by Elin Wyn
Epilogue : Tyehn
This truly was a beautiful city. Walking down the streets in the evening light, I enjoyed the natural feel of the city and how, even covered in snow, you could see where the people of the city tried to keep things as close to nature as they could.
I could see where there were smaller plants covered to protect from the cold. I could feel the grass under my feet where the people tried to keep the sidewalks as natural as possible.
The more time I spent here, the more I liked it here.
The people were fairly nice, as well. Many of them nodded or waved at me as I walked down the streets.
There were still some that crossed the street to get away from me, or scowled at me when I passed them and attempted to greet them, but they weren’t as numerous as in some other places I had travelled to.
The bag of groceries I carried in my arm was an odd accessory to go along with my armor, my three handguns, my sword, two knives, and my rifle slung over my shoulder.
To be honest, I was surprised as many people smiled and greeted me as they did. I didn’t discount that I had been here often and the people had started to get to know me, but it still surprised me that while I was decked out in full battle gear, they were still cordial and polite.
Maybe it was because I was in full gear they were polite, but their smiles looked genuine enough.
“Ho, Tyehn,” someone called out to me. I looked over to see an older gentleman that I knew who worked at the Command Center in Nyheim.
“Thomas,” I called back. I double checked the traffic, then crossed the street to greet my friend. “My friend. How are you?”
He extended his hand out to me and we shook hands as he answered. “I’m doing well, for the most part. My knee is acting up a little, but the medicine helps.”
“I’m both glad and sorry to hear that. Glad that the medicine is helping, but sad that your knee is in a state that you need it.”
“Thank you, Tyehn. What are you up to?”
“Nothing much,” I answer with a slight shrug. “About to go make dinner for a friend.”
He arched an eyebrow at me and fit me with a smile. “Really? And, is this friend of yours someone special?”
I nodded. “She is.”
“Good. We should all have that special friend that we want to make dinner for. I’m actually on my way over for a special dinner of my own.”
“Oh?”
“Yes. Sasha invited me over for a dinner. I mean, Sasha’s a fantastic cook, so how could I pass up an amazing meal?”
“And the fact that you and Sasha are highly compatible, to use your word, helps, doesn’t it?” I smirked.
He smiled and looked away for a moment, looking out towards the soon to be setting sun. “True. I haven’t felt this way about anyone since Tracy passed away a decade ago, so it feels good. Don’t let this one slide through your fingers. Life is far too short and unpredictable to take for granted my friend.”
There was a tinge of unhappiness in his voice, one that I recognized from our conversations about his past as we got to know one another. “No worries, Thomas. I’ll do my best to hold on to her.”
“Good. Now, what were you planning on making this amazing woman that’s captured your attention?”
I looked down in the bag and suddenly felt a little self-conscious about my choices. “Well, it’s a meal that my mother used to make for me as a child. I believe that the human word for it is ‘stew.’ I figured, maybe if I share something from my past that always made me feel good, it would be a good start.”
“Smart move,” he said, then checked his watch. “Oh, I better go or I’ll be late. And, if you’re making a stew, you’re going to need time to get it to cook properly.”
“Very true. Good seeing you, my friend.”
“You as well. Enjoy.” He shook my hand and restarted his travels down the street as I restarted my own. It didn’t take long before I was at Maki’s door, my hand hovering in front of her door as I hesitated.
Finally, I knocked. It took a few moments, but Maki finally opened the door. “Tyehn. Hey, come in, come in.” She let me into her apartment, papers strewn all over her couch, her living room table, and the dining room table as well.
“Everything okay?” I asked.
“Huh?” she looked at me, then looked at all the papers. “Oh, yeah. Yeah, just going over the soil sample results I got. There’s a lot of stuff here that isn’t normal when compared to other samples and I’m just trying to see what the differences are. So far, the stuff on the dining room table are the comparisons, the ones on the couch are the control samples, and the ones on the living room table are the abnormalities.”
“Anything to worry about?” I asked as I set the bag of groceries in the kitchen, then turned back to look at Maki and her work.
“I don’t think so,” she said. “I think it’s more just information that I’m not used to seeing. That part of the jungle had recently gone through some regrowth, so maybe it’s just particulates that show that regrowth. Then again, maybe it had something to do with that crazy place we were in. I’ll figure it out.”
Then she looked past me to the bag. “What’s that?”
I blushed a bit. “I thought that maybe I could make you dinner.”
“What? Really?” She looked to be in shock. “You want to make me dinner?”
“Why not?”
“I-I, I don’t know. Guess I’m not used to people wanting to do something nice for me.”
I fit her with a look of disbelief as I removed my gear and placed it off to the side. “Really? Why do I find that so hard to believe? You’re beautiful, funny, adventurous, intelligent, and whatever adjective that I don’t have the knowledge of that compliments you.”
