Instinctual (Rise of the Iliri Book 2)

by Auryn Hadley

  "Ok." He couldn't think of anything else to say, and didn't want to upset her.

  She reached up and touched the side of his neck, begging for his eyes. When he looked into hers, the cold feeling in his gut was replaced with a warmth he hadn't felt in a long time. He finally had a place he belonged, where he was needed. He finally had a Kaisae.

  Chapter 39

  Ran opened the door, greeting Blaz and inviting him in. Blaec and Cyno sat at opposite ends of the couch, each with a drink in hand and the General gestured to a chair across from them. With a nervous smile, Blaz accepted.

  "She ok?" he asked.

  "Taking her second bath." Ran gestured with the bottle in his hand to his personal bathing chamber. "You know the rules, Blaz?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "Broke 'em already," Blaec teased. "The correct answer is yes, Ran."

  "Yes, Ran, then."

  "Want a drink?"

  "Fuck, yeah," Blaz nearly groaned. "A stiff one, if you've got it."

  "She bit ya," Cyno said coldly.

  Blaz froze. "Yeah, I'm sorry, man."

  "Ya like it?"

  "It's not like that," Blaz protested.

  "Na what I asked."

  Glancing behind him at the closed door, Blaz paused, then looked back at Cyno. "Yeah. She has that effect."

  "Do na think she wants ya."

  "No." He laughed like that was foolish. "She made that rather clear. I know my place. I don't know yours, but I know mine." He looked at Blaec pointedly, then back to Cyno.

  "He's first, I'm second. Ya are neither."

  "Leave it," Blaec said. "He knows."

  "Spell it out to me, Blaec?" Ran asked, passing a drink to Blaz, before sinking into his own chair.

  "Iliri are matriarchal. We have few children and most are male, leading to a distinct gender imbalance. Purebred females are even more rare, often not living to adulthood because of the delicate nature of their juvenile systems."

  "Ya kill em pretty good," Cyno added.

  "How?" Ran asked.

  "Malnutrition and pregnancy are the most common."

  "Thought iliri had more control of that?"

  "It's a learned skill," Cyno said, "Think of it like potty trainin'."

  "Ok. Go on?"

  "Because we have so few women, we've evolved ta accept a slightly diff'rent family structure. We live in packs when we can – by preference – and our women have multiple lovers. Dominant females are, of course, the most desirable, but any female tends ta have her pick of men."

  Ran took a careful sip of his scotch. "And you like this?"

  Blaec shrugged. "That's like me thinking it's strange that you're willing to share your mother with a sibling. Shouldn't you be jealous of her divided attention?"

  "Nice analogy," Blaz said. "Makes more sense to me now."

  "How does this work with the command structure?" Ran asked.

  "I keep our ranks pretty equivalent to our social structure. Sal may take the Blades one day. You need to be aware of that."

  "That's going to be awkward."

  "Nah," Cyno said. "LT will be the First Officer, an' Arctic the Second."

  "So, her orders don't override yours?"

  "No," Blaec said, smiling proudly. "I won."

  "You actually fought it out?" Blaz asked.

  Cyno shrugged. "Yeh. It rarely ends in death."

  "You had a full out brawl with your lover?"

  The two iliri glanced at each other, confused.

  "We tend to think of hitting our women as bad," Ran explained. "Men are stronger and it's considered to be a social disgrace."

  "Ours are na weak," Cyno nearly purred.

  Blaec clarified, "Our males tend to be slightly larger and stronger, but the females are faster, so it's a pretty even fight. Of course, most of us are crossbreds, so even larger by comparison and even slower than her. Cyno is a good example of what an iliri male would be like."

  "How human are you?" Blaz asked. "I mean, that's probably rude as fuck, but I don't know how else to ask."

  "How pure," Cyno said. "And I'm least ninety percent, maybe more."

  "Damn. Yet you're not white?"

  Cyno shrugged.

  The latch to the bedroom door clicked and the iliri looked up before the humans even heard it, both men smiling. When Sal opened the door, the two humans understood. She walked out, rubbing a towel over her head, but paused.

  "Blaz?" she asked.

