by Sonia Nova
Xeegan half-smiled at the old man. He had an unusual amount of honor for a man who got pirates drunk for a living. “It’s yours,” he said firmly. “Just promise me you’ll give me and Zorq a free drink every once in a while.”
Callum nodded, putting the ring in the pocket of his apron. He went back to drying glasses since there was no one at the bar other than Xeegan and Zorq. The Crown was pretty much empty this early in the day. Only a few patrons were slouching on the other side of the room.
Who the hell was up at midday anyway? No pirate at least.
Last night, after parting with the human female, Xeegan and Zorq had asked around about the new pirates and Zeon’s disappearance. They had made the trek to an under the radar landing zone where pirate ships made the transfer of stolen goods. He had talked to a couple of pirates he had worked with before on jobs, but none of them could tell him anything he didn’t already know.
They had seen the Mehelians around, but that was it.
Xeegan had been hoping to come back with a bunch of helpful information, but instead, he had nothing. He could just imagine the expression on the human female’s face when they met up and he had nothing to report. She would be way too happy if he failed, but he was at a loss of what else to do.
Now, the bartender had turned out not to know anything useful either.
Xeegan looked around the bar, taking in the faces of each of the few pirates present. Even though it was late morning and the sun was out, the room was shadowy and lit only by lamps bolted onto the walls and tables. The Crown was windowless, which pirates appreciated, but it also contributed to an interior that never changed much.
That suited Xeegan just fine. The dim light never bothered him with his night vision. He looked at the pirates drinking quietly in the corners of the bar and tried to identify them. None of them looked familiar, so there was no way he was going to approach any of them and start asking questions.
Zorq started to walk toward an unfamiliar guy drinking at the other end of the bar. Xeegan put a firm hand on his shoulder.
“Stop,” he ordered in a low voice. “We don’t want to start anything by talking to someone we don’t know.”
The Ezak-T turned and nodded. He made a questioning noise.
“Let’s just get drinks of our own and hang out here until Kira shows up,” Xeegan said, a little defeated.
Zorq made an appreciative noise. His friend was always up for a drink.
They each took a stool at the bar. The wood creaked as they settled their weight onto the seats made for the average-sized alien, but they held.
“Callum,” Xeegan called.
The bartender looked up at him.
“Two pints of ale,” he said. “And…” He was about to order some food to go with their drinks – The Crown had some passable bar snacks if you knew what to ask for – but changed his mind. It had been almost a week since their last job, and credits were running low. “That’s all.”
Zorq tilted his head questioningly.
“We can eat whenever we’re back at home today,” Xeegan said. “Or maybe the–” He had been about to say “spy,” but thought better of associating himself with the word in a place like this. “Kira. Maybe she can fund our meals as thanks for our help.”
His friend raised his eyebrows and made a sound that mimicked Xeegan’s use of the word “help.”
“Okay, maybe we haven’t helped much yet. But we will. She’s got to be grateful that she’s got us on her side now.”
Callum poured their ales and Xeegan grunted in thanks.
They sat and drank for another uneventful hour, when Kira finally showed up. She pushed through the bar’s doors with her hood over her hair and shades covering her eyes. Even with all the lengths she clearly went through to remain unnoteworthy and blend in, just the way she strode confidently toward the bar with that mesmerizing swing in her hips had the eyes of every pirate in the bar on her.
She didn’t acknowledge Xeegan or Zorq, but took the stool on Xeegan’s left.
“Got anything nonalcoholic?” she asked Callum. The old man just stared at her. “Lemonade? Rialan punch?” After a long silence, she sighed. “Water?”
Callum poured a glass of suspiciously cloudy water, looking at her with narrowed eyes as if he had never been asked to serve anything but liquor and ale – which was probably the case.
“Water?” Xeegan cocked an eyebrow at her as Callum walked away.
Kira gave him a flat look. “I don’t drink before working.”
“Right…”
“So,” Kira said, taking a sip of her water and looking at Xeegan over the glass.
“So?” he asked. Did she think he was psychic? What the hell did she want him to say?
“What have you found out?”
Maybe he should have thought of a witty way of answering this question before she showed up. He had known to expect it. Instead, he didn’t really have an answer at all.
He shrugged. “No good news for you, sorry to say.”
“What does that mean?” She took off her shades and glared at him. Her purple irises momentarily distracted him. The color couldn’t be natural, could it? He tried to remember what he knew about typical human biology. Not much, but he didn’t recall seeing the color before.
“We were asking around all night after you left, but nobody knows anything that we don’t already.”
“I hope you don’t mean you were sitting here drinking all night, hoping Zeon would come back on his own.”
Xeegan felt his blood pressure rise. How could she underestimate him like that? “I gave you my word that we would help,” he growled. “I shouldn’t have to give you a play by play of my methods.”
She just stared at him.
“We went to a secure trading zone on the edge of town and asked around,” he started, giving in to her silence. Working with someone he didn’t trust and who didn’t trust him was turning out to be a nightmare. Figures. “Then we went home, slept, and came back here. Satisfied?”
