by Dixon, Ruby
I go still. I cannot tell her the truth. I do not want her to fear that she will not be safe from the bounty hunter. I will keep her safe at all costs, no matter what….so she cannot know that he was in her house, on her land. “It…is not important.”
“Excuse me?”
I put soap in Kim’s mane and begin to wash it for her, lathering her hair. “The better question is how did you find me in the barn?”
She sputters at me, indignant. “Don’t try to change the subject. Where did all that noli come from? You looked as if you’d rolled in it!”
“It is not important,” I state again, trying to finish lathering her hair.
Kim slaps my hands away, making a disgruntled noise in her throat. “You’re not going to tell me?”
I lick my lips. Think for a moment. “No.”
She takes a deep breath, then nods. “Okay.”
Good. I am glad she has decided to trust me. I soap her hair a bit more, liking that I can take care of her like this. “Shall I wash your back?”
“Quick question,” Kim asks, and turns to me. There’s a sultry note in her voice and she bites her lip and flutters her lashes as she gazes up at me, her eyes wide. “Did you like touching me last night?”
I groan. Did I think my warrior had been defeated? He stirs, ready for battle yet again at the sight of her biting her lip. “You know I did.”
“You liked it when I rode your face?” Her hand trails down my chest. “When we touched and there were no cuffs, just me and you and enjoying each other?”
“More than anything,” I rasp, unable to look away from her as her fingers “walk” up my chest.
She curls her fingers sharply into my mane, tugging hard. Her sultry expression immediately changes to a scowl. “If you ever want to touch me again, you’ll trust me. I don’t like secrets, Nassakth! You know that!”
I swallow hard.
Is it possible to be more turned on than ever before? Because I love Kim’s ferocity. I love that she glares up at me, wholly unafraid, and tugs on my mane hard enough to make me wince. I love that she does not tremble, I love that she is nude as she snarls at me like a ferocious gladiatrix.
I am so proud of her….and I hate lying. Just…not enough to change my ways just yet. “If you must know, I had a bad dream and imagined that I saw your farm crumbling. I could not sleep, so I went to check it for myself, and forgot about the noli pollen.”
She peers up at me. “Is your nose bloody?”
I touch my nostrils, and sure enough, the water has loosened the scabbed-over scratch from where the bounty hunter yanked the breather free. “It must have happened last night.”
Kim flushes bright red. “I think I would have noticed if I hurt you.”
“You never hurt me,” I promise her. “I was just…not careful.”
“That’s not like you, Nassakth.” She continues to watch me with a wary expression on her face. “You’re very careful with everything. Is…something going on that’s distracting you?”
“Just mating to a beautiful human,” I murmur, purring. “And making sure she is well-pleasured.”
“Don’t even start,” she huffs, but the frustration is gone from her tone. She melts against me, soapy and warm. “I just worry about you, okay? I know you’re used to being alone—I am, too—but there’s another person to think about now. You have to remember that I worry about you, just like you worry about me.”
“I will remember,” I promise, and silently vow that no one will ever harm a hair on Kim’s head. No one.
“Good.” She smiles up at me and offers her face for a kiss, which I gladly give her. My arms slide around her waist and I pull her against me, my cock stiff and aching with need once more. Ah, this female. She is incredible. She—
There’s a knock at the door. Not the front door, but the bathroom door. I go still and Kim yelps in my arms, sliding behind me.
“Someone’s in our house,” she whimpers.
I unsheathe my claws, ready to destroy. “I will protect you. Do not fear.”
The knock comes again, utterly jaunty, and then the door opens. “Hey,” Bethiah calls. “I let myself in. Hope that’s not a problem.”
Kim’s hand clenches tight around my tail. “What is she doing here?”
An excellent question. “What are you doing here?” I call, turning off the spray of the shower.
“I thought I’d check in after last night. What fun, eh?” She comes around the opaque shower barrier and then pokes her head around to grin at both of us. Her gaze slides to my cock, and then to my face. “And might I just add a hearty congratulations to Kim for acquiring herself such a well-built husband?”
