“It was the same position my father had held and his father before him. I come from a long line of Margol Illibrium miners. Prior to Illibrium we also mined ore in the mountains of Chronos.”
“Wow. It must be hard for you to have left.”
“It is.”
“And now I feel like such a bitch because I’ve been whining this whole time about what happened to me and how I can’t go back to my home and yet the same thing happened to you.”
“I know what it feels like to have lost everything.”
“You do.”
“And also, this happened to me three moon cycles ago. Since then I have switched careers and started over. When I first discovered my cousin’s treachery I tore up my quarters and challenged him to an honor battle. I beat him to the ground. But he’d managed to convince others of his lies and he kept his position and therefore I had to leave.”
“So at first you were really upset and a total mess but by now you’ve calmed down because you’ve created a new life for yourself and you’re working the plan.”
“Yes. Having a new plan for the future helped immensely. I think often about my friends and family on Timbor. And I’m bitter about my cousin’s betrayal, and the betrayal of a core group of miners who went with him who I’d thought were my allies but weren’t. But at least my brothers are still there carrying on the line. My departure does not mean that our line has left Timbor.”
“How many brothers do you have?”
“I have nine brothers.”
“Nine brothers? Oh my gosh, your poor mother. Do you have any sisters?”
“No,” he laughed. “Just the ten of us males.”
“Are your parents still alive?”
He frowned. “No. This is what worries me still. My youngest brothers are being raised by my older brothers. I wish I was there to help. But again, they are being taken care of. My departure does not mean that anyone is going without. I just would prefer to be with them.”
“I understand. I hate being separated from my parents and my brother since I was so used to seeing them every single day.”
“It was difficult for me at first too because I was not only leaving Timbur, but the Illibrium too. I’d bonded with the crystals.”
“So it was like you had to detox?”
“I’ve heard this before. Humans and some other species in the four sectors become addicted to synthetic or natural substances, Xylan do not become addicted in this way. But the one exception is Illibrium. I had a low-level ‘addiction’ but I would instead call it a bond. The other miners and the Board of Directors understood that I needed to slowly leave, over the space of seven diurnals. I was moved farther and farther away. This has been done before, a miner needing to separate from the Illibrium and go off-planet. By the time I left I was down to a persistent headache that has now finally subsided.”
“What kind of bond did you have with the Illibrium?”
“When I was in the caves, working carefully to remove crystals that were ready for harvesting, I felt happy. If I was off-shift I felt a persistent need to return. I never wanted to take a day off. I enjoyed my job. Illibrium miners are very protective of the crystals because the crystals have bonded with us.”
“Do you still miss it? If they offered you your job back would you return?”
He turned to look into his Bride’s troubled gaze. “I cannot say. I enjoyed my past there, but the future in this position with my Bride is satisfactory.”
“I want you to know that whatever happens, if they want you back and you want to go there, or if you want to remain a Bounty Hunter—either way I am with you. I can work on machinery and robots wherever I am, that need is everywhere. As long as I’m at your side I’ll be happy wherever we end up.”
He cupped her cheeks and kissed her tenderly. “You are my future,” he said.
“And you are mine,” she replied.
14
“In-coming message from Trax on the Hunter Station.”
“What?” Daxon woke, startled, processing what the computer had said. “Oh hell, not again,” he groused. Another fucking message? He was busy mating non-stop with his Bride. He’d meant to go back to work today, but maybe not.
His female blinked her eyes open. “Computer, say that again,” she ordered with a gravelly voice.
“In-coming message from Trax on the Hunter Station,” the pleasant computer voice repeated.
It was the demanding Creekan who’d originally trained him. What had he done wrong now?
“Is that your boss trying to get ahold of you?” she questioned.
“Heh. I do not have a ‘boss.’ I work independently, although they can revoke my license if I make too many errors. But I am still in probationary status, this could be why he’s checking on me.”
She ran a hand along his bicep. “I’m sure you’re doing fine. But I wonder what he wants. Do you want me to go with you?”
“I’ll go alone,” he said, getting up. “You go back to sleep. I want you perfectly rested and healed so I can slide my cock inside you again the moment I return.”
“Okay,” she breathed. “I can do that. But I won’t wait forever. If you take too long I’ll come up there and embarrass you in front of your friends and kiss you and drag you back to bed.”
He chuckled and stood to clean and get dressed.
Minutes later he was on the bridge, ready to get this over with so he could return to his Bride. “Computer, open vid message with Trax.”
“Affirmed.”
The vid blinked to life and a Creekan immediately formed on the holo screen. The male turned around, staring at him intently. A thin layer of film rolled down and back up to lubricate his large, bulbous eyes. The male’s skin was a series of shiny small green scales and his mouth was edged with a hard line of darker scales. His smile was more of a grimace, full of pointy white teeth and exposing a red interior. He was built like many of the main species in the four sectors—breathing oxygen and walking upright, with two arms and two legs. The Creekans were historical allies of the Xylan.
“Hmm,” Trax hissed. “Daxon you look different, you look…happy. What happened? The male I knew was angry and defensive, mad at the universe for taking away his livelihood and his home and for having to lower himself to becoming a Bounty Hunter.”
