by Zoey Draven
Stella’s jaw dropped. “Are you serious?”
Lubbina shrugged. “You’ll thank me later. Surprises are so much more fun, especially during sex.”
Stella…didn’t think that was entirely true.
“You won’t tell me?”
“No. What was that expression you once used?” Lubbina asked. “Ah. Yes. My lips are sealed.”
Chapter Sixteen
Dravka and Khiva were looking at him. Tavak could feel their eyes and saw them look at one another, a silent conversation between them.
“What?” Tavak growled, turning his attention from the Coms device which had all the warehouse logs and inventory, which he was throwing himself into as a much needed distraction. He cut a withering glare over to the males he considered blood brothers.
They were lounging at one of the tables in the resting area. The warehouse was quiet, it was late in the evening and they should have long returned to their mates. And yet, they were here, watching Tavak, not speaking, and it was beginning to really grate.
“Out with it already.” Tavak glared, striding over to them and falling into one of the empty seats, large enough to accommodate a Keriv’i. “I’m growing tired of this.”
“I knew you would take Ravu’s departure hard, Tavak,” Dravka started. “But not this hard.”
Tavak stiffened, his eyes narrowing on the male.
“What are you talking about?”
Khiva chimed in, leaning forward on the table, his arms sliding across the surface. “Your workers mentioned you’ve been in a strange mood. And now I understand what they were talking about.”
Tavak slid his arms over his chest. His workers had gone to Khiva behind his back?
“I haven’t done anything,” Tavak said in his defense.
“Exactly,” Dravka said. “You’re quiet.”
Tavak’s temper had always been short. But he felt himself sliding into anger more easily these days and he felt it beginning to sear his chest at Dravka’s words, at their concerned stares, and their shared looks.
“I know you and Ravu have always been close,” Khiva said. The soft concern Tavak heard in his voice made him want to punch a wall. “Closer than many. For good reason. Your brother will be fine. Haase is a caring captain and takes care of his crew.”
“I know that,” Tavak growled out, a deep scowl etched permanently on his face.
“Then what have you been worrying about?” Khiva asked, his brow furrowing.
Everything in his quiet little life on Dumera had shifted so suddenly and Tavak…wasn’t handling it well.
He wasn’t sleeping. He’d turned down Eve and Valerie’s offer to come to what they called ‘Family Dinner’ tomorrow because truthfully, he wasn’t up for company and he knew he’d be foul company himself.
It had been two days since Ravu left. Two days since he’d seen Yikerza in the port. Two days since…Stella.
He brought a hand up to his face and scrubbed at his gritty eyes. He hadn’t slept since. Every time he tried, he either dreamed about Stella, of the hurt on her face, or he dreamed of Yikerza, old memories from Jrika.
Tavak knew he couldn’t go on like this but he was at a loss for what to do. Stella…he needed to speak with her. To give her some kind of explanation about what happened that night without revealing his past. He didn’t want her to know. He wouldn’t be able to bear it if she looked at him any differently.
As for Yikerza…
Tavak looked across the table at his friends. Khiva was one of the most powerful beings on Dumera now, ever since he’d chosen the colony as the home base for firestones.
He debated telling them. Tavak knew that he needed to. With Dumera’s growth, more beings would flock here. Families or individuals just looking to start over, of course. But it would also bring more dangerous beings, the criminals, the pirates, those looking to profit off the influx of residents by exploiting them.
That was why Yikerza was here. Tavak knew that for certain. There was a brothel on Dumera but it was kept well-hidden. It was run by a Laoti female who looked after her own, treated them well and paid them fairly as far as Tavak could discern.
“Tavak?” Dravka asked quietly.
“I saw someone,” Tavak finally rumbled out, his gut churning as the words tumbled from his lips. “I saw someone that I used to know. From Jrika.”
At the mention of the colony, both of the males across from him stiffened. All of them had specific memories of that place, none of them good.
“Who?” Khiva asked quietly. “When?”
