Page 18 of Needed in the Night
I finished my drink and the last of the jampas, slid off my chair, and returned to the stage. I dumped the contents of my tip jar into my bag, wished the regulars a pleasant evening, then threaded my way through the crowd in the direction of the back hallway.
CHAPTER 6
MIKAS
“Stay away from the singer,”Nubo grated, his enormous blue fist striking the top of his desk hard enough for me to feel the vibration through the floor and my boots. “I have told you this before. I will not tell you again.”
In my imagination, I crumpled this pompous thug into a lump of broken bones and flesh and tossed him into the closest refuse chute. It was not the first time I had fantasized about doing so.
“The Hardanian touched her. Twice,” I said instead, without inflection in my voice. “After she had told him to go away. Did you not expressly state that no one may lay a hand on her?”
“This is not about the Hardanian.” Nubo sat in his throne-like chair, his webbed fingers gripping the armrests. “Despite my warnings, you still want Isla Mair for yourself. I see it in your eyes when you look at her.”
“I only want to do my job and keep her safe from unruly patrons.” I folded my hands behind my back so I was lesstempted to wrap them around Nubo’s throat. “Isla is pretty by human standards, but I am Fortusian. I am not interested in delicate human women. She is my friend and my colleague only. I simply had to make an example of the Hardanian so everyone in the bar knows you do not permit such behavior.”
Nubo studied me. “Go on.”
“Zaa’ga is known for the quality of its service, drinks, and environment,” I continued, since flattery always worked better on Nubo than simple denial. “If customers want to act badly, they can go elsewhere. I am thinking only of your reputation and of your singer’s safety. If Isla does not feel safe here, she may not stay. Human women are notoriously weak and fearful.”
Isla was nothing of the sort, of course, but my lifeandhers depended on keeping Nubo convinced I thought of her only as a vulnerable friend and coworker who needed saving from drunken patrons. I would say or do whatever was necessary to protect her.
Nubo tapped his fingers on his chair. “This is true,” he mused. “Security is an important matter for her. On the day she applied for the position, she asked for your candid opinion on whether she would be safe working here and living in an apartment in this building.”
“Yes, she did, sir.” The honorific tasted bitter on my tongue. “That is why I acted so swiftly tonight.”
“Very well.” Nubo sat back in his chair. “If I see further evidence of any feelings for Isla, you will not only be out of a job—you will be running for an off-world transport with my wingwolves on your heels. Am I clear?”
Kill him, my instincts urged. My belly roiled as if it were full of angry insects.Kill him. He means her harm.
Nubo wanted Isla for his own, but according to my sources, her murky past had forced him to bide his time. He could not make a move on her until he knew who she was—who shereallywas.
A man in his position had to be cautious. She might have come here under false pretenses. She might have been sent by an enemy. He wanted to confirm her story that she was an orphaned human with no family and no connections, simply looking for work. And if that was the case, he would take her away, make her his captive, force her to be his. He had done it before with others.
To my trained eyes, lovely Isla was clearlynotwho she pretended to be. Her watchfulness, the way she evaluated everyone who came into the bar like a soldier sizing up an adversary, how she never panicked when someone like the Hardanian confronted her, her faithful shadowbat companion…it all added up to an unavoidable conclusion: Isla was far from weak or fearful.
That fact offered me very little solace. If Nubo came to the same realization, he would kill her. Well, he wouldhaveher killed. Men like Nubo Wex did not live so freely or for so long by getting their own hands dirty.
By all the gods, this scum would never lay a hand on Isla. Not as long as I had breath in my body. But I could not allow him to so much as glimpse the truth of what I kept hidden in my hearts.
“You are most clear,” I said, with another deferential nod. “And understood.”
“Good.” Nubo switched on his wall vidscreen, which showed a dozen live views of the bar’s interior. “The bar can run on auto for the remainder of the night,” he added, his thick lips twisting into a smirk. “I think you need to take some time to think about your situation.”
In other words, as punishment for his suspicions about my feelings for Isla, no more wages or tips tonight.
Five more hours of work, surrounded by increasingly inebriated tourists wandering in from the boulevard, wouldhave meant hundreds of credits in tips I would have put toward my future escape with my mate.
“Good night, then,” I said, an edge of anger in my tone. I did not try to suppress it. Nubo would expect a reaction after cutting my work hours short. His smug smile reignited my desire to crush him with my bare hands. At least if he was smug about punishing me, he was less suspicious.
He would also be self-satisfied about making me angry. I did not anger easily—at least, not outwardly. On the outside, I was as hard and immovable as Vorcian marble.
Inside, I was volcanic. I was a raging thunderstorm. In my soul, I roared like a beast in the night.
I turned on my heel and left Nubo’s office with his chuckle following me out. Rage made my hands shake and ears ring.
But the moment I stepped into the hallway and the office door closed and locked behind me, everything changed.
Isla’s scent was everywhere, swirling around me, filling my lungs until her sweet smell turned my soul peaceful once more. My beastly hearts quieted, and my fury and hate dissipated like a puff of smoke in a strong wind.