She shrugged to try to hide her own blushing cheeks. “Yeah, well, when you’re constantly busy with work and a non-stop adrenaline junkie, it’s hard to have people around you that are willing to do nice things.”
“And I call, what’s the word you humans like to use so much? Oh, ‘bullshit.’ You have friends.” I started taking the food out of the bag and began prepping the food. “Do you have a large pot?”
“Cabinet at your left knee. And, yes, I do have friends. I’m not denying that, and we do things together and stuff. Just, I guess I haven’t had someone that was willing to do things for me just for the sake of doing things, you know?”
I stood up after getting the pot out. “No, not really. Then again, I’m part of a military strike team and if we don’t have complete trust and faith in one another, then we struggle to work well in the field. So, we’ve always made a point to try to be brothers and do things for one another in order to maintain the camaraderie and trust.”
I opened a drawer looking for a kitchen knife. “Two drawers over,” Maki said. “What are you making me?”
“Well, it’s a meal that my mother used to make me when I was a child. I’m hoping I cook it the same, since you don’t offer me the exact same ingredients that I get from home.”
“You’re really making me something your mom made you?”
I nodded.
“Thank you. Did you need some help?”
“Sure,” I said. “If you want to cut up these round things here, um…”
“Onions?”
“Yes.”
We spent the next few minutes cutting up the vegetables and then we started searing the meat. “Smells good,” she said. “What kind of spices did you put on it?”
“Uh, the lady at the shop called it lemon togarashi.”
“Smells good.”
“You said that already,” I teased.
“Yeah, yeah. Shut up,” she said as she stuck her tongue out at me. I stuck my tongue out at her in return.
“How long will this take?”
“Hmm, maybe an hour,” I answered. “Why?”
She shrugged. “Just curious how long I have to wait for dinner, that’s all. I mean, you want to feed me food and you’re gonna make
me wait, you know. I’m just saying, seems a little unfair to make me wait for dinner.”
“Oh, really? And when were you planning on eating if I hadn’t come over?”
“Um, well, you see—”
“Yep. Now, shut up and let me cook. Or, let me put everything in the pot and let it cook itself for an hour. What I love about this dish, is you can’t srell it up.”
“Wow, you’re a real connoisseur of food and language, aren’t you?”
“Ha. Ha.”
She smiled at me as I finished putting everything in the pot and turned on the stove. I made my way out of the kitchen and into the living room where she was cleaning up her papers. “Alright, where do we put these,” I asked.
“Just on the table,” she answered. “So, what now?” She sat on the couch and patted the seat next to her.
“We have an hour,” I purred, pulling her onto my lap.
She laughed, and the bond between us tightened, a near physical tug in my chest.
My Maki.
My mate.
“You have a plan for that time?” she teased, plump lips a hair’s breath away from my own.
“That time, and forever,” I answered, and then my lips did the rest of the talking.
Turns out you can srell up stew if you ignore it for four hours.
But it was worth it.
Entirely.
Letter from Elin
I have the feeling Maki is going to keep Tyehn on his toes… and he’s going to love every minute of it!
Next up, it’s the start of a new year on the Conquered World, and party girl Sibyl is about to get a rude awaking. Luckily for her, Cazak will be there.
Together the two of them will have to face the growing threat - even when it’s at the heart of her family…
Keep reading for a sneak peak, or grab it on Amazon now:
getbook.at/Cazak
Catch you next time!
XOXO,
Elin
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Cazak: Sneak Peek
Sibyl
“Three!” The entire crowd shouted in one voice.
“Two!” The energy in the room was electric, a thousand voices oiled by alcohol turning into a chorus. I let a smile spread across my lips as I focused on the holographic screen behind the DJ, and held my flute of champagne up in the air.
“One!”
The whole crowd went nuts.
The retractable ceiling started sliding back to reveal a starry sky, and the whistle of a hundred fireworks climbing up into the night blended with the chorus. When the first fireworks went off, an explosion of light pushing away the darkness in the sky, I joined the others and cried out at the top of my lungs.
“Happy New Year!”
The room, which had its lights dimmed for the countdown, was now filled with the bright colors of the fireworks. They went off for almost ten minutes, covering the sky in colorful teardrops, and every single person in the club watched the show with a kind of wide-eyed amazement. It had been a while since Kaster had seen such a celebration and, after a couple of rough years, I figured the entire city needed something like this.
I knew I did.
“Let’s get this party started,” the DJ screamed into his hovering microphone. He pushed a few buttons on his control panel, and the holographic screen behind him lit up once more. The neon colors there ebbed and flowed with a rhythm that matched the music, the pounding bass making my chest vibrate. Placing my empty champagne flute on the counter, I headed into the dance floor and brought both my hands up. Running my fingers through my hair, I swayed my hips to the rhythm. I whipped my hair back and forth, enjoying the vibrancy of the night, and let a wide smile take over my lips.
There was nothing better than a good party.