“Not in the least…” she said, seemingly to herself. She frowned. “I clearly picked the most useless pirates to team up with.”
Xeegan gripped his glass tighter. What?
“That’s all you got? Either you didn’t ask around enough or your contacts are ridiculously horrible. You say you talked to them all night and couldn’t find a single person observant or well-connected enough to know anything you didn’t already know yourself?”
“Speak for yourself,” Xeegan hissed back. “You need us because you’re having trouble doing your own goddamn job. You have no rep here. You couldn’t even talk to the people I did.”
“This is my job,” she returned in a tone just as pissed as his. “My job is to work with assholes like you to somehow make this universe a safer place.”
Xeegan heard Zorq make a concerned noise. The Ezak-T probably had no idea why the atmosphere had just turned chilly.
“Do you ever shut up?” he asked sarcastically. “All you’ve done since you got here is complain. Doesn’t seem like a good way to make anyone safer.”
She cleared her throat, looking away from him and into her water. “We need more information if we’re going to find your friend.”
“Not my friend,” Xeegan cut in. Now he was just being contrary, but the female had thoroughly annoyed him. He wasn’t about to forget it and move on.
“Whatever he is to you, then. Sitting here arguing about our lack of leads is useless. You’re right.”
But what else were they supposed to do? Xeegan wanted to ask, but it would make him sound more desperate than he really felt.
He couldn’t believe this female. She had gone from making him wish she were his size so they could take their argument outside and have a fair fistfight to telling him he was right in a quiet voice. It was as if she spoke her mind and expressed her emotions without a second thought.
Should he say that he understood her frustration? Launch into an hour-long story about how he and Z
orq had crappy connections because of cycles of discrimination and poor treatment from pirates who didn’t understand their races?
He almost chuckled at the thought. She would be bored out of her mind. What the hell did she even care…?
The door to the bar opened and Xeegan looked toward the momentary flash of sunlight. An elderly Ghelian pirate limped in, leaning heavily on his cane.
Old Ironsides.
The man was well respected among the Rialan pirate community. He should be – he had been in the illegal trade scene for nearly six decades. Word was he was retiring soon, and now that Xeegan saw him, he understood why. Old Ironsides hadn’t had that limp just months ago. He had probably been injured in action and was finding it harder to recover this time, if he would at all.
Xeegan nodded to him as he moved slowly toward the bar. He nodded back.
“You know him?” Kira whispered.
“Yeah,” he answered. The old man had been one of the first bosses to look past his race and offer him work when he and Zorq had first arrived on Riala.
“Well, have you talked to him yet?”
“I haven’t seen him,” Xeegan answered thoughtfully. He and Old Ironsides were friendly. Might as well see if he knew anything. “I’ll be back.”
He got up, took a last long drink of his ale, and headed toward the table Old Ironsides had chosen. As he approached, the old man nodded in acknowledgement.
“Xeegan,” the male said in a raspy voice through his chipped tusks. “I see you and Zorq are the same as ever. Who’s the lady?”
Xeegan looked back toward the bar. Kira had turned on her stool and was watching him, tapping her fingers impatiently on the bar. Her hood had fallen to reveal some of her dark hair with the pink stripe.
He took in the vision of her sitting with her legs crossed and back against the bar. Somehow, he found her strikingly beautiful even though she was looking at him like he was a dimwitted idiot.
Beautiful? What the hell was he thinking?
“She’s new in town,” Xeegan answered noncommittally. “I’m helping her find a job. I actually wanted to ask you a question.”
The old man nodded. “What can I help you with?”
“You know those off-planet pirates that showed up recently? The group with Mehelians in charge?”
Old Ironsides nodded. “I’ve seen them around.”
Xeegan’s heart jumped in his chest. Maybe…
“That’s what I wanted to ask about. I… ah… I want to talk to them about a job.”
“They usually hang around The Crown to recruit,” the old man said. He took a moment to cough into his sleeve before continuing. Apparently, it wasn’t just his leg that was bothering him. “I’m surprised you haven’t already been approached.”
“Anywhere else you’ve seen them?” Xeegan asked, brushing off Old Ironsides’ comment.
“Yes, as a matter of fact. Doubt they want visitors, but I saw some of the Mehelians going in and out of a warehouse out toward the manufacturing district. Next to the old microprocessor plant. You know where that is?”
Xeegan nodded. A lot of pirate business went on in the blocks of warehouses toward the manufacturing district. He had spent plenty of time over there.
“But I reckon your best bet is to hang around here,” the old man finished. “If you need work, I…”
“Thanks,” Xeegan said, cutting him off. His heart pounded with excitement. This was a real lead. “I’ll check out the off-planet pirates, but if that doesn’t work and you still need a hand, I’ll let you know.”
Old Ironsides nodded. “Alright. See you around then.”
“Later.”
Xeegan nodded at the pirate and strode back up to the bar. He gave Kira and Zorq meaningful looks. “Outside,” he mouthed.
They followed him into the courtyard where they could talk away from curious ears. Just as Xeegan had predicted, the courtyard was empty at this time of day.
