He didn’t care how many people the Fleet had saved with their intervention in a Barconian invasion. Selfish or not, his priority was Parker. It always would be. It was the way it should be. No self-respecting Shuzon would feel any differently about their felixi, their mate.
That Rafer obviously didn’t feel that way almost made Knox resent him. He didn’t deserve their felixi if he was willing to risk her safety. For the first time in his life, Knox was willing to be selfish where his twin was concerned.
Shuzons shared everything. Home, hearth, heart. If he could take Parker away from Rafer, he would have. As it was, Parker’s body told him she was as mated to him as she was to his brother.
On top of that, outside his anger at Rafer’s disregard of the promise he’d made him, Knox did know how his twinling felt about their felixi. How the man had dragged himself from her, he didn’t know. Knox couldn’t have.
Sighing, he scrubbed a hand through his hair as he asked himself how things had become so complicated when the situation was so simple.
The answer was his goddamned Federation-ass-licking twin. The perfect spy. The perfect soldier. The less than perfect mate.
And to Knox, it was the latter that counted.
When Parker didn’t come to his office after he waited twenty mins, he took it to mean she was sulking with him. Well deserved, he supposed. He had been lying to her about Rafer. To a certain degree, at any rate. There was little he could do save from throwing himself into his work. It was a pragmatic choice, but he couldn’t just sit there. He had a busy mind, and he liked to keep active. It helped that, with a resort this size, he always had plenty on his plate.
As he logged onto his comm, he spotted a message Parker had sent him earlier. The two ledgers had red circles dotted around the electronic pages, question marks also demarcating certain dates. As he looked down the list, he spotted what she’d seen. Some guests weren’t logged in one ledger, but housekeeping showed cleaning visits to supposedly empty suites.
It wasn’t uncommon to come across this type of situation. With so much staff, it happened more frequently than it should. That didn’t mean it pissed him off any less. It wasn’t that he was a miser, he just hated being stolen from and lied to. He treat his staff decently. More decently than the laws on Madison insisted. They had healthcare, free lodgings, free food, bonuses…all of it in an effort to please the workers, keep them happy, and encourage them to work hard. Madison’s employment laws insisted that companies met a minimal wage. And it was a low one at that. A level Knox considered to be slave wages.
There was always a bad egg, he knew that. It was just a pain to have to ferret the olan out, and it also meant reprimanding some of their managers. Parker should not have been the one to spot this. At least four managers consulted these particular ledgers at any given time, and that this had slipped through the cracks pissed him off mightily. Especially as he was trying to ease Parker out of the business.
In the early deyas, when they’d only had less than a hundred rooms, he’d needed her to be hands on. He’d taken all of his inheritance, his trust funds, and investments, and used it all to fund this place. All on the off chance that his hunch would pay off.
Fifty annals ago, Madison, which was a small planet, had held little interest to most of the Federation. However, Knox and Parker had vacationed here, and come across countless beauty spots. Places that would appeal to a huge variety of clientele. From beaches as large as a township on Shuzon, pale lilac seas capable of huge riptides, to rocky waterfalls and winding rivers. There were forest trails, and a spot where the sea met the cliffs and had created underground caverns. On top of that, the place had a perfect climate. A constant temperature that was neither hot nor cold, but perfect for most of the Federation’s people, except the Buri. Hell, they lived in swamps. Nowhere was suitable for them.
During their first visit, Parker and he had had to wear atmospheric kit to survive on the planet. But as Madison Hotel had expanded, they’d invested in the planet and paid for atmospheric domes to cover these areas.
For those who weren’t fond of the outdoors, they’d created a complex within the hotel that appealed to everyone. Huge shopping malls, as Parker called them, large gardens that were inside but out, a floor dedicated to gambling, and, at the back of the complex, a golf course.
From the beginning to the present, Parker’s help had been invaluable. Especially in developing the complex. Her Earthling ideas had made them a huge success. Nowhere in the Federation did such a place as this exist. And while he’d never stop wanting her input, he wanted her out of the field, because she was his felixi and it was his duty to provide for her.
