by Kali Argent
Torren laughed. “Do you think that’s wise?”
Ivy jerked around to stare at the elder. “You can understand them? You speak Krytos.”
“I speak many languages, my dear.” He took her hand and patted it affectionately before turning back to the Krytos. “It’s late, and I have little patience for your threats. At least this time you’ll be leaving with a parting gift.”
With a wave of his hand, the brothers disappeared.
Isla was never going to get used to everyone having magic.
“Parting gift?” Ivy asked, grinning from ear to ear. “Do tell.”
“Two actually. First, they’ll be a little confused about why they’re on Xenthian. It won’t last long, but at least, everyone should be able to get a good night’s sleep.”
“And the second?”
Looking over his shoulder, Torren nodded at Isla and winked. “You’ll find out soon enough.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Slade was pissed.
He’d spent his life accustomed to being the biggest, strongest, and most intimidating person in any room. Being rendered useless with nothing more than a flick of the wrist didn’t sit well, but if the Xenon wanted a fight, he’d give them a fight, magic or no.
Arriving on their ship the previous night, he’d been struck with a sense of disorientation so profound, he’d given up trying to make sense of anything and had simply retired for the evening. After meeting with his brothers during the morning, he’d learned they’d experienced something very similar, and all signs pointed to the Xenon with the strange, colorful hair.
The matter had only been made worse when they’d found the exit of their ship blocked by an invisible force, rendering them incapable of disembarking. He doubted the spell wouldn’t last forever, and when he made his way back to the castle, there would be hell to pay.
“Sir, we’re picking up another ship.” The Storm Rider’s head of security, Rakesh Dyn, stood in the doorway of the War Room, his dark gaze clouded, and the tips of his fangs glistening in the sunlight that spilled through the port window. “Intel says it’s an Alliance vessel, but we have no record of it, no name.”
“Are they landing?” Knox asked.
“They haven’t engaged a landing sequence. It’s just…sitting there, outside of the planet’s atmosphere.”
Slade didn’t know what an Alliance vessel would be doing near Xenthian space, but it really didn’t affect them one way or another. “Not our problem. Whoever’s here, they’re not looking for us.” On the other hand, if they’d come for Isla, and they got to her first, it was a year’s worth of credits they’d be giving up. “Are the exit doors still blocked?”
“Not sure. I’ll let you know.”
When Rakesh left, Knox leaned forward, resting his elbows on the crescent tabletop. “You know I like Rakesh, as well as the rest of the crew, but we might need to think about letting some of them go. Hell, we don’t even have jobs for some of them.”
Slade didn’t answer right away. He’d contemplated the same thing over the past few months with credits growing increasingly harder to come by. Knox made a valid point. Hell, they’d invented duties for nearly half the crew, and honestly, the Storm Rider could function with as few as six or seven members. Still, he’d made them a promise, and he wouldn’t turn them away now.
Their ragtag crew consisted of not just Krytos, but also Helios, two Tarin females, and three hybrids, including a male with the unusual parentage of a D’Aire father and a Reema mother. They were all outcasts, shunned by society, running from their pasts, or looking to make a new start. They were all wounded, all just trying to find a place where they could belong.
“We’ll make it work.” They just needed to convince the Xenon to hand over the human fugitive, and all their problems would be solved.
Although, after seeing her in person, looking into the seemingly never-ending depths of her icy blue eyes, even Slade was having doubts about the legitimacy of the contract. True, killers came in all forms, and appearances could be deceiving, but they all had the same look in their eyes, the same hollowness.
Not Isla.
He recognized grief, pain, and a good deal of loneliness, but nothing that made him think she hadn’t been completely honest when she’d denied killing her mother.
Then there was the child. He didn’t know where the boy had come from or who he belonged to, but he’d known right away that Isla Blevins would lay down her life to defend him.
Slade didn’t know what he’d expected, but the slip of a female with her fiery locks and fierce gaze hadn’t been it.