“Yikerza,” Tavak said, meeting his eyes. The name felt sour on his tongue. “At port, the morning Ravu left.”
Recognition flashed in Khiva’s gaze. He leveled Tavak a steady look. “He was your…”
“My handler on Jrika, pax,” Tavak forced out.
Dravka cursed. “The Wa’zuyi?”
Tavak inclined his head. “There was a passenger vessel disembarking at port. I saw him coming off it.”
“Did he see you?”
“Pax.”
Tavak hadn’t been able to get that vile male’s stare—or his blackened, pointed smile—out of his head since.
“Vauk,” Khiva cursed.
“No good will come from him being here,” Tavak growled. “And I don’t want…I don’t want anyone to know about Jrika.”
Especially Stella.
“We don’t either, Tavak,” Dravka said.
Khiva slid from his chair and began to pace next to the table.
“You haven’t seen him since?” the male questioned. “He hasn’t tried to approach you?”
“Of course not,” Tavak rasped. “I went to port to drop off the shipment of firestones yesterday but I saw no signs of him there or in town. I asked one of the dock hands if he’d seen a Wa’zuyi about and he said he hadn’t.”
“Maybe he’s left already,” Dravka suggested.
That would be the best case scenario but something in Tavak’s gut told him otherwise.
“Veki, he’s here. Somewhere,” he said, his palms clenching into fists. Just thinking about Yikerza made a ball of rage rest heavy on his chest, until he felt like he couldn’t breathe.
He was glad Ravu had left. He was glad that he wouldn’t have to deal with this. At least until he returned. Tavak wouldn’t be able to keep something like this from his brother. They’d always been honest with one another before.
“I’ll make some inquiries around the center,” Khiva said. “See if anyone has noticed him or where he’s staying. I’ll get the passenger list for that vessel from the docks.”
“They’ll give it to you?” Dravka questioned.
Khiva replied, “The port master owes me a favor.”
Tavak nodded. “And then what?”
Khiva leveled him a gaze. Dravka looked between them.
“I have a child coming soon,” Khiva said to them both. “A mate that I will do anything to protect, as does Dravka. I do not want Yikerza roaming around this colony. He is dangerous. A known, opportunistic predator and I will not allow him to be near my family.”
Tavak raised a brow. “Are you going to ask him nicely to leave? Even you don’t have that kind of power here.”
Khiva collapsed back into his seat. “We’ll figure it out. We can spread the word about him. People won’t approach him. They won’t sell him goods or give him board. We can freeze him out of Dumera.”
“Are you going to pay citizens not to interact with him?” Dravka asked.
“If that’s what it takes, pax,” Khiva snapped. “Otherwise…we will have to be more creative.”
Those ominous words hung around them.
Tavak finally grated softly, “We’re not murderers, Khiva. Never have been. I’ve crossed a lot of lines in my lifetime but that is one that I will not.”
Dravka went quiet.
Khiva blew out a breath. He met Tavak’s eyes.
“Like I said, we’ll figure it out.”
Silence desce
nded among them, Khiva’s words ringing in their ears.
Tavak wondered if he was capable of such a thing.
He thought of Ravu. He thought of Yikerza exploiting him just as he’d exploited Tavak. That ball of rage came quick and hard.
Then he thought of Stella. He thought of what he would do to protect her. Hell, he’d beaten a male for simply touching her.
What would he do to someone who wanted to hurt her, use her?
Maybe he would cross that line.
And maybe it would be easier than he thought.
Chapter Seventeen
So…Tavak was avoiding her.
That much was obvious.
It had been three nights now since that night. Tavak’s stool at the end of the bar had been empty ever since. No one dared to sit there either, as if they knew it was off limits. Last night had been busy, and even still, some males had chosen to stand instead of venture near Tavak’s stool.
Stella knew that they needed to talk.
She was beginning to think that she’d have to track the male down. She hadn’t seen him at all since that night. Not in town, not on the way to the docks, not even near the firestones lab, where she knew he worked.
