“Hmm, a nap.” Sacaren looked down at Frankie. “I could use a nap.”
“Poor baby, all tired out from your shopping?” Frankie grinned up at him.
“I did not say I intended to sleep.”
“That’s generally what a nap consists of.” Frankie turned to look at Crista. “Besides, we’ve got a visitor. You can’t nap with a guest.”
“Why not?” Sacaren asked. His eyes widened. “We do not have to invite her to join, do we?”
“What? No!” Frankie gaped up at him.
“That is good. I was not sure how far your hosting laws went.”
“Not that far.”
Hosting laws? What was he talking about? And did he seriously think she wanted to go up with them and…
Crista could feel herself blushing red. Frankie gave her an apologetic look. “Sorry, he gets confused over some things. English isn’t their first language.”
Oh, right. They didn’t really speak with an accent but they did say things strangely. She nodded. Then cleared her throat. “It’s all right.”
“No, it is not,” Nax thundered from behind her. “She is not going to your bedroom with you.”
Sacaren held his hands up, looking a little shocked. She stared back at Nax, amazed to see the fury on his face. He looked ready to explode. Over a miscommunication.
“Good. I do not wish her to,” Sacaren told him.
All right, now she was feeling a bit rejected. What was wrong with her? Sure, she was kind of on the thin side and she didn’t have many curves, but she wasn’t ugly.
“Stop.” Frankie stared at them both. “You’re both being rude. Ms. Nelson, sorry. Please excuse their lack of manners.”
“It-it’s okay. And please, call me Crista.”
“What are you doing here?” Ioin asked sharply.
“Um, I came over because—”
“Somebody still wishes to purchase the house even though it is not for sale,” Nax told them.
“Yes, that’s right. I have the offer with me, if you would like to read it.” That was if she could find her handbag. Where had it gone? She was starting to get a little worried. She didn’t like to be away from her cell phone in case something happened with her mother.
“Is this a different person or the same one?” Frankie asked, walking towards her. She wiped her forehead. “Jesus, it’s hot in here. Nax, I really think we should hire someone to fix the air conditioning.”
“I will do it,” Nax replied. “I have not had time.”
“What have you been doing the whole time we have been gone?” Brogan asked with a scowl, moving past then. “I am going to stick my head in the refrigerator.”
“Me too,” Tecan added, following them.
“Hey, it’s my turn,” Sacaren said.
“You can’t keep sticking your head in the fridge. All the food will spoil.” She gave Crista another apologetic look. “Sorry, it’s like a madhouse around here at the moment. This heat makes them all a little cranky.” She looked over Crista’s shoulder at Nax. “Of course, some are just naturally cranky.”
“It’s all right. I should leave. My boss will be wondering where I’ve disappeared to.”
Yeah, right. The only thing Pete cared about was getting the sale.
“How long have you been here?” Frankie asked, raising her eyebrows.
She glanced back at Nax then to Frankie again. “I just came in to discuss the offer on the house. I can see you’re all busy, though, and I really need to get going. I’ll just leave the offer for you to all look over and you can get in touch with me if you have any questions. I need my handbag.”
“It is in the living room,” Nax told her. “I will get it.” He strode into the room they’d just come from.
Frankie moved closer, obviously studying her bruised face. “You must have landed on your face, huh?”
Crista gave her a tight smile. “Guess so. I’ve always been clumsy.”
“Yeah, I knew someone once who was always clumsy.”
Crista stilled. She got the message. Frankie didn’t buy into her bullshit excuse.
“I wasn’t hit,” she told the other woman.
“Of course you weren’t. You ever need some help, you know where I live. I’ve got a bunch of older brothers, as well as this lot. We’d be happy to sort that ladder out for you.”
“Thanks, but I’ve gotten rid of the ladder. It won’t be back.”
Frankie nodded once, but it was clear she didn’t believe her.
Crista grabbed her bag out of Nax’s hand, pulled out the offer and placed it into Frankie’s hand. “I better go. Call or message me. Bye!”
She ran off before anyone could stop her. Coming here had been a bad idea. She guessed she better brush up her résumé.
Time to find a new job.
5
Nax followed Frankie into the kitchen where the others were taking turns sticking their heads into the freezer.
“You guys are idiots,” Frankie told them, putting the papers Crista had left on the counter and moving to the fridge. She pushed the freezer door shut. Sacaren just managed to get his head out of the way.
“Mate, you could have hit me.”
“Your head is hard enough to survive a ding or two,” she replied. But she smiled.
“Nax, we need that air conditioner fixed,” Sacaren complained as Frankie grabbed everyone a cold drink.
Tecan held the cool can up to his forehead. “This heat is making it hard for me to think.”
“At least the mall had air conditioning,” Marcun stated as he walked into the kitchen. “It almost made the trip enjoyable.”
Normally, Marcun would do all that he could to avoid a trip to the mall. It was a huge bustling place with too much noise and too many people. Although there were always plenty of food choices, most of them hated it, except Tecan, but he was odd. But today, they’d all jumped at the chance to go shopping with Frankie and Eden.
