Chrystal Bones (Finding Home Book 1)

by Billie Jo Hanlin

  Chrystal Bones Billie Jo Hanlin

  Chapter 26

  Jayden was sitting at the table with a petite woman. She was talking animatedly with her hands waving all over the place. Blue approached them and slid into the seat next to Jayden. He made the introductions. So….. this was the Zaheer, Krakin had mentioned in his message.

  The woman looked like a Fae. Blue recognized the pointed ears and chin from pictures she had seen on Earth. Her skin was luminous with a smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose. Her hair was pure white and tipped with silver. It flowed over her shoulders and down her back in a thick intricate braid. Her eyes were the first eyes that Blue could say looked truly alien to her.

  They were a soft lavender in color and had a star shape to the iris’s. The pupil was a deep dark purple, not the deep purple of Jayden’s eyes but a purple so dark it was almost black. She wasn’t beautiful. She was so much more than beautiful that it was impossible to put into words.

  At some point in time her people had to have landed on Earth and instead of hiding, they had made their presence known because there were too many stories about the Fae. Stories filled with tales of their beauty. Blue had no doubts that this woman was related to the mythical Fae of Earth. Even today the stories were popular and made their way into modern day romance novels.

  “Krakin left the station yesterday,” Jayden told her.

  “How? We have his ship?”

  “He took mine. Said he would be back in a couple of months,” Zaheer told her. “He went looking for someone he thinks can provide some answers on who is selling the chrystals and tech to the Ragillians.”

  Blue sent to Jayden, “How much does she know?”

  “Everything Krakin told us and more. You can trust her in this at least. She has no love for the Ragillians,” he sent back.

  Blue studied the woman, reading everything she could from her emotions. Right now she was worried about something or someone. Blue didn’t think it was Krakin she was worried about. When Jayden mentioned the Ragillians she flared with hate. He could have no idea just how much his statement of her having no love for them was true. Blue tried to think of a legitimate reason to touch her for more information but couldn’t come up with one.

  She gave a mental shrug before sending a mental picture of the two men she had just left, “Do you know these guys? I ran into them a little bit ago and they were acting strange.” She felt his shock when he recognized them.

  “I know both of them and I cannot think of a single good reason for them to be here. Let alone at the same time,” his mental voice was harsh and grim. “Do not say anything until we can talk to Idris.”

  Zaheer looked back and forth between them. “It is kind of creepy when you do that,” she said.

  “Do what?” Blue asked her.

  “Talk telepathically. I may not be able to do it myself but I can tell when someone else is.”

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude,” Blue told her.

  “It is fine, just weird. It makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up,” Zaheer said.

  They chatted for several minutes before Sutcliffe joined them. This time the stripper was wearing a lot more clothes than she had on earlier and Blue knew she was more comfortable fully clothed like this than practically naked.

  Blue passed an enjoyable hour visiting with the two women. There were a couple of uncomfortable moments when she was asked questions she couldn’t or wouldn’t answer but she was able to gloss over them.

  Jayden spent most of that time lost in his own thoughts, making little contribution to the conversation. Blue made an effort to leave him to his thoughts and not intrude but she felt the heavy weight of emotions coming from him.

  On the way back to the ship Blue asked him, “Why does Sutcliffe call you Mushroom?”

  Jayden was taken off guard by the question, “What?”

  “She keeps calling you Mushroom. I wondered why.”

  Jayden thought back to what Sutcliffe had said and gave a bark of laughter. Shikita translated to mushroom in the language Blue was used to speaking. Her translator automatically translated everything to English. He was surprised that this was the first time it had made a mistake.

  “Shikita means Darling in Standard Alliance,” he explained to her.

  “Oh…. That makes more sense than mushroom,” Blue said wryly.

  They were silent for the rest of the walk back to the ship. Each keeping a wary eye on everyone they passed.

  Once back on the ship Blue asked Jayden, “Okay we are alone. Who are they?”

  Jayden did not need to ask who they were. He knew who she was talking about.

  “The man who looks like Idris is your cousin Balik. He is a spoiled mean little man who thinks he should be the next king, not Idris. His father is your father’s older brother. Your grandfather passed him over for the position when he was caught selling chrystals off world.

  Selling chrystals is not forbidden but it is strictly controlled and he was selling defective chrystals to anyone who would pay the price. He was killed by a very unsatisfied customer when Balik was four years old. The whole ugly situation was covered up and the general population never knew what he did.”

  “There’s a surprise,” Blue cut in.

  Jayden continued, ignoring the sarcasm dripping from her voice, “Balik and his mother still live in the castle, enjoying all the privileges of being royalty. His mother filled his head with lies about his father. Even though Balik was told the truth he choses not to believe it. He hates Idris and does everything he can to make trouble for him. Whatever he has involved himself in has to be serious, because he rarely leaves Shillidon. Not enough people to cater to him out here,” Jayden finished sarcastically.

  Blue thought about that information for several minutes before asking about the other man.

