“So you’re what? A mercenary?” she asked between delicious bites.
“Not hardly. Not like these others out there. My specialty is tracking. Tracking in places traditional scans don’t properly function. This part of the planet, for instance, is comprised of a type of rock that wreaks merry havoc on all sorts of scanning tech. And the trees and pretty much every plant in the area has absorbed some of that from the very ground they spring from. It makes for a very, very good place to hide. And it makes my job an extremely difficult one.”
“But you hunt down innocent people.”
He laughed at that. “Oh, you think they’re innocent? First off, I was simply tracking Minnorian escapees. I don’t know which ones, only that they originated from there and are part of the deposed government. Some might be better than others, some worse. But all are part of that group. I merely locate wherethey went to ground. And I’d have you know, two of the men Gromm and his lot captured have alotof blood on their hands. Murderers, those two, guilty of the cold-blooded slaying of the regent’s mate and daughter when the man voiced opposition to the ruler’s edicts.”
Margot felt her appetite abruptly wane. “I–I’m sorry. I didn’t realize?—”
“How could you? You’re utterly new to all of this. And the machinations of interstellar politics are complex and confusing even for people who grew up here. I don’t blame you for your concerns, Margot. And I realize what I do may not seem noble or good. But I can assure you, it is a job, and one that has brought many bad men to justice. Frankly, that’s what keeps me coming back. Hoping to, at least sometimes, be able to right a terrible wrong.”
She looked deep into his beautiful eyes, fascinated by the strange dichotomy of his life. One of action and violence at times, but also with a philosopher’s mind, realizing there was no black and white to what he did and making his peace with it as best he could.
“I don’t know how you do it,” she said softly.
Rylinn reached out and took her hand in his much larger one. “It takes its toll at times. But then, sometimes there are moments that make it all worthwhile.” He grinned warmly, his look making her belly all sorts of hot and bothered. “I’m sorry you got caught up in all of this. But, if I’m honest, I’m also glad.”
“Glad?”
The heat of his smile increased, a sexy gleam in his eye. “Yes. Your situation is difficult, I know, but we would not have met otherwise.” Rylinn rose to his feet. “Now, I have work I must attend to, so I’ll leave you to your meal. But I do hope we can spend some time, if you’re amenable to the idea.”
She felt a little ball of comforting warmth building in her belly. He was a bad boy, but also not. And that sort of thing had always been a draw.
“I’d like that,” she said. “I’d like that a lot.”
CHAPTER TEN
Rylinn made good on his offer, spending time with their new guest when not out doing his job, helping Gromm track down his quarry. The commander of the whole operation was relentless, requiring quite a lot of Rylinn’s time, but whenever he had a few free moments, her new friend would do his best to come and visit the new human arrival.
Still, he was gone more often than not, and his employer was pretty much out on his mission from sunrise to sunset, and sometimes well after dark had set in. Everything they’d said about him was true. If he could earn credits, Gromm would push himself and his men even harder, ignoring complaints with both intimidation as well as his trademark fierce determination.
Fortunately, Rylinn was able to peel off from the group on many of the longer excursions once he’d narrowed down an area for the lesser minions to go and search in greater detail. It was during those down times that he would visit Margot, happily talking with her, learning about Earth while also explaining the workings of this, and other, worlds in the Dotharian realm. It was an odd dynamic, but over several days the interactions afforded the two a good opportunity to get to know a lotabout their respective worlds, as well as one another on a more personal level.
It was after many days of these conversations that Margot found herself glad to discover that, despite some initial concerns given his work, Rylinn was a surprisingly calm and thoughtful man, especially for one whose career was one of stalking prey across the planets. But she quickly learned there was far more to him than met the eye.
And in this impressive alien’s case, there was alotto meet the eye.
On the flip side, and contrasting with Rylinn’s charm and calmly masculine presence, as the days passed Gromm was proving to be even more of an arrogant brute than she’d first thought, and her first impressions were usually a bit too harsh, historically.
Not this time, however.
Gromm was even worse than she’d initially found him, and that was really saying something. It was why she avoided him pretty much all the time if possible. And as busy as he was on his task, she somehow slipped his notice, for the moment, at least.
“He does tend to be rather single-minded in his focus,” Rylinn noted a few days later as they were enjoying a nice drink and a fun game involving alien dice as well as a form of cards, but made of thin, flexible metal sheets instead of paper. “But that allows us more time to enjoy one another’s company, so I’d call that a win, wouldn’t you?”
“You make a solid argument,” she replied, a slowly growing warm ball of joy churning in her belly.
Judging by the increasingly lingering looks Rylinn had been sending her way, the feeling was mutual.
The two of them had been growing closer, spending a great deal of time together both within the ship and directly around it, the former in part because it was a novelty, but also tokeep Margot close to her quarters if she needed to rest. The new runes, it seemed, were taking their toll as they bonded with her system, and frequent naps were required at the most inopportune of times. It made anything resembling an outing pretty much out of the question.
The other reason was equally practical.
“It’s far too dangerous out there,” Rylinn had told her one afternoon as they enjoyed their game. “There are dangerous creatures out there the likes of which you do not want to encounter, believe me.”
“The beast that was chasing me that day? When you fought it as well as the Raxxians and saved my life?”
“The very same. A deadly, unique sort of monster the likes of which I haven’t faced before. The ultimate predator. A unique, powerful, and most cunning adversary.”
