“Then who has a bounty contract in agreement with the Imperial Calystii flagship heading toward this planet?” he snarled.
If it were possible, the male became even paler.
“They are coming here? No one in this office would make any arrangements with the Imperial family.”
Borth leaned forward, his eyes narrowing suspiciously.
“And why should I believe this?”
“Because,” the male gasped beneath the hold that had shifted up around his throat, “the corporation works outside of the mandates and permission of the Imperial family. It is Calystii-owned but not affiliated with our homeworld. In order to increase our legitimacy, we have illegal paperwork forged saying that we have the emperor’s blessing to establish territories and collect payment on behalf of the Empire for the goods we are distributing… and we sell them at full cost, for profit to our own people,” he added weakly. “That alone violates several laws dealing with goods dispersal that are disadvantageous to an enterprising merchant. My employers depend on not being within range of the Imperial powers.”
“Then who would have a bounty on my mate with an arrangement to fulfill it within the next few days?”
A calculating look crossed the male’s face until Borth squeezed hard enough to be a sufficient reminder that the Calystii not get any ideas.
Danya growled helplessly within his grasp. “Nikana,” he snarled. “I only recently learned that the retired Imperial bounty hunter had come to this shithole planet. The payment that the Imperial family was offering is exactly what would draw the Morith into action.”
Borth looked down at the male in disbelief. Nikana? The female was trusted by nearly everyone who traversed at one point or another through Intakfell. She had even been there, newly established, when he and his brother arrived.
“Impossible!”
The male in his grasp chuckled. “Why? Because of her kindness? Nikana can slip a blade into her victim’s back while certain that he is smiling and unsuspecting the entire time.”
Borth dropped the male, his body swinging around so fast that the Calystii didn’t have time to evade his tail as it slapped him to the ground. That was unintentional, but Borth did not regret it. He did not even give it a second thought as he opened his comm.
“Grish, we have a problem… Grish? Answer your comm!”
The Calystii pushed himself up to his knees and gave him a sympathetic look. “If she has already moved to strike, then you are too late.”
The male’s cocky smile suddenly disappeared as the earth jerked, and he shouted fearfully as a vicious earthquake rattled the building, breaking windows and demolishing everything that was flung with great strength to the ground.
“Get off this planet if you have any sense of self-preservation,” Borth snarled as he rose once more to his feet. “This is the only warning I will give you.”
He did not waste any more words on the male as he rushed out of the building to his flyer. Panic was setting in as he tried repeatedly to raise Grish and Crystal on their comms. Why were they not answering? A shudder ran over his skin as his eyes tracked to the volcano that appeared to have increased in size, a lick of dread sliding down his spine.
“Answer!” he snarled as he slid into the flyer.
Chapter 25
Crystal frowned from where she stood in the common room. It hadn’t been that long ago when she had stood there, singing with boredom. Now she was anything but bored, her muscles tight and achy with tension. She was genuinely afraid, but also felt a kernel of real anger setting in.
She had worked hard and built a life on Antari Minor with Borth and Grish. She resented like hell that the Calystii were now going to ruin everything.
From the corner of her eye, she saw Grish re-enter the room, his tail stiff behind him. It reminded her of sexytimes with the guys, but she knew that the context was very different this time. Grish’s entire body was on alert to kill anything or anyone who attempted to enter their home.
His beautiful amber eyes met her gaze. He attempted to give her a comforting smile, but it was tight with worry. She gave him props for at least trying, however. Walking over to her side, he grazed his knuckles against her cheek soothingly.
“Nargis commed in a panic before static interference dropped the communication. I could not make out much of what he said, but he spoke of seeing something suspicious moving through his property. I am going to head out that way for only a minute. Borth will already be in town by now dealing with Danya, so there should not be anything for you to worry about. Still, stay here and be safe until I return. Just be cautious. Remember that Matida is out there, so it is unlikely that anyone will be able to get anywhere near the property.”
She nodded mutely, her heart pattering at a rapid tempo in her chest. There was no reason to be so scared. He was right. This was all going to be over soon; he was just going to follow the lead on an intruder. All she needed to do was remain there.
She could do that.
“I’ll be fine,” she croaked.
“I will be back very soon. Stay inside,” he reiterated, and pressed a blaster into her hand. “If anything happens, protect yourself by any means necessary.”
She produced a weak smile and gave him a thumbs up. “You got it, dude.”
Confused amber eyes blinked at her, and she sighed.
“Don’t worry about it… It’s just a thing. Everything and everyone is, dude. I’m just rambling out of panic here, so don’t mind me.”
His expression softened, and he nuzzled her.
“Hurry back, Grish,” she whispered. “I’m not going to lie. All this shit is creeping me out. Especially the comms suddenly not working.”
“Static interference is uncommon, but has been known to happen,” he said. “Do not worry, katna, I prefer your company to all others and will rush back at my greatest speed.”
She chuckled, her head tilting up to meet his embrace as he lowered his head to drop a kiss on her lips. She felt marginally better about the situation minutes later when he exited the house, his enormous bulk dwarfing everything around him as he headed to the stable to get his gorthal. When he emerged mounted on the large animal, it skittered nervously, its head tossing before it ran at full gallop in the direction of Nargis’s farm.
