by Kate Rudolph
“Take me to Iris instead.”
Though Toran had thought his tone invited no argument, Alvarez shook his head. “Let her rest, both of you have had a long few days. She needs sleep, and if you go and see her now can you guarantee she’ll get some?”
That was not something he was about to discuss with a man he’d only just met. “I need to see my—I need to see Iris.”
“You will. In a few hours. Let her sleep and then give her a call once it’s morning. You have my word that nothing will happen to her before then. Besides, there’s something you need to see.” They were already at the entrance, having passed through several security gates where the guards waved them through with blank faces. Whether it bothered them that Toran was being removed without punishment didn’t show on their faces. They probably didn’t care about him at all. He was no longer their problem.
Toran wanted to fight, wanted to insist. The need to see Iris beat strongly within him, but he understood the general’s point. He doubted that Iris had stolen any sleep while locked in her cell, and she would be most comfortable in her home. Morning was not far off. In a few hours he could call on her and reassure her that everything would be fine. And if they took the day to do more than sleep, to do the things they couldn’t do on Gamma Station, well, that was just a bonus. But Alvarez was looking at him expectantly, and leading him to a black car.
Toran nodded at him and said, “Let’s go.”
Chapter Sixteen
IT WAS TOO EARLY FOR this shit, or too late. Iris wasn’t exactly sure of the time. It was dark out, and she really wanted to sleep. But Dan was sitting on her couch, the same Dan who had cheated on her and stolen all of her things. The man who’d taken her car and ditched it in the middle of Oklahoma. The same man who the police couldn’t manage to catch, no matter how much evidence he left behind.
Iris didn’t know what she would be saying if she weren’t about to pass out from exhaustion. A small sliver of her believed that he was actually a hallucination induced by all the crap she’d gone through in the past two days. He had to be a hallucination, there was no reason for Dan to smile at her when he got up from the couch and walk close like he was about to give her a hug.
She took a step back and put her hands up, pushing him away before he could make his move. No hallucination would be that solid. Iris’s mind spun. Dan. Here. “How did you get inside?”
The smile he gave her called back wicked, sultry nights spent together in bed, and her stomach curdled at the memory. “You let me in, isn’t that how it works?” He was grinning indulgently as he spoke.
Bile rose in her throat. Was this asshole serious? Was he flirting? “I changed the codes and the locks. How did you get in?” It felt like bugs were crawling over her skin to imagine Dan sitting in her sanctuary. He could have taken anything, or trashed the place, or done something worse. She wanted to throw up, but she took a big gulp and did her best to swallow that down. She wasn’t about to show weakness in front of this vile creature.
His smile shifted, and a long time ago she might have called his expression sweet. Now all she saw was the condescension. “You didn’t change the emergency reset question, babe. I knew you’d give me a way in.” He reached out and gently placed a hand on her shoulder before Iris could evade him.
She stepped back out of his grasp, and backed up into the little half wall dividing her living room from her kitchen. Dan’s eyes lit up as he realized that she was trapped. He took a step to the side, cutting off her easiest avenue of escape. It looked natural, but she had a long history of observing how Dan worked. If she called him out, he would say she was overreacting, that she could step around him easily and he would make no move to stop her. And that might be true, but she would have to sidle up next to him to do it, and she wouldn’t be able to avoid his hands.
“That was a mistake, I don’t want you here.” And it was an oversight she would be correcting immediately.
“I know you have to say that,” he said softly. He sounded understanding, caring. Everything he wasn’t. “Those things I did, I know I was wrong, baby. I know you were hurt. I shouldn’t have done that, but I was scared. Things were going so well, no one’s ever understood me like you do. You know I sabotage myself. That was all that was, I’ve had time to think. That’s why I’m here.”
Her mind reeled trying to make sense of the gibberish that he’d just spewed. “You stole my car. You cheated on me. The only way you could make that up to me is if you marched down to the police station right now and turned yourself in.” She should be calling the cops, she knew. But a part of her was afraid that if she reached for her comm Dan might think she was going for a weapon and attack her. He didn’t usually get physical like that, but after the adventure on Gamma Station she was too keyed up.
“No.” Dan was shaking his head, his jaw clenched. “No, you have to understand.”
“Understand what?” She shouldn’t be playing this game; she knew he was going to screw with her head. There was nothing he could say that would make her take him back, even if she wasn’t in love with Toran.
In love? Really? She had to realize that now? Iris tamped down the thought and pushed it aside, she’d deal with it later. She didn’t want Dan’s presence to pollute thoughts of her mate.
“You understand me, baby.” He stepped closer, but the look on her face must have warned him and he kept his hands to himself.
When they were dating the pet names had seemed sweet; now, like everything else about Dan, they made her sick. “Don’t call me that.”
“You’re my baby, you love it when I call you that. Remember that time you made me say it while I was—”
“Don’t finish that sentence.” He was a reminder of all her poor choices, and she didn’t need the play-by-play. “I’m calling the police.”
He couldn’t stop himself from placing a hand on her arm. “No, please don’t. I came to apologize. I love you. I want you back. We can work this out.”
