Favored by Felix

by Shelley Munro

  Lights from the resort lit most of the way, but the trees and vegetation cast dark shadows and created lots of possible places for someone to hide. Felix stopped and lifted his head. He was scenting, she realized.

  Felix moved on and halted several times to scent the air. When he stopped by a dark bush, he grunted and set off at a fast pace.

  Casey trotted after him. The military had trained her to run silently, but Felix was better than their best.

  He slowed, halted, and Casey stopped too, allowing her senses to stretch outward into the night. The silence seemed complete, but there was an odd scent on the air. A musky smell. Felix grunted and slid through the darkness. Casey couldn’t creep through the undergrowth with the same ease. Instead she rounded obstacles, moving cautiously. The scent grew stronger and stronger until she could no longer breathe through her nose with comfort.

  Her stomach roiled and she dry-heaved. Casey bent from the waist and breathed through her mouth. Gods! That smell was enough to turn anyone’s stomach.

  Casey straightened and kept moving. The musky scent grew even worse, if that was possible, and she had no idea where Felix was now since she couldn’t make him out in the darkness. Black cat. Night. It was a bad combination.

  Casey made it to the fence and used the barrier as a guide. That smell—whatever it was—was disgusting. She hadn’t noticed anything like it around the resort.

  Eventually her hand met air. She’d found the breach in the perimeter.

  Gods! She made a low gagging sound; even breathing through her mouth wasn’t helping her get past the stench.

  Footsteps. Scurvy sky pirates! Someone was nearby, and she instinctively knew they were the source of the puke-wrenching stink.

  Rough hands seized her as she gagged again, this time losing her dinner.

  She was hustled through the hole in the fence. A familiar gruff bark, answered by another, told her Felix and his brothers were near.

  “Felix!” she screamed. “The hole in the fence is here!”

  She played dead, sagging in her captor’s arms.

  Surprised by her move, her abductor staggered and almost dropped her. Casey surged into motion and darted away, but her snatcher was quick. He grabbed her again.

  “Stop fighting,” he growled. “I don’t want to hurt you.” His accent was broad, difficult to make out the words. “Stop,” he said, this time his tone sharp and determined.

  Casey stilled and got her first good look at one of the captors. They were tall and lean, their only clothing the pink loincloth. Their hair was long and matted into lots of different strands. Their green faces and features were almost humanoid—golden-brown round eyes and broad noses with large lips. Their skin was a mottled green with faint gold swirls, and it felt sticky. Their teeth were a strong and startling white contrast to their drab green faces.

  Then there was the smell—pungent and gamey—and it seemed to come off their skin. When she took a closer look, she noticed it seemed to be a type of grease or fat and they’d plastered it over their entire bodies. Not so good for a surprise attack. The enemy would smell them from miles away.

  “What do you want?” she demanded, aware the warrior was checking her out with the same intense scrutiny.

  “That is for my chief to divulge.”

  Casey sucked in a breath, prepared to scream, and the stench hit her again. “What is that god-awful stink?”

  Her captor chuckled. “A good defense mechanism, eh? You get used to it after a while.”

  A bird call sounded, and her captor straightened, his fingers a band around her upper arm. “We leave now.”

  “No. No. My man will be looking for me. Leave me here and no one will get hurt.” Stupid creature. He hadn’t even searched her for weapons. She had her laser-blaster tucked in the small of her back.

  “That is good.” Her abductor sounded unperturbed. He propelled her along a narrow track into the trees. Now that she was away from the resort lights, her eyesight adjusted. There were five other men aside from her captor, and their collective stink was enough to make her eyes water. At least Felix would manage to track easily, if she didn’t manage to free herself.

  Thoughts of Felix made a faint smile curl her lips. He wasn’t going to be happy, and her backside tingled at the idea of another spanking.

  Fuck! They had Casey.

  Felix let out a gruff bark and shifted while he waited for his siblings to join him beside the hole in the fence.