  "I asked for him," Ran said. "Cyno said he had information I needed."

  "Unexpected," Sal muttered, folding the towel and placing it on the counter before grabbing a drink.

  Her white feet peeked out from beneath the bottom of her black pants. They hung loose on her hips, a tank two sizes too small exposing her belly. Three of the men in the room watched appreciatively as Sal moved to the couch. The General did his best not to laugh.

  She sat beside Blaec and smiled at Cyno before curling between them like a pleased cat. Blaec wrapped his arm around her protectively and Cyno pulled her legs across his lap.

  "Looks to me like it works out well enough," Ran told Blaz before turning back to Sal. "I want you to keep the affair with Blaz going. Think you can do that?"

  She nodded. "No different than being on a mission."

  "Thanks," Blaz teased. "We just have to figure out more excuses to not be locked together for hours."

  "You've already given me one. Tomorrow, I need you to give me a lesson in packing."

  Ran shot a glance at her. "Sal?"

  "What?" she asked. "I just need to know, didn't tell him why."

  "She didn't," he swore. "I can make some pretty good guesses, but she didn't. She just asked how to fit a horse for a long trip without needing mules or pack horses."

  "Ok. The 112th would be the best to know. You're not taking mules?"

  "Will get us killed," Cyno said, "or be a real good way ta lose all our gear in the first run."

  Ran sighed. "Ok. Point made."

  "I'm going to deplete the Blade's coffers on this, Ran," Blaec said, glancing at Blaz, then back. "Gonna make things pretty hard for us."

  "Can you hold out for two weeks?" Ran asked. "I'll get a line of credit cleared up, but it won't be fast."

  "Yeah, we'll make do."

  Blaz leaned forward, drawing their eyes. "I can do a check of gear – after our last mission it makes sense – and write off a few things. That should make it a lot easier on the Blades."

  "Just turn it in to me," Ran said. "So you know, they're only packing two."

  Blaz nodded. "Figured that out already. Sal and Cyno. That's why he's going to be reporting to her soon."

  Ran sighed, looking at his glass longingly. "I probably need to raise all elite firsts and seconds to top clearance."

  Blaz saw and stood to get a bottle from the shelf. He carried it back to refill both of their glasses. "Speaking of that, Star Fall was pretty open about the fourth load."

  "Go on?"

  "There's a fourth load of ore, headed through the mountains. The Blue Party wants it secured by humans, not iliri. They don't know what pass it's headed through, so they'll be hitting it south of Ryass. They also said they'd make sure the Blades were out of commission and unable to stop them."

  "What does that mean?" Ran asked.

  Blaz shrugged. "Wasn't long after that before one of them saw the horse I was on and put a few things together. Lorenz might have something, or Tolan, but I'm not sure."

  "Give me everything you have," Ran ordered.

  Blaz ticked off comments on his fingers. "Blades are iliri and making it too easy to find reasons to shut them down. They discussed some blow up in Escea and the thing with the Generals in Ft. Landing. Hot-headed and feral were words they liked to use. Said it would be easy to get one of the officers court-martialed for an affair, and that would be all Parliament needed after their reputation of being too primitive."

  "So you stepped in?"

  "Yeah," Blaz said. "Laughed at the i
dea of Sal and LT together. Said she wouldn't have time, and wouldn't do that to me. Things like that. Ran, they never said enough for me to be sure, but it sounded like they plan to jack them en route."

  "Sure they weren't talking about tonight's ordeal?" the General asked.

  Blaz shook his head. "No, I'm not. Seriously, what the fuck was that all about?"

  Sal giggled. "I notice you didn't ask how."

  "Nope. Not gonna make that mistake twice. I figure whatever shit you people are doing, I don't want to know if I'm going to be allowing you to bite me for the next couple of days."

  "He liked it," Cyno said quietly to Sal.

  "Yep," she told him. "You expect me to torture someone that's helping us?"

  His eyes flashed and the corner of his lip curled up. "Nah." But his expression denied his words.