Anything to get cool.
“I thought it would be fixed by now,” Brogan complained.
“Perhaps he cannot fix it but is too ashamed to admit that a piece of human equipment has gotten the better of him,” Tecan added with a grin.
“It has not gotten the best of me,” Nax rumbled. “It would already have been fixed if the female had not interrupted me.” He turned to Frankie. “Why were you speaking to her of ladders?”
“Because she didn’t get that bruise from falling off a ladder.”
“She did not?” Sacaren asked, surprised.
They were all gathered around the kitchen counter. An old fan that Nax had found in the garage from the previous owners drifted back and forth, creating a hot breeze that didn’t do much to alleviate the oppressive heat.
“Then why did she say she did?” Brogan asked, looking confused. “I do not know how I will ever understand humans if they continue to lie all the time.”
Frankie sighed, leaning her forearms on the counter. “There are lots of reasons for lies. Not all of them are to cause pain or be deceptive. In Crista’s case, I’m guessing she was lying either to protect herself or someone else.”
“The male that did that to her,” Nax growled. “Why would she protect him?”
“A male hit her?” Ioin’s eyebrows rose. “Who?”
“She would not tell me. She also had bruises on her arm.” And her breast, but he did not tell them that. “They appeared to be from someone grabbing hold of her.”
“She said she’d gotten rid of him,” Frankie said. “Hard to know if that’s true or not. If it’s someone close to her it could be hard to get away.”
“Close to her?” Brogan asked.
“Like a boyfriend or family member.”
“She said she had no male companion. But you believe a member of her family could hurt her?” Nax asked.
“Unfortunately, domestic abuse is a very real problem.”
Was that why she would not tell him? Because it was a member of her own family? It was unfa
thomable to him that someone meant to care for her could hurt her.
He became aware that everyone was staring at him.
“What?” he snapped.
“You were making a low, growling noise,” Sacaren told him.
“Like you do before you go on the attack,” Tecan added.
“Do you care about the female, Nax?” Ioin asked.
“Care about her? I do not know her. She is nothing to me.” But the words tasted bad in his mouth and he didn’t dare look at anyone in case they saw he was lying. For some reason, she meant far too much to him. “I just do not like that someone is abusing her.”
“Me neither,” Frankie said with a sigh. “But unless she’s willing to ask for help, there’s not a lot we can do.”
“We can kill him,” Nax said matter-of-factly. His packmates all nodded.
“Um, no, you can’t.” Frankie gave them all a firm look.
“It would be fairly simple,” Brogan told her. “The hardest part will be finding out who it is, but once we know, we will stalk him, wait until he is alone and then shoot him.”
“No, you won’t. We’ve had a talk about the law. You cannot just go around shooting people.”
Brogan sighed. “These human laws make life very difficult. If you would just have let me shoot the male who allows his dog to defecate on our lawn each morning then we would not have to clean up the poo each day.”
“I told you I would go talk to him. Talk. You need to learn how to be diplomatic. How to use non-violent methods to resolve issues,” Frankie scolded.
“But I like shooting people,” Brogan muttered.
“Brogan!” Frankie placed her hands on her hips.
“Relax, mate. He merely teases you.”
“Yeah. Right.” She gave Brogan a suspicious look, not buying that whole teasing thing. She was a smart female.
Brogan might have been exaggerating about shooting the male who let his dog leave nasty packages, perhaps, but Nax knew that his packmate would not hesitate to shoot someone who really deserved it.
Like the person who had bruised Crista.
“I do not wish you to go speak to him,” Sacaren stated. “He seems unstable and violent.”
“Based on what?” Frankie asked with exasperation.
“His words and gestures when we collected a few weeks worth of dog poo and dumped it on his lawn,” Brogan told her.
Frankie’s eyes widened. Nax braced for an explosion, then she laughed. “Oh God, you really did that? Why didn’t you tell me?”
Sacaren looked as surprised as the rest of them. “We did not expect you to laugh.”
“We thought it might be against more of your human laws,” Nax told her.
She wiped her eyes. Nax grew slightly alarmed. Why did she cry?
“Mate?”
“I’m not upset,” she reassured Sacaren. “I just wish I’d been there to see it. I wondered why we hadn’t seen him in a few days. Too bad we couldn’t get some to dump on the old bat’s lawn the next time she calls the cops on us.”
“I am certain that can be arranged,” Brogan reassured her.
She waved her hand. “No, no. That guy got what he deserved. He didn’t want to pick up his dog’s poop. He can hardly complain if you guys did it for him. That’s brilliant. I’m sure we won’t have any problems from him again. Okay, back to Crista. She might have someone abusing her. But then again, maybe not. Hard to know what happened if she’s not going to talk. But you definitely can’t shoot him. Not unless it’s self-defense. Otherwise you’ll end up in jail.”
“A human jail could not hold us,” Nax scoffed.
“No, but I doubt you’ll get that far once they realize who you guys are. There will be panic if the human population learns that aliens have been living here without us even knowing. Which probably means that they’ll try to hide your existence. By killing all of us. Even me and Eden. And the baby.”