  Almost immediately, they slid through the jungle and stopped beside him, shifting also when they saw he wanted to talk.

  “This hole was made from the outside,” he said. “We have intruders this time, rather than someone within the resort.”

  “What is that stench?” Scarlett demanded. “It makes my nose twitch.”

  “That’s the trail,” Felix said drily. “Did anyone see them?”

  “Yeah. They looked like tribesman,” Joe said. “Wore loincloths.”

  “I thought they looked like two-legged frogs,” Scarlett said.

  Sly sniggered, and Scarlett elbowed him.

  “Cut it out,” Felix snapped. “Casey said she saw someone when we were checking the fence earlier today. I didn’t see them.”

  “You would have smelled them,” Scarlett said.

  Felix shook his head. “Not this afternoon.”

  “What do you want to do?” Leo asked.

  “Follow them and get my mate back,” Felix said. “Now that I’ve found her, there’s no way in hell I intend to lose her. Scarlett, you stay.”

  “No way. I can defend myself.”

  “That’s what Casey said,” Felix muttered. “She’s gonna have a sore backside when I retrieve her.”

  “Huh,” Scarlett said. “And Ma wonders why I don’t show any interest in males. You’re all bossy. Why should I give up my freedom?”

  “I can think of a suitable punishment for you too,” Felix promised.

  “I’m not going home,” Scarlett snapped.

  “Fine. Let’s go,” Felix said. “I don’t want Casey with them for any longer than necessary.”

  The siblings shifted and slipped through the fence, silently following the trail.

  After ten minutes of fast tracking, Felix slowed when he heard voices.

  “I can’t go any faster,” Casey said in a tone he hadn’t heard from her before. “I’ve hurt my foot.”

  “I carry you.”

  “I’m not getting closer to that stink.”

  Felix smirked.

  A sharp scream sounded. Casey’s scream—and Felix snarled in fury.

  “I told you my man will come!” Casey said, her voice pitched loud.

  Clever girl.

  “No. No! Carrying me upside down will make me sick.”

  Felix gave a gruff bark and he and his siblings burst through the forest to surround the men.

  The men in loincloths—pink loincloths—bunched and kept Casey in the middle of their group.

  Felix gave another gruff bark and shifted. “You all right, Casey?”

  “I’m fine.”

  Felix watched her elbow her way through the men. They didn’t object. Instead they jabbered excitedly amongst themselves. Felix didn’t understand a word.

  “Or I will be when I can breathe again.”

  Felix couldn’t blame her for that. Their collective stench was making his eyes water.

  “What?” she demanded, turning back to the men. “Scurvy sky pirates!”

  One of the men jabbered at her, and Casey jabbered back.

  “What’s going on?” Felix asked.

  “They have more warriors back at their camp, and they intend to attack the resort unless they get a black cat.”

  “But we’re shifters,” Felix said.

  “They didn’t realize that.” Casey jabbered some more and groaned. “They have a chief, and the chief has a daughter who heard about the black cats. She wants one for her age-anniversary gift. You’d better show them the others a
re shifters too. They’re not convinced.”

  “Shift,” Felix ordered, and his siblings transformed, which set the natives jabbering again.

  “Why can’t we understand them? We all have the universal implants,” Scarlett said.

  “My military implant has more languages,” Casey replied.

  Felix curled his hands into fists. “How many warriors?”

  “Two score,” Casey said after another quick conversation.

  “What are we going to do?” Joe asked.

  Felix frowned and tried to think what Saber would do. No way in hell could they withstand an attack of two hundred warriors. They had their guests to think about, as well as their employees.

  “Would they consider a smaller cat?” he asked Casey. “In a different color?”

  “Jacey’s cat has a litter,” Scarlett said. “Good idea, bro.”

  Casey asked the warriors, and Felix waited anxiously for their reply. It was the only solution he could think of because he sure as hell wasn’t sending any of the shifters to act as pet for the chief’s daughter.

