by Elsa Jade
“Tyler—”
Pushing her chair back with a screech, she jerked to her feet. “I’ll let you know if I find anything else.” This time she didn’t bother to tease him that he wouldn’t return the favor.
After a long moment, he nodded and rose too. Carefully setting the wingback in its corner, he turned to her. “I’ll check in again, but please know, you and your work will be safe here.” He strode toward the doorway and then paused. “I’ll set a reminder for your dinner.”
Was she supposed to be grateful for that? A fairer part of her reminded her that she had been charmed about the microwaved lunch and the chai. Of course, sniped the less-fair part, but only because her standards were so damn low.
She ignored all parts of her. She was just here to work, remember?
Without answering him or herself, she thumped back into her chair, putting her stiff back to him.
And still somehow, she sensed the moment he walked away, and the thud as the iron latch on the front door settled into place echoed in a matching hollow place inside her.
If she dug deep enough, maybe there was more added data on her system about how she could live without a heart.
Chapter 12
Cross sat behind Evens’ desk, organizing the findings from the day’s search along with what Sol and Zenith had found.
Essentially nothing. Living up to his air of mysteries, the enigmatic shopkeeper had apparently disappeared.
As if conjured, Sol stepped silently into the doorway. “I sent Kailani home. Told her Evens is indisposed and said to take tomorrow off.”
Cross nodded. Although Evens had told them Kailani was fully aware of extraterrestrial visitations, they didn’t want her embroiled in whatever was going on now. “You left the door unlocked?”
A flash of very white teeth. “Trap baited and set.”
Not necessarily, since they didn’t know what their quarry actually wanted. An image flashed through his mind of Tyler, fingers flying over her primitive keyboard as she hunted clues for the intruder’s identity. Helping him even though he wasn’t sharing in return.
Sol sauntered into the room. “Where’s Zenith?”
“Guarding the safe house.” And Tyler.
“Shouldn’t it be you?” Sol slanted a sly glance at him, a smirk distorting his mouth.
“I don’t need guarding.”
The smile slipped off Sol’s face. “Don’t you? Don’t all of us?”
Cross sat back in Evens’ chair, his gaze fixed on the datpad in front of him. The device was linked to the more powerful system in Evens’ office, scrolling through all the encrypted data along with what Tyler had provided, trying to find some clue. They couldn’t even be sure that the shopkeeper’s absence meant anything nefarious; he owed them no explanation of his comings and goings. Cross had only his instincts that anything was amiss, and though accessing his beast’s instincts when it wasn’t properly contained could lead to trouble, he didn’t see a lot of other options. Not if they were going to get paid, not if they were going to find their mates. Since he had this moment while the security systems looked for something he’d missed and while he tried to hold onto his beast, he gave his crewmate a steady look. “I didn’t see your bike at the cabin this morning.”
Sol returned his look, unflinching. “It was urgent that I find you as quickly as possible.”
“Not as important as holding onto your beast.”
Sol’s dark eyes snapped—but at least he wasn’t doing it with his teeth—yet. “I held it,” he said in a low voice. “You saw me when I landed. I was fine. More to the point, the Earther saw me and noticed nothing amiss.”
Cross breathed out a hard oath. “I couldn’t say anything with Tyler there, and you were just fortunate she wouldn’t know what to look for. And anyway, she needs corrective lenses to see anything even when she is paying attention beyond the limits of her screen.” She hadn’t noticed anything odd about him, after all, though they’d been so intimately close. In fact, he was a little surprised that she hadn’t asked more questions…
He gave his head a hard shake. Of course she hadn’t, when she knew he wouldn’t answer them. What did he expect?
Though it wasn’t fair, he turned his annoyance on his crewmate. “Don’t do it again. You can’t risk it.”
Now Sol did show the edge of one tooth. “Easy for you to command when you can feed your beast on your mate.”
Cross rose. “I have no mate.”
Sol let out a hard laugh. “No? I saw how she looked at you. How you look at her. I didn’t need my beast to catch her scent on your skin.”
Cross flattened his hands on the desk in front of him, deliberately stretching his fingers to expel the urge to curl them into talons. “And I swore I would see you and Zenith bound before I sought the same. And I would never, ever take an unwilling mate.”
“Unwilling?” Sol laughed again, with sharp amusement. “You have buried your beast too deep for any escape if you believe she was unwilling.”
“Unwitting then. Either way she is not my mate.”
Sol gave him a sidelong look. “If you truly believe that…”
For the first time in a very long time, the beast within Cross was still. It did not challenge his control or his declaration. And for a fleeting, foolish moment, he wanted to rouse it, with the same reckless disinhibition that tempted every Xymiran in their youth.
But he resisted. He’d been resisting for so long, and he couldn’t tire now, not when Sol was wavering so badly and Zenith had been sneakily avoiding him too.
“I will find our mates,” he vowed, struggling to keep the note of desperation out of his tone. “And they will know us the way we need to be known. We will bind the beasts finally, and the battalions will let us return.”