“Last night?” Kim asks in a sweet voice, and her hand clenches tighter on my tail.
I fear this is the end for me.
47
KIM
I’m furious as I watch Nassakth turn the water off in the shower. He can’t look me in the eye. Of course he can’t. He’s been caught red-handed. For some reason, we have a bounty hunter in our bathroom, and she has more information than I do about what the hell is going on, and it makes me so angry I could spit.
How am I supposed to trust my praxiian mate when he won’t trust me?
“Get out of our private quarters, female,” Nassakth says to Bethiah.
“You sound mad. Silly me, I thought you’d want an update.” Bethiah gives us a pouty look. “You are paying me a small fortune to—”
“Female,” Nassakth warns again.
“—take care of your little problem,” she continues blithely on as she shuts the bathroom door behind her, leaving me alone with Nassakth.
“I loathe that creature,” he growls under his breath.
I say nothing. I’m too irked to side with him, even against the annoying Bethiah. I sidestep and wrap myself in a towel, brushing off his attempts to dry my hair with his towel. We’re still soapy, which means that the moment Bethiah leaves, I have to jump back into the shower, but until then, I want to talk to her. Maybe she’ll tell me what’s going on.
Since it’s obvious Nassakth won’t.
I’m bubbling over with hurt as I head toward the living area. I can hear Bethiah rustling around in our kitchen, no doubt helping herself to our food. That bounty hunter’s never met a boundary she didn’t want to step all over, I suspect.
Sure enough, she’s in the kitchen, eating one of the meat pockets I made for Nassakth. “This is pretty good,” she says, holding one up. “You ever thought about opening up a restaurant of human foods? I bet it would make some serious credits.” She pauses for a moment. “Once you paid for the proper amount of protection, that is.” She takes another large bite and hops up on the counter, sitting casually.
I clutch my towel to my chest, scowling at her. “First of all, that food isn’t yours. I made it for Nassakth. And second—”
Bethiah tilts her head. “He ate this? Really?” She shrugs. “I thought his kind were pure carnivores, but you know him better than me.” She takes another hearty bite. “You got anything to wash this down?”
I’m starting to think I don’t know him better than her. Does he not like my cooking, either? I narrow my eyes in his direction as he saunters into the room, all wet fur and a towel at his hips that doesn’t seem big enough to protect everything. Bethiah watches him with far too much interest as she eats, and now I don’t know who I’m angrier at.
I cross my arms. “Someone tell me what’s going on.”
“It is not important—” Nassakth begins.
“What part?” Bethiah asks, swinging her legs and smacking her heels against the cabinets as she eats. “The part about our bounty hunter buddy or the part where I’m going to have to ask for a raise?”
“Bounty hunter?” I gasp.
“Raise?” Nassakth bellows behind me. “For what?”
Bethiah smirks and hops down off the counter. She points at the two of us. “Why don’t you two hash this out while I make my own drink? I sus
pect how our friend answers determines how I should answer.” She tilts her head, indicating Nassakth, and then moves to our beverage dispenser, pushing buttons and sticking her mouth under the spout like an absolutely mannerless jerk.
I know she’s doing it to get under my skin and the sad thing is that it’s completely and totally working. I grit my teeth at her, determined not to get distracted, and turn to Nassakth. “What’s this about a bounty hunter?”
“It is—”
I stop him, putting my hand up. “If you say it is ‘nothing’ I’m going to walk out this door and never come back, so help me…”
Nassakth sighs and rubs his jaw. The look on his face is displeased, but he doesn’t try to lie again. “I did not want to frighten you.”
“So you lied to me?” I shake my head. “Just tell me the truth, Nassakth. You think I can’t deal with an ugly situation? What do you think the last five years have been like for me? Puppies and cotton candy? It’s been hell, but I’ve dealt with it. I’ve managed. You need to trust me to handle what the world offers up, because protecting me doesn’t help me. It just makes it harder on me when things go to shit, okay?”