Iris wrenched away from him and reached in her pocket for her comm. “We really can’t.”
“You understand me, baby. And you know I’m the only one who understands you. I wanted you when no one else would even look twice. You think anyone’s ever going to love you like I did? Like I do? You work too much, but I can live with that now. I know you get obsessed and you don’t think about me, but we can work on that, and when I get lonely I won’t need to look for anyone else anymore. Not if I have you. I won’t lash out, I promise.” He should have sounded pathetic, but a small part of Iris, the one he’d sunk his hooks into years ago, couldn’t help but listen and flinch.
They’d had these fights before, when her jobs took over her life for weeks at a time. When Dan came home smelling of another woman’s perfume. When she found a pair of underwear that weren’t hers. He’d made his excuses, and she’d believe him, because no one had ever loved her before.
But even if she didn’t have Toran, everything Dan was saying would still ring false. She was a different woman than she’d been six months ago, she had grown. And now she had a strong Detyen warrior to stand at her side, one who respected her dedication and her competence. One who had never critiqued her body, or the things she wanted to do with him. One who belonged to her as wholly as she belonged to him.
“You love me?” she scoffed. “You’re a slimy bastard who doesn’t know the meaning of the word. You want to use me and I don’t believe for a second that you can be faithful, that you wouldn’t be up to your same tricks the second my back was turned. I spent way too much time dealing with your shit, and I’m not about to waste another second.” She held up her comm and waved it at him. “I’m calling the police right now, and they’re going to take you to jail where you belong with the other criminals. And then I’m going to forget about you, because my life is so much better without you. I never knew what happiness was when we were together. You were a mistake, one I’ve regretted since the day we met.” She called up the number for the detective she’d b
een working with. “Now stay here. Don’t make me hurt you.”
But her exhaustion must’ve been getting to her. She saw Dan lunge forward, but she didn’t have a chance to turn away before he pushed her to the side and left her sprawled on the ground, her comm flying across the room and smacking into the wall. He was out of the house in a flash, and by the time Iris pushed herself up to chase him he was out of sight. She let out a frustrated growl, a habit she was picking up from Toran.
She closed the door and took a moment to change the locks again and the emergency security question. Once that was done she found her comm and got the detective on the line, reporting everything that had just happened. The detective assured her that officers would be on the lookout for Dan, but Iris wasn’t hopeful. He’d evaded them for this long, had somehow managed to get into the city without being caught. There was no reason to suspect that they would catch him now.
She felt a hollow sort of acceptance. She was done with Dan, and even if he was never punished for the shit he’d done to her, she couldn’t quite bring herself to care. This confrontation here was closure. He’d come to hurt her, or get her back, or something like that. And she wanted nothing to do with him. A small part of her had always wondered what it would be like to see him one more time, whether he would still have the power over her that he used to wield. And now she knew he didn’t. Now she was sure that she was over him, and she could move on with her life, could travel down the path that fate had set her on.
But to do that she needed her mate by her side. She used her comm to call up the quarters that Toran shared with his fellow Detyens. To her surprise, Sierra Alvarez answered. “I sent my dad to get Toran. He’s on his way here. Can you come?”
“Yes.” Anywhere her mate went she would go. Exhaustion momentarily abated, she called a taxi and headed out again.
ALVAREZ DROPPED TORAN outside of his building and pulled away with a curt farewell. Toran watched the vehicle drive away and narrowed his eyes as a taxi passed the general and came to a stop in front of the building. Iris opened the door and stepped out, and suddenly the balance of Toran’s world was right again. It was amazing how somebody could become so essential in such a short amount of time, and it was only now that he realized that he hadn’t quite been able to pull in a deep breath since he and Iris were separated. Seeing her safe, here and now, banished the dark thoughts in his mind, and he truly believed that they could take on all of the evils of the world and triumph. As long as they were together.
He and Iris stared at each other for several seconds before they both moved forward as if released from some invisible hold and clutched each other close, hugging tight enough to crush. He breathed her scent in deep and let the soft curves of her body soothe him. It was more of an impression under all her layers, but even touching like this with no sexual component was satisfying in its own way.
“Who got you out of there? You were already gone by the time Alvarez fetched me.” He was glad she was safe, but when she pulled away she looked shaken. Toran swiped his lips across her forehead, offering comfort. He stepped back to give her room to breathe, but didn’t let go. He didn’t know if he’d ever be able to stop touching her.
“My boss,” Iris answered. She closed her eyes and grimaced. “I actually forgot about that, it’s been a night.” He opened his mouth to ask, but she shook her head. “I’ll tell you later, I promise. It’s nothing important.” She laced their fingers together and tugged him towards the door. “Sierra said she has information for us.”
“That’s why I came here first, I wanted to give you time to rest.” He could see from the dark circles under her eyes and the sag of her shoulders that she still needed sleep, but Toran wouldn’t insist right now. She could say the same thing about him. There was probably no safer place on the planet than the room they were about to enter, and once they had the information they were about to be given they could nap together. That sounded like the human idea of heaven.