Instead of looking inspired, Sol looked away. “May your words stick in the many teeth of the Changling God,” he murmured. “Because if you’re wrong, it will be our corpses stuck there instead.” He spun around his boot heel.
“Wait,” Cross gritted out. He needed to give his crewmate something to hold onto—something that wasn’t the embrace of his beast. “When Tyler finishes the algorithm and Evens lets us join the first test run, what will you seek in your mate?” He’d give the other male some hope, something to sink his beast’s teeth into that wasn’t just words; wishes might be more elusive than words, but perhaps somehow more powerful.
Sol’s eyes half closed and he began to recite as if he’d already given this much thought. “Sweet,” he said. “Quiet and gentle. Someone who can sing the beast to sleep.”
Cross nodded. “She sounds perfect.”
Whoever she’d be didn’t sound anything like Tyler.
Strapping the datpad to his wrist, he fell into step beside Sol as they returned to the front room. Due to seasonal fluctuations in the planet’s axial tilt, the solar light was already fading, leaving deep shadows in the clutter. Maybe Evens was missing somewhere in this very room.
Sol stopped. “I’ll keep watch here. If the intruder returns…” His eyes glinted in the darkness. “You should check on Zenith.”
Which would mean going back to the safe house—back to Tyler.
Right after he’d just sworn he would see to his crew first.
He stared out the bank of windows. When they’d first come to Sunset Falls, he’d thought this would be a place they could lie low, rest without stressing their beasts. Because who would bother the reopening of a small intergalactic business?
He needed to make sure Zenith wasn’t toying with his beast as Sol was. And maybe Tyler had found something new in her data.
He was making excuses, wasn’t he?
Which didn’t change the fact that he wasn’t doing any good here. He nodded at Sol. “Contact me immediately if you see or hear anything.”
His crewmate flicked a finger and turned away.
They were going to need to have a discussion about discipline. But not now. Now he was breaking his own rules.
To prove to himself that he could control his impulses—although his beast was still disturbingly quiet, he took the scenic route beyond town. He ended up on a long private drive that led him to a circular parking area. Statuary in the middle of the circle showed a half Earther female, half piscine creature holding a vessel that poured a tiny waterfall that splashed under the last of the evening light.
By the time he got out of his vehicle and approached the door, the door was open. Kailani smiled and waved him inside. “Thomas is just making dinner,” she coaxed. “Join us.”
He shook his head. “Just stopping by to let you know that the shop is closed until further notice.”
She tilted her head. “Is there a problem?”
He hesitated. Although Evens had explained the arrangement with the Wavercrest Foundation to identify long-lost members of an alien race that had crashed on Earth, he knew the Tritonans had a complicated history with the Intergalactic Dating Agency and how it had been misused to trap them. Which probably meant they wouldn’t be too surprised about this latest wrinkle. “Evens is missing. And I don’t want you endangered by whatever he’s doing now.”
Kailani rolled her eyes. “That man,” she tsked. “I’ve met more than my fair share of people with wonderful intentions and terrible results, but he is world-class.”
“Universe class,” Cross mumbled.
“He sells a kind of dream. Whether there’s anything left in the morning light depends on you.” She shrugged. “Just don’t buy the mystery box.”
He stiffened. “If you have any information…”
“Just that whatever he’s looking for won’t be found at the bottom of a bunch of numbers.” She shook her head. “But he won’t have learned that yet.” She dug a datpad out of her pocket and tapped in a command. “There. That’s all our conversations and scheduling that we’ve had. I hope you find him.” She slanted him a glance. “And whatever else you’re looking for.”
He nodded. Although his beast was still quiescent, her sincerity rang true to his senses. Somewhere in the depths of the house, someone called, “Hors d’oeuvres are ready.”
Kailani looked at him again. “Are you sure you won’t join us? Not that I’m trying to tempt you away from your hunt.”
He demurred again, thanked her, asked her for any updates as they came along, and returned to his vehicle. He’d never been tempted off a hunt.
He pushed the mediocre Earther engine to its limits as he sped back to Tyler.
And then to prove that he still did have some self-control, he looked for Zenith first.
Though his datpad reported Zenith’s presence in the trees that bordered the house, Cross couldn’t actually see him through the tangled canopy.
“Nothing here.” Zenith’s rough voice came from somewhere above.
Cross restrained a sigh. Definitely time to review their battalion discipline. “Stay on it,” Cross told him. And now that he thought about it, maybe keeping Zenith treed was the safest option for everyone until Tyler finished her work and Evens initiated the IDA program. Until they found their mates. Though directing his words to the dark trees felt strange, he asked, “Zenith, what will your mate be like?”
“A feast. My beast will never be hungry again.”
Well, probably somewhere in the infinity of the universe there was someone with the appetite to match the only living gyrfyn on Xymir.
But until they found that being…
The latch released under his touch and he let himself in, calling softly, “Tyler?” since he didn’t want to startle her when she was lost in her work.
When she didn’t reply—she would’ve made a fine Xymiran with her focus and discipline—he strode toward the back room. He would take her teacup again and rewarm it for her.
Last time, he’d only needed his touch while he watched her to excite the water molecules back to bubbling.
