3013: REMEDY: A 3013 Novella (3013: The Series)

by Kali Argent

  3013: REMEDY

  3013: THE SERIES

  By Kali Argent

  The 3013 Series

  3013: MATED by Laurie Roma

  3013: RENEGADE by Susan Hayes

  3013: CLAIMED by Laurie Roma

  3013: STOWAWAY by Susan Hayes

  3013: SALVATION by Laurie Roma

  3013: MENDED by Kali Argent

  3013: TARGETED by Susan Hayes

  3013: CHAOS by Laurie Roma

  3013: ALTERED by Kali Argent

  3013: FATED by Susan Hayes

  3013: GENESIS by Laurie Roma

  3013: REVOLUTION by Kali Argent

  3013: PRIMAL by Laurie Roma

  3013: OUTLAW by Kali Argent

  3013: ALLEGIANCE by Laurie Roma

  Novellas

  3013: SYNERGY by Laurie Roma

  3013: ASYLUM by Kali Argent

  3013: SCARRED by Susan Hayes

  3013: EXODUS by Laurie Roma

  3013: BROKEN/3013: TRINITY by Kali Argent

  3013: KISMET by Laurie Roma

  3013: REMEDY by Kali Argent

  3013: REMEDY

  Copyright © September 2018 by Kali Argent

  Covert Art by SW Graphic Designs

  Published by PECCAVI PRESS

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal, except for the case of brief quotations in reviews and articles.

  Criminal copyright infringement is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  3013: REMEDY

  Half D’Aire, half Reema, Kylir T’Kari is no stranger to cruel words and mocking stares. Some fear him for his uniqueness, others despise him, but mostly, people just don’t understand him. The way he sees it, that’s their problem, not his. He’s comfortable with who he is. His parents swear he hung the stars, and the ragtag crew of the Storm Rider is like a second family. The only thing missing from his life is someone to call his own.

  Tasked with traveling to Xenthian to find an antidote for the infertility plaguing Earth’s women, Lieutenant Astrid Strong first has to find a way to get there. Recruiting a capable pilot with a reliable ship is easy. Realizing the hybrid brings desires to the surface she would rather keep buried, not so much.

  But fate is a funny thing, and no matter how hard she tries, she can’t outrun it, can’t hide from it. Caught between a painful past and an uncertain future, she’s plagued with doubts and insecurities, and only time will tell if Kylir will be her curse…or her remedy.

  PROLOGUE

  The world had changed in the year 3013.

  Earth rebuilt their civilization after the Alien Wars ravaged the planet and an unknown virus nearly wiped out the entire population, but nothing could ever bring back what once was. A new age of mankind was born, but some of the edicts set forth for humans to survive have become obsolete in the ever-changing universe.

  What fate has in store is uncertain, though, one constant is clear. In a cosmos filled with endless possibilities, love is the ultimate prize. Warriors from every species search the stars for love, and they will risk all to fight for those who hold their hearts. But danger is always present when worlds collide. As new challenges arise, all the known races must adapt and learn from their allies. However, not all desire peace, or to live in harmony.

  And as a new year dawns, the battle for the future has only begun…

  CHAPTER ONE

  Walking into the Asylum on Alpha Station: X21, Kylir T’Kari paused just beyond the threshold and smirked. “Hi, Shay. Long time, no see.” He’d only been to the Krytos sanctuary twice before, but he never failed to be entertained. “How’s it going?”

  Shay, a pretty Krytos with bushy, black hair, looked up at him and grinned as if she didn’t currently have her fingers tangled in a D’Aire male’s hair. “Kylir!” She tilted her head, trying to look past him. “Where’s Cord?”

  Before he had a chance to answer, the D’Aire grunted and jerked his shoulders. “Let go of me!”

  Shay’s upper lip curled back to reveal sharp fangs, and she growled as she grinded his head against the tabletop. She had one of his arms twisted up between his shoulder blades, and she leaned into him, applying more pressure with the knee pressed into the small of his back.

  The mild-tempered angelic race usually exuded beauty and grace, but every once in a while, one of them would lose his temper and make an ass out of himself. Kylir didn’t know the why, but he had no problem figuring out the what.

