Page 22 of Chased By the Alien Mercenary
The city, named Lhykhas, filled much of the horizon. Elegant silver spires, twisting white edifices, and, here and there, a large, domed black building punctuated the skyline. Traffic hummed to and fro, but it was all contained within the city bounds, not one of the small slicers or hovercycles had left. Not so soon after a meteor storm; it wouldn’t be considered safe. We were too late to see the city’s protections fully in action, but blue energy stillcrackled at its perimeter, evidence of the massive domed shield they could engage above the city.
The port to the west had been similarly protected, but most ships had left the surface and hunkered down on the other side of the planet. That would have included the Varakartoom, but Aramon assured me it was already on its way back to the port. They’d have a shuttle ready and waiting for us as soon as we arrived. But this slicer had to go through the city gates first and get clearance to land there, and that made me uneasy. I did not like cities, or crowds, or people, really.
“I know,”Aramon agreed with me. “Have your mate take these steps, and it should be fine.” Then he listed the protocols we needed, and I shared them with Lyra, immensely relieved I could do that now and let her be the voice to the outside world. She was nervous calling port authorities, but she knew just how to sound polite and friendly. Humans were no threat—unassuming, often victims in this quadrant—and the Aderians responded to her that way.
Which meant that, in no time, I was bringing the slicer to a landing in a lot assigned to us. It wobbled precariously, the engine spluttering as it thumped to the ground in anything but a graceful manner, but we’d arrived, and that was all that mattered. The lot attendant looked displeased but too polite to say anything about it in his stuffy gray suit. Black eyes gleaming with distaste, mouth in a tight bud, and the anthracite skin between his eyebrows deeply furrowed.
Lyra still had barely any proper clothing to her name as I helped her from the slicer. She’d pulled her torn pants back on and stuffed her feet into the too-large boots, but on this side of theplanet, it was hot and humid, so she’d left the coat off. I did not like how that made the male lot attendant privy to the soft outline of her breasts beneath the thin shirt. He kept his eyes on her face, curiosity written all over him, but I knew he saw anyway.
“Long-term or short-term parking?” he asked as I led Lyra to the exit gate where he hovered. It was, unfortunately, the only way out unless I wanted to make a ruckus. If he kept staring from the corner of his creepy black eyes, I would. He winced as if sensing the violent turn of my thoughts. And he kept his gaze solely on my face now, even when Lyra spoke to him.
“Oh, uh, short term? We won’t be here long, right?” she said, glancing at me, and I nodded in confirmation, but it was hard to hang on to my control when the male was so close and more people walked along the promenade beyond the lot gate. Tension was crawling up my spine at their nearness, which I knew was crazy, considering I hated being alone. I couldn’t help the response, though, being near anyone, with the exception of Lyra and my brother, made me extremely anxious. The noise they made, the unexpected movements, all of it. Even their stupid scents, clogging up my nose.
“Swipe your cred identifier here,” the male intoned, and Lyra stiffened, uncertain of what to do. We didn’t have time for this, and we didn’t have creds to pay him with. Besides, the slicer was stolen and couldn’t be traced to us. So I turned my eyes on that attendant and let him know, silently, exactly what I’d do to him for staring at my mate. Without blinking, and without losing sleep over it, too. Aderians were almost without fail empaths, so even if he wasn’t telepathic, I knew he’d sense the danger.
He blanched, his previously dark, shiny skin going sickly gray with a hint of green beneath his eyes. “Oh, of course, move right along, sir,” he stammered out, then jolted back into his booth, head ducked low and shoulders hunched. He went out of sight behind the large window, so I was pretty sure he’d hunkered down. Grinning, pleased by this development, I urged Lyra past the window and out of the lot.
