking program. It displayed a satellite view of Capital District. A slight pulse off to the left side indicated the target being tracked was off-screen. A single swipe brought the blinking dot of the tracker to the center of the screen.
My breath caught in my throat and Amalia shuddered with excitement. If this was what we thought, the Blood House had been sitting right under our noses, merely five blocks from the Council Hall.
“By the Goddess, Lhor,” Amalia said breathily, “this could be it. This could be the end of it. Where’s your datapad?”
I went to fetch it from my desk and placed it on the table next to Zhul’s where Amalia had laid it down. She placed her hands on each device and after a minute, the same tracking program fired up on my datapad, displaying the location we believed to be the last Blood House.
I looked at my mate in awe. “No wonder Khel wants you working for the military instead. You’re amazing.”
Her face heated with pleasure and she preened at the praise. What I didn’t add was no wonder Gruuk had been so determined to get her back. The horrible ways her former master had used her ability still haunted her. Yet, Khel was right; Amalia could do a lot of good if she embraced her ability in the service of the military or the police force. As much as the thought of her no longer working alongside me saddened me, the last year had helped her cope with her guilt. It was only a matter of time before Khel got his wish. Neither of us would pressure her either way, but I knew my mate. The signs were there.
“You bet I am. That’s why you love me,” she said, wrapping her arms around my neck.
“No, Lia, that’s only one of the many reasons why I love you.”
She purred, pressing herself against me. We kissed again, her fingers combing through my hair while my hands slid down to her bottom, holding her firmly against me. I felt my blood heating as our tongues mingled. It took all my willpower to pull away from her and stand strong against her whimper of frustration and pleading eyes.
“Let’s return this to Dervhen,” I said, waving his datapad, my voice thick with desire. “Then we can check out that location. It’s on the way to the apartment,” I added, wiggling my eyebrows.
“Sounds like a plan. Let’s go,” she said, grabbing my datapad and leading me out by the hand.
A couple of minutes later, we reached Zhul’s empty office. After debating for a moment, we decided to leave his datapad on his desk and hopped on one of the Council Hall’s hovercars reserved for the Councilors. It was a short ride to our destination. Despite the usual heavy traffic in Capital District’s business and political center, the circulation was always fluid thanks to compulsory automated driving.
The streets buzzed with pedestrians. The majority were Xelixian Norms and Primes. A handful of Tainted lurked about, fully covered with their hooded cloaks to hide the disease. Various other species were also heavily represented, mainly humans, Aveans, and Dantorians. The aliens’ outfits brought the only color to a city made of all-white high-rises that softly glowed under our two suns.
As we approached our destination, Amalia closed her eyes and focused. She used her second psi ability of near-future foresight. It allowed her to peer into the next five to twenty minutes of her target’s future. She only needed to have seen that person once or have a clear picture of them to be able to lock onto them. The only problem was the target needed to be within a quarter mile range. However, the more she knew someone, the greater the distance she could reach. Last we checked, she could lock onto Khel and me at up to a full mile.
Right now, she was trying to lock onto Valena. From her frown, she wasn’t succeeding. We were closing in on the location, well within required distance for her to make contact. My heart sank, realizing this would mean the tracker wasn’t in Valena.
Amalia’s face suddenly lit up, a large grin stretching her luscious lips. I perked up, regaining hope. Although I, too, wanted to see all the females freed, it would mean the world to Amalia to free the only other Veredian on Xelix Prime, besides her great-mother Maheva.
As our hovercar stopped in a temporary parking spot in front of the building, Amalia came out of her vision. She blinked, refocusing on the here and now.
“Valena is in there, right now,” Amalia said. “They have customers drinking.”
“Could you see them? Can you identify the fuckers?” I asked, my excitement mounting.
Amalia shook her head, a sad expression on her face. “No. Valena is mostly blind. I only see blurred silhouettes.”
Of course, that would have been too easy.
Glancing at the building, I recognized the Capital District Convention Center. The massive exhibition and conference venue was one of the district’s crowning jewels of architecture. Many intergalactic events, whether cultural or political, were held here. What a bold move to run the Blood House in such a busy and highly secured location. At the same time, it made a lot of sense – no one would question the high traffic of shuttles and people from all walks of life coming in and out of the building at all times of the day.
Her forehead creased again.
“You look troubled,” I said. “What’s going on?”
“It took me too long to lock onto her. We were almost on top of the building by the time I could. I should have connected with her two blocks from here. No disrupter field has ever tampered with this ability so I’m not sure what’s going on.”
I nodded. “That struck me as odd as well. But I think it’s still a distance problem.” I smiled at her surprised look. “This place is far too public for the Blood House to be operated within one of the main halls. However, the underground parking goes very deep, with a number of private lifts especially for foreign diplomats and ambassadors. I bet the Blood House is a hall in the lowest levels underground, with direct access to one of those private lifts.”
“That makes sense.” Another hovercar pulled up behind us. “Let’s get out of here before we draw attention to ourselves,” Amalia said, setting the car to take us to our downtown apartment.