Page 44 of Double Cut

She also noted that every guard wore a leather battle kilt, heavy boots, and a crisscross of straps over the chest. Weapons of various shapes and sizes dangled from those straps. With surprise, she realized that all the weapons were bladed.It’s odd that they’re not wearing firearms or laser guns or something like that.Horas and Sarus dressed the same as the guards.

Upon seeing Horas and Sarus, the guards thumped their fists to their chests and ducked their heads. She supposed it was their version of a military salute. Her mates passed by them without any visible acknowledgement.

“Don’t be rude,” she whispered.

“What do you mean?” Sarus asked, adjusting his grip on the handle of the cat’s carrier. It wasn’t made to accommodate a hand as large as his, but he and Horas refused to allow their mate the burden of hauling her pet around.

“Those guards are saluting you, aren’t they? If so, you should acknowledge them.”

“If I or Horas acknowledged them, they would know they had done something wrong,” Sarus replied with a small, close-lipped smile that passed for a chuckle. “By ‘ignoring’ them as you say, we affirm their good work.”

Evangeline frowned and shook her head as they continued to walk. “How come I don’t see any women … er … females?”

“That group of Ashkintians was female,” Horas pointed out.

“Ash-what?”

“The beings garbed in violet.”

“Thoseare female?” she gasped, glancing back at the tall, lanky beings that glided toward the gate they had left.

“Only the females of their kind wear violet,” Sarus said. “Their biology is not compatible with ours, although the Sivuul have been known to capture and breed them.”

Evangeline shuddered. A big hand settled at the base of her spine and pressed her around a corner as one of the guards darted into the stream of life and snagged a squat being that resembled a warthog. The being squealed in outrage. Its beady eyes glittered, but it obeyed a second guard’s order to raise its arms. The first guard held a long, keen blade to the being’s throat as the second guard peered closely at it. With a hiss, the guard snatched something from its long coat.

The being protested, its voice a high whine of denial quickly cut off as the first guard stabbed it with chilling accuracy. Passersby ignored the scene.

Evangeline gasped in horror as the alien warthog crumpled to the floor. “Why did he do that?”

“Ahn’hudi take a dim view of thieves and smugglers,” Horas said. With a series of low clicks and a piercing whistle, he summoned the guard who had divested the now-dead warthog of its contraband.

The guard approached and stopped a respectable distance from Horas. He thumped his chest and ducked his head.

“What did you confiscate, centuria?” Horas asked.

The guard held out his hand, a seemingly incongruous item displayed on his broad, flat palm. “Colonel.”

Evangeline extended a hand to touch it, but the guard snatched it back even as Horas’ own hand snapped out to grasp hers and stay its reach. “You must not touch this.”

Lowering her hand, she asked, “Why not? What is it?”

“This isvevrexxu, a prohibited drug.”

“How can you tell?”

“Vevrexxuis so toxic that it must be transported in special, hermetically sealed containers like this.” He set the container on the guard’s palm. “Good work, centuria.”

“My honor, Colonel,” the guard replied. He then tilted his head slightly to one side and said, “Felicitations on your successful mating.”

“Thank you,” Horas replied. He gestured to Sarus. “My bondmate, Sarus mek Orsai’To, former commander of the Moriya Squadron.”

At the mention of the Moriyan Scourge’s name, the guard’s eyes widened with awe. He thumped his chest and ducked his head. “Ul gar taak, Commander.”

“Ul gar taak,” Sarus replied.

The guard turned on his heel and returned to his post. Horas glanced at his dainty mate and saw that she was filled with questions. He decided to preemptively answer some of them.

“Vevrexxumelts the mind and leaves the victim capable only of following basic orders, much like one of your pets on Earth, only not quite as intelligent,” he said. “Beings like the Ogranox and the Sivuul use it to subdue populations into service as dumb beasts. It is a disgrace that being was able to get this far in the terminal without detection. The centuria is to be commended.”

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