By the time he reached his destination, Rone had stared down half the station. Frey’s exotic presence caused quite a stir. Rone wasn’t sure if all of the attention worked for or against him. One the one hand, going unnoticed usually was preferable when smuggling goods. On the other hand, hiding in plain sight often also worked. He followed the large delivery platform navigated by two stout males through the station. With his arm wrapped around his pet, keeping him as close as possible, Rone affected the air of someone unconcerned. In reality, he took note of the route they traveled to the merchant who’d bought the goods he delivered. Should the need arise, he wanted to be able to make it back to the ship unaided and as quickly as possible. He also scanned for problems. He didn’t trust Kuren in the least, and it wouldn’t surprise him if this small ‘test’ trip was really intended to be a one-and-only trip. An ambush wasn’t beyond imagining. No matter. He had every intention of protecting himself and the small human clutching at his waist.
The poor boy was scared. Rone could feel the pounding of his heart and the rapid, shallow breaths he took. Rone really couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be so outnumbered by larger beings. There were few species in the known universe that topped the Travians in size, and he was hardly a runt. Not since childhood had he been uncomfortable walking in large crowds. He also knew that his pet had expected to be handed over to the customs officers, and the guilt he’d felt over sharing the boy with Kuren had flared anew. He’d tried to make up for the slight, even while working hard to erase the other male’s scent from the pet. A desire to coddle the human had warred with the more primal need to mark him repeatedly.
To his regret, his baser side had won out, and it didn’t help that he’d been forced to spend a long and boring time waiting for Kuren’s instructions. Besides teaching his pet to play quaz—a surprisingly entertaining way to spend his time—there’d beenlittle to do other than fucking. He knew he’d pushed the limits of his pet’s endurance, knew he’d made the boy sore from his constant attention. But even if he’d called upon better discipline, he would have still done the same thing. Parading the boy among all of these stranger males forced him to saturate his pet with his scent. No one had any doubt that this human was Rone’s property, and that touching him would bring on a world of hurt.
He followed the floating pallet of goods down a side corridor and through a wide set of double doors. A thin male, dressed almost as brightly as a female, greeted them.
“Sire Rone? A pleasure. I am Wirth, and I thank you for bringing my wares to me.” The male inclined his head before turning his attention to the delivery team. “All the way to the back.” Turning again to Rone, he motioned with his hand. “This way, if you please. I want to inspect the shipment, of course, then I hope you will join me for the evening meal?”
“I would be honored, sire,” Rone replied. This might prove better than he hoped. If this male was in Kuren’s standard delivery pipeline, he might provide Rone with useful information.
He followed the male into a cavernous room stocked with all manner of goods. Without a plethora of his kind coursing by, he felt comfortable enough to let go of Frey, if not his leash. The boy stretched a bit, testament to the strain he’d been under while having been tucked into Rone’s side. Clever boy that he was, the pet watched the process of the containers being off-loaded and lined up against one side of the room at Wirth’s direction. It took no time at all and soon the delivery males had left and all that remained were six males who were undoubtedly Wirth’s staff.
“Unpack them.” The male barked out his order before returning to Rone. “This won’t take long. My males are well-used to dealing with precious cargo.” His gaze flicked to Frey. “Suchan interesting creature. That hair! Lovely to look at. Is it soft to the touch?”
Wirth reached out a hand, and before he could suppress it, a low growl erupted from the back of Rone’s throat. Wirth snatched his hand back as if Rone had bitten it and offered up a tight smile.
“My apologies, sire. I should have known a male of your standing secures what is his.”
“Yes, I do.” Because his caste rarely apologized to those of the lower ones, he didn’t say the words, but he gave what he hoped was a conciliatory expression. He looked over at the containers and found that most had already been emptied and were now being loaded onto another floating pallet.
“I must confess that I’m curious to see what I delivered.”
“Kuren didn’t share that information with you?”
“No. I am new to his organization, and I understand this run is a test of my reliability.”