“What just happened?” she asked, her delicate brown eyebrows raised at me in question. I shrugged, not certain I wanted to answer that, but she didn’t need an answer anyway. “Did you just scare that poor guy into letting us through without paying? Seriously?” I thought she’d be upset, but then she laughed and shrugged. “I guess I’m not surprised.” And not mad about it, either. I needed to hang on to that as we walked down the street in the direction of the port, which was clearly indicated with signs at every corner.
She slipped her arm around my middle and tucked herself closely to my body as we walked. It made the pace a little lopsided and uneven, but it helped me focus on her rather than the crowd of people hurrying about their business around us. Even so, I was softly growling beneath my breath by the time we headed between two large spires and reached the port. My senses on edge, nerves frayed, and ready to bite the head off anyone who got too close. The Aderians all sensed the threat and gave us a wide berth, but some of the other species were not nearly so observant. A large Rhico lumbered past, far too close for my liking, and, being used to being fairly impervious to anything that could be thrown at him, he did not respond to my snarl with anything but a laugh.
“It’s okay,” Lyra kept saying to me, her hand stroking my arm each time such an incident occurred. Petting me until I calmed and looked at her rather than the perceived threat. “We’re almost there, aren’t we? Talk to your brother, see if they’ve landed yet.” She knew how to distract me, but it was humbling to need it, even if nothing in her mind suggested she thought less of me for it. Nothing at all. She was just worried. And then I realized she was uncomfortable with the crowd and the noise too. That helped. That refocused me—to get her through this faster, to ease her mind, not just mine.
The port offices were surrounded by a large fence and an impressive gate. Through it, an endless stream of vehicles left to supply the city, and an equally impressive line of vehicles—most packed with fancy Aderian wine—arrived to load the ships at the port beyond. We would not be able to get through unless they’d seen our credentials and verified our business. That made me anxious for different reasons: I had no papers on me, I’d lost my comm. Lyra had nothing at all, she’d been brought here illegally as a slave. What were we supposed to do? This was the kind of thing Aramon usually took care of, or the captain.
Eyeing the officials in their neat uniforms made me all too aware of how much we stood out. My armor and appearance declared exactly what I was: a gun for hire, a soldier of fortune. Not the type these Aderians would easily trust. They were already clustering together at the gate, guns at the ready, black eyes full of distrust. I didn’t know how to solve that—or their implicit threat to me, but especially to Lyra—but it made me want to claw through them. Erase the problem with violence. That would get the Varakartoom banned here and piss off the captain. Perhaps, though, they would only ban me. The Aderians were soft like that.
Growling, I clenched my fists, claws sharpening, itching to start that fight. Lyra’s hand on my wrist held me back. “Let me see if we can talk our way through first, yes?” she offered sweetly, but with a hint of warning, too. She did not want me to start a fight here, and, rationally, I knew that wouldn’t be wise. As she led us closer, though, the tension in my body only grew worse. I was a hair’s breadth away from snapping, and snapping necks.
To make matters worse, I heard booted steps from behind. The kind that walked in sync, marching the way only soldiers would. Twisting, I pushed Lyra defensively behind me and bared my teeth at this new threat. More Aderians in uniform, these were definitely military rather than port officials. They meant business; they weren’t the same soft pushovers as the rest of their race. These were the empaths who had chosen to be warriors anyway; they were strong, they were dangerous.
The one in the lead was raising his hands—unarmed—but the others? They all had their rifles at the ready. My muscles tensed, my body readying itself for a jump. Nobody touched my mate! I would protect her, no matter what. My growl was loud, a warning they did not heed. I was going to kill all of them.
***
Lyra
I hung onto Solear’s arm with grim determination. If I let go even a little, he’d slip free and start attacking; that was the last thing we needed right now. The Krektar and other guards back at the mansion had all been bad guys, no doubt about it, but these dudes? They looked like soldiers, with military buzzcuts that exposed sharp, elfish ears. All of them, much like mostof the people I’d seen so far in this city, were gray and black with a silver glimmer. Their eyes had no whites, pure black and reflective like mirrors. Yet, even in uniforms and body armor, they all had something sleek and elegant. Not bulky with muscle, but lithe and strong all the same.
