“Kat mentioned him.”
So now they’re on a first-name basis. And she’s talking to them.Dommik scanned the facility, eying the shell he was currently standing in, registering all who were on board. Stryker and Gunner were perfectly and completely absent.
“Where the fuck is he?” he gritted. He turned to Jayce. “Can you locate Stryker’s signal?” They all had their abilities, many of those abilities crossed, but his radar abilities were limited to his general area.
“Already did, he’s not within orbit or the perimeter beyond.”
Dommik turned full circle.
“What’s eating at you, man?”
Stryker must have answered the distress call.
He powered on his console and sent him a message. He sent one to Gunner too. Dommik then returned his attention to Jayce. “Let me ask you something.” He leveled the Cyborg, connecting with him, reading his stats. Jayce did the same. It was an electrical bonding, but more intimate and more thorough, and often needed to encourage trust amongst themselves in all things. If a Cyborg went deeper than an initial stat reading without allowance, it was permitted by their unspoken law to kill the perpetrator. “Have you heard of Xan’Mara?”
Jayce stiffened as he read his database. “It’s a moon,” he responded after a moment. “Trentian controlled. Why?”
“My next mission takes me there, to retrieve a plant, of all things. A flower.” He began to walk down the railway, following Kat’s weak scent. “There’s a colony of aliens on the planet, a religious colony.”
“Okay. Land your ship away from them.”
“They inhabit most of the moon. But that’s not the issue, they’re protected under their Space Lords...and the EPED mentioned that the flower is sacred to them. A rarity. A myth. It’s what got them involved I assume.” Dommik left her trail, restraining his impulses, and headed toward the music. A ship converted into a lounge for Cyborgs that offered a place for leisure. A place to meet on neutral territory. It was a permanent addition to the main vessel.
His feet, all four of them, wanted to get his assistant back, he wanted Bin-Three to signal him. Instead, he stormed into the bar and found himself a seat in a dense corner where the smoke was heavy. Jayce sat across from him. His piercings twinkled in the neon lights that flashed in sync to the music.
“Why do they want this flower?”
“Supposedly it onlyappearsto the worthy. That when crushed and eaten, it gives the being vitality and communion with the elements. It’s also worn on the bride’s dress during a bonding ceremony and, they say, helps with vitality and fertility. Maybe I’ll bring you some back, Jayce, I’ve heard rumors you lack in that department.” Jayce’s only response was a scowl, but he knew better than to pick a fight with Dommik.
Dommik knew Mia had a hand in this, a retaliation of sorts. He hadn’t helped the situation by denying her the job and then forcing all contact with Kat.
“I don’t think your biggest problem is the flower, Dommik, I’m not a rusty, outdated shell yet so if you want advice, just come out with it. You can’t take Kat to the other side of the galaxy.”
“I have a lot of problems right now…” he split his jaw off and bared his metal fangs, retracting them a moment later. “And yes, that is a problem.”
“Claim her, then she’ll be safe.” Jayce waved his silver-studded hand in annoyance. A twitch on his lips. “Or leave her here and let Netto take her swimming. It’s all the same, except for the biting.”
His muscles tensed as he pictured her with theshark. Her legs spread as a bald, bluish head bobbed between them underwater. Dommik hissed out a breath between his teeth, “No.”
“Then claim her, wrap her up in your webs, put a ring on her finger, spread your cum over her body. Just do it in a way that the Trentians understand the bond. She isn’t safe without it. Or put your damned jealousy in a jar and your cock in a sex-bot and leave her on Ghost.” Jayce sighed. “Unless you don’t like her.”
“The flower doesn’t fucking do anything, dammit.” He didn’t want to leave her here, he didn’t want to take her into Space Lord territory, he sure as hell didn’t want her to encounter a Knight, and he definitely didn’t want to burden himself with keeping a girl who would one day find him revolting. He had so much insectoid DNA in his blood that sometimes he questioned his overall make-up.
It was easier for someone like Gunner, who had an exorbitant amount of canine in his system. Although Gunner couldn’t be trusted because he let hisjackalrun rampant.
“Then refuse the mission,” Jayce laughed, enjoying this.
“Can’t. They’ll blame Kat and fine her life, they’ll place stop-gates at every turn for her. There is too much money involved.”
“You don’t know that for certain, I think your decision is easier than you realize.”
Jayce produced a cigar from a nearby wall receptacle, lighting it with an electrical fuse from his finger. The musty scent of honey and barnyard filled the vicinity. The smoke created a thicker haze between them, capturing the two of them in an amorphous circle until it was breathed in. Honey remained.
Dommik changed the subject. “Stryker encountered a distress signal.”
Jayce took a puff. “Oh?”
“A woman. I don’t know the rest.”