She didn’t even know where he lived.
But Stella was a woman determined. And so, the next afternoon, when she was out getting some fresh air and walking down to the market, she spotted someone she thought might be able to help her.
A human woman. Valerie, Tavak told her her name was. She was born on Genesis, just like Stella.
The woman was beautiful, with dark hair, and a sun-kissed complexion. She was currently browsing through jars of seeds at a vendor, her lips pursed as she perused, as she asked questions of the vendor about this seed or that seed.
She liked to garden, that much was obvious.
And suddenly, Stella felt a flutter of nerves. Even though she was human, Stella hadn’t spoken to many of her own race. She remembered Genesis well enough but she’d lived on Haase’s ship too long to consider the Earth colony home.
Still, Stella wanted to speak with Tavak and she thought that Valerie might know where he lived. So Stella approached the stall, nibbling her lip, her heart beginning to pound.
When Stella’s shadow fell over a jar of bright blue seeds that the human woman was studying, she looked up. And blinked in surprise.
“Oh,” Valerie murmured, straightening, her hand clasped around the jar, her fingers tightening around it.
“Um, hi,” Stella greeted, giving her a small smile, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
“It’s you,” Valerie said, shaking off her surprise and giving Stella a small grin of her own, one that made Stella feel a little less awkward. Smiles she could work with.
“It’s me,” Stella said uncertainly, shifting from foot to foot. A small bubble of laughter escaped her throat. “Sorry, I’m being strange. I’m—”
“Stella,” Valerie finished for her. “And I’m—”
“Valerie.”
The two women stared at one another for a beat and then they both broke into laughter. All the while, the poor seed vendor stared on with an incredulous look on his face, looking uncertain.
“Yes,” Valerie finally said, once their laughter tapered off, a wide smile on her face. “Yes, I am. Eve and I have both been meaning to come over and introduce ourselves. We were planning to yesterday actually, but Eve is a little…well, pregnant. She wasn’t feeling well so we…”
Eve?
Stella wondered if that was the human woman she’d seen sitting in Khiva’s lap that one afternoon.
“Sorry it’s taken so long to meet,” Valerie continued. “But we only just learned about you a few days ago.”
Stella was a little ashamed at the words because she’d seen the human women around the center quite a bit. Or rather she’d seen them whenever she’d been watching the comings and goings of Dumera on her breaks. She’d never approached them but they’d obviously wanted to meet her.
Did Tavak tell them about me? she wondered. She flushed a little at the thought but decided that he probably hadn’t.
Stella was quiet as she watched Valerie purchase the seeds from the vendor—a staggering 50 credits just for the jar but they were apparently a rare variety and one Valerie had heard about.
Valerie touched Stella’s arm as they wandered away from the vendor, heading towards the massive jivera tree where the archives were. Her eyes strayed to the table that Tavak had led her to, the afternoon that they’d spoken underneath the tree. No one was sitting there now even though it was a pleasant, surprisingly cool day.
“You should come over for tea one afternoon,” Valerie told her. “Eve makes terrible tea but the company is good, I promise.”
Stella chuckled.
“We’d love to learn more about you. There are so few humans here, you know? We have to stick together.”
“Tavak told me you were born on Genesis,” Stella commented and they both stopped under the shade of the tree. Valerie looked at her in surprise and she quickly continued, “I was born there too. It was just my mother and I.”
Something passed over Valerie’s face. She bit her lip.
Stella continued, a little nervous by the woman’s silence, wondering if she should’ve said anything at all about Genesis. “My mother passed away since then and it’s just…me. I—I left Genesis a long time ago. Even though I was born there, raised there, it doesn’t really feel like home anymore.”
Stella knew she was babbling. Her mother called it her nervous habit. Some people fidgeted. Some people picked at their skin. Some people went quiet. Well, Stella talked and then she talked some more.