His wrist unit beeped with an incoming communication, shaking him out of his thoughts. Swiping his finger across the screen, he scanned the message and grunted.
“The exits are clear. Let’s go.”
“Slade…” Knox looked to Bastian, then back. “Are you really sure about this?”
No, but they needed the credits, and he stood by his claim that if the girl was innocent, justice would prevail. “I’m sure, and I expect you to back me on this. We have to be on the same page.”
His brothers exchanged another fleeting look before pushing up from their seats.
“I just hope that king of theirs doesn’t drop us into the ocean this time,” Bastian grumbled as he adjusted his leather vest and checked the dagger at his hip.
As promised, they found their way unimpeded as they proceeded through the narrow corridors to the exit doors at the back of the vessel. No one tried to stop them when they crossed the sweeping field and marched through the front gates of the castle, either. In fact, they didn’t see anyone at all until they’d crossed the entrance hall and had almost made it to the grand staircase.
“Gentleman.”
The Xenon male from the previous evening appeared out of thin air, grinning widely as he stood on the bottom step to block their way. The red, black, and gold streaks in his hair had been replaced with magenta and blue, and he wore the locks in a messy knot at his crown.
“If you send us away,” Bastian interjected, “we’ll just keep coming back.”
“Oh, I know.” The male continued to smile. “I assume you’re looking for Isla. She’s in the library with the others.”
He seemed much too happy, and far more eager to help than he had the night before. Slade immediately distrusted him.
“I don’t suppose you’re going to let us past, are you?” Knox didn’t sound overly hopeful.
“I’ll do better than that.”
That was the last thing Slade heard before the world around him dissolved into blackness, and he was sucked through what felt like a fucking straw. His ears popped, his chest constricted, and his stomach rolled uncomfortably. Then, as quickly as it had started, the falling sensation stopped, and he found himself staggering sideways in front of a shiny, metal door beside his brothers.
“I really fucking hate that.” Holding his head between both hands, Bastian closed his eyes and groaned. “Who the hell wants to travel like that?”
“I guess this is the library.” Knox rubbed his right temple with one hand as he pressed his other to the cool metal. “What now?”
As if in response to his words, the door slid open with a pressurizes whine, permitting them entrance into the vast, brightly lit library. Slade led the way, crossing the threshold first, and immediately stumbled to a stop at the sheer number of people in the room. Even more surprisingly, he actually recognized a few of them.
“What in all the worlds are you three doing here?” a Krytos female asked.
“Nice to see you, too, Kahla.” Bastian hadn’t seen Kahla Adaro in years, not since he and his brothers had been booted off New Vega for having a little too much fun during one of the annual Unity Day celebrations. “Reva,” he added, greeting the Helios female beside her. “What are all of you doing on this planet?”
They’d crossed paths with Reva more than once during their travels, and she’d pointed them toward several lucrative contracts in the p
ast. If he was surprised to see her and Kahla, he was even more unnerved by the number of people in their entourage. He counted at least five males with them, along with a female Dragon Warrior with black-and-gold, glowing eyes, none of which he knew.
“I was going to ask you the same thing,” Reva replied with an arched brow.
The male seated next to her leaned closer and whispered, “Seriously, is there anyone you don’t know?”
Reva nodded toward Isla and the female captain. “I don’t know them.”
“Everyone, this is Tira Meadowlark, the captain of our guard,” Ivy said, raising her voice to be heard over the drone of mumbled conversations, “and Isla Blevins, our guest.”
“She is a fugitive,” Slade snapped.
Kahla rolled her eyes. “You are such a hard-ass, Slade.”
“Yes, he is. He just can’t seem to help himself.” Bastian loved his brother dearly, but sometimes, like now, he wanted to punch the asshole right in his big mouth. “I am Bastian Cadell,” he added, realizing further introductions were required for those in the room who didn’t know them, “and these are my brothers Knox and Slade.”