  “They’ll ask the chief,” Casey said. “But they’re saying I must go with them to explain and to serve as hostage.”

  “No!” Felix exploded.

  “Felix, that might be the only solution.”

  He looked at the tribesmen. “If she stays with you, I want one of your warriors with us.”

  Casey gave an approving nod, but it didn’t ease Felix in the slightest. She translated for the warriors, and they held a heated discussion.

  “What’s going on?” Felix demanded. They were all getting upgrades to their implants. He’d get Scarlett on the job as soon as Casey was safely back at the resort.

  The jabbering stopped and Casey turned to him. “They refuse to release me until they talk to their chief, but they understand you’re upset at them for taking your woman.” Her nose wrinkled. “They’ll send their most influential warrior with you to see the cat, so that he may report back to the chief as to the suitability of the gift.”

  “Where are they from?” Felix demanded.

  She asked and the color fled her cheeks. “A two-day march from here.”

  Damn, she was still intending to leave. As long as her safety was guaranteed, maybe this would aid his cause. “Fine. Tell the warrior who’s coming with us that if he makes the slightest wrong move, we will kill him. We will show him the cats and he will choose the one he thinks is most suitable for the chief’s daughter. Is this agreeable?”

  More jabbering ensued while Felix signaled his siblings to come closer.

  “What do you think?” he murmured in a low voice, just in case they understood them.

  “We don’t have any option,” Sly said. “If they have that many warriors available, we’re in trouble. We need to be at peace with them.”

  Felix nodded. His thinking exactly.

  Scarlett squeezed his arm. “Don’t worry. Casey is handling herself well. She’s not a nincompoop like Lori. She’s keeping her head, showing her military training.”

  Felix nodded, agreeing with his sister’s assessment but not liking it any better. He didn’t want to leave her alone with the natives. There was no telling what they might do.

  “They’ve agreed with your suggestion, Felix.” She closed the distance between them, speaking sharply when one of the warriors attempted to stop her. She pressed her palm against his chest, right over his heart. “I truly don’t think they’ll hurt me.”

  “Yet they had to sneak into the resort. They didn’t think of approaching us in a civilized manner.”

  “I’ll suggest it to them, should they feel the need to contact you again.” Casey smiled at him, and he saw it was only a little forced. “This is what I trained to do, at least part of it is. I’ll be fine.”

  Before he could offer an argument or give instructions, she kissed him. Despite their audience, she made the kiss slow and tender and emotion-filled.

  Felix gripped her shoulders, pulled her flush with his body and kissed her back.

  “Bro,” Scarlett said. “It’s time to go.”

  Felix’s hands opened then closed on Casey’s shoulders again. “Anything happens to you, and it’s war. You tell them I’ll be coming after the chief and then his daughter. You tell them I won’t stop until I have you back.”

  Chapter Seven

  Casey tramped after the warriors in front of her, their path taking them through the jungle. Late afternoon, and the air was close. Luckily, she’d long ago stopped smelling the stench that came with the warriors. Her shirt stuck to her chest and she craved a cool dip in the ocean.

  The heat didn’t seem to bother the warriors in their loincloths. Nor did the bright-red biting insects that dive-bombed her arms every few minutes.

  The warrior who’d taken over the leadership after the head one went with Felix, called a halt and barked out a series of orders. Casey didn’t bother listening too closely. Instead, she sank onto a fallen log and tugged her shirt away from her clammy torso.

  One of the warriors handed her a flask. Water, he explained, and after a suspicious sniff, she took several swallows. She handed it back and slapped at an insect.

  “The stench repels them,” the warrior said, showing a flash of white teeth.

  “So you wear that grease stuff all the time?”

  “Comes through skin.” He gestured at his green-and-gold-swirled chest. “Keeps bugs away and body cool. Wash off when swim in river.”