Now Rafer was here, he could probably accomplish that desire.
As he scrolled back through the semanals, he frowned, spotting more and more instances where the ledgers didn’t correlate. He almost missed the whisper of sound the elevator made, but he looked up immediately, and saw Parker staring at him from its open doorway. Arms crossed, a militant cast to her lips, she both stared and glared at him.
Knowing he had lied to her, he held up his hands. “I had no choice.”
She scoffed at that. “We always have a choice.”
“Not when it involves the Federation’s Fleet. Not when my loose lips could have put Rafer’s life in jeopardy.”
She blanched at that. “How long have you known he was in the Fleet?”
“Since he enlisted. The whole family knew he was a soldier, but most of them don’t know what rank. I only know because I’m his twin. Back when he signed up, Shuzon twins shared pain. If he’d been injured, I’d have known about it. Seventy annals ago they developed a serum that stopped that, and that’s when he started telling me less and less about his role in the Fleet. My awareness of his job was definitely on a need-to-know basis.”
“Why couldn’t you have told me? I’m your mate, Knox. How could you keep something like that from me?”
He grunted at that. “It’s my role to protect you, felixi.” When she rolled her eyes, he slammed a hand down against his desk. As styluses rattled and the comm shook, he bit out, “Don’t make light of it, Parker. I can’t help what my nature tells me. Shuzons share the responsibility of caring for their mates. It’s the way of things, the way it should have been with me and Rafer, only he was off playing war.
“Without him, it all fell on my shoulders, and there was no way I was having you terrified about where he was, what he was doing. It almost killed my grandparents, knowing he was a soldier, and not knowing where in the galaxy he was. I wasn’t going to watch as his selfishness made you suffer, too.”
His words had her moving forward, something he took to be a positive sign. At least she wasn’t returning to the elevator.
“Weren’t you proud of him when he enlisted?” she asked, and he could sense her curiosity was to his benefit. As long as he trod carefully.
In reply, he jerked a shoulder.
“What does that mean?” she asked, moving closer to the desk, and finally taking a seat in front of him.
“It means yes and no. What he did, broke my parents’ hearts. His desire to be a fighter, when our world always advocates peace, was a stain on the family name. The Baxxes have always been merchants. However, through us, they’d hoped to enter the political world. That dream was snuffed when Rafer enlisted. On top of that, it left me hanging. I couldn’t try to become an ambassador as my family wanted, not without him. Nor could I take a role in the business.”
“He really left you in the lurch, didn’t he?”
Knox nodded. “Yes, but I hold him no ill will for that. I don’t want you to think I do. There are many things I resent, but my life has turned out perfectly. I have you, and we have this place. I couldn’t really ask for more, and if Rafer hadn’t become a soldier, then it probably wouldn’t have happened. I certainly wouldn’t have been at the market on Napalmi, wouldn’t have seen that little blonde woman being auctioned off.”
At his words, she flushe
d. “We have a saying on Earth—everything happens for a reason.”
He smiled. “Exactly.”
Knox watched her watch him, and deep inside, where only a felixi could touch him, he sighed at the sight of her. She was a beautiful woman, even though she was peculiar to those of his kind. Her skin didn’t change color with her emotions, it turned a deeper rose when embarrassed, but that was it. It never gave him a clue as to what she was thinking and feeling.
Her eyes were the moss green of Elyssian hemp, her skin like the olne flower, all dewy and creamy. Her pert nose led to strong brows, her cheeks were sharper than a pick, and her pointed chin gave her face the shape of a heart. Her hair was like gold, an unusual shade, and it curled about her ears before falling in waves to her shoulders. Tall, she came up to his chin, and with more curves than his cocks could handle, Knox knew the Gods had blessed him with his felixi.
“You said he’d promised you something. What was it?”
“When the army developed the serum that stopped Shuzon twins sharing pain….”