I can’t tell if the expression on his face is resigned or just defeated. Nassakth crosses his arms over his chest and shakes his head. “It is not that simple, Kim.”
“Uh, it’s pretty damn simple if you ask me. When I ask you something, how about you spit the truth at me instead of hiding it? Badly hiding it?”
“Because I am praxiian. You are my mate.” His voice is thick with emotion. “If I do not protect you, I am worthless.”
I shouldn’t be surprised that praxiians have some sort of strange rule about “protecting mates” because so much of what he does is because of his praxiian upbringing. Didn’t he willingly allow his family to sell him into slavery for praxiian honor? “So you think lying to me is the answer? Oh, Nassakth.” Some of my anger is ebbing away. “I know you want to protect me, but it’s important to me that I know what’s going on. I don’t like being left in the dark.”
“I understand,” he murmurs, and reaches for my cheek. I let him caress me, and for a moment I want him to pull me close and tuck me against his body, to comfort me like he always does.
But I can’t let myself get distracted by his touch. I pull back and gaze up at him. “So now that you understand how much this means to me, tell me what’s going on.”
“My sweet Kim.” Nassakth gives me a gentle look. “No.”
“What?” I can’t believe what I’m hearing.
“It is safest for you if you are left out of this entirely. I am sorry, my Kim.”
I can feel my jaw drop. “You stubborn, pig-headed jerk! I can’t believe you! I—”
Someone clears her throat extremely loudly behind us. Bethiah. I’d forgotten she was there.
I turn and glare at her. “Do you mind?”
She raises a finger in the air. “I thought now might be a good time to point out that your man paid for my help, but my silence comes extra. If he won’t tell you what’s going on, I will.”
48
KIM
I ignore Nassakth’s warning growl. I’m not scared of him. While I know it’s not all entirely bluster, I also know I’m safe around him. He’d never hurt me, and so I can choose to ignore it. I clutch my towel to my chest and approach the bounty hunter, who’s watching us both with a smug look on her face. “Tell me everything.”
“Of course.” Bethiah immediately puts her hand out. “Information costs credits, though.”
I give her an exasperated look and gesture at the towel I’m wearing. “I don’t have a wallet on me. I’ll pay you, though.”
“I will pay you more,” Nassakth says from behind me. “Say nothing!”
I turn to glare at him. “Are you serious?”
He straightens, giving me his most regal look. “I am sorry, my mate, but I must insist. Protecting you is all that is important.”
I can’t believe he’s being such a controlling jerk. He’s breaking my heart with this—and making me utterly furious. “So this is your plan? Bring me to your house and lock me in a bubble for the rest of my life? What’s next? Not allowing me to go to port for shopping? Not visiting friends?”
He hesitates, a grimace on his face. “Actually—”
“You are unbelievable!” I press a hand to my forehead. Part of me wants to stomp into the bedroom, pack my things, and head back to my land…except there was a bounty hunter there last night and it’s not safe. I really am trapped. Fighting back panic, I turn to look at Bethiah. “Whatever he offers you to keep you silent, I’ll offer you one credit more.”
The bounty hunter’s eyes gleam and she tosses her braids. “Now you’re talking.”
“Wait,” Nassakth says, pushing forward. “I will offer two—”
“Too late,” Bethiah sing-songs at him and hops down off the counter. She beams at me and dusts her hands on her dark-colored jumper. “Can I have another one of those meat-pockets?”
“You can have all of them, as far as I’m concerned.” I toss an angry glare at Nassakth as I pull another round of food out of the refrigeration unit and toss it into the warmer. “Just start talking.”
Nassakth clenches his fists and glares at Bethiah. He looks so furious, teeth bared and shoulders bristling, that for a moment I’m terrified. Not for myself, but for her. He looks like he wants to rip her throat out, and I remember what his arena name was—the Arena Scourge of Askorthi Prime. He was known for his brutality. But Bethiah doesn’t look concerned. Her pose is easy, and as I hand her the freshly warmed meat pocket, I see knife blades stuffed up her sleeves, and what look like hidden needles tucked into decorative bracelets. She has a half-dozen weapons strapped at her waist and another on her thigh, and her heavy boots probably hold a few secrets, too.