  “Glory be.” She had visions of the men making love with their women, the females wearing pegs on their noses. Heck, for all she knew, the worse the scent, the greater the attraction. Some tribes had peculiar customs.

  Two of the warriors returned with fruit and they handed some to her. She watched the others bite into the bright-pink flesh and decided it was safe for her to do the same. After walking all day, her stomach was protesting the lack of fuel.

  Then they were off again. Casey fell into line and resumed walking, eating her fruit at the same time. It was only when darkness started to fall, and they’d exited the jungle and come to a stop by a river, that the leader signaled it was time to camp for the night.

  She should have already been back on Dalcon. Tomorrow she was supposed catch a shuttle and report into the army base, and then catch another to the medical center—a secret one on the other side of the planet.

  That wasn’t going to happen.

  Instead the decision had been taken out of her hands.

  Casey recognized a feeling of excitement—and realized she didn’t care about the stigma of going AWOL.

  She didn’t want to chase the general’s approval any longer. Spending time with Felix, with his family, had shown her an alternative choice, how her life could be if she was brave enough to take the steps to make it happen.

  Anna Mitchell had offered her a job at the resort. She could help start the boutique, and once it was up and running, she could focus on designing. Anna had also offered Aunt Elsa an outlet for her shoes with a commission.

  Casey helped collect the leafy plants the warrior showed her and followed suit when they turned them into beds. Dinner was more fruit and water—more than she’d had on a lot of past missions. They took turns swimming in the river and allowed Casey to bathe too. The warriors swam well and she discovered—when they removed their footwear, their feet were webbed—allowing them to swim with great speed.

  The warriors settled down for the night and, refreshed, Casey lay on her leafy bed. Aunt Elsa had hinted if Casey settled on Tiraq, then she’d relocate and run her business from the resort. She wanted to be close to Casey. Proof her aunt loved her unconditionally.

  The sting at the back of her eyes didn’t take her by surprise this time. Felix wanted her to stay with him, and Aunt Elsa approved. She’d liked all the members of the Mitchell family. In truth, it was difficult not to enjoy the rambunctious bunch.

  For the first time since her last meeting with the general, she fell asleep with somet
hing other than fear. She fell asleep with hope in her heart.

  * * * * *

  Felix’s gut twisted as he showed the warrior through the resort to the employee accommodations. Now fully clothed, he indicated the warrior should wait and knocked on a door.

  Jacey Patel opened the door, her smile widening when she spotted Felix. Her nose wrinkled next, and she let out a sneeze. “Pardon me. Ma, Felix is here to visit.”

  “Jacey, it’s you I’ve come to visit. Are you still looking for homes for your kittens?”

  “Yes. I have two left.”

  “Could we see them?” Felix asked.

  “We?” Jacey sneezed again.

  Felix gestured the warrior forward. “Maybe we could come around the back to the garden?”

  “The kittens are out there with their mother,” Jacey said.

  Felix led the warrior around the back and waited for Jacey. Her mother appeared beside her and sent a querying glance at Felix.

  “My friend here lives on the island. His chief is looking for a birthday gift for his daughter, and they’re interested in a kitten.”

  “For a pet or for food?” Jacey asked.

  “A pet,” Felix said, hoping he was telling the truth. “Can we see them?”

  “Jacey, show them the kittens,” her mother said.

  The teenager called and the kittens plus their mother came running.

  The warrior gasped and said something in his quick jabber.

  Felix crouched and clicked his finger. One cat, a curious ginger, trotted over and Felix picked it up. He ran his hand over the kitten’s body and it started purring.

  The warrior made a soft sound, not far from a chuckle, and Felix handed the kitten to him. The warrior held it carefully and copied the stroking motion Felix had used. Thankfully, the stench didn’t seem to bother the kitten, and it licked the warrior on the arm.

  The other kitten, both brave and curious, rubbed against the warrior’s legs and gave a plaintive meow. The warrior chuckled again and stooped to scoop up the other kitten.