by Anna Carven
Zyara had to admire the balls on this guy. He’d allowed three fully armed elite Kordolian warriors to walk into his house as if they were favored guests. Surely he knew what they were capable of. And now he was asking them to leave her alone with him?
Rykal let out a sharp, bitter laugh. “You think we’re going to trust you with our medic, Human? There are no secrets here. Whatever you have to say, you can say with us around. Don’t worry, we don’t bite.” The warrior bared his fangs as he spoke.
Kai responded with the coldest smile Zyara had ever seen. “My house, my rules.”
Kalan, Rykal, and Nythian were staring at him, their faces as hard and ominous as the barren plains of the Vaal. Zyara was about to intervene before things got violent, but Kai held up a hand. “Relax, soldiers. With the three of you on the premises I would be a fool to try anything.” He shot Zyara an appreciative glance. “Besides, do you really think she wouldn’t be able to hold her own against me?”
Zyara glared back at him, both annoyed and flustered. She was tired of these males speaking on her behalf, and she was half-tempted to ask the three Kordolians to stay, just to teach Kai a lesson.
He shouldn’t make such assumptions, even though he was right.
Arrogant, infuriating man.
But before she could say anything, Kalan was rising to his feet. “Very well,” he growled, regarding Kai with an odd sort of curiosity. “We will play nice, for now. But try anything stupid, and you’ll answer to me.” He smiled, revealing his pointed fangs. “Trust me, if you try anything, we’ll know about it.”
Kai raised a dark eyebrow but said nothing as the three warriors left the room. Zyara rolled her eyes. Typical overprotective males. They were so used to seeing threats in every corner of the Universe. They treated everyone and everything as an enemy until proven otherwise.
A small part of Zyara wished she could be free of her Kordolian entourage, even just for a day. She wanted to explore every part of this fascinating planet called Earth.
Humans were thought of as weak and technologically primitive by the rest of the Nine Galaxies, but their culture was complex and brilliantly flawed.
They had learned to create beauty amongst the ugliness of their existence.
She became aware of the silence. It stretched between them as Kai watched her, a slight smile playing across his lips.
“I didn’t think you’d return so soon,” he murmured at last, breaking the tension. He raised his glass to his lips, savoring his amber drink. Zyara caught a faint whiff of alcohol mixed with something masculine and woody. Beneath the dark sleeve of his jacket, she caught a flash of something crimson on his white cuff.
Human blood?
As Kalan had said, these people were violence wrapped up in an aesthetically pleasing package.
“I didn’t expect to be back so soon,” Zyara replied, “but I need to call in that favor.”
“Anything for you,” Kai murmured, leaning back in his chair. He was still looking at her like that. His piercing black gaze did funny things to her. “Tell me what you need, and I will deliver.”
Zyara crossed her legs as her arousal flared. “I need something called Simavir, and I need it fast. Can you get it for me?”
“What is it?” He took another sip of his drink, his sensual lips curving around the rim of the glass.
Even as Kai drove her to distraction, Zyara’s hopes of a speedy resolution dimmed. If he didn’t even know what Simavir was, then how was he supposed to obtain it quickly? Perhaps she had overestimated his influence on Earth.
“It’s a drug. A treatment for a rare disease. I need it within the next day.”
“Ah.” Kai’s expression turned distant, his gaze becoming unfocused. It happened for just a moment, so quickly that Zyara wondered whether she was imagining things. It was as if he’d disappeared and gone somewhere else.
Then he was back, dark intelligence glimmering in his eyes. “If it’s made on Earth, I can get it on the black market. Won’t take more than a few hours to source it through my connections. But I want something from you in exchange.”
“I didn’t realize there were strings attached to your favor,” Zyara said tersely. This conversation wasn’t going the way she’d anticipated, even though Kai seemed so certain he could obtain this mysterious substance.
“Quite often I decide to attach ‘strings’ to things,” he said. “That is how we survive in Darkside.” Although his words were cold, his smile held warmth. “I seek an advantage in everything, and right now, I want something from you. On Earth, everything comes at a price. Is that not how things are on your planet, Kordolian?”
“Culturally, it’s not our habit to say one thing when we mean another. We are known for our directness. I have no time for games, Human. Just tell me what you want.”
Kai’s smile widened. “But I’m being honest with you now, aren’t I? How much do you want your Simavir, Zyara? Enough to barter with me?”
Zyara shook her head in exasperation. This Human was difficult to read, and she didn’t know whether his intentions were good or bad. Based on the way he was looking at her, she suspected his desires had something to do with her.
She wasn’t used to this. On Kythia, no male would dare toy with her. She was the daughter of a Noble House.
“I could force you to comply,” she growled. “We Kordolians also have a habit of taking what we want.” The First Division would back her up if she asked them to. They would not hesitate to answer Human resistance with threats and violence.
That was what they were good at.
“But you won’t,” Kai said, full of confidence. “Not when you hear me out.”
“Oh?” She wondered how he could be so sure of himself. “And what could you possibly what from me?”
“Time.”
“Excuse me?”