“Hang on a minute, are there many Shuzons in the Fleet?”
Knox cocked a brow at the question, but slowly shook his head.
“You mean the Fleet spent God knows how much to develop a serum for Rafer alone?” When he nodded, she sucked in a breath. “Shit. What did they make him do?”
“Do you see why I wanted to hide this from you?” he asked, and before she could reply, continued, “I’ve never known what he does, but the injuries we saw this deya are just an example. Not a mens didn’t pass pre-serum that I wasn’t in pain over something. After that Libac, I made him promise to stop. Then begged him two Fahnils ago, as well.”
She blushed a little harder at his reference to the new moon celebrations on Shuzon. It had been then, twenty annals ago, that Rafer had finally let his guard down and actually discussed the mate bond with the pair of them. But they’d done more than discuss. Rafer and she had kissed, and she’d suffered ever since, and it was Knox’s fault. He’d encouraged her to cozy up to his twin, to entice him. He’d thought one taste of the bliss Parker could give him would have Rafer running back to them. Would finally bring him home.
His plan hadn’t worked. Not until two annals ago when Rafer had finally caved. Even then, it had caused Parker more suffering. More blame that could fall upon his shoulders.
“I made him swear that he’d stop putting himself in danger, because he wasn’t just thinking about himself anymore. He had to think about you.”
“You make me sound like a dependent.”
At her sullenness, he frowned. “You Earthlings have such a strange notion of dependency. Do you think I don’t depend on you? There is no shame in it, it is the way of having a mate.” He tapped his stylus against the desk. “We are symbiotic, we three, Parker. You do not understand, because you are new to this way of mating. You were not raised with it, you did not see it as a child. Learn the nuances of this kind of relationship.” He studied her for a second, then rocked back in his seat. “When I was fifteen, my mother, Laro, caught a cold. It was nothing at first, but her health deteriorated quickly. She came down with Pandozian flu, and because of it, so did Hira.
“Rafer and I, and our other siblings, watched as they almost died. There was nothing we could do. They’d had the vaccine, but for some reason, their bodies weren’t fighting the virus. My fathers called in medics from all over the galaxy, because they knew, if anything happened to my mothers, their lives would not be worth living. It would be a half-life. One of endurance, one where their only reason for getting up on a morning was for their children. If it happened now, after they’ve been together for so long, one of their deaths would probably kill the others. They couldn’t survive the loss.”
She rocked back in her seat as he spoke, shoulders hunching as she absorbed his words.
“When I saw how your body had reacted once you’d slept with him, even though he’d fucked you in a way that wouldn’t trigger the joining Ceremony, and how every annal it was getting worse, how could I not hold him to that promise? If he died, it would be like slowly depriving your body of oxygen. It would kill you, and losing him would have killed something in me, too. He had more than his life to play with, Parker. Can you understand why I was furious with him?”
It took her a few mins, but she slowly nodded. Parker didn’t look up from her perusal of her boots when she said, “He says he’s home now. That’s why he came here. When you’re injured, you go home, he told me.”
“It’s the first time in one-hundred and twenty annals,” he scoffed, then blew out a breath. “I’m sorry for sounding bitter, Parker, but I suppose I am. Shuzon twins are like one person. I let him do what he wanted. I never judged, I tried to support him when our entire family was furious at him for enlisting.
“Over the annals, I’ve endured the agony of phantom broken legs, laser wounds, and lukcin knows what else, and I’ve never said anything. I asked for one thing, one thing from him, and he went back on his word. It isn’t like he isn’t in a position of power. I do know he can pick and choose his assignments.
“How am I supposed to trust him? How am I supposed to trust him with you when you aren’t his top priority?” he asked, more to himself than her.
She heard his pleading though, and with a sigh, got to her feet and rounded the desk. Knowing what she was about to do, because she’d done it so many times before, he pulled his chair out so she could sit on his lap. She was so tactile, so affectionate, so very un-Shuzon. And he loved that about her.