  Jayden’s face hardened into a stoney mask and a flame of fire appeared in eyes that burned hot with death. His emotions matched the look and she was suddenly glad that he had never looked at her that way. She had no doubt that if Jayden ever caught up to him, he was a dead man. When he spoke the words were coated in ice belying the fire in his eyes.

  “His name is Maaris and he is from Haldairia,” he paused and when he spoke again his voice was almost back to normal and the flame in his eyes had died down.

  “He is an assassin. One of the worst kinds of criminals there is. He does not care who he kills only that he gets paid. We know he has killed several high level government officials on multiple planets. Whole families have disappeared when he is around. He leaves no proof and has proved impossible to capture. My government has a kill on sight order out on him.”

  Once again Blue was silent, thinking about the dichotomy of what Jayden told her and what she had felt from the man.

  “No, I don’t think so,” she finally said.

  “You don’t think what?” he asked her.

  “I don’t think this Maaris is what you think he is.”

  “How can you say that?” Jayden demanded. “You barely spoke half a dozen words to the man and I can assure you he is exactly what he seems.”

  “Maybe, but I don’t think so. I have one advantage you don’t,” she reminded him.

  “Your empathic senses. Got news for you princess, you are dead wrong on this one.”

  Blue had many encounters with killers and this guy wasn’t one. For the few seconds she had touched him and from his emotional patterns he didn’t feel like a cold blooded killer. She couldn’t explain to Jayden what a killer felt like so she didn’t try. Instead she shrugged. “I am sure he has killed before, so have you and so have I. That doesn’t make us killers,” she pointed out.

  “We don’t kill for money, he does.”

  “Do you know that for a fact or is that just what you have been told?”

  Blue’s question caused Jayden to pause, “If you are asking me if I saw him kill someone or take money to kill someone the answer is no. But he is wanted by too many
planetary governments to think he is innocent of the charges.”

  “Maybe,” Blue murmured. She did not trust any government for good reasons. Deciding that she was done talking she walked to Jayden and looped her arms around his neck. “Let’s not argue tonight. I can think of much better things to do and since my presence has denied you a night in the arms of the sumptuous Sutcliffe it is only fair if I make it up to you,” she told him as she stood on her tiptoes and pulled his head down for a searing kiss.

  Jayden froze for a second before closing his arms tight around her. This was the first time she had initiated their lovemaking and he had no idea how much he had needed it until now. She never touched him in casual contact. He understood that this was all new to her and she was not comfortable with touch yet but he had hope that one day it would become second nature for her to reach out to him. For now he would take this unexpected gift. He could wait for the rest.

  He deepened the kiss and lifted her into his strong arms struck by how delicate and light she was. Her weight hardly registered, his mind was consumed with hunger for her. She had become essential to his being in such a short time. He needed her to take his next breath, his next step.

  He walked forward until her back hit the wall. Wedging one leg between hers, he rested her slight weight on his thigh and freed her hair with one hand, allowing it to cascade down around them. He felt the fire racing through his blood and when she leaned her head back in pleasure he nipped at her throat and reveled in the moan that came from her. The desire to mark her as his was overwhelming.

  It took all of his control not to bite down and allow the dragon’s fire to consume them both. He could not, would not do that without her consent. Once he unleashed the fire they would be bonded for life. In all the long conversations they had about his world he had never mentioned the dragon’s fire that lived in him to her.

  Unable to help himself he took her against the wall in a flurry of desperation. The need to claim her in the only way he could at the moment overwhelming every other consideration.

  It wasn’t elegant or pretty. It was sex at its most primal level. A raw hungry desire that built up until their bodies exploded in a pleasure that was almost painful in its intensity

  Chrystal Bones Billie Jo Hanlin

  Chapter 27

  The Trilleion was late. The ship with Idris and the others should have been at the station over a week ago. She could feel the tension and worry grow in Jayden as the days passed with no sign of them. She wasn’t as worried. She knew they were fine. She had no idea how she knew. It was a knowledge that was just there in the back of her mind.

  Blue spent a lot of the time wandering the station trying to solve the mystery of what Balik and Maaris were up to. Balik had left the station the morning after her encounter with him and the few people he talked to described him the same way Jayden had. He had offended everyone he had come into contact with, from the station officials to the maintenance department. Demanding the best of everything and expecting everyone to cater to his whims.

  The aliens living on the station were an independent lot and had not taken kindly to his behavior. They were more than willing to tell Blue all about his unreasonable demands and bad behavior. She was sure that was one of the reasons why he hadn’t stayed long.

  Maaris was a ghost. She had found no one who was willing to admit that they knew him or even saw him. With her extra senses Blue knew that was not the case. Some genuinely had not heard of him and others had heard of him but didn’t know him. Of the few who did know him and claimed not to, there were mixed reactions ranging from fear to gratitude. If Jayden was right and he was an assassin she wondered about the gratitude coming from a shop keeper who claimed that he had never heard of him.

  There was no way this man could afford to pay for someone to be killed nor did he have the mind set for it. For now Maaris remained a mystery to her. One she was determined to solve.

