Page 16 of Alien Protector's Mate

“Impressive display, V’Renn. Glad to see the healer’s hall isn’t letting the side down.” The warrior’s expression was one of grudging admiration as he approached. He wore his clan’s leathers and had a small collection of honor beads woven through his hair. S’aad resisted the urge to release his hair from the tie at the nape of his neck. His collection put M’lak’s to shame.

S’aad inclined his head. “I daresay any warrior here could put on a similar show. It’s what we’re here for, after all.”

M’lak’s lips quirked in a half-smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes. They remained hard and flat.

“Indeed we are. Though some of us seem to have more success in certain arenas than others.” His gaze flicked meaningfully toward the exit in the direction of the LMP offices.

S’aad’s expression didn’t alter. He wasn’t supposed to show favoritism to any of the warriors, but there was just something about M’lak he didn’t like. “The right match will come in time. For all of us.”

M’lak held his gaze for a moment longer before nodding. “If you’ll excuse me, I have an appointment to keep.”

As M’lak turned to leave, Vaan leaned in close. “Wanna to lay bets on how often he shows up at your office this week?” he murmured.

S’aad chuckled. “Probably far more than I want. Right, I stink, and so do you lot. Time to hit the showers.”

6

Jade groaned as her eyes fluttered open, and she squinted into the half-light of the maintenance shaft. Every muscle in her body protested as she uncurled from the cramped position she’d fallen asleep in. Stretching was an exercise in pain, and she winced as her joints popped.

Then memories of yesterday hit, and she froze. Shit, what had she done? But then a grin spread over her face. She was hundreds of thousands of miles from Earth and, more importantly, from the Morgans. They couldn’t reach her, and no one here knew who she was. She could start a new life as someone else. Get a job, find somewhere to live. She’d seen enough humans aboard the station since yesterday, so it had to be possible. Right?

Carefully, she eased the hatch of her hiding place open and peered out into the corridor. It sounded like the station was coming to life, the silence that had reigned overnight giving way to the sounds of people going about their business. The corridor was empty so she slipped out, adjusting her cap and hunching her shoulders to maintain her masculine disguise.

Her senses were on high alert as she made her way back to the market. As she walked, the corridors steadily filled up, and she made sure to tuck herself into the throng of people. Where would be the best place to look for work? Her gut instinct was the market. The docking bay would probably want some kind of identification, given the fact they handled cargo, and she couldn’t provide that.

Rounding a corner, her steps faltered. A group of Latharian guards stood at the end of the corridor, their towering forms and leather uniforms impossible to miss. She’d seen them enough on the newsfeeds to know these were imperial warriors.

Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to start walking again rather than stand there like a rabbit in the headlights and draw attention to herself.

One of the guards glanced in her direction, and she almost lost her nerve. His gaze didn’t settle on her, though, and swept past instead. She let go of the breath she’d been holding and merged, as casually as she could manage, into the flow of foot traffic heading past the guards into the market.

Just another face in the crowd,she thought over and over to keep the panic at bay as she followed the crowd. Nothing to see here. Definitely nothing to see here.

She didn’t stop until she’d put distance between herself and the guards. Looking around, she found herself in a new area she hadn’t seen before. The market was long behind her, and the crowded corridors had given way to wider promenades lined with proper shops and restaurants.

Her eyes widened as she looked up and up, but the ceiling was so far away she couldn’t see it properly. On her left were what looked like hundreds of stories, their balconies looking out through the glass of the opposite wall into space itself.

She’d grown up in the urban sprawl on the edge of the city, so she’d thought she knew what “big” meant, but this… this was something else entirely.

She rounded a corner and gasped softly. The entire bottom floor of… whatever this place was… was a huge open area filled with a series of fountains. She’d never seen anything like it before.

Water danced and swirled, defying gravity and forming intricate shapes in midair. Lights within the fountains shifted through a rainbow of colors, turning the water into liquid jewels. The effect was so mesmerizing that she just stood there, watching it.

Until her stomach growled, reminding her that the single ration bar she’d found in the stolen jacket last night wasn’t enough to keep her going. And she needed to find something to drink as well. Her mouth was dry, her tongue sticking to the roof, and she knew from long experience that while she could go days without food, she definitely needed water. Perhaps she could find a drinking water tap in a bathroom somewhere? This looked like a shopping center, and most of them had bathroom facilities. Didn’t they? She’d never been to one herself, but all the holo-dramas she’d watched definitely had them… or was that high schools? She bit her lip, worrying at the cracked and dry skin there. Yeah, she could be wrong. It could be high schools that had toilets. Perhaps she could sneak into one of the restaurants instead?

But as she watched, a group of feathered aliens approached one of the smaller fountains, and a small stream of water looped through the air to land in a sculpture that looked like a metal leaf. One of them leaned forward to take a drink and she looked around quickly for another leaf. Another was only a few steps away, but she stopped before she reached it. What if it wasonly meant for the feathered aliens, and using it gave her away somehow?

But as she watched, she saw all sorts of beings use the fountains. Not just the feathered aliens but all types and even, over on the other side of a purple and pink fountain, a Latharian. Taking a deep breath, she reached out and copied the movements she’d seen the others make.

Cool, clear water flowed into her cupped hands. She almost moaned as she brought her hand to her mouth, still looking around to make sure no one was going to tell her off for drinking. The first sip made her gasp. It was sweet and pure, nothing at all like the tepid, chemical-tasting water she was used to. It was delicious. Was this what water was supposed to taste like?

She drank until her stomach ached, and it felt like she was sloshing with water. As she straightened, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, reality reasserted itself. The water might have filled her stomach for now, but that wouldn’t last long. She would be hungry again soon.

Leaving the fountains behind, she made her way back toward the market. The pretty shopping area was nice, but she’d have the same problem finding work there as she would in the docking bay. Someone was bound to want ID that she didn’t have.

She didn’t have to search far for the market. The smells hit her first—meat cooking on hot plates and something achingly sweet that made her mouth water. Her stomach rumbled again.

She found a spot partially hidden behind a decorative column by one stall as she watched the comings and goings of the market. She was going to have to steal again, the guilt settling heavily in her stomach. She didn’t like it, but she was going to have to. It was that or starve.

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