Page 7 of Guard

Myrria had set the paper beside her without glancing at it. She’d been so relieved not to have opened her door to an alien mercenary that she hadn’t even bothered to look at what it said. “Actually, we don’t.”

Now her curiosity was piqued. She flipped the wrinkled paper over and sucked in a startled breath. Huge block letters took up most of the top half of the flyer, the black ink blaring the word REWARD!

But it was the words below that made her blood run cold and made Rixx’s spoon clatter to the table.

1000 Credits To Anyone Who Finds

The Dangerous Dothvek Criminal

BE WARNED: HE IS ARMED AND DANGEROUS!

Before Myrria could flipthe paper back over, Zala read the words and fixed her gaze on Rixx and then Myrria. “That isn’t true, is it?”

Myrria shook her head with more vehemence than she felt. “Of course, it isn’t true.”

Zala eyed Rixx, her expression more guarded than it had been.

Rixx’s gaze didn’t leave the paper. “This is the work of the Zevrians, although I am a bit surprised that they know how to write in the universal tongue.”

“They used the word dangerous twice,” Zala pointed out. “So they don’t write it well.”

Myrria smiled at her daughter, glad to see that her initial fright was fading. “You’re right, they don’t.”

Rixx reached for the black bread and tore off a piece from the heel. “This is very good news.”

Myrria tilted her head at the Dothvek as he casually took a bite of bread. “A flyer that offers a reward for your capture is good news?”

He nodded as he chewed, swallowing and closing his eyes for a beat. “I can see why you love this bread. You will have to teach me how to make it.”

Zala bounced up and down on her stool, the flyer and the ominous thump on the door clearly forgotten. “I’ll teach you.”

Rixx gave her a dazzling smile, which only dimmed when he turned to Myrria and saw her giving him a pointed look. “Isn’t it obvious?”

“Why is being hunted by the Zevrians good?”

He leaned forward and beamed at her, making unwanted frissons of pleasure skitter across her skin. “If they’re posting these everywhere, it means they have no idea where I am or how to find me.”

If Myrria’s body hadn’t been tingling and her heart pounding, she might have been able to acknowledge that he was right. The wanted flyer meant he was safe—for now.

Chapter

Seven

Rixx’s breath caught in his throat as Myrria let her gaze return to her bowl, almost certain he’d felt a faint pulse of something. But it was only a whisper of an emotion that had dissolved as swiftly as he had detected it, so he did not know if it had been fear or excitement or something else. What else could it have been and who had it been from?

He eyed Myrria, but her gaze was locked onto the stew she slowly stirred. He shifted his eyes to Zala, who stared at the wanted poster with barely disguised excitement. It could easily have been her. She was a child and her emotions bubbled erratically on the surface. But why would he sense the child’s emotions? She was not Dothvek. He should not have been able to sense her feelings—or anyone’s on Kurril—now that his ship had gone.

“I’ve never seen a flyer like this before.” Zala tore her gaze from the paper and looked at Rixx. “You must have really upset the people who made this.”

Rixx thought about the Zevrian mercenaries who had held him captive. “Well, I escaped from the house where they’d been holding me prisoner, and my crew mates killed a lot of theirpeople as they rescued me. Then the building caught fire and burned down, killing everyone inside.”

Zala’s mouth gaped. “That’s why your pants were burned and you smelled like the inside of an oven?”

Rixx couldn’t help chuckling at her description of his smell. “I am not surprised I smelled like the inside of an oven. I almost got cooked, and there was a lot of smoke. I jumped from a high window as the burning building collapsed behind me.”

Zala’s eyes grew even wider. “Can your people fly?”

Rixx jerked his head up and made a clicking sound with his tongue. “I wish we could, but I am afraid I fell like a stone. I don’t remember anything after that.”

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