When she snuggled against him, something in his soul sighed with the knowledge she was here, and she was safe. Now Rafer had finally played the prodigal mate, Parker’s health issues would disappear. That, more than anything, filled him with a relief so deep and powerful he felt weakened by the knowledge.
As she pressed a kiss to his cheek, she murmured, “We don’t, we can’t. Trust has to be earned, Knox. He hasn’t done that yet. So, we give him time, and let him prove to us that he’s worthy of our trust, of our love.”
“Considering you’re a baby….”
“Less of the baby.”
He just grinned. “When you’ve seen two hundred annals, you can class yourself as an adult. But, like I was trying to say, considering you’re a baby, you’re very, very wise.”
“Maybe you’re just decrepit.”
Knox chuckled. “I don’t think you’d have called me decrepit the other notte.”
A cheeky smile had a little hole forming in her cheek. He lifted a finger, prodded the little dent, and marveled over it. In all of the races in the Federation, he’d seen none with this capability. Parker called it a dimple, and he’d noticed it only popped out when her smile was big, heartfelt, and genuine. It soothed his anger to see it when things felt so up in the air.
At least, his relationship with Rafer was.
It would be a long time before he came close to trusting his twinling. Especially with his mate. Far longer than Parker could imagine. He didn’t say any of that to her though. She wouldn’t understand. Even though he’d explained his anger, no one, save a Shuzon mate, could come close to knowing what Rafer had done every time he went into battle.
The truth of it was, Knox knew Rafer would be feeling guilty. He’d understand Knox’s lack of faith.
When she turned into him, cuddling, he lifted an arm and curled it about her shoulder. After she’d settled, Parker asked, “Did you see the discrepancies?”
“I was hoping you hadn’t noticed I was working on the ledgers.”
“I see and hear all.”
“I’d really be shitting myself if that were the case.” At her chuckle, he hid his smile in her hair, but told her, “Yes. There are a lot of them.”
“Goes back menses, right?”
“Yeah.”
“One of the managers has to know about it. There’s no way it could go on for so long without one of them keeping it from the others.”
He grimaced. “I’d prefer to
think they were inept rather than thieves.”
“You always try to see the best in people,” she said, turning to look up at him.
“Is that a good flaw or bad?”
“Neither. It’s simply the truth. I’d prefer to think one of our department heads wasn’t screwing with us, too. I just don’t see how it can be anything else.”
“I hate firing people.”
She laughed. “I know. But, let’s face it, you only do it if you have to. If they do something to make it necessary.”
“I know.”
Her fingers trailed along his jaw again, until she cupped his chin in her palm. “I love that about you. How you can run this hugely complex business, all from your ivory tower, but you still hate firing people who deserve it.”
“What can I say? I live to be unusual.” He grinned at her, then when his comm unit started to buzz, he flicked on the loudspeaker. “Baxx speaking.”
“Sir, this is Tisiya from reception.”
At the protracted silence following this statement, Knox commented, “Yes, Tisiya. Is something wrong? I didn’t think we had any special VIPs booked in this deya who are in need of my attention.”
Her gulp was audible. “No, we don’t. But…well, I was just following orders, you understand, Monseign?”
“I’m sure you were, Tisiya. What orders?”
Parker frowned. “I asked her to go out and pay for the cab that brought Rafer to the hotel. To get his luggage as well.”
“Well, I think they think I’m someone else, Monseign.”
At the peculiar words, Knox sat up. “Who’s they, Tisiya? And who do they think you are?”
“Well, they think I’m Maseign Baxx. They took me, Monseign. They grabbed me, dragged me into the back of the cab, and…I don’t know where I am.”
The fear in the other woman’s voice had Parker dislodging herself from his lap. She frowned at Knox, and, on her own comm unit on her wrist, opened up a dialogue. He saw her access the security footage trained on the reception doors and on the drive. As she sought the moment Tisiya had been taken, he asked, “In what direction did they take you, Tisiya?”
A Menage Made On Madison [The Federation 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 5