  Hands on his hips, he tilted his head back to stare up at the human male hanging by the strap of his boot from the light fixture over the table. The leg not attached to the ceiling stuck out to the side, bent at an odd angle. His eyes watered, and his face had begun to swell. Likely, his skin had turned an interesting shade of red by now, but it was difficult to tell in the crimson lights that glittered across the ceiling.

  “Just because someone pisses you off,” Shay said with exaggerated calm, “it’s not okay to suspend them from the ceiling. Not cool, Nadim. Not cool.”

  “He deserved far worse,” the D’Aire bit out, twisting his head far enough to look up at her with his ethereal blue eyes. “He insulted my brother.”

  “Oh, yeah? How’s that?”

  “He called him an asshole.”

  Kylir snorted and shook his head. He’d only met Drakin R’Daa once, but he could say with confidence that the human hadn’t been wrong in his assessment. He’d never had the pleasure of Nadim’s company, but judging by what he was seeing, it wasn’t a leap to assume being a dick ran in the family.

  “Drakin is an asshole.” The Krytos female echoed Kylir’s snort. “You can’t fault people for speaking the truth.”

  “Problem?”

  Kylir followed the female’s gaze when her head snapped toward the bar.

  “No,” she answered, confusion etched into the lines of her face. “Why do you ask?”

  Axton and Zade Tavish stood shoulder to shoulder at the end of the bar, arms crossed, staring at her with identical expressions of amusement tinged with disapproval. Of course, that wasn’t the only thing similar about the brothers. Though separated by a few years, everything about them from their long, ebony hair to their knee-high leather boots was exactly the same. Same square jaws. Same sharp cheekbones. Same thin lips. Same black, leather vests and matching pants.

  “You want to wrap this up?” Axton asked.

  “We have guests,” Zade added, a smirk in his voice.

  Striding deeper into the bar, his tail flicking lazily behind him, Kylir approached the brothers with a genuine smile. “I’m hardly a guest.”

  Zade just arched a dark eyebrow at him. “Who said we were talking about you?”

  Still holding the D’Aire immobile, Shay looked back and forth between Kylir and the brothers. “Huh?”

  “Kylir! Where are you?”

  Damn. He loved the kid, and he loved being an honorary uncle, but Cord had the worst timing. “So, about wrapping this up?”

  Shay nodded once, then leaned in close to the D’Aire male. “Consider this your lucky day. When I let you go, you’re going to stand up, walk away, and you’re not going to come back today. Got it?”

  “Yes,” Nadim answered through clenched teeth. “I understand.”

  Considering Cord had been adopted by bounty hunters and spent most of his days with the rough-and-tumble crew of the Storm Rider, one might think he’d be accustomed to violence. However, the entire
crew went to great lengths to shield him from their reality. They didn’t even curse around the kid, which usually resulted with some fairly humorous substitutions. Hearing a Krytos growl “flubber,” or a Helios babble nonsense words never failed to make him laugh.

  “Kylir!” Cord called again, sounding all kinds of put out as he trotted into the sanctuary. “You were ’pose to wait.” Stopping in the doorway when he spotted Kylir by the bar, he fisted his little hands on his hips and stuck his right leg out in front of him. “My legs are too little. You gotta wait.”

  Kylir hung his head as if properly chastised, but secretly, he was hiding a grin. “Sorry, kiddo.”

  Of course, he knew Cord would forgive him. Despite being only four, he had the biggest, kindest heart of anyone Kylir had ever met. He was sunshine personified, and without even trying, he spread happiness wherever he went. It was just one of the reasons they all worked so hard to make sure his life was filled with nothing but good things.

  Giving Nadim a steely glare, Shay released him and took a step back, watching him until he stood and started for the exit. Then, she took a deep breath and pasted on a bright smile before spinning toward the doorway.

  “Cord! Come give me a hug.” She dropped into a deep crouch and held her arms open, laughing when he launched himself at her. “Oh, my stars, you’re getting so big. Have you grown?”

