by Pearl Foxx
The other person responded, but the door muffled their voice too much to catch the exact words. Veronica wiggled out of Maxsym’s arms and pressed her ear to the door in order to hear.
“—understand.” She recognized Fennah’s squeaky tone. “We’re doing everything we can to keep the experiments on schedule.”
She shot Maxsym a questioning glance that asked if he had any clue what her father was talking about.
He shook his head, but from the stiffness of his body, she had a feeling he knew a lot more than he was letting on.
“I don’t want to hear another word about the human resistance or their demands. I have no intentions of redirecting one goddamn cent away from my Falconer program. We need to shut them up one way or another. If that means executing every single one of them on public vid, then that’s what we will do.” Gideon spoke with horrific certainty. “All that matters now is making sure our initiative moves forward and our temperamental guest doesn’t become even more difficult.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll go check on the lab’s progress and report back to you. I know all the containment units were secure after the bombing, but I will make sure the scientists know you expect no delays.”Veronica and Maxsym wrapped around each other as they listened to the two men exiting the room. The undercurrent of sexual tension between them remained, but beyond that, she felt the pulsing anger and violence coming through him.
After a few moments, when she was sure the other men were gone, she pulled away from Maxsym’s hold on her. It required a gentle pull and patience while the strong man regained his sense of where he was.
“You know more about this than you should, don’t you?” Veronica asked. She opened the closet door and waited for her private guardsman to follow.
“It’s best if you don’t know anything about this at all,” he said, his jaw hard and his pupils blown so black she could feel his fury coming through as he looked at her.
“Maybe you’re right, but I do, and I’m not exactly the kind of person who can let go of something like this once they know there’s a mystery to solve. I overheard someone talking to my father in his chambers, and I think whatever is going on is bad. Like really bad. Like aliens from another world trying to take over our planet bad.”
“Aliens taking over your planet? I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at your stupidity,” Maxsym snarled, the cruelty in his words hitting Veronica hard.
She lifted her chin and gave him her most withering expression. “If you call me stupid one more time, you will be gargling your testicles. Now.” She sniffed and put her hands on her hips. “Tell me what’s going on.”
Chapter Nine
Maxsym
Maxsym dragged Veronica back to her room, his hand wrapped all the way around her upper arm. Even when she tried to pull away, he flexed his biceps and manhandled her down the hall. Other guards were roaming the station as part of the increased security after the bombing in the docking bay. A few of them gave him a smirk and a nod, assuming he’d finally had enough with Gideon’s bratty daughter.
The truth was far from that. The fact was she had scared the fuck out of him. She had frightened him past rational thought because of the danger she’d put herself in. But more than that, she had scared the primal Draqon part of him that knew if something happened to her, he would lose his shit and people would likely die.
When had she come to mean that much to him?
When had her safety become even part of the equation?
When they reached the entrance to her room, two guards stood out front. They nodded at him and stepped out of the way as he slid his hand over the control panel to open the doors. He marched her inside, and as soon as the doors closed behind them, he shoved her onto one of her leather couches.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Veronica asked in a growling, soft voice that had likely sent weaker men cowering.
Maxsym paced the outer room, running a hand through his hair and clenching his jaw. “What the fuck do I think I’m doing? What the fuck do you think you’re doing? What the hell were you doing in your father’s office?”
She rubbed her arm, which was red from his roughness. “I could ask you the same thing.”
“This isn’t a discussion, Ronnie. This is war. Do you not understand that people are dying? You're reckless and stupid. When you do shit like that, I can’t keep you safe.” He increased his stride, his heart pulsing as the reality of what could have happened to her dug claws into his heart.
Suddenly, when he looked at her, the pissed-off brat was gone, and in her place was a beautiful, terrified woman with tears in her wide eyes. “You’re just like the rest of them. You think I can’t take care of myself. You think I can’t understand what’s going on around me. But I see it, Maxsym. I see it, and there’s something wrong. I have to figure out what my father is involved in.”
If she even blinked, those tears would fall. And if she started crying, Maxsym didn’t know what he would do. Just the thought threatened to wrench his heart straight from his chest.
He sank onto the oversized couch across from her. How could this woman have such an effect on him?
“You’re right,” he said, raking his hands over his face. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you. You just freaked me out.”
She sniffed, and thank the moons, a bit of her fire returned to her eyes as she narrowed them at him. “And what were you doing in there?”
He couldn’t exactly tell her the truth: that he was snooping for information on her father’s involvement in trafficking Kladians. So he went with the easy explanation. “I’m trying to figure out why the humans are so serious about blowing your father’s Falconers up. What were you looking for?”
Veronica sat up a bit straighter. “The people are angry because all the power on the station is in the hands of one person. But my father isn’t doing anything wrong. Whatever he’s involved in, either with the Falconers or whatever the hell they are doing on Level 1162, I’m going to figure out and prove that he’s not as bad as everyone is saying. If you’re as loyal as you say you are then you should be helping me.”
Maxsym had to swallow a shocked laugh. Her father was a monster, and she had no idea. He almost felt sorry for her. “I am doing something. But I can’t watch you every moment of the day and find out what’s going on. You’re not a soldier. You’re not trained to handle things like this.”