“Enjoying yourself, aren’t you?” Someone screamed into my ears, but I still had a hard time making out the words. I turned to see a handsome young man stand beside me, the sleeves of his white button up shirt rolled up his sleeves. He had the kind of grin on his lips that meant trouble, and there was a glint in his eyes that told me I had snagged all of his attention.
“What?”
“Enjoying yourself, aren’t you?” He repeated, and this time I replied with a wink. Facing him, I ran my hands down the side of my body and dragged my teeth over my bottom lip. I kept my eyes on his as I danced, and it didn’t take long before he closed the distance between us. My father would’ve hated to see me dancing with a stranger, but what the hell. Some dancing and innocent flirting never really killed anyone, right? No harm in living life and having some fun.
“What do you say we grab some shots?” The guy screamed again, doing his best to talk over the loud music. He pointed toward the corner, where a group of five or six guys was busy downing shot after shot, and I gave him a quick nod.
Grabbing my hand, he led me through the packed dance floor and, somehow, we managed to make our way to the place where his friends were. He motioned at the bartender for two shots and, just a couple of seconds later, I had a small glass pushed into my hands.
“Bottoms up!” I laughed and, without waiting for him, threw my head back and drank it all up. I grimaced as the alcohol made its way down my throat, but I didn’t let that stop me. Once another shot somehow appeared in front of me, I reached for it and drank it up.
“Slow down,” the man laughed. “You keep that up and you won’t last the night.”
“I can handle my liquor.”
“I can see that.”
“Are these your friends?” I asked him, pointing to the group of twenty-somethings surround him. He replied with a nod, and then started naming his friends. They all winked and nodded at me as my new friend introduced them all, but I wasn’t really paying attention to any of it. I couldn’t hear what their names were and, truth be told, I didn’t really care. All I wanted was to dance.
“Sure feels good, huh?”
“What does?” I asked him.
“Look around you,” he smiled, waving at the crowd. “Notice anything?”
“Not really,” I admitted.
“Not a single alien in here,” he laughed. “I can’t remember the last place I walked into a party without having to see one of them. Feels great, doesn’t it?”
“I don’t get it,” I frowned. “Are you one of those anti-alien guys?”
“Well, wouldn’t you say that it’s high time we—”
“I’m gonna dance,” I cut him short and, without waiting for his reply, I turned my back to him and slipped back into the crowd. It seemed all everyone wanted to do nowadays was dabble on politics and talk smack about the aliens. Why ruin a good party with such boring conversation?
“Who’s your friend?” I heard someone laugh right behind me, and I spun on my heels to see Aman, one of the girls that had come with me. She was rocking back and forth on her heels, her eyes already turning glassy. Still, that didn’t seem to stop her from sipping on whatever cocktail she had on her hands. “His friends are cute. Care to introduce me?”
“Nah,” I laughed back at her. “They’re boring as hell.”
“Really?”
“They just wanna talk about aliens and whatever.”
“Ugh.” Rolling her eyes, she then shook her head. “Let’s get out of he
re then, before this entire party turns into a snooze fest. I know of a club just around the block, and a friend of mine told me they’re partying hard in there.”
“What are you waiting for?” I grinned. “Lead the way.”
We stumbled onto the streets a few minutes later, the chaos of a New Year’s celebration punctuated by loud chants and the laughter of people drinking outside the bars. I followed after Aman as best as I could, but it didn’t take a genius to see that I would have to put an end to my night. I was already swaying like a boat during a storm, and the world around me seemed to be spinning too fast for my eyes to keep up.
“You go ahead,” I finally said, hands on my knees as I tried to catch my breath. “I think I’m gonna call it a night.”
“It’s not even two,” Aman protested, but I just gave her a sheepish smile. “C’mon, you’re not gonna leave me alone, are you? I can’t handle all the cute boys by myself, can I?”
“I’m sure you’ll manage.” Standing straight—at least as much as I could—I ran one hand through my hair and scanned my surroundings, trying to remember where I had left the car. “I think I’ve just drank too much.”
“You’re a disappointment, Sibyl,” Aman laughed. “C’mon, I’ll walk you to your car.”
The two of us went through a side avenue, and it didn’t take long before I spotted the turquoise sports aircar parked in front of a club. I unlocked the door with my fingerprint, and then climbed inside awkwardly. Sprawled on the back seat, I waved Aman goodbye and told the computer to close the door.
“Take me home,” I said, doing my best not to spill dinner all over the leather upholstery. My dad would kill me if that happened.
“Destination set as: home,” the car’s AI droned in its monotone voice, and the engine came alive with a growl. “Estimated arrival time: 25 minutes.” I bounced in my seat as the car pushed its weight off the pavement, and I quickly buckled myself up.
I spent the entire journey with my eyes closed, and I only dared to open them when I became certain dinner would remain in my stomach. I looked out the window to see the quiet suburbs underneath me, the brightly lit centre of Kaster just a flash in the distance, and I rested my forehead against the glass.