“We have been searching for her for weeks,” Slade demanded, despite the looks of warning from every single female in the room, “and we were called in when she was spotted on Alpha Station: X21. Now, the Xenon will not give her to us to take back to Earth to stand trial for her crimes.”
At Slade’s harsh words and growling tone, Isla cringed, backing away from them and pulling the child that clung to her leg with her. The boy glared at them, but his bottom lip trembled, ruining the effect. Not wanting the child to be frightened of them—or Isla either, for that matter—Bastian smiled and gave the kid a quick wink. Clearly, it did little to endear him to the boy, because he continued to stare at him with a healthy dose of distrust.
When Tira moved to shield Isla from their view, Bastian moved with her, keeping Isla in his line of sight. He’d never seen another female more beautiful. Inwardly, he wondered if her skin was as soft as it looked, and his fingers twitched at his sides in response.
As Ivy and one of the human males argued, Bastian ignored them while reminding himself several times that they were there to escort Isla back to Earth. He had no business thinking about her skin, or the adorable freckles on her nose, or the way her hair shimmered in the light.
“You aren’t helping here, Reva,” Slade barked, jerking Bastian back into the moment.
The female shrugged. “What? Do you really think the Xenon would protect her if she was really guilty of a crime?”
If they were being honest, then, no, Bastian didn’t think that, but he knew very little about the inhabitants of the planet, and he couldn’t begin to guess their reasoning for providing Isa with sanctuary. It could be a political move. Maybe a bargaining chip for future negotiations.
Somehow, he doubted it.
“I can’t tell you how many times people have surprised me by the shit they do.”
To everyone else in the room, Slade probably sounded like a giant dick, but Bastian detected the undercurrent of doubt in his brother’s voice. Obviously, Knox did as well, because he glanced sideways at Bastian and arched an eyebrow toward his hairline.
Ivy was having none of it, though, and when she spoke, her tone brooked no argument. “You are not taking her.”
“Taking who?” one of the elite’s asked. “I don’t see anyone standing over there. Certainly not someone the Alliance is looking for, and not one with a bounty on her head.”
Bastian frowned. He’d been under the impression that the Alliance knew exactly where to find Isla. If that wasn’t the case…then who the hell had put the bounty on her? Who else could have known where to find her?
Knox shrugged. “People run for all reasons. Some are guilty, and some are not, but we—”
“Are going to take her back to Earth.” Slade interrupted, then he turned to the king. “And stop sending us back to our ship. We are here for a legitimate reason.”
“I’m not even going to bother translating that.” Ivy flicked her fingers at them as she petted what appeared to be a fuzzy piglet in her lap. “I said you aren’t taking her anywhere.”
“I didn’t do what I am accused of.” Isla spoke barely above a whisper, but everyone in the room turned to look at her.
“Will you hide behind this entire race?” Slade’s eyes softened at the corners as he watched her and the child huddle together near the bookcases. Then his gaze narrowed once more as he returned his attention to Ivy. “We are not leaving here until you release her to us, and—”
Darkness descended, the air evaporated from Bastian’s lungs, and he opened his mouth in a silent scream as he hurdled through the unending abyss.
When his feet hit the ground again, he stumbled sideways and fell face first into three feet of icy snow that clung to his hair and eyelashes.
“Fuck!” Slade bellowed from his left, while Knox just grunted from behind them.
“Oh, shut it,” Bastian growled, standing to brush the snow from his bare arms and shake it from his hair. Little good it did, since every gust of bitterly cold wind just threw more of the fluffy flakes into his face. “This is your fault, you know. For once, I wish you’d learn some damn tact.”
“He’s right,” Knox agreed, trudging through the knee-high snow to join them. “Why do you have to piss off everyone we meet?”
Knox had never met anyone more prone to fits of anger than his brother. Slade was a good male, and a fine Alpha, but he had a tendency to let his emotions run away with his mouth. Unfortunately, they were usually all the wrong emotions.