  Cord smacked a wet kiss against her cheek and giggled. “Yep.” Leaning back, he held his arms out wide. “I growed this much!”

  “You ‘grew,’ and that might be a bit of an exaggeration, leelan.” Dressed in a pair of green leather pants and a loose-fitting, white blouse, Cord’s mother, Isla, walked toward them, her fiery red hair fanning out behind her. Slowing her strides, she glanced at the human still hanging from the ceiling and arched an eyebrow. “Bad time?”

  “Wow,” Cord breathed, tilting his head back as far as it would go to stare at the male. “Cool!”

  “Uh…” Shay gave Isla a half-hearted shrug. “Just a little misunderstanding.”

  “How’d he get up there?” Cord asked, his burgundy eyes dominating his face as he waved his little hand at the male. “Hi! Can you fly?”

  Kylir started to laugh, and it wasn’t long before Axton and Zade joined in with him. The kid’s obsession with flying was certainly going to keep his parents on their toes.

  “Where are your mates?” Shay asked. “Please tell me they’re not wandering the station unsupervised.”

  She made a fair point. There was no telling what kind of trouble the three Cadell brothers would find if left unattended for too long. Since Kylir liked his job—and his head attached to his shoulders—he didn’t say so out loud.

  Isla laughed and waved a hand. “They’ll be along in a minute. They have a special delivery for the commander.”

  Straightening to her full height, Shay propped Cord up on her hip and grinned. “You found Ursa.”

  Isla nodded, a shit-eating grin stretching her lips. “We did.”

  Kylir smirked as well.

  They’d been searching for the Krytos female who had murdered Isla’s mother for months. Even with Isla’s special gift that allowed her to locate a person after touching something that belonged to them, Ursa had proved just as elusive as her reputation claimed. In the end, they’d finally tracked her to a trading post on Reema, and Isla had single-handedly dragged her unconscious form back to the ship.

  “Personally,” Kylir said, “I wanted to drop her out of an airlock.” If someone had murdered his mother, he didn’t think he’d have been so charitable. In his not-so-humble opinion, life in the Mars penal colony was too good for the mercenary.

  “Believe me, it wasn’t easy to resist.” Isla’s eyes softened as she turned her gaze on Cord. “Some things are more important than revenge, though.” She shimmied a little, as if shaking off unpleasant thoughts. “Leelan, are you hungry?”

  “We have cookies.” Zade grinned wide, showing off his fangs, and winked. “Come on, runt. I’ll race you to the kitchen.”

  The minute Shay set him on his feet, Cord chased after Zade, giggling all the way through the sliding doors that led to the kitchen.

  “Makes sense,” Axton muttered. “Mentally, they’re about the same age.” He laughed, though, taking some sting out of the insult. “Speaking of the commander,” he added, a little more strength to his voice, “she wants to speak with you.”

  “Why?” Isla, Kylir, and Shay all asked at the same time.

  “Kylir. She wants to talk to Kylir.”

  “Me?” He suddenly felt like a child again, waiting to be scolded by his father for one of his many infractions. “Why me?”

  At that moment, the kitchen doors slid open again, and Cord stuck his head out as he waved a cookie in the air. “Axton! I got you a blue cookie, ’cause it’s your favorite.”

  “I’ll let Olivia give you the details.” Clapping him on the shoulder, Axton gave him a nod, then strode away from the bar. “Sorry. Have to run. Very important meeting.”

  Smiling indulgently, Isla waited until he’d disappeared before turning her attention to the human male still swaying from the ceiling. “Hey, Teddy. Bad day?”

  Recognizing the name, Kylir shook off his worry about the commander and took a step closer to get a better look. Sure enough, it was the same Theodore Drummond he’d known for years. He wondered when the male had transferred from X4 to the new space station.

  “Hello, Miss Cadell.” Teddy lifted his head to stare at the boot that held him attached to the light fixture. “I’ve had worse.”

  “I’m sure you have.” Isla tipped her head back and opened her mouth to reveal an impressive set of fangs, courtesy of her life-saving conversion to Krytos. “How about we get you down from there?”