  "Ok," Blaz said, tossing his hands up in annoyance. "I feel like a boy caught making out and my parents are discussing what to do with me. I make forward strike plans, not infiltration. My idea may not have been brilliant, but it's what I had. Hit me when the Blades fell into their roles seamlessly that I'm probably working above my pay grade right now, ok? I'm not trying to seduce your girl."

  The two iliri men tried to hide it, but they were amused. Cyno clenched his jaw and Blaec rubbed his hand across his mouth. Both turned to Sal. Cyno couldn't help it, a laugh slipped out, triggering one from Blaec. They caught each other's eyes, and both laughed again.

  "What?" Blaz demanded.

  Sal looked between her men, their amusement contagious, and chuckled herself before answering. "That comment was very human," she explained. "It also just made them feel a lot better about this."

  "Ok? I'm not supposed to admit I'm shit at planning infiltration missions?"

  She shook her head. "No, you're not supposed to think you can seduce me."

  "I can't," he said, still lost.

  Cyno laughed again. "Men do na seduce women," he said, trying to smother his urge to giggle like a child. "Especially na Sal."

  She ignored him. "They keep telling me that men impress women and I choose to accept it."

  Cyno grabbed his glass to smother another laugh that was trying to work its way out. Watching him, Blaec sighed, rubbing at his jaw. "Stop that, man," he told the little assassin. "It's not that funny."

  Blaz was completely confused. "Then why are you laughing at me?"

  "Not you," Blaec said. "I mean, he's right, but I can't remember seeing Cyno ever giggle before."

  "I do na giggle."

  "You are," Sal pointed out.

  "It's funny," Cyno said in his defense. "Does na mean I'm gigglin'."

  Ran watched the trio, leaning back casually in his chair, a content smile on his face. He raised his glass and took a sip, but never looked away. "I think that's the first time any of you have done that," he told the iliri.

  "What?" Sal asked.

  "Stopped playing human and let anyone see how you truly interact. Is this how it is when you're alone?"

  "Yeah," Blaec said, pulling Sal closer. "We're not that much different than you."

  "You kinda are," Blaz told them. "I know you don't see it, but you are. There's a nuance to everything you do that just doesn't make sense to the rest of us. Like the three of you sitting together."

  Sal suddenly sat up straight, swinging her legs to the floor. "They asked who told me about the fourth load."

  "Who did tell you?" Ran asked.

  "I did," Sal said. "It is the only thing that makes sense. I can show you?"

  "I don't have a map, Sal. I'll trust you on this."

  She nodded but the intensity didn't leave. "They're hauling the metal from the Huracan River split, not Terric. I don't know what's over there, but that's where they're either getting it, or – what's the word for when they make it into the bars?"

  "Smelting," Blaec said.

  "Yeah. But they couldn't figure out which pass it was going through."

  "I couldn't, Sal," Blaec told her. "Did you see it, Cyno?"

  "Yeh, once she pointed out the part about Escea, but I did na get that on my own. I'm na like her, though."

  "What do you mean?" Ran asked.

  "It just makes sense sometimes," Sal told him. "Like the bait and bleed. It was so obvious. I couldn't believe that no one else could see it was just to clear the path for the Escean load."

  Ran's eyebrows raised and he glanced at Blaec.

  The Major tried to explain. "We're pretty sure it's related to her prey drive. She basically predicts tactics and strategy as easily as you catch something. You don't think about the fact that you're calculating where the arc of the throw will end up, you just catch it. She catches her prey."

  Ran set down his glass, looking at the men around the room. "Ok. Blaz, find out which men said what about the fourth load and report to me tomorrow. Blaec, go do whatever it is you do. Cyno, would you mind waiting outside for Sal? I need a moment with her." The three men stood, and Ran held up a hand. "Blaz, if you happen to be heard working things out with Cyno, that would make this a lot easier on all of you. I do not want her alone for the next few days, am I understood?"

  "Yes, sir," all three said, then started making their way out. With a last look back, Cyno closed the door gently behind him.

  "How did you get caught?" Ran asked her without preamble.

  "I made a mistake. I heard them but didn't realize it wasn't a typical noise for the bathhouse."

  "Where were your weapons?" he demanded.

  "About a meter out of my reach. Steel does not do well around water. I'll keep the ceramic with me next time."