Inside the suite Sierra, Raze, Kayde, Dryce, and Quinn were all waiting for them. Quinn’s presence was a bit of surprise, but she must’ve been working closely with the others while he and Iris were away. He wouldn’t insult her by questioning her presence; obviously the other people in the room approved.
Toran and Iris collapsed beside one another on the couch and Sierra shot them a concerned look. “We can go over this in the morning if you’d prefer.”
“Let’s just do it now,” said Iris. She snuggled into Toran’s side when he slung an arm over her shoulders. Toran’s heart warmed at the contact. Before he met Iris he might have questioned why someone would need to touch their mate so much, but now he understood. He couldn’t be near her and not touch her. They were meant for one another, could comfort one another, and being beside her just felt right.
At Toran’s nod Sierra took her place beside Raze at the front of the room. The others had settled into the chairs, except for Dryce, who was sitting on the floor instead of taking the open spot on the couch. Sierra engaged the holo player and a stream of data from a report appeared in front of them. “This is what we found in his office.” She didn’t need to say Yormas’s name, they all knew who they were talking about. “It’s a chemical composition report with entries for each of the planets in the Sol System along with their moons. Most of the attention was given to Earth, probably because of the native population. It is the only planet in the system where life evolved.”
“They mentioned something about testing, about human subjects,” said Iris. “Do you think this is connected? He was meeting with an Oscavian named Varrow who seems to also be involved.”
“There was an entry in his calendar for that meeting,” Raze confirmed with a nod. “That meeting was just one in a line of many with several different Oscavians.”
Toran leaned forward and sifted through the data being projected. He wasn’t a scientist, and this was far from his area of expertise, but it was surprisingly easy to understand, as if it were written for a layman. “Do you know what 99.97% match for D1 means?” he asked. It was easy to jump to conclusions, especially given the information they’d gathered and lost on Gamma Station. Toran forced himself to be careful.
“We think it means Detya,” said Sierra. “We think this report shows a commonality in certain chemical compositions between Earth and Detya. Compositions that aren’t found in other systems. And...” she trailed off and shook her head, as if dismissing her thought.
“What?” Toran insisted.
Sierra shrugged. “It’s just a thought,” she hedged. “But maybe that’s why there are human denyai. I don’t know, we haven’t found any other links between Earth and Detya. I mean, I haven’t thought about it much. Been a little busy.” She huffed out a laugh. “Maybe it’s dumb, it could be something else.”
“I don’t think it’s dumb,” said Iris. “It’s not like we have a lot of information to go on. Aren’t we the only two women mated to Detyens?”
Toran couldn’t help the smile that nearly cracked his face in half. He reached back and grabbed Iris’s hand to kiss it. “Not quite,” he corrected. “Over the past two years or so, I’ve heard a few reports. Perhaps half a dozen women not related to the Detyen Legion. All human, but not all from Earth.”
“What about men?” Quinn asked, reminding Toran that he and Iris were not the only two people in the room.
“It’s possible,” Kayde responded, leveling his intense gaze at the human woman. Something was off, something tickled at Toran’s senses, but he didn’t know what. He hated to bring it up, but he would need to evaluate Kayde in the coming days. If the soulless Detyen was becoming unstable, they couldn’t risk the destruction he could bring about. “There are far fewer female Detyens, but there is no reason that one of them could not find a mate among human men.”
“Why is that?” asked Quinn. She placed her hand on her chin and leaned against the arm of her chair, posture casual but engaged.
“A matter of bad luck,” Kayde responded, not gi
ving anyone else a chance to speak. “According to our records, roughly equal numbers of men and women made it off Detya. However, in the years since, more boys have been born than girls. And early in the days of the diaspora, tragedy struck and a ship carrying many of our women was destroyed.”
Toran, Dryce, and Raze stared at Kayde. That was the most the man had spoken in weeks. The soulless were not generally talkative, especially not about Detyen history. The women in the room didn’t seem to understand just how strange that was.
“That’s fascinating,” said Sierra, turning them back to the matter at hand. “And you know my heart breaks every time I hear more about what happened. But let’s focus on things we can change. We have people involved from two different nations. Do you think that Wreet is masterminding this endeavor? What about the Oscavian Empire? Or these individual actors?”
“From what we heard, they weren’t speaking like they had a government sanction,” Iris observed, and she tugged on Toran’s hand and pulled him back towards the couch. He sat down beside her. “But they might have a mandate to keep quiet. We think Varrow, the Oscavian, has that girl you let go—”
“We didn’t let her go,” Quinn interrupted.
Iris’s head snapped towards her. “Fine, the woman some of your group callously abandoned in the middle of a war zone. Is that better?” She jutted her chin out in defiance.
Quinn crossed her arms, her jaw set. “If you think I’m happy about that, you’re wrong.”
“Whatever.” She turned back towards the center of the room. “We think Varrow, or the brother he mentioned, has Laurel. And he might also have a Detyen. They were speaking about it openly on Gamma Station and I overheard them.”
“Where?” Quinn demanded. “We need to find her, bring her back. What happened wasn’t her fault.”
“We also need to warn the humans about the impending threat to the planet,” Dryce cut in. “We can’t let what happened to us happen to them.”