Her eyebrows arched, and her brown eyes lit up with sparks of embers. “If I haven’t been trained and you have, then how did we both end up in the same damn closet? Look, we both want the same thing. Why don’t we work together?”
Maxsym stood, fear rising up his back and spreading out like hot flashes across his hidden wings. She had no clue how dangerous, how deadly, her father was. Maxsym refused to have her anywhere near this fight. “Absolutely not. You’ll just get in my way—”
“Excuse me?” She jerked to her feet, her fists clenching. “How dare you? I want to help. You won’t stop me.”
He lurched toward her and almost grabbed her, but he held himself back. “Look, you spoiled brat. Just listen to me and do what you’re told for once. Why don’t you go back to worrying about what to wear tomorrow or what ridiculous hairstyles are in fashion or whatever it is you did with your days before you met me? Because as of now, this isn’t happening. I can’t risk being distracted by your stupidity. I have shit to do. Stay out of my way.”
He turned on his heel and strode out the door, not waiting to hear her reaction as the doors closed.
Maxsym arrived outside Maeve’s workroom with his hands still shaking from his argument with Veronica.
He rubbed his hand along his jaw and felt the scratch of his beard growing in. He hadn’t gotten enough sleep or enough perspective. He pressed the control panel and waited for Maeve to allow him in. Offices with high security like hers often required a secondary confirmation for entry, but he was surprised to find that wasn’t the case for the crappy little workroom in the
maintenance halls.
Maeve sat at one of the many workstations lining one side of the room with her back to him. She held up a finger for him to wait and continued tinkering with whatever she was working on.
He looked around the room and found it in shambles. He couldn’t decide if that was because something had exploded in here or if it was just Maeve’s way of working. Her hair was always in shambles too, so perhaps it was just a side effect of her brilliance.
Since running into her earlier, he had done a little reconnaissance to find out more about the mysterious woman who knew about his home planet. It turned out she was a high-level astrophysicist credited with some of the most important finds in human history. She had even discovered a plasma stone, which, to date, no one had figured out how to use, but everyone agreed was really freaking cool.
Maeve twirled around in her chair, a huge smile on her face. This time she had grease smeared across her forehead.
“How exactly do you get your data for trajectory plotting? Do you actually climb under each individual ship and check the engines yourself?” he asked, pointing to the smear.
Maeve swiped at her face, which only made the mark worse. “I like to fiddle. You’d be surprised at what you can build with what other people leave around.”
“I can see why a Kladian likes you. I don’t know many Vilkans, but the few I know have decent taste in women.”
“From everything I’ve heard, I didn’t think Draqons were capable of compliments.” She waved him closer before swiveling back around in her chair. Her fingers flew across the keypad, her eyes locked on the screen. “I figured out a way to piggyback a transmission from Noaz’s ship back to your hive. It’s not perfect, but I figured if we were going to be working together, we should probably make sure we're all on the same page.”
Maxsym swung a long leg over one of the extra chairs scattered around the room and scooted next to her. “So, this is the kind of thing you tinker with?”
“Yep. If it weren’t for me, every single one of your Kladian ships would have been detected and caught by now.” She smiled with pride, and Maxsym got the impression it wasn’t arrogance but genuine excitement over what she’d accomplished that shone in her eyes.
“Okay, well I guess that’s good, because I was in Gideon’s office today and something is definitely going down. Plus, I want to connect with the human resistance as soon as possible. I don’t know what they’re planning, but they might make my life a little easier.”
Maeve frowned. “I tend to agree with the human resistance. Our focus should be on restoring Earth, not blasting off all over the universe to find shiny rocks. But blowing up the docking bay changed nothing around here. If anything, they made the situation worse.”
“Don’t worry, my solution will resolve Gideon’s planet pillaging once and for all.”
Maeve’s frown deepened, but before she could say anything else, a blue light flashed on her screen. She keyed in a code and pressed the security panel on the monitor with her thumb. A wavy image of a massive blond Vilka came into view.
Her smile took over her entire face. “Noaz,” she sighed dreamily.
Maxsym was tempted to roll his eyes at the open display of affection, but he kept it reined in at the risk of offending the happy couple.
“Maeve,” Noaz replied with a smile of his own. “As always, I am delighted to see you are safe.”
Maeve shifted in her chair, embarrassed by his obvious affection. “Noaz, this is Maxsym. I’m going to link to the comm at the hive as well.” Her fingers skittered across the keyboard as she somehow bounced the transmission signal off Noaz’s ship to reach Zayd at the Draqons’ mountain dwelling.
Zayd’s image appeared, taking up half the screen, while Noaz remained on the other half. His friend’s hair was pulled back, an unusual look for him that exposed the scars along the right side of his face. Even though Maxsym considered Zayd to be his closest friend in the world, his disfigurement still surprised him. He knew it was the new queen, Zayd’s mate, Niva, who encouraged him to not hide his scars but to find pride in the sacrifices he had made for his people.
