It was a Kertinal, but he’d muted his natural bioluminescent glow to stay hidden in the dark. I saw only the dark shape of him hunched between the ancient vines, his horns rising in spirals above his head. There was a bigger shape next to him, but my eyes did not make out what he was until he shifted, and the blunt Rhico snout and jutting nose horn were silhouetted in the faint light of the moon behind them. The pair of them were a combination that only made sense in a handful of situations. They were probably mercenaries for the same outfit, hired to come here and do a job. Or they might be pawns for a criminal organization of some kind—like a crimelord.
My mind flashed to the news Avertom had brought about a pretty Aderian female looking for me in town. Then I recalled the hostage situation back on Radin barely two months ago. How a Kertinal mercenary had held Danitalin and the rest of the team under threat of death, on the orders of a single, very dangerous crimelord. Koratalin had tried to take our cure from us and use it for her own gain, and she hadn’t been bothered by stepping over a few corpses to get what she wanted. She’d failed, but if there was anyone with an ax to grind, it was her.
Could it be? It made little sense that she would try to go after me when I could neither help her with the cure nor had been the cause of her defeat. I’d just been the poor sod who’d gotten shot. Then again, Iwasone of the few people Danitalin called friend, and the nasty crimelady would definitely want to get back to her. Reaching her aboard a ship as notorious as the Varakartoom was impossible, so perhaps shewashere for me.
So it could be my fault that danger had come to Mariska’s doorstep. I swore under my breath and watched the pair of strangers as they huddled by the vines. What was their purpose? To scout, vandalize, harm? Fury mounted in my veins at the thought that either of them would so much as lay eyes on Mariska. I would not let that happen.
Silent as a wrath, I circled their position, searching the dark for any sign that they might not be alone. When I was certain it was just the two of them, and they knew they had been trapped by the shield, I moved in, shooting one in the leg and knocking the other out with a sharp blow to the neck. I had them tied up and disarmed in no time, some things you just never forgot. Taking down an enemy with stealth appeared to be one of them.
“Who sent you? Why are you here?” I demanded of the Kertinal whose leg I’d shot out at the knee. He wasn’t going to be walking out of here, and from the resigned look on his black-and-purple face, it was obvious he knew it. Just as obvious was his reluctance to talk, so whoever had sent him here, they were dangerous. Dangerous the way a crimelord was, perhaps. “Talk,” I said again, and without an ounce of compassion, kicked him in the wounded leg. He howled in pain, followed by a snarl that was deep and dual-layered; subharmonics dancing through the air.
“Bastard! You’ll get us killed!” he said, which only confirmed my suspicions that whoever held his strings was bad—Koratalin bad, perhaps—and I needed to know. Mariska would continue to be in danger if I did not get to the bottom of this, and that I couldn’t allow.
“You don’t need to answer; you just need to nod if I’m right. Then I’ll let you both go.” The Kertinal shrugged, his glare fierce but his scowl silent, he had no choice. “Koratalin,” I said, and was pleased to see the quick surprise on the male’s face. So I was right, but he hadn’t expected me to realize who was after me. It still made little sense, except as a way to harm Danitalin’s soft heart.
“Fine,” I said. “I’ll go tell my partner to turn the shield back off. Next time you’re on my land, I’ll shoot to kill. Understand?” I aimed my pistol and, for emphasis, shot the bastard in the foot too. He howled, furious and in pain, but his nod of confirmation was immediate. He’d do as I suggested, but I wouldn’t rest easy until I knew they were gone.
Mariska was waiting by the shield generator, but she had gone into her home and fetched a small, sturdy gun of her own. It looked old and rather clunky, but it would do the trick when needed. She was clearly trying to be brave, her feet planted in the dusty yard and both hands folded around the weapon. When she saw me, her relief was so obvious—so immediate—that she sagged, her hands trembling as she lowered the weapon.
“Oh, thank God, you’re all right. I heard laser fire, I was so worried you’d gotten shot!” Again, that word hung in the air between us, or maybe that was just in my head. She swayed, and I quickly took the weapon from her. Then I turned off the shieldgenerator. Glancing back at where she stood, she still remained unsteady, clinging with a hand to the porch railing. I swept her into my arms and cradled her against my chest. I definitely didn’t feel old or like a male still recovering from a near-fatal wound then—not when I carried her into her house and she clung to my shirt with shaking hands.
“I just have the flu or something,” she muttered, her eyelashes drooping. “I’m sorry, Jeltom. What happened? I’ll try to focus.” She clearly had trouble with it, though, and my alarm was spiking hard and fast. Something was wrong, and not just because a crimelord might be after my sorry ass. No, there was something really wrong with Mariska, and we needed answers now. There was only one person I asked to call for help.
Chapter 9
Mariska
Seeing Jeltom disappear into the dark night was possibly the most terrifying moment of my life. That was saying something, because I’d seen some terrible shit while living on Earth Colony Nine. Hearing those laser shots echo in the night had been worse. I was so certain Jeltom was hurt, but at the same time, I felt so weak myself that I didn’t know how I could possibly help him. I barely managed to hold up my own gun; it felt ten times heavier than it normally did.
But he was fine—not a scratch on him—and I’d allowed my eyes to wander everywhere as soon as he’d stepped into the porch light. Now, he was holding me in his arms, and I felt so miserable that I couldn’t even properly enjoy it. He took me into my home, tucked me in some blankets on my couch, and then disappeared into my kitchen, only to return a short while later with a mug of tea and some toast. “Here, this should help,” he told me.