She can take care of herself, I suspect.
“Okay, well, for starters, the bounty hunter your mate was paying for me to follow showed up last night at your homestead. He disabled the alarms and went into your house and performed a DNA scan.”
I gasp. “He broke into my house?”
Nassakth groans somewhere behind me, the sound full of irritation and defeat. “Female, do not—”
“Oh, I do,” Bethiah coos. “This is all information that’ll come out soon enough, so it hurts no one to speak of it. And besides, your human has a right to know, even if it taxes her poor, tiny brain.”
I raise my hands, frustrated by their bickering. “Can we go back to the part where someone broke into my house? Why?”
“I told you,” she says, irritated. “DNA scan.” Her gaze flicks to Nassakth. “Do I need to speak slower around her? Use smaller words?”
“Hey!” I snap. “Just fucking spit it out, all right? Why was someone at my house? Why were they doing a DNA scan?”
Bethiah takes the slowest bite of her food ever and then shrugs. “He was looking for evidence of Kolvir al’Naanti, who is his bounty. A DNA scan will pick up any trace evidence he might have left behind if he touched furniture or any of your belongings.”
I frown as I hear the name. It sounds vaguely familiar, but I can’t place it right away. Then it occurs to me. That was one of my mesakkah suitors, the second one. I vaguely remember the man. He had decent teeth and nice clothes, even if his thick hair had seemed a little greasy and his horns slightly tarnished. He’d showed up at my place after answering my ad and we’d talked about the potential of mating. He’d seemed interested and had promised to come back later that night with his decision…and then had never showed up again.
I just figured he was yet another alien not interested in an older human woman, not when there were so many younger ones on the planet also on the hunt for a mate-slash-protector. I give Bethiah a curious look. “I think I met the guy for an hour about two months ago. Why would they check my house for him?”
“He’s been missing for just that long,” Bethiah points out. “And someone passed information along to
our friend that you had seen Kolvir before his disappearance. And they suspect you might have something to do with it. ”
“Me?” I squeak. I turn to look at Nassakth, whose face is completely shut down and his glare is furious. He’s shooting daggers with his eyes at Bethiah, his arms crossed over his big chest.
I’m starting to piece things together. This bounty hunter thinks I’m involved with some jerk who disappeared. That’s why he showed up on our doorstep the other day. That’s why Nassakth is freaking out. That’s why he went to my house last night and…rolled in noli for some reason. In his incredibly overbearing way, Nassakth is trying to protect me. It eases some of the frustration I’m feeling at him right now to realize that.
“You,” Bethiah agrees. “He’s a guild bounty hunter, and they usually don’t do the super-sketchy stuff that I love to specialize in. They’re sticklers for the rules.” She makes a face, as if following the rules is SO lame. “But guild records are also available to the public, so I checked Jamef’s particular bounty on this one. It’s actually been assigned by law enforcement from a nearby space station. Kolvir is a criminal, wanted for—”
“Don’t,” Nassakth says softly.
Bethiah pauses and then shrugs. “Well, it’s not really important.”
Isn’t it? I glance back at Nassakth but his gaze is like iron. He’s utterly unmoving. Whatever this guy is wanted for, Nassakth wants to shield me from it.
“The thing is with criminals,” Bethiah continues, “the bounty is for either the return of the criminal to authorities, or proof of demise. So that’s good news.”
She says it so very brightly that for a moment, her words don’t register. "How is any of that good news? I met the man two months ago for an hour. And what does that have to do with DNA scans of my house?”
“If Jamef believes his target to be deceased, he can return with proof of demise. If there’s no body, he can bring DNA scans and a nice, cute little illegal human and tell them you did it. He really won’t need much proof after that. He’ll have a perp and some evidence, and then he can get paid.”