“Don’t you ever get tired of existing in that small desert enclave of yours?”
“I go where I’m posted. I’m not a pampered Noble. I’ve seen harsher planets than Earth, believe me.”
“You have never known the guilty pleasures of indulgence, have you?”
Zyara laughed. She couldn’t help it. The man had no idea what it meant to be female in Kythian society. “You don’t know anything about me, and yet you have the gall to assume such things?”
“All I see is you being constantly surrounded by hyper-vigilant minders. You won’t ever really get to experience Earth if you carry on like that.”
“The Universe is a dangerous place.” Zyara shrugged, trying not to reveal her annoyance. Because he’d hit a nerve. She’d had her first taste of true freedom, and she wanted more.
Kai set his drink aside and leaned forward, his hands clasped together, his brow slightly wrinkled. For the first time, Zyara saw beyond his unflappable exterior.
“All I’m asking is that you spend some time with me, Zyara. Let me take you out and spoil you.”
“You want to… take me out?”
“The old-fashioned term for it is a date, but yes, I want to do exactly that. Leave your minders behind and let me show you what Darkside is all about.” He said it with such earnestness that Zyara was seriously tempted.
“I’m not here to socialize.”
“But you want to, don’t you? Just indulge me for one night, Zyara, and then you will have your Simavir.”
Hells, he was like the Dark God Kaiin, tempting her into the Underworld. Before she left, she’d spoken with Abbey about these people, these gangsters.
As an outsider, she was safe in Darkside, but that didn’t mean Kai and his sort were to be trusted.
Don’t agree to anything without knowing exactly what’s at stake, Abbey had told her.
Zyara feared she was about to go against that advice, all for a couple of Human children who had no relationship to her whatsoever.
Perhaps she was going mad.
She was falling under the Human spell, just like the General and the rest of the First Division.
What was this power these strange creatures held over them?
Being on Earth did something strange to all of them. It changed them.
Zyara took a sip of her drink, trying to quell the heat rising in her body. It started in her belly and coiled its way up into her chest and down into her core. She fought to hold onto logical thought. “There’s no way they’d agree to let me go with you. Are you out of your mind?”
Kai smiled. “It’s up to you to convince them. Rest assured that while you’re in my territory, no harm will come to you. I watch every inch of the North Ward, and my people are everywhere.”
She remained silent, studying him, noting the grazes on his knuckles, the gleaming gold of his serpent-shaped ring, and the sliver of brightly colored ink that appeared just underneath the perfectly pressed, crimson-stained white cuff of his shirt.
His smile widened. “Let me take care of you. You know you want to, Zyara.”
She sighed. “Why are you so insistent, Human?”
“I think you know why.” His gaze softened, becoming almost tender. A gentle laugh escaped him as he shook his head. “The Master of the North Ward grants you an unconditional favor and you use it to do something completely selfless. I can’t have that. Not on my turf. Not after what you’ve done for me and my clan.”
“I need that medicine, Kai.”
“Oh, you will have it, Zyara, if you agree to my terms.” He held out a hand.
Zyara hesitated, before placing her hand in his. She remembered this Human gesture, this handshake.
“Deal?”
“Very well,” she agreed. His hand was rough and warm and only slightly larger than her own. His grip felt good. Solid. Strong.
Human.
“Then it’s agreed. A date.” Kai’s smile radiated warmth. It was as if the man before her was an entirely different person to the one who had walked into the room.
An electric thrill coursed through Zyara as she looked into his eyes. But if Kai made her a little giddy inside, she didn’t show it. Zyara was an expert at concealing her emotions. In her line of work, composure was vital. “So what now, Master of the North Ward?”
“First, call off your wolves. You are amongst friends here. I will give you some time to prepare while I attend to my work, and when the sun disappears, we will hit the streets. I think both of us prefer the night.”
Zyara nodded, hiding her flutter of anticipation as she wondered what in Kaiin’s Hells she had just gotten herself into.
A date with a Human.
Or was it something more than that? Why did she feel as if things would never be the same after tonight?
And why did that thought make her feel so good?
As a flurry of heated thoughts entered Zyara’s head, Kai stood and retrieved something from a hidden drawer. “I think this is yours,” he said, holding out her black Callidum dagger, the one she’d dropped last night. He offered it as if it was an exotic flower.
How romantic.
When he was thoughtful like this, how could Zyara resist?
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Kai was nuts. The Council of Families was after his head, the Boss was dying, Melia had been stabbed, and some kid had just hit him in the neck with an unknown sharp object.
A few nights ago someone had hacked his bio-sig, and he still hadn’t figured out who.
He had his suspicions, though.
And here he was, contemplating a night out on the town with a beautiful alien.
Fuck it. His world was going to shit, and an angel had appeared right in front of him. How could he let her slip out of his grasp a second time?
He’d questioned the kid, whose name was Truman, about the weird object that had pierced his neck, but the kid had known nothing.
The kid had the lean, hungry, wild look of a son of the streets, and there was a desperation about him that Kai knew all too well. His minders had been smart enough to keep him wanting and yet they had told him nothing. Kai would get nothing further out of him, but he’d decided to keep him around, for now.