They all fell silent.
Nax did not understand why the humans believed they were the only one’s living here. Their security system was antiquated. They’d easily snuck through with their ship in stealth mode. Of course, not everyone had that technology.
Still, he trusted that Frankie knew what she spoke of. At the moment, it was best if the human authorities did not know of their presence. Not until after they had all found their mates. They did not want to risk Eden or Frankie’s safety.
“I made it clear to Crista that if she wants help she can come to us.” She nibbled at her lip. “I just hope she does.”
“Why does she keep returning with offers to buy our house?” Ioin asked. “We made it clear it is not for sale.”
“She probably thinks you’re holding out for more money.” Frankie looked at the papers Crista had left. She whistled. “Although this is a lot more money than what we paid for it. Weird. Who would want this house so much? You’d make a tidy profit if you sold it to her buyers.”
Ioin looked over her shoulder. “We can make three times that amount on one mission.”
Frankie’s eyebrows shot up. “Good to know.”
“I thought she would stop showing up when we told her no last time,” Ioin grumbled.
“It is strange,” Frankie said. “I’ve never known someone to be this desperate to get hold of a house.” She frowned. “You don’t think it could be related to the break-in the other night?”
They all fell silent.
“No, that’s just silly. Break-ins happen all the time. And probably they just really like something about this house. Got more money than sense. Look, I’ll call her and tell her that we absolutely do not want to sell and not to come back again.”
Nax felt his gut tighten at the idea of not seeing the female again but he knew it was the for the best.
6
Well. That could have gone better.
Crista sat in her car with the air-con blasting her. She still felt shaky and light-headed. She couldn’t even remember the drive from the Clacka house to the office.
Not good.
Not only had she not had a chance to convince them to sell, but she’d fainted, been stripped half-naked, and had Frankie offer to help her get rid of the person who’d hurt her. No doubt she thought Crista was getting beaten up by a boyfriend.
“So much for sweat-resistant concealer,” she muttered, pulling down the sun visor and wincing as she studied the bruise. No way could she go back into the office looking like this. She had make-up with her, but she also felt sweaty and gross.
Right. And you’re not trying to avoid Pervert Pete?
Yeah, well, that was just a side benefit. She was going to have to tell him that she’d failed. Just not today. Besides, the Clackas might go through the offer and call her to accept.
Because she had that sort of luck.
More likely they’d call her boss to complain and she’d be out on her ass. It was too bad, because other than Pete, she really liked this job, and she thought if she was given a few more weeks she’d become really good at it.
Maybe she could get a job at another real estate agency. As long as Pete didn’t blackball her. She started up her car. Might as well go home, have a shower, and look through the job vacancies list.
* * *
“Nax.”
Nax looked up as Ioin entered the garage. “Yes?”
“What are your thoughts on the female, Crista.”
Thoughts? He wanted his thoughts? He thought that he would not mind carrying her to his bedroom, stripping her naked, and licking her all over. His rod hardened at the thought.
“Nax.” Ioin frowned at him.
Right. That was not what he wished to know. “What do you speak of?”
“I think it is not right that she continues to offer more money for this house. And I wonder if that is why she has the bruises.”
He stilled. He did not think of that. “You believe someone is forcing her to do this?”
“Perhaps. I know not. And I do not like not knowing what is go
ing on.”
Ioin was their leader. He made decisions that affected their lives every day. And as a result, he was rather overprotective.
“I do not know. It is a possibility.” His hand tightened on the tool he was holding. He was nearly finished fixing the air conditioning system.
“I wish to know what is going on. I want you to find out.”
That surprised him.
“You wish me to investigate?”
“Yes. Get close to the female if necessary. Find out who wishes to buy this house. Why they want it. And how she received those bruises.”
Nax scowled. “Why send me? I do not like humans.”
“I saw the way the female looked at you. She seems to like you.”
“Like me? Nobody ever likes me.”
Ioin looked thoughtful. “That is true. Perhaps she is just physically attracted to you.”
That was far more likely.
“I still do not think I am the best person for this. Tecan would be a better choice.”
“Perhaps. But she is not interested in Tecan. Frankie could probably get close to her, but I do not wish to send one of our females in. Not if there is danger.”
No. They could not risk Frankie’s safety. And that was if Sacaren agreed, which he would not.
“It should not take long to find out what is going on. Follow her. Find out what you can. And then report back.”
He knew an order when he heard one. So he just nodded.
This assignment was not going to be an enjoyable one.
* * *
She was pretty sure she was being followed.
Crista glanced up and down the dark street. She’d had a late afternoon viewing that had gone on longer than expected. It was good that so many people had come, and that they had lots of questions. Unfortunately, most of the viewings were in the evenings due to the pollution during the day. Early morning viewings just weren’t well attended.
By the time she’d headed home, the sun was setting and her street was packed with cars. She wished she could afford a building with parking. Every night felt like she was playing a game of Where’s Wally, when it came to finding a parking spot. And she’d never been good at finding that candy-stripped beanpole.
Nax Page 6