“You bitching at me isn’t going to get us back to the castle.” Slade combed his fingers through his short, wet hair and growled. “Where the hell are we anyway?”
Resting his hands on his hips, Bastian looked up at the sky, then left and right. “I think we’re on a mountain.”
“They’ll send someone for us.” Knox spoke with more conviction than he felt, even as his teeth clacked together from the cold. “They won’t let us just die here.”
“Yeah, well, they better hurry it the fuck up.” With a disgruntled huff, Bastian brushed more snow from his long locks. “I’m freezing my balls off, and there is zero way down this mountain otherwise.”
“We could call for the ship,” Knox offered. Their pilot, a D’Aire-Reema hybrid by the name of Kylir K’Tari, had navigated through worse than a little wind and ice.
“Where the hell is he supposed to set down a vessel that size on the top of a mountain?” Slade’s upper lip curled over his fangs, and he roared so loud that it echoed off the mountains and into the distance for several, long seconds. “I fucking hate magic.”
“Then, I suppose you do not wish for me to use my magic to take you off this mountain,” a husky, feminine voice answered from behind them.
As a group, they spun around, each of them crouching into defensive postures as they bared their fangs and reached for their daggers. The female Dragon Warrior just rolled her eyes.
“Who are you?” Slade demanded.
“I am Amari Nazira, and you are very rude.”
Knox didn’t know whether to laugh or groan at the look of indignation on Slade’s face. No one talked to his brother the way Amari just had. Well, no one other than him and Bastian.
“We’re just trying to do our job.” Bastian stepped forward, speaking before Slade could say something to get them stranded on the mountaintop for good. “We have a crew to feed, people who depend on us, and Isla’s contract is worth a lot of credits.”
“She is innocent,” Amari insisted.
While Knox was inclined to take the word of a Dragon Warrior, it wasn’t that simple. “Then the regents will see that.”
“So, you would take an innocent from her new home and turn her over to the Alliance for a crime you know she did not commit?” Her eyes narrowed, and her lips turned down at the corners. “Do you have no honor?”
Well, th
at hurt, mostly because she’d voiced what Knox had been feeling since they’d landed on Xenthian.
“She’s right.” He held his hands up for peace when Slade snarled at him. “You know she is. This whole thing is feeling more and more like a setup. Elites are on the planet, but not taking her to Earth. We were told exactly where Isla was hiding, yet those same elites implied that the Alliance is still searching for her.”
“Something hasn’t felt right from the beginning,” Bastian added, his tone imploring. “Some things are more important than credits, brother.”
“I like you.” Amari grinned like a proud mother before turning a steely glare on Slade. “You should be more like your brother. He has sense.”
Several tense, silent moments passed befor Slade finally relented. “Fine,” he bit out through chattering teeth. “I still want to talk to her, though.”
Without warning, the world dissolved into blackness, only this time, the trip lasted only a heartbeat before Knox found himself in a heap on the library floor. His thigh throbbed where Bastian’s elbow had landed on it, and his right arm was trapped beneath Slade’s body, but at least it was warm again.
“Are they okay?” someone asked.
Knox thought it might have been Kahla who had spoken, but it was difficult to tell with his ears still ringing.
“They have agreed to behave,” Amari answered simply.
In the next moment, his clothes and hair were dry, and warmth radiated over him like a heated blanket. Knox sighed in relief.
“Remind me not to piss her off again,” he whispered to Bastian.
Bastian bobbed his head slowly, but he didn’t really look as though he’d heard a word Knox had said. His face was pinched, his eyes squinted, and he swayed unsteadily as he climbed to his feet.
Knox’s head ached, the pressure building and throbbing at his temples. His heart beat too fast, and the muscles in his shoulders knotted so tightly he could barely straighten them. He chalked it up to being transported around the damn planet half a dozen times in a single day, but the more intense the pain grew, the easier it was to pinpoint the cause.