For some reason, the kid reminded him of himself at a younger age.
Except that when Kai had been picked up by Vadim, he’d been twelve years old, and he’d just killed his first man.
In his wisdom, or madness, or whatever it was, the Boss had pulled some strings and secured him a spot in the Federation Academy.
And look how that had turned into a fucking disaster.
Kai fastened his second cufflink, straightened his tie, and absently rubbed the grazes on his knuckles. After returning to the compound, he’d encountered the two thugs from earlier. Banri’s people had located them, trussed them up, and thrown them into the basement.
Before meeting Zyara, there had been a swift interrogation, involving the strategic use of Kai’s fists.
They hadn’t known anything either.
The metal device that had penetrated his neck now lay in a small black dish on his dresser. Kai used a pair of tweezers to pick it up, grasping it with forensic precision.
It was a star-shaped object, no larger than the end of his thumb, with tiny spikes protruding from one end. In the center was a tube-shaped extension. The gleaming metal was stained with Kai’s dried blood.
It was like nothing he’d ever seen before. It certainly didn’t look Human; perhaps it was off-planet tech.
What had it injected into his body? A pathogen? Poison?
Whatever it was, he wasn’t feeling any different.
A gentle chime alerted him to the fact that someone was at his door. Kai accessed the security vision through the feed of his neural implant and saw a familiar face.
“Come in, doctor,” he said, activating the voice node in his link band. The doors slid open to admit a tall man in a white coat. A medical porter-bot trailed behind him, carrying all kinds of equipment.
On the street, people like Doctor Samson were known as ‘company doctors.’ The various arms of the Syndicate employed doctors who were Federation registered, but available to do grey work at short notice.
Samson had forged a reputation as a talented trauma surgeon, and over the years, he and Kai had formed a relationship of sorts. One might even say they were friends.
“Please don’t tell me you’ve been in another fight, Kainan.” Samson’s deep, booming voice echoed throughout the cavernous space. He frowned at Kai. “As I have frequently told you, you’re getting too old for that sort of shit. But then again, when have you ever listened to me?”
“I always take your advice, Samson,” Kai replied, sitting down in an upholstered leather chair. “I might just interpret it differently from time to time.”
“In all my fifteen years of being a doctor, you’re the worst patient I’ve ever had. You don’t listen to advice, you ignore pain, and you seem to think the best cure for fresh wounds is to go out and get into a fight.” Samson ordered the porter-bot to idle beside Kai’s chair. He pulled up a stool, shaking his head as a stern expression crossed his dark face. Even when seated, he cut an intimidating figure with his large six-foot-six frame, closely cropped hair, and stern, elegant features. He was built like an athlete, with thickly muscled arms and impressively wide shoulders. Every year, he disappeared for a month, traveling to the bustling freelands of New Nairobi to visit his family.
He was the only doctor who’d been able to hold Kai down when he’d become delirious and agitated after a dose of bad sedative.
That had been a long time ago. Ever since that incident, he’d been Kai’s first choice whenever he’d required medical treatment.
“So, Sandama, what’s the problem? Are you hiding mortal wounds underneath that expensive suit of yours?”
“I’m not injured,” Kai said. “I wanted to get your opinion on this.” He reached across to the dresser and passed the black dish to Samson.
The doctor glanced at the object, his brown eyes narrowing. “I’m a doctor, not a tech-head. What are you asking me for?”
“It’s an injecting
device of some sort. I believe it was used to deliver some sort of substance into my body, I just don’t know what.”
“How long ago?”
“Several hours.”
“Any symptoms?”
“None whatsoever.”
“Hmm.” Samson stared at the thing. “Looks alien. I can take it down to the biosci labs if you like, get it analyzed.”
“No. I’ll get our people to look at it. I don’t want Federation hands anywhere near it.”
“Suit yourself.” Samson didn’t even question Kai’s decision. Hidden in the Denki Town district of Darkside were some of the most brilliant technological minds on Earth. The Syndicate Families did a roaring trade in dark technology, selling anything from illegal body enhancements to banned subversive AI. They charged exorbitant prices and spent billions on research and development.
Someone in Denki Town would be able to crack this device.
“I need to do a full check-up on you. If something’s been released into your system, we need to find it. It could be a virus with a long incubation period, or a slow-acting toxin.”
“Do what you have to do, doctor.”
“I need a blood sample.”
Kai shrugged off his jacket and rolled up his sleeve, revealing his vibrantly inked forearm. A twisting, scaled dragon’s tail wound its way amongst brilliantly colored cherry blossoms and bold, fanlike black patterns.
Samson attached a monitoring device to his finger and retrieved an auto-collector from his porter-bot. A faint needle-prick was all Kai felt as the machines did their thing, collecting a blood sample and performing an instant analysis.
Samson activated a holoscreen, and minutes later, data began streaming across it.
The doctor shook his head. “All the readings are completely normal. No toxins or pathogens detected. According to my data, you’re too healthy for your own good. I don’t know what the hell that device is, but the plan wasn’t to kill you.”