She sighed. A stupid Calystii wasn’t going to be able to get past that male.
Wrapping her arms around herself, Crystal licked her lips and settled in, resting her bottom against the arm of the couch as she stared out at the familiar scenery.
He would only be gone for a little while. He would be coming back through the adjoining orchards before she knew it.
She stood there, leaning against the couch, until restlessness drove her to pace back and forth through the common room. The absolute silence of the house settled around her with such familiarity that when a knock sounded at the door she nearly jumped out of her skin.
Her hand darted to the blaster, the small hairs at the back of her neck practically standing on end. She listened, waiting for the ferocious sound of Matida attacking, but was met with silence. Odd.
A laugh bubbled out of her. Her paranoia was showing. How many killers or bounty hunters were going to politely knock as if it were a Sunday social visit?
The knock started again.
“Crystal? Are you home?” a familiar voice called sweetly.
“Nikana, what are you doing here?” Crystal called through the door as she arrived in front of it. Through the doorway cam, she saw the female grimace apologetically at the door.
“I apologize for arriving so suddenly. I tried to call on my way over, but it seems that comms are acting up again. I just had to come, however. I feel it is a matter of some import. I heard some talk at the teahouse that I thought you should know about. Especially after your meeting with the Lorgors… May I come in?”
An amused huff burst from her. “Of course, Nikana. I’m sorry. Give me a minute and I’ll disarm the security systems. Is Matida there
with you?”
“Hmm? No, I haven’t seen her yet. Perhaps she is sniffing out something that attracted her attention. Smart of your mates to have her wandering nearby, however. Things are not safe right now.”
Nikana could say that again. It bothered her a little that Matida didn’t alert her to the Morith’s approach, but Crystal shrugged, unconcerned. The animal was rarely flighty, but Nikana wasn’t a threat, and it wasn’t unheard of for the animal to follow her nose and do as she liked on a whim.
Security disabled, Crystal put a hand on the locking panel beside the door and waited as it read her biometric signature. The door slipped open with a click, and a familiar golden female stepped inside.
“Oh, thank the gods,” the female breathed, scrubbing her arms to knock loose the leaves that had fallen over the long, poncho-like cover draped over her robes. “I appreciate you opening your home to me.”
“It’s no problem,” Crystal assured her. “You’ve always been so kind, even to an awkward offworlder like me—not enough time developing people skills, I’m afraid,” she chuckled, “I do appreciate that you were willing to come all this way to warn me.”
“Of course. Think nothing of it,” the female said lightly, her eyes darting around. Crystal paused at the furtive look, but it disappeared, and the female smiled at her. “Speaking of your males, where are they? I thought I saw Grish in the distance heading off your property, but where is your handsome male, Borth?”
“He is in town following a lead,” she answered as she gestured for the female to follow her into the kitchen. “We discovered that someone is collecting a bounty on me.”
“Oh yes, I heard the same. I had to come the very moment I heard,” Nikana said behind her as Crystal grabbed the pot to start brewing intimbar. The female had come all that way out of kindness. It was the least she could do.
Setting the pot on the heated plate, she rubbed her eyes wearily.
“Are you well?” the female asked softly.
“Yes, of course. Just tired. I didn’t sleep well last night, and this whole thing has me anxious. I’ll be grateful when it’s over.”
“I can imagine.” Nikana’s footsteps grew closer. “I do hope that Borth discovers the identity of the bounty hunter. It is very distressing, I am sure you know.”
Crystal nodded and switched off the heated pot, the light trill from the heated water fading away as she set it aside.
“It’s a little scary, but I think Borth knows who it is. Even so, they aren’t taking any chances. Grish was pretty insistent that I stay locked down in here until he returned. He won’t be too happy that I let you in, but I think he will be pretty understanding, knowing it’s you.”
“Perhaps not,” Nikana said right behind her, something stirring within her voice that made all the fine hairs on Crystal raise with alarm. From her peripheral vision, she watched as a blaster rose to point in her direction. “In this case, you should have listened to your mate.”
Adrenaline surged through her on a current of fear as Crystal pivoted around, swinging the pot hard enough that it collided with the Morith’s face. The blaster flew off, clattering to the floor somewhere out of sight.
Crystal didn’t wait around to hunt for it. With a hard shove, she pushed by Nikana, knocking the female to the floor with her curvier frame as she bolted for the front door. Her feet had no sooner hit the lavender grass when blaster fire erupted behind her.
“Fuck! Crazy bitch!” she shouted as she hauled ass to the stable.
Her sweet boy turned his head toward her at her sudden arrival. Clambering over to his side, she thanked Grish for patiently teaching her to ride before the final harvest, and pulled herself up onto his back.
Giving his head free rein, she shouted a command, her heels digging into his sides as he sprung forward, bursting from the stable. His quick step neatly evaded the blaster fire from the enraged, screaming Morith, as he carried her away from the property in the opposite direction from Nargis’s farm.