“Maxsym, you Hyla-fucking piece of shit. What the ever-loving fuck were you fucking thinking? I fucking told you not to go to that human cesspool of a space station. Do you not listen to a fucking word anyone says?” Zayd continued with his barrage of swear words and reprimands until he was blue in the face.
“How about something more diplomatic like, ‘Hello, how are you? How are things going on the station? Awfully nice of these people to help us connect and coordinate our efforts in protecting Kladuu.’ Pretty much anything other than biting my head off,” Maxsym replied once Zayd had run out of breath.
“You’re lucky you’re not back here. I would beat the shit out of you. This is not how we do things. You were forbidden from going to the station.”
Maxsym rolled his eyes. “Yes, I was, and shocker—I didn’t listen. Really, you shouldn’t be surprised anymore. So with that out of the way, why don’t I tell you what I found out?”
Zayd ran a hand down his face, scratching at his blond beard before grunting his acquiescence.
Maxsym gestured to Maeve beside him. “This lovely human is Maeve. She has apparently been dating this Vilka named Noaz. I don’t know if the Vilkas know about this.”
Noaz interrupted, “It is now known.”
Maeve’s eyes widened, and she opened her mouth to speak, but then stuffed her hands into her lap and fidgeted with her fingers.
“I’ve been working security for Gideon since I’ve been here. I hacked myself into the system and got a good position as the primary guard for Veronica, Gideon’s daughter.”
Zayd’s eyes narrowed with instant understanding. “You’re fucking her?”
“That’s irrelevant. I fuck everything,” Maxsym retorted.
“We’ll come back to that. What else is going on?”
“Our suspicions were right. There’s paperwork about experiments on a secure floor. I’m in the process of figuring out how to get access, but I will. If there are any Kladians on the ship, I’ll find them, and then I’m going to rip Gideon’s heart out through his mouth. There also seems to be another Kladian here. We’re not sure who he is, but he seems to be a rogue Vilka.”
“Caj.” Noaz growled the name as if letting the sound pass his lips caused him physical pain. “He’s Gerrit’s half-brother and was part of Savas’s crew during the mutiny, but he got away.”
“Does Savas have many sympathizers running around?” Zayd asked.
“Almost everyone who joined him either died or rejoined the pack under strict supervision. Others tried their luck in the woods, living as lone Vilkans, a state we are not prone to.”
“You live alone,” Maeve piped up.
“I’d rather live with you.”
Maxsym almost threw up in his lap.
“What is Caj doing on the station?” Zayd asked.
“Absolutely nothing good,” Noaz said.
“Fuck,” Maeve and Maxsym said at the same time.
“What’s our next move?” Zayd asked.
“Maeve is going to introduce me to the human resistance to see if I can find out more. Once I get all the information, the plan is to assassinate Gideon, the same as it has always been.”
Maeve sucked in a breath but didn’t say anything.
“Maeve,” Zayd said, “thank you for putting this transmission together. I don’t want you to think I don’t appreciate it. But would you and Noaz mind if I had a moment to speak with Maxsym alone?”
The couple exchanged a look, and then Noaz shrugged.
Maeve slid her hands over the keyboard once again, and Noaz disappeared. Without a word, she went to the other side of her workroom to continue with her tinkering.
“Max,” Zayd began in a withering scowl.
“Whatever you’re gonna say, I don’t need to hear it. I’ve been here for months, and I’m fine. I haven’t lost my mind. I haven’t shifted or k
illed anybody. I know you don’t trust me out here, but it’s already done, so there’s no sense in lecturing me, and honestly, I’ve stopped listening to you.”
Zayd let out a bark of a laugh. “You think I don’t know all that?”
“Then what’s with the lecture voice?”
“You’re sleeping with Gideon’s daughter.” His voice gentled, and he leaned toward the screen. Zayd was never gentle. Maxsym’s hackles instantly rose.
“So what? I sleep with a lot of people.”
Zayd shook his head. “Just watch your feelings. I’ve been your best friend since before we could fly. I know you, and I’ve never seen that look on your face before. If you kill this woman’s father, she’ll never forgive you. It won’t end well. You need to think about what you’re doing.”
Maxsym ran his hand through his hair again and closed his eyes for a moment. “She’s just a girl, and I’m here to protect all of Kladuu. That’s bigger than whatever I may feel.”
“Maybe you can rationalize it that way now, but if you get any deeper, things might change. Watch yourself. Be honest. And if you can, call it off before you cause either of you more pain.”
He felt a tightness in his chest he didn’t recognize. “It’s good to see you, friend.”
“It’s good to see you too, but don’t think I won’t kick your ass when you get back here.”
“I’d expect nothing less.” Maxsym laughed before turning off the screen.
Chapter Ten
Veronica
Veronica’s empty suite felt vacant and hollow in a way she'd never noticed before. Without Maxsym's presence, it seemed like colors had dimmed, like the lights had been turned down, like the air had thinned and she couldn't take a full breath.
Did he really believe the things he said? People talked about her and judged her all the time. She pretended it didn't bother her, letting their assumptions give her an advantage when she needed to use it, but Maxsym had stood up for her to her father. He’d brought her to a peak of ecstasy she'd only imagined. And then he'd yelled at her like she was exactly what he’d called her.