  She went back to visit the old man she had met her first day on the station with Leo. Leo had proven to be a huge hit with the aliens. None of them had ever seen an animal like him before. There had been a little trouble with the station manager the first time she had left the ship with him. She had convinced the lady that he was harmless and Leo had been his usual charming self and won her over. Along with everyone else after she told them the little white lie. It really wasn’t a lie she told herself. Leo was harmless, unless she was threatened. Then all bets were off.

  The old man, who she kept thinking of as Yoda, even though his name was Torin, was scratching Leo’s ears and reminiscing about the days he had spent with his Shillidon lover. They had met on this very station over a hundred years ago and had spent two glorious months together. Life and circumstances had driven them apart.

  She had been the love of his life, the reason he had come back to the station to spend his last years. It was where he had been the happiest. He felt closer to his love being here than anywhere else. According to Torin, Blue reminded him of his lost love and that was why he had known from the first that she was from Shillidon.

  Jayden spoke to her telepathically, “Blue, the Trilleion just came out of hyper and will be docking in about an hour.”

  She heard the relief in his mental voice.

  “About time,” she sent back feeling the same relief. “I’ll be up as soon as I can. Do you know why they are so late?”

  “Not yet.”

  It took Blue a while to break free of the old man. She had made a point to come visit him every day and he was disappointed that she would be leaving soon. She would miss him and the daily conversations they had. Since leaving Earth she had met more people that she liked than the whole time she had lived on Earth. It just went to show that she really hadn’t belonged there. Not that there weren’t nice people on Earth. It was just out here, in space, she didn’t have to hide who she was.

  By the time she got back to the ship the Trilleion had docked and Jayden was aboard her. Blue looked around the ship that had been her temporary home for the last weeks. One day she would have her own ship she promised herself. The place was clean and there was nothing left to do but join the others. Still she lingered.

  The next and last stop on this journey was Shillidon. With a small sigh of regret that her time alone with Jayden was over she turned and walked out.

  Sparks was the first to notice her when she walked into the control room. He shocked her by running up and grabbing her in a bear hug. He lifted her and swung her around and around. When he set her back on her feet he planted a loud kiss on her lips.

  “Princess I knew you would be alright. Did our illustrious leader take good care of you or did you kick some ass?”

  Since he had heard her tell Vihan during one of their practice sessions that she was going to kick his ass, Sparks had used the expression every chance he got.

  Vihan looked up from where he was working on his panel and gave her a smile. “Nice to have you back,” he said.

  “Thank you. It is nice to be back.” She found that she really meant it. Somehow these men had cracked the shell around her heart and become important to her. She looked around for the rest of them.

  “Idris and Jayden are in engineering. Dro is in medical with Jos,” Sparks informed her.

  Suspicious of the gleam in his eyes she asked, “What’s wrong with Jos?” Vihan snorted while Sparks’s grin stretched his whole face.

  “He forgot to hold on,” his grin told her it wasn’t serious.

  She shook her head at him knowing that there was more to the story than that. She would ask Jos what happened.

  She decided to stop at medical before going to find Idris and Jayden. She could hear Jos complaining before she entered the room. Dro was holding his arm, running a bone stimulator over it. At the same time he was telling Jos, “If you would quit using it for a couple of days it would heal faster; you know that.”

  “Doc I don’t have time to sit and do nothing. You know that,” Jos parroted the words back.
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  “Maybe now that Jayden and I are back you can find the time,” Blue said from the door. Both men whipped their heads around to stare at her.

  Jos’s grin was as engaging as his brother’s but unlike Sparks he didn’t hug her. Dro walked to her with hands held out. Blue looked at his hands then into his pale yellow eyes. Eyes that shined with relief at seeing her.

  Feeling a sense of deja vu, she hesitated for just a moment before placing her hands on his, palm to palm. Thoughts and images swirled. Words were not needed. It was a true joining of their minds. It was communication at its most basic and most complicated level. It was intimate without being sexual.

  The contact lasted only for a few moments before they slowly withdrew breaking the contact. Dro was the first to speak, “Your mental abilities are growing.”

  Blue gave a soft sigh. He would pick up on that. For now she chose to ignore the statement and instead asked, “Is Mr. Graceful going to be ok?” She looked at Jos, who had been watching them with a thoughtful frown on his face.

  “It was just a broken arm. It will be fine, if he would refrain from using it,” Dro said with a stern look at the now smiling Jos.

  “Do not worry so much Doc. It will be fine. It is not the first arm I have broken,” he joked.

  Blue touched the arm in question and felt her hand heat. Jos gave her an incredulous look.

  “Damn girl, your hand is hot.”

  Blue hastily removed her hand not sure why she had felt compelled to touch him.

  Since the new chrystal had attached itself to her on Earth she would have some knowledge come to her. This one told her to touch Jos’s arm where the break was. She hadn’t spent a whole lot of time trying to decipher the information from the chrystal but the little she had didn’t tell her much beyond basic knowledge of the chrystals themselves. The information had settled into her and would come to her when she needed it.