She needed to get some distance between herself and the Morith without risking her mates. Her lips pressed into a thin line as she hoped to lose her pursuer through all the trees on the northeastern neighbor’s farm, whose property ran right up to the base of the volcano. Nikana wouldn’t be able to follow her by flyer through that dense growth.
She wanted to shout in triumph, and was just relaxing against Morosh as he ran spryly through the woods when the earth bucked beneath them, sending Crystal flying hard into a tree. As her head made contact, slamming into the thick trunk, a light flashed behind her eyelids. She was aware of the rustle of violently swaying trees only a moment before she dropped unconscious to the ground.
Chapter 26
Grish drew back sharply on the reins of his gorthal, Etuaan, forcing him to stop in front of the house. The animal fought him, his head tossing, the arcing horn spearing back as he attempted to break Grish’s control. The earthquake had brought both him and the stallion down, but thankfully he had been quick enough to grab the reins before his mount could break and run. The animals had been anxiously milling around the stable, their breaths snorting out in billows when he fetched his mount just hours earlier.
He should have paid attention to the signs. There was no call for evacuation over the comms, but with the static interference, even if there were a last-minute emergency order to flee to safety, he wouldn’t have received it. Likely the majority of farms outside of town would not have, either. His last comm had been the badly scrambled missive from Nargis. Or so he had thought, until the male had greeted his presence with surprise.
He had been lured away from the property at the worst possible time.
He had been deceived, and worse yet, they had been wrong!
There was no way that Danya would have been able to get past Borth to their land. The bounty hunter working for the Calystii was someone else. He knew that without a doubt when he spun away from Nargis’s domicile with a roar of rage.
Grish’s anger was so great that he had barely been aware of his friend following him as he stalked away, until the male had grabbed his arm and insisted they stop at the stable for weapons. Grish hadn’t been expecting much, shocked when the male opened a hidden wall at the back of the stable containing a large collection of blasters and plasma weapons. Nargis saddled a massive, shaggy four-horned oowali and holstered blasters with an ease that had been surprising for a Wanit after tossing Grish a blaster and a large plasma rifle.
They had ridden out, pushing their mounts as fast as possible until the earthquake had thrown them. Then a new fear had replaced his rage, and he sent his friend back to evacuate his mate. The volcano wasn’t going to go back to sleep.
He had known that when he had sat up, reins firmly in hand, and had seen the evidence of the dead fish floating in the lake they were passing. Over the last few days, he had noted the presence of dead insects and birds randomly appearing on his property but hadn’t thought much of it. Animals died all the time, especially in the cooling days and nights of the autumn. He should have remembered that deadly gasses were often released prior to eruptions.
Now a beat sounded within him that cried out “too late, too late.”
“Crystal! Katna!” he shouted, steering his mount toward the door.
He would ride right in and grab her if he needed to. He opened his mouth again, prepared to verbally override the lock codes so he wouldn’t have to dismount, but his heart seized with terror as the door slid open at his approach. It was unlocked.
He had locked it—he was certain!
“Crystal!” he bellowed with overwhelming rage and grief.
There was no answer, only silence, as he directed his gorthal inside. The wide structure of their domicile allowed easy passage. Nothing appeared disturbed except the kitchen, where an overturned pot spilled water all over the floor. Drawing a deep breath, a hiss escaped him as a familiar scent lingering in the room slid over his olfactory receptors. A vicious snarl escaped him as hate rose sharp
and hungry in his mind with the identity of the betrayer becoming at once clear to him.
Nikana.
Revolutions of friendship between them with every visit to her teahouse, and she had betrayed it to collect a bounty on their mate.
Throwing his head back, he bellowed, his roar echoing through the house as he drove his mount forward. Etuuan sprung forward with a deep, resonating bark. The animal’s heavy hooves clattered over the floor as they raced back through the domicile and burst back out the door. A heavy shadow immediately drew up ahead of him, and Grish’s arm snapped up, leveling the plasma rifle at the intruder.
“Grish, put the rifle down,” Borth snarled, stepping forward from the shadows, his arms laden with a heavily sedated tantogal. “She is not here or anywhere on the property. I have been searching for her and any sign of Nikana since I arrived a short time ago.”
“And Matida?” Grish rasped.
“Fine. Just sleeping. I found her just behind the stable.”
Grish nodded. “Good. Get her and the animals in the cargo of the flyer. We have to leave immediately.”
“Into the flyer? Grish, there is barely room in the cargo for animals this big,” Borth said. “It wouldn’t be safe to transport them this way once we catch up to Crystal. I am certain she escaped Nikana. Her mount is gone.”
Relief surged through Grish, but he knew it wouldn’t last long if they did not hurry to find their mate. His hand shot forward as he grabbed ahold of his brother’s shirt.
“Borth, we do not have a choice. The volcano…”
The male’s eyes widened in horror as understanding dawned and he yanked free. Working quickly, they secured the two gorthals in their flyer’s cargo bay and hauled Matida into the passenger area. The tantogal took up half of the available space, but leaving the animals behind was not an option. They had promised their mate. The only difference was that they no longer had the option to use the transporter.
Teril's Fire: A Mate Index Alien Romance (The Mate Index Book 12) Page 18