Except… A giggle sounded in the corner near one of the gates. He turned to see a young Ghelian male with a human woman. They were doing something between kissing and talking to each other with their mouths very close together. Xeegan frowned.
“Go get them to leave,” he muttered to Zorq.
His friend went over, rose to his full height, and growled. The two lovebirds looked shocked and nearly tripped over themselves to get through the gate and run away down the alley.
Zorq returned. Now that they were alone, Xeegan looked toward Kira and his friend.
“What did the pirate say?” she asked, looking as if she thought he had already made her wait too long for the information.
“We’ve got a lead.” Kira’s expression softened and her eyes lit up. Instead of berating him to tell her all the details, she just waited. He could have sworn she was holding her breath. “There’s a warehouse about a mile and a half from here. He’s seen the Mehelians going in and out of the place.”
“And you know where it is?”
“Yeah,” Xeegan answered. “He told me exactly where to find it.”
A grin broke out on Kira’s face. “Let’s go!”
Xeegan and Zorq shared a look. “You don’t think we should wait until it’s dark?” Xeegan asked. “Pirates work mostly at night, after all.”
Kira shook her head. “No, we should go check out this lead before it gets cold. It’s better if we get there before the pirates do anyway. More freedom to investigate. Now come on, let’s go.”
Xeegan looked at her curiously. The female was so passionate about her assignment – whatever it was. Because she definitely wasn’t here to track down missing Ezak-X pirates like Zeon. Whatever was going on, it was something big. Something she wasn’t about to freely discuss.
“Come on,” she repeated. She pulled her hood back over her hair and started walking toward one of the gates into the alley.
“Hey,” Xeegan said. Without waiting for her response, he grabbed her by the waist. She turned around within his grasp to face him, her mouth half open and eyes wide.
“What are you d–”
He set his other hand against her side so he was holding her firmly by the waist. “Why do you care so much about this mission?”
The initial shock of his action seemed to wear off, and Kira started to struggle against his hold. She pushed against his arms, but her efforts were barely noticeable. He didn’t let go.
“Let go of me, you asshole!”
He drew her toward him. The plan had been to interrogate her about the details of her assignment – or something – but instead, he found his mind swimming as her scent overwhelmed him. Sweet and spicy, it wrapped all around him and entered through his nostrils. His cock hardened in his pants, and he pulled the female tighter against him.
He had to get closer.
Kira’s eyes widened and her mouth formed a silent O. Seemingly realizing her exertions weren’t going to do anything against his strength, she went nearly limp in his arms.
As if driven by a force outside of himself, Xeegan couldn’t help but take in a deep inhalation of her scent. His face was now barely an inch from the soft, tan skin of her neck. As he exhaled, goosebumps rose on the sensitive skin. He wanted to nip at it and run his tongue along her flesh, to see if she tasted as sweet as she smelled…
What the hell was he doing?
Xeegan blinked slowly and stopped breathing. In his blind mission to immerse himself in her scent, he had completely forgotten himself. Sure, he was a pirate, but that didn’t mean he went around grabbing women against their will. In fact, this was the closest he had ever been to a woman. He had never met a female with a smell that enticed him like Kira’s did.
He loosened his grip around her, ready for her to push him away – maybe slap him – but she didn’t. Not right away. She turned to face him, her eyes wide and cheeks flushed. He could hear her quickened heart rate.
“What the hell,” she muttered finally, untangling herself from his arms. “Let’s go.”
What? That was it? She wasn’t going to yell at him and chop off his limbs?
Kira simply strode back toward the gate.
Xeegan turned to Zorq, who looked at him blankly, not seeming to understand what had got Kira and Xeegan in such a mess.
“What does she smell like to you?” Xeegan asked in quiet voice after Kira went through the gate and was out of earshot. They started to follow her.
Zorq shrugged.
“Sweet?”
The Ezak-T made a wavering gesture with his head. That meant “sort of.”
“Really,” Xeegan said. “To me, she smells…” Zorq tilted his head. “Whatever. It doesn’t matter. Let’s catch up to her. We’d better tell her she’s going the wrong way if she ever wants to get to the warehouse.”
CHAPTER 10
KIRA
Kira’s heart pounded so loudly she was sure that Xeegan and Zorq could hear it. She took a deep breath and slowed her pace, falling behind the two pirates, but that didn’t help at all. Damn it.
You know why, she told herself. This has nothing to do with physical activity and everything to do with Xeegan.
Her heart rate had been up since Xeegan had grabbed her outside the bar. The causation there was clear, but she didn’t really understand. She could connect the two events: Xeegan’s hands on her waist, his nose and lips just a whisper away from her neck… and the blood rushing to her cheeks, her heart working overtime.
But why?
The last time an asshole she didn’t know had grabbed her in a bar, he had left with a broken nose. So why would she treat Xeegan any differently? He definitely wasn’t like the intelligent Alliance-trained men, who had respect for authority, that she had dated in the past. He was rude, annoying, didn’t seem to know anything about life outside of piracy, and thought it was okay to grab her and demand that she answer his questions.
And yet here she was, still thinking in circles about her body’s obvious reaction to his touch.