He grimaced. It was true, Trax had met him at his worst. “Nothing is the same; I have found my Bride.”
“What?” Trax straightened. “You found your Bride? You were on your first mission as a Bounty Hunter which happened to be to New Earth, and it was decommissioned. You had less than a diurnal of turnaround and then you were in space again, returning to the station—and during this time you managed to find your Bride. How is this possible?”
“A human female snuck onto my ship and I found her in my bunk after I’d already left port and was in open space. This is how we met.”
“A stowaway? This is highly unusual. I’m shocked that this female was able to bypass our security system in order to gain access to your quarters.”
“It was because I am Xylan. The security system accounted for that, scanned her and discovered her genetics matched mine and confirmed she was my mate and gave her immediate access.”
The Creekan’s brow furrowed. “Should we consider this a loophole in our security that needs to be closed in the future?”
“Leave it as is. Any Xylan, male or female, would want their mate to be given immediate access to their ship. A mate is always an ally. And if the ship had shut her out, I would’ve left New Earth without having met her.”
“Understood… Why was your Bride running away from New Earth and hiding in your ship? What was she trying to escape from?”
A growl rumbled in his chest. “Darcy of One was about to be force mated to a human lazhul. She left him at the ceremonial altar and ran to my ship in order to find a way to depart her planet and escape.”
“What are you two talking about?” a deep voice cut in. “Did I hear you say Dax
on of Seven has found his Bride?” A Green-horn stepped into view, the other male who had also been in charge of Daxon’s training.
“Rengeli,” Daxon muttered.
“Daxon,” he answered, sweeping long black hair over the green skin of his massive shoulders.
These two males had made Daxon’s life miserable during the intensive training course he’d taken to streamline his testing for the Hunter license.
“Maybe this mating has something to do with the reason why we called,” Rengeli remarked.
“Why are you two calling me?” Daxon asked. His Bride was in his bunk, naked, waiting for his attentions…
“We decided to get in contact with you because we have a target we retrieved from New Earth in lockdown stasis.”
He rocked back on his heels. “You’re on a mission to New Earth?”
“Yes, we’re calling from our ship, this message is routed through the Hunter Station so our exact location remains secure. This is our latest security upgrade. Since you were just recently also on New Earth we wondered if you had any information on the target we’ve retrieved. The bounty for our target was placed by a human named Gurpreet Singh.”
Daxon slammed a fist on the console. “That’s the asshole I’ve vowed to kill.”
“Really?” Trax crossed his massive green-scaled arms, “And why is that? Tell us.”
Rengeli nodded. “This is going to be interesting.” He elbowed Trax. “See, I was right. I told you we should call Daxon.”
“Maybe we should sit down to listen to this.”
“Wait, I have snacks,” Rengeli said. And in seconds they were both seated and pulling out bowls of food. “We’re ready, tell us everything,” he mumbled through a full mouth.
Daxon rolled his eyes. These two were exactly the same as he’d remembered.
While they ate, he told them the entire story. How he’d found his mate in his bunk. He admitted that he’d asked her for a testing and she’d declined and vowed to never marry. He explained how he’d given her his honor over hers. And then how Gurpreet had found them and threatened to take his female back and vowed revenge. Daxon explained how his Bride was brilliant with mechanics and engineering and she’d found the part he’d installed incorrectly and fixed it. And then he told how the ship had failed and she’d saved him by clasping his claw. Then they’d had a confirmed mating—he’d claimed her in the holo deck. And they were now in his quarters enjoying their post-claiming time together.
Trax popped the last bit of food into his mouth and rubbed his clawed hands together. “That was a great story. Congratulations on finding your mate.”
“Yes,” Rengeli agreed. “Congratulations on such a momentous event. We are both happy that you have found your mate. She sounds perfect for you. But what are you going to do now that you’ve found your Bride? Will you return to New Earth? Are you going to remain as a Hunter?”
“I do not know. But I can only remain as a Hunter if my Bride can stay with me.”
“Hmm,” Trax hissed. “Do you think she’d make a good Bounty Hunter? Is she interested in that?”
“I don’t think so, but her skills with engineering and mechanics are excellent.”
“We’ll hire her,” Rengeli announced, standing and tossing his half-eaten bowl to the floor. “She’d be valuable on our maintenance team. And because she’d be your Bride we wouldn’t have to worry about her allegiance or longevity in her position.”
“Well, she’s pregnant with my offspring.”
“She can work around that. We’ll take what we can get.”
“Now, back to our original reason for this message,” Trax interrupted. “You obviously know exactly who put out the Bounty on our target. This human is not a worthy being. It makes sense this is compromised.”
“Compromised? Explain this to me. Who is your target? Who did Gurpreet put a hit on?”
“A male named Hector Chopra.”
Daxon cursed and glanced around, thankful his Bride wasn’t on the bridge to hear this terrible announcement. “That male is my Bride’s brother,” he growled. “He is my new brother-in-law, legally now part of my line.”