Despite that reminder of his hypocrisy about control, he quickened his steps through the doorway—
Only to face her empty chair.
Wheeling around, he quickly checked the rest of the small house. But of course she wasn’t there. Now that he wasn’t listening only to his own desires, he felt her absence.
Bursting outside, he snapped up at the trees. “She’s gone!”
“Impossible.” A dark form dropped to the ground. “Cross, believe me. I’ve been here.”
With another oath, he checked his datpad. None of the alarms he’d set had been triggered. In fact, the sensors had all been quiet.
Too quiet.
She never got her dinner. Also never got up from her chair at all. Oh, she was dedicated, but she was still an organic being.
He groaned. “My fault. She hacked the datpad I left for her.”
Zenith’s hoarse laugh drifted to him. “Why would you give her something she could use against you?”
“I wanted to protect her.”
“Wanted to track her, watch her,” Zenith interpreted, as if their universal translators might not be working.
Cross growled under his breath. “I knew she’d take it, but I had no idea she could use it.”
“Maybe you need to think what sort of mate you want.”
“She can’t be my mate.” Again his beast did not rouse at the denial.
And this time the lack of reaction gutted him.
He snarled at Zenith. “Why didn’t you stop her?”
“I was told to make sure nothing got in, not out.” Zenith’s voice was equally furious. “Maybe if I had my beast—”
With a low roar, Cross swung away from the dark trees and circled the house. There, she’d sneaked out the bathroom window. Even though every portal and the walls themselves were scanned, she’d tricked the datpad into sending a false signal that she was still inside.
She was the brain, as Evens had warned. Cross scraped one hand across his face. He’d not respected what she was, and now she was gone.
Worse, if she’d hacked the datpad, she now knew something was very definitely beyond her experience. She would know he had lied.
A chill deeper than Sunset Lake far from the hot springs, colder than the void of space, settled in the distance between him and his beast. He hadn’t just misplaced her.
He was going to lose her.
Chapter 13
The quiet streets of Sunset Falls suddenly seemed less like quaint and more like creepy as Tyler hurried toward the center of town.
Whatever she’d been brought here to work on, it wasn’t just a dating service, not even just a hookup app. Evens hadn’t given her all the data points, not because he didn’t have them yet, but because he didn’t want her to have them.
And Cross had known.
She swallowed back the toxic bubbling of anger and hurt. What else had she expected of such a secretive man?
Jailbreaking the smart watch had been harder than she expected. The technology was like nothing she’d seen before even though it hadn’t been explicitly encrypted against her—and considering the device had been deliberately left in her vicinity, she could only assume that meant Cross thought she was incapable of unlocking the root commands. Maybe she was mostly a white-hat database structural engineer, but apparently some of the bad old days with her lying, cheating hacker boyfriend had rubbed off on her. And anyway, a builder needed to know what was in the basement too, right?
Obviously she needed to watch more horror movies about not ever going in the basement, because what she’d found on the device… She couldn’t make sense of it. Yet. But she was going to find out. And she was done asking questions of people who wouldn’t answer.
Once she was inside the device’s system, it had been easy enough to take control of the cottage’s security programs, to see where Cross had thought he was keeping the digital eye on her—and she’d blinded them all. Discovering that he’d taken her car was annoying, but she still had her Uggs. And they carried her with righteously infuriated speed toward her answers.
But when she got to the
darkened thrift shop and saw a vague shape moving within, she lost her nerve. What was she actually going to demand of them? Was she really going to ask if they were—?
Her brain shied away from even thinking the word.
When the murky figure moved toward the door, she panicked and ducked around the corner, hastening down the street. Prickling with freak-out and now getting a little chilly, she whisked into the coffee shop. The tinkle of the small bell above the door was sweeter than the thrift shop’s cowbell, but it suddenly made her wonder who else might be involved in the disturbing conspiracy theory now churning in her brain.
Before she could hustle out, the barista called out a cheerful hey. “We’re just closing up. Want another bag of day-olds?”
Tyler shook her head, her mouth dry as a week-old muffin. She’d never again be able to eat pastries or ice cream or syrup without thinking of—
Nope, not letting her mind wander there either. “No thank you. I just…” Just what? Just escaped from what might’ve been an abduction?
The barista chuckled. “You look like you’ve seen a UFO.”
Wincing at the casual statement of the data set of impossible words that were ricocheting around in her brain, Tyler tried to laugh too. “Oh yeah? What does that look like?”
“A little dazed and confused maybe? Or maybe you just need some caffeine.”
Tyler shook her head. “I meant… Uh, a UFO. What would that, um, look like?”
“Shaped like a pie tin? Lots of flashing lights? Not really sure since I’ve never seen one myself, but everybody swears they’re out here.” They peered at Tyler. “But I was just kidding. Mostly. Really, are you okay?” They pulled a quick cappuccino and slid the mug across the counter. “Here. Caffeine and sugar. That’ll bring you back from the brink.”
Mumbling her thanks, Tyler gulped it down and set the empty mug on the counter with a discordant clatter.
The barista gazed at her. “Better?”