He had placed my gun on the coffee table and then sat down right beside it. The leather straps of the holster for his own pistol circled his big thigh, and they kept drawing my eyes. It looked sexy, and I wanted to trace his legs higher, eye the thick bulge outlined by his leather pants. There was a lot, and this was so not the moment to wonder about Aderian dick. Or dicks, as the case may be—or so Jess had gleefully informed me a couple of days ago. Aderian men had two cocks, as if one wasn’t enough.
“I’m going to call someone for help, okay?” he said, pushing the mug into my hands and waiting until he was certain I had it.I nodded, because I was pretty sure he was right, I was sick, and perhaps seeing a doctor would be good. He tapped away on his comm device, and then, a few moments later, a woman appeared as a tiny holograph above his device. She was Aderian and floated prettily in the air, all shiny anthracite skin and waves of black hair.
“What is it, Jeltom? Two calls in one week, what’s gotten into you?” she said in a lilting voice. There was only one way to describe her voice: sweet. She sounded so nice, heck, she looked nice too, in the tiny floating hologram. She was astute, too, the kind of empath I had worked hard to avoid all year. Jeltom had to say nothing at all, and already she knew this wasn’t a social call. “Who is hurt? You? It’s not your shoulder.” It wasn’t a question, it was a statement of fact, like she instantly knew. Aderian empathy didn’t work through comm calls, though, did it?
“It’s Mariska. She thinks she’s coming down with the flu, but I believe it’s something else.” He sounded so worried that my chest grew tight, but the heavy weariness that had plagued me all day was beginning to lift a little. I had begun to give up on any kind of Valentine dating, simply because I felt so damn sick, but now, energy seemed to be rushing back into me by the minute. Jeltom’s black eyes were big, fathomless pools. “With your permission, Mariska, I will send Danitalin some scans I took, okay?”
Scans? When had he taken scans? But I had already nodded before I could think over the consequences, and his rapid fingers moved over his comm like he’d had this ready and waiting. This Aderian woman—Danitalin—confirmed she had received them and then hummed under her breath as she went throughthe readings. Whenhereyes seemed to grow in her face and her dainty black eyebrows rose in arches on her forehead, my stomach turned.
“What is it, my little scientist?” another male voice asked. This one was a rough growl with a cool, sharp edge. The figure that stepped into view inside the floating hologram was a Rummicaron—a very big one—or perhaps Dani was just small. He curled his arms around her waist from behind and rested his head on her shoulder to peer down at what she was reading on her own comm. I got a good look at sharp rows of teeth, and my pulse spiked with a hint of fear.
“That’s Jaxin, Danitalin’s mate,” Jeltom said in a low voice. “Danitalin is a scientist I worked for before I… well, before I got shot. She’s brilliant, Mariska; she’ll figure it out.” I would have felt all kinds of low self-esteem at the obvious admiration for the other woman in his tone, but his eyes were locked on my face, and that worry I saw was all for me. I wasn’t used to being the center of a man’s attention, especially one as potent as Jeltom, one so genuinely caring and protective beneath the gruff layer and the often monosyllabic answers.
“Are you sure these are right—your readings and hers?” Dani asked. I didn’t feel like I had the flu anymore. In fact, I was beginning to feel great—strong, awake, a little hot for Jeltom, but that was all the time, regardless of whether I felt good or not. I shifted on the couch, sitting up, and peered into the face of Dani the hologram.
“Jeltom is probably worrying over nothing, uh… ma’am? I feel fine now.” To demonstrate, I waved jauntily and tried to rise from the couch entirely. Yup, even my previously wobbly legswere completely fine now. Whatever had been bothering me, it was gone.
“Do you? When was the last time you were, ah, close to Jeltom? And Dani is just fine.” The woman smiled brightly at me, but my senses tingled, I was certain she knew what was going on and wasn’t telling, at least not yet. Her question made me close my eyes and think back. Close to Jeltom? How weird. What would that have to do with anything? We had shared lunch and dinner today, though not breakfast. Wouldn’t that count as close? But dinner had been rushed tonight, and lunch had been standing in the barn while we snacked on the sandwiches I made. He’d been elbow-deep in the pressing machine again and hadn’t stopped for a proper break.
“Two days ago was the last time we physically touched,” Jeltom intoned. “We have been in the same room since, but not...close.” Dani immediately hummed, as if that explained everything, her smile wide and friendly. She tilted back her head to look at the big Rummicaron holding her in his arms. A sharp spike of something very close to envy shot through me at the sight. They were so close, so obviously in love.
“Your theory is correct. Please keep sending me scans for analysis; this is very interesting. You have nothing to worry about, neither of you. Jeltom, make sure to explain the Pyra and Pato legend to Mariska.” She said her goodbyes immediately after, the words rather rushed and a giggle escaping just before the call disconnected. Jeltom was grimacing, but I discovered that I was smiling myself. Dani’s mate had clearly been up to no good in the background there.
Jeltom was quiet, and that quiet lasted, his eyes massive in his handsome face—black mirrors that should have been eerie or creepy, but looked beautiful to me now that I’d gotten used to Aderian faces. He had a chiseled jaw, a straight nose, and that intriguing braid with the silver forelock and shaved temples. He was scrumptious, and now that I wasn’t feeling sick, I wanted to seize the moment and finally explain the Valentine thing to him. Sure, I wanted him to tell me about this Pyra and Pato, to explain what was going on, but I wanted to find out if he liked me even more. My priorities were so screwed up right now.
“Jeltom,” I began, but he interrupted me by abruptly rising from his seat on the coffee table. Now he towered over me, but not for long. His arm swept around me, hauling me into his chest, and then he bent me back. As I gasped in surprise, his mouth came down over mine. I’d been dreaming of kissing him for days now, but the reality didn’t match the fantasy. It was better. So much better.