The guards protecting the port entrance were all just like these guys, though not quite so uniform. Some of them still had longer hair, one even had it draped about his shoulders, all the way down to his knees! But there was no denying that Solear and I were now trapped between two armed and trained forces. To fight now would only get us captured or killed, and we’d fought too hard to get here to let that happen. I wasn’t going to let my guy get himself killed because he couldn’t control his instincts. He felt trapped, and considering his past, I understood why he wasn’t handling it well.
“Lower your weapons,” I dared to call out, “and back off a little. My guy doesn’t want to attack, but he will if he feels cornered.” I didn’t tell them that the only reason he hadn’t already leaped was because I was hanging onto him with all my might and he did not want to harm me. I didn’t think anyone would listen to me, but to my surprise, the soldier in the lead gave me a nod and then made a gesture with his hand that had all his men back up two precise steps.
“Are you all right, miss?” he asked so politely that it was painful. Like he was sipping tea with his fucking pinky out, that kind of stiff-upper-lip polite. It was utterly mind-boggling to deal with that after the past couple of days. I must have blinked at him in confusion for several long seconds, but then a sound made Solear shift and growl back at the port gate. He whirled to keep me protected behind his broad back and, collectively, weaponswere raised and a dozen clicks in perfect synchronicity indicated they’d removed the safety.
“Easy, easy there, Solear. They’re not trying to harm us, please. Stand down. It’s okay.” But there was a hint of uncertainty now, too many grim faces staring at my guy did that. I didn’t think they wanted to harm me, but Solear? Definitely. I tried to reach him telepathically, but I was still clumsy at that, and it felt like there was some kind of block in place. “You don’t want to hurt us, do you?” I directed that question at the guy who appeared to be in charge, and he gave me an immediate, decisive nod.
“We wish to resolve this peacefully, Miss,” he said. Then, a small hesitation before he leaned in the tiniest fraction, hands still open at his side in a universal I’m-unarmed fashion. That did not mean much, though, when he had a dozen guns pointed at us from over his shoulder. “Are you the lady who arrived on a slicer from the other continent half an hour ago?” I nodded, uncertain where he was going with this. I doubted they’d come after us with a dozen men just because we ran out on a parking bill.
“Are you here under duress, miss? Did you come from the Silverhill Vineyard?” Oh. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that was the name of the mansion I’d been kept at. I’d gotten the impression something massive had gone down there last night. Had this city been involved? Didn’t they have a meteor storm to deal with? He seemed genuinely concerned, it shimmered in those odd black eyes, plain to see. He might be a little stiff, a true aristocrat, but there was a kindness to his face that you wouldn’t expect on a hardened soldier.
“Solear is my mate. He rescued me,” I declared firmly. Those words abruptly made Solear’s growl cut off. It was only a veryquick glance, but he did take his eyes off the threat to look at me in surprise. He was still tense, but it was as if aligning myself so directly with him had grounded him. He was back in control.
“They want to take you from me, so they can make sure,”he said to me. Now, his focus was no longer on the soldiers in general but directly on their leader. I could tell that the smooth aristocrat was uneasy beneath Solear’s direct glare. His mouth grew pinched, and something tightened at the corners of his eyes.
“They’re not going to take me from you,” I said firmly. “You don’t have to worry about that. Doesn’t he?”I turned to the leader to ask him that directly, and he nodded again, in much more of a rush this time. He felt threatened just from Solear’s glare, though he’d settled down and shifted out of his aggressive pose. No longer was he pulling on my grip, but curling against me, holding me gently in his arms.
“No, miss. If that is your mate, we would not separate you. We just need your statements about what happened at the Silverhill Vineyard.” I hadn’t directly indicated that I had been there, but he seemed to believe that I had. That became more obvious when he added, “We had an inside source that indicated one enslaved human female. That was you, correct?”