Wirth clapped his hands. “Well, you got my shipment through inspection, so I’d say you’ve earned the right to understand what you’ve accomplished. This way.”
Rone stepped up to Wirth’s side and accompanied him to yet another room, one that was warm from bubbling vats of something green and unknown to Rone. Wirth stopped a few meters from the first vat and gestured to a male to proceed. That male maneuvered a mechanical claw over one of the empty containers. The claw latched on, lifted the container and dunked it down in the green goo. In the space of a few breaths, the mechanism lifted again. Rone raised his eyebrows at what was left.
Beside him, Frey gasped. “The real cargo was imbedded within the container’s walls,” he said in a voice low enough that only Rone could hear.
“Indeed,” Rone murmured back. His pet might not be able to recognize the pieces of metal hanging along the edges of what was left of the container, but Rone did. Once they were rinsed and cut away from the scaffolding, they could be assembled into small, handheld weapons.
Rone stepped closer to the vat. “What is this liquid, exactly?”
“A solvent,” Wirth replied. “It rids us of the molding used to form the container, leaving behind the metal pieces. Clever, is it not?”
Breathtakingly so. “Except, when the inspectors scanned the containers, how is it that the metal pieces weren’t detected?”
“Oh, that’s perhaps the cleverest part of all. The containers are formed with the metal pieces as part of the mold, sealed together with a compound that causes the scanner to register it all as one seamless panel.”
“Remarkable.” This information alone was worth the trip. Rone would pass it along to his superiors. It explained a great deal about how some smaller armaments were passing through stations without detection. Too bad the chemicals used to expose the weaponry left nothing behind that he could scoop up for analysis. Without a sample, it would be hard to duplicate and come up with a way to detect it.
“Now that you’ve seen the results of your work, let us retire to my personal quarters and share a meal.”
“Delighted, sire. I am in need of sustenance.” He paused. “I hope my pet’s presence on your dining rug will not offend?”
“Not at all. I would expect nothing less. Something so valued should be kept safe at all times.”
Wirth’s private quarters were small, yet lavishly appointed. Rone half expected to see a female. It was rare for a male to care so much about his surroundings. There was no mate, however, and no females at all, actually. A sumptuous meal was served by an all-male staff. Each one was young and fetching, dressed andmade up much like a fuck boy would be. All of them were likely En caste males of lower Houses, in particular. Extra sons, too, because even the lowliest of families would hold fast a comely first-born in the hopes of his catching the eye of a higher-placed female. And, with their short stature and lithe bodies, they were also runts who would have failed at military service. Without a powerful and influential family to help, there would be little opportunity to find a civilian position, even though many of those were open to males these days. For all that his species lorded it over others, it didn’t do right by boys like these. They should have more options in their lives than selling their bodies.
Wirth noticed Rone’s perusal of the servers and chuckled. “As you see, I like to surround myself with pretty boys, too.”
Rone shot his host a knowing look, hiding his true feelings, before scooping up a morsel of food for Frey. The pet knelt quietly by Rone’s side with his gaze down. Leaning forward, he sucked the bite from Rone’s fingers in that delightfully fastidious way he had. Although he presented the picture of demureness, Rone could tell the boy studied his surroundings and kept track of the comings and goings of the Travian boys. He paid attention to Rone and Wirth’s conversation, as well, no doubt. Yes, his human pet was as deceptively aware and understanding of what went on around him as Preen was. Whether Rone could ultimately trust the boy as an ally the way he did with his other pet remained to be seen.
Wirth proved to be a talkative host and apparently hadn’t received orders to keep Rone ignorant of Kuren’s operations. Throughout the meal, the male provided Rone with a better idea of how the network of illegal arms flowed from one station to the next. Wirth’s job was to assemble the weapons, stamp them with a fake identification number, then pass them along to males traveling through the station. Those males, in turn, would be able to carry them out as personal armament. A whole fuckloadof weapons would attract attention. A single one here or there, not so much.