“Ah. Well, then good thing we called. You see, we picked this male up and put him in lockdown stasis but we knew something wasn’t right. He didn’t present like our typical target. This male had simply been working in a field of crops when we found him, unarmed and not hiding from us or running away. And unfortunately, his abduction resulted in a whole group of nearby beings weeping and shouting in anguish.”
“It was highly uncomfortable,” Rengeli commented.
“I can imagine,” Daxon muttered. Not that this stopped the two of them from taking Hector.
“We brought our target back to our ship and placed him in lockdown stasis, but before we formally turned in our target we decided to do a background check of our own. We knew you’d just left New Earth so we’ve called you for intel and now we know this is an illegal Bounty.”
Daxon grinned. Gurpreet was about to meet his maker. “Gurpreet Singh is a murderer,” Daxon affirmed, trying his best to give these two males as much information as possible. “He has a harem of women and offspring from his own loins. He beats them and sometimes this leads to their death. My Bride discovered his murder and abuse and this is why she ran from him. She is eager to see him apprehended so he does not continue to harm others. But I want him to die in blood. He posted this Bounty on my brother-in-law, who is an honorable male, as retribution for her brother’s help in her escape off-planet. Hector Chopra is the reason Darcy of One was able to escape and survive.”
Trax and Rengeli exchanged a deadly glance. “Leave this to us. We will deal with your ‘lazhul.’ Bounties are only placed on citizens who have committed actual crimes and law enforcement is unable to capture them due to their ability to slip between planets and sectors. We are not mercenaries for hire. We do not deal kindly with individuals who manage to sneak false Bounties past our evaluation team. We take our reputation in the four sectors very seriously.”
“I want him dead for how he has treated my Bride and for his other crimes against females and offspring. If you do not properly finish him, then I will.”
“Understood.”
15
One hour later Daxon had managed to quickly fuck his Bride, leave her satisfied, and make up a reason for them both to dress and be in the cargo bay at that exact moment.
He felt he deserved an award for his ingenuity.
Darcy of One stood with him, wearing layers of occupational clothing, innocently unaware that anything unusual was planned. Trax and Rengeli had the code to his transporter disk and were set to release their target and transfer him to Daxon. He hadn’t told his Bride what was happening or why. He hoped it would be a surprise. A good surprise.
“Why are we in the cargo bay staring at the transporter?” she asked. “Are you expecting something…or someone?”
He stood behind her, his arms around her waist. She fit so perfectly in his embrace. Daxon settled his chin on top of her head. Standing with his Bride and inhaling her scent settled his nerves. “Maybe,” he answered. “We might possibly be waiting for someone to arrive.”
“What? You big sneak, I can’t believe you didn’t tell me we were having company. Who’s coming?”
The transporter started to hum, signaling an arrival.
“You’ll see,” he answered, raising his voice over the sound, “he’s arriving right now.”
“He? He who?”
A myriad of atoms and light began to coalesce into an actual form. Finally, a large human male materialized.
“Oh my gods,” his Bride gasped. “Is that my brother? What is my brother doing here? Hector,” she called out. “Hector, is that you?”
Darcy broke from his embrace and ran to the transporter disk. The male was standing, looking slightly sickened and shaky.
“He just came out of lockdown stasis,” Daxon explained as he stepped forward and placed an arm around the male�
��s chest to stabilize him. “It always takes time for a being to recover. They took him out of stasis and put him into the transporter, knowing we’d take care of him.”
The human male groaned.
“They? Who?” His Bride’s sparkling eyes were bright with tears.
“Trax and Rengeli, they released your brother and sent him here with me. Let’s walk him over to med bay for an evaluation so he can recover. I’ll explain everything once we get there.”
In minutes they had the male on a bed and a wand running over him. He was swiftly hooked to liquid intake, medications were administered and within minutes the human was recovering from stasis.
“Sometimes the effects of the stasis unit hit some beings harder than others. We never know how it will be. One being can instantly recover from lockdown stasis, and the next will need resuscitation.”
“Why was my brother in a stasis unit?” Darcy demanded.
“He was in stasis because Gurpreet Singh put out an expedited Bounty for your brother, therefore two Hunters from the Guild were sent to retrieve him.”
“What?” she gasped. “That asshole. I cannot believe. How dare he.”
“I figured it was Gurpreet,” Daxon’s new brother-in-law, Hector, responded with a raspy voice.
Darcy rushed over to his side. “Hector, are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. The meds and liquid are helping.” He sat up and held his sister’s hand. “It’s good to see you.”
Then Hector’s eyes swept over and met with Daxon’s. The same green-gold eyes Daxon had been looking at for the last few diurnals. These two siblings looked very much the same with their dark hair and Margol pigment; it was obvious they were brother and sister. He wondered when he’d eventually meet their parents to find if they favored their father or mother.
“When I saw the Bounty Hunters approach, I knew Gurpreet was behind it,” Hector said. “I tried to tell the Hunters it was a mistake.”
Daxon shook his head. “That’s what all the targets say. We’ve been trained to ignore it.”
The Alien Bounty Hunters Complete Series: Books 1-8 Page 69