Understanding passed through Valerie’s eyes. She squeezed Stella’s arm. “Home is where the people you love are.”
Maybe that was why Haase’s ship had always felt like home to Stella. Even after a short while of being there. Because it had been where they’d been most happy. And yet, it had been where her mother’s life ended.
“And I think we have much more in common than Genesis,” Valerie said, giving her a small smile. But one that struck Stella as sad. “My mother is gone too. I loved her very much and I miss her every day.”
Stella nodded, keeping the female’s eyes. Understanding passed between them. Silent grief that they’d both felt…and still felt.
Stella relaxed. She blew out a small breath.
“I’m sorry about your mother,” she said softly. “And I’m sorry for all the talking. I talk a lot when I’m nervous. I talk a lot when I’m not nervous too.”
Valerie chuckled, a warm affection lighting up her gaze. “I bet Tavak loves that, doesn’t he?”
Stella’s smile slowly died but she said, “He’s always listened. He might not talk much but he always listens.”
Valerie’s gentle smile was cautious. Stella could feel the brunette studying her carefully.
“He’s, um, actually why I wanted to talk to you,” Stella started. Quickly, she amended, “Not that I didn’t want to talk to you before. It’s just…”
Valerie waved away her concerns. “It’s okay. I understand. What do you want to talk about?”
“I need to speak with him actually. I was hoping you could show me where he lives, if you know,” Stella said. Valerie blinked. “He usually comes into Reji’s every night but he hasn’t been in the last few days and we…”
She didn’t want to go into detail about what happened.
“I’m just a little worried about him,” Stella finally said, shifting on her feet. “And I wanted to talk to him.”
For the first time, Stella feared Valerie might not tell her where he lived. Tavak was a private male, after all. Valerie would know that if she knew him well.
But then Valerie said, “Of course. I can show you. It’s not far from my own home. It’s this way.”
Valerie led her from the city’s center, winding down the main stretch of road that led out towards the jivera trees. Tavak had a jive
ra tree? Did he share it with his brother? Or did he live there with others?
“You live out here?” Stella questioned.
As they traveled further down the lined road—a new road, by the looks of it—a peaceful, quiet hush descended around them. Immediately, under the shade of the sprawling jiveras, the temperature seemed to drop dramatically and Stella almost sighed with delight. Even though it was a cool day on Dumera, it would always be hot.
“Yes,” Valerie said, “with my mate, Dravka.”
Dravka was a Keriv’i sounding name, Stella thought. Another Keriv’i and human pairing? She wondered how they’d all come to know one another. Did they meet on Dumera? Or elsewhere? Had the Keriv’i males known each other on their old home planet before it’d been destroyed?
“Where do you live?” Valerie asked.
“There’s a room over Reji’s bar,” she told her.
Stella swallowed, her head swiveling around at the darkened beauty of the jiveras. They were all spaced apart relatively evenly, some closer than others. But the farther they traveled from the center, farther down the main stretch of road, the more spaced out they became. They passed a few beings on their way into town and Valerie smiled and greeted all of them. Her neighbors, no doubt.
“How did you and your mate meet?” Stella asked softly, peering over at the brunette, her curiosity winning out. “Here on Dumera?”
“Oh no, we…” Valerie trailed off, glancing over at her as they trudged deeper in the jivera forest. “Has…has Tavak told you much about where he was before here?”
Stella frowned, noticing that Valerie’s wording was very careful. “No. I’ve asked but…he’s pretty private.”
Valerie nodded. A small stretch of silence came between them and Stella had the distinct sensation that Valerie was thinking how best to answer her question.
“It’s okay,” Stella said quickly. “I shouldn’t have asked. I know that there are things people want to keep close and—”
“No, no, it’s not that. It’s just…” Valerie sighed. “Dravka and I met years ago. We’ve been best friends ever since, but we only really confirmed our matehood once we reached Dumera. It was complicated before. I don’t really know how to explain it without betraying some of my friends’ trust.”