  Teddy bobbed his head as much as his awkward position would allow. “Yeah, I think I’d like that.”

  Centering the table beneath him, Isla started to climb up on it, but Kylir got to her first, catching her around the waist and hauling her back.

  “I’m not doubting your capabilities.” He held his hands up in surrender when she leveled him with a withering glare. “It’ll be quicker if I do it.”

  Her expression turned considering. “Yeah, okay.” Then, she climbed up on the table anyway. “What?” she demanded when he shook his head. “Someone has to catch him.”

  Shay just shrugged and hopped up beside her. “She’s not wrong.”

  Knowing he’d never win an argument with the two headstrong females, he kept his mouth shut, pulled his shirt off, and unsheathed his wings. They were one of the few things he’d inherited from his father, along with his sharp cheekbones and white hair. The tail, he’d gotten from his mother, as well as the slight hiss that sometimes crept into his voice when he was pissed.

  Everything else was a unique mixture of both D’Aire and Reema.

  His wings were sharp and spindly, covered in leathery scales rather than feathery armor. He had the iridescent eyes that marked all D’Aire, but instead of blue, his were an unusual shade of pale green with slitted pupils. He was fair-skinned like his father, but with random patches of sage-green scales on his torso and limbs.

  There wasn’t a specific term for what he was, though he’d been called many names in his life—half-breed, mutt, outcast, freak. The universe mocked him, mocked his parents for falling in love and producing such an abomination. There were plenty of hybrids throughout the galaxies, people who exhibited the perfect blend of different races. He’d never met another of his kind, didn’t know if any even existed, which meant he didn’t really fit anywhere.

  He didn’t feel sorry for himself, though, and he’d long ago stopped caring what others thought or said about him. His parents loved him. The Cadell brothers had taken him in and given him a family among the crew of the Storm Rider. In many ways, he was luckier than most, and he reminded himself of that fact frequently.

  “So, Teddy,” Isla mused, “how did you get yourself into this mess?”

>   “A misunderstanding.”

  Shay snorted. “You called Drakin R’Daa an asshole.”

  “Well, he is.”

  “No argument here.” Isla placed a hand on his shoulder, then grabbed his belt with the other, nodding for Shay to do the same. “Okay, Kylir. I think we’re ready.”

  With a gentle flap of his wings, Kylir lifted himself into the air to hover near the ceiling. “Hey there, Teddy.”

  “Mr. Kylir.” The dock worker grinned toothily. “You’re flying.”

  “It would appear so.” He glanced down at Isla. “Ready?”

  “Ready,” she and Shay answered in unison.

  Grabbing Teddy by the calf, Kylir hoisted him up a couple of inches, sliding the strap of his boot off the light fixture. “That should do it.”

  His attempt to gently lower the guy into the waiting arms of the females went straight to hell when the added weight toppled the table. Isla fell first, and with her fingers still looped through Teddy’s belt, she jerked him right out of Kylir’s hands, sending her, Shay, and the dock worker all crashing to the floor.

  Cursing under his breath, Kylir floated back to the ground, shaking his head as he watched Isla sprawl out on the floor and laugh like an idiot. The female might have the heart of a warrior, but her practical application often yielded unpredictable results.

  “Oops,” she giggled, taking Kylir’s offered hand to pull herself to her feet.

  “Fuck,” Shay yelled, shoving the male off her where he’d landed on her shoulder.

  Clearly drunk, the fall didn’t seem to faze Teddy at all. Rolling onto his knees, he paused on all fours for a heartbeat, then staggered to his feet.

  “Much obliged.” He tipped an invisible hat at them. “Ladies. Gentleman.” With a cheery wave, he turned and started toward the exit. “Good day.”

  Shay huffed out a breath and shook her head as she stood. “Idiot.” After righting the table and chairs, she jerked her head toward the bar. “Want a drink?”

  Pulling his shirt back on, Kylir followed behind Isla, noticing the emptiness of the sanctuary for the first time. Considering the number of people he had passed in the corridors and atrium, Asylum should have been just as busy. “It’s kind of dead in here. Where is everyone?”