  "Damn it, Sal, there will not be a next time!"

  She reached out and patted his leg. "Yes, Ran, there will. This is the fourth time I've had an attempt since I've been with the Blades. There will be another. I will die, or I will not, but I can't always know where it will come from."

  "Oh, little one," he said patting the top of her hand. "I walked into that room just in time to see Cyno dragging your body from the water. You're pale enough to look like a corpse as it is."

  She smiled at him. "Just trust us, ok? I knew the Blades were coming. I tried to buy time, but I couldn't buy enough."

  "This hasn't thrown you off, has it?" he asked, gesturing to his head.

  "It's sweet that you worry," she told him, leaning closer. "It really is, but you just can't understand. That thing today? That's not a big deal. I'm not scared of dying. I'm not scared of being raped, or tortured, or anything else like that. That's why the Blades are so damned good. That, and that alone, is why we're so effective."

  "What are you scared of, Sal?"

  She looked away and took a deep breath, then turned back, lifting her chin defiantly. "Chains. Cages. I don't want to be a slave again. If you let me fight back, I'm fine."

  Ran nodded. "Then I promise you, I will never let it come to that."

  "It's our own people who are most likely to do it," she said, "and you can't exactly stop them."

  "Maybe not, but if I have no other option, I swear, I'll kill you before I let them do that."

  "Why?" she asked, daring him to answer.

  "I like you, Sal. I like the rest of them, too, or I wouldn't have them as elites, but I see something in you."

  "What you just offered me would get you hung."

  He shrugged. "I've looked death in the face before. Believe or not, I didn't always sit behind a desk." He scratched at the grey hair on his head, then looked back at her. "Child, the iliri aren't the only ones who aren't scared of death anymore. Some things are just worth it, ok?"

  Sal nodded and untangled herself from the couch. Taking the two steps to his side, with a shy smile, she leaned over and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Thank you. I believe you, Ran."

  "Oh, baby girl," he whispered, hugging her back. "Just let an old man indulge himself without trying to make me sentimental, ok? Just let me take care of you a bit?"

  She nodded at him. "A bit. But only if I get
to do the same?"

  "We'll call that a deal. Now go see your boys."

  When the door closed behind her, Ran grabbed his drink, and swallowed all of it in a single gulp. He sighed, rubbing at his eyes. In another life, she could have been his daughter. She had no idea how many memories she brought back. The stars on his collar be damned, he'd make sure he took care of that little spitfire if it was the last thing he did.

  Chapter 40

  Sal and Cyno entered the store two steps behind Zep, their heads lowered. All three of them were dressed in civilian attire, Zep's clothing significantly better than his friends'. He gestured for them to stand to the side, and glared until they obeyed, then turned a saccharine smile to the clerk.

  "I need to have my staff outfitted. Is that possible?"

  "The iliri?" a young man asked, eying them with disdain. "Here?"

  Zep sighed dramatically and made a dismissive gesture. "I know, but I'm hosting a party, and my wife is adamant that the staff not embarrass her."

  "Ah," the clerk said, nodded in understanding. "So we need couture for the event. I understand. Yes, we can help you with that."

  "In blues and golds. The female needs to be in dresses, the other, do what you can with him."

  You're an ass, Cyno sent.

  Don't make me laugh, Zep warned him.

  "Is there a specific style you're wanting to achieve?"

  "Oh, what did she call it," Zep said, glancing up and to the right. "Renaissance? Does that make sense to you? I'm afraid I don't follow fashion."

  "But you have excellent taste." The man gestured to Zep's clothes. "Yes, we can do Renaissance. We have a few ball gowns and suits based on Anglian and Myrosican styles. Our clients typically use them for themed or costume parties."

  "Yes, that should do. Make sure it fits well or she'll have my head."

  "No problem," the clerk promised, turning for his assistants.

  He gestured, and a young lady moved toward Sal, sniffing in disdain. "Follow me," she said curtly.

  Sal did, keeping her head down but her shoulders high. Unlike Cyno, she had perfected acting like a slave long ago. Shockingly enough, he was playing the role better than she had anticipated.

  You two just let me know what works, Zep thought to them.