by Sonia Nova
This was big.
Xeegan was pretty sure that some kind of an important trade was just about to take place. He suspected that in mere moments, they would find out what this whole warehouse was for and exactly who the off-planet pirate’s clients were.
He could tell that Kira was just as on edge as he was. His arms were still around her waist, and he could feel her tense in his hold. They had ended up hiding in a place that was close enough for her to see what was going on as well, and she was completely absorbed by the scene in front of them. Her heart beat strong and quick against his arms and chest, and Xeegan could hear her breath catch in anticipation.
“Welcome,” the Mehelian who had hired them called out as the front doors of the vehicle opened and their clients stepped out.
No.
The sound of scales on concrete sent a shiver down Xeegan’s spine. Because of the angle of the vehicle, he couldn’t yet see the clients, but he knew exactly who they were. That disgustingly acrid scent, the horrible slithering sound of their lizard tails against the ground…
There was no question.
Krezlians.
Two scaled men walked up to the Mehelian in charge. Both were wearing Krezlian military regalia. One started to speak in broken Alliance Standard –something about a new human female ready for transport – but Xeegan barely heard it, his gaze locked on his forked lizard tongue flickering in and out of his lipless jaws.
The deafening sound of his own blood pumping filled his ears and he suddenly felt like throwing up. His boots were like lead, and he could barely feel Kira in his arms.
This was a nightmare.
The faint scent of Zorq’s fear drifted into Xeegan’s consciousness, igniting a protective spark within him. Neither of them had had any contact with their makers since the day they were freed. Several cycles of freedom, building an identity outside or what the Krezlians had planned for him, cycles of friendship and hard work and new experiences…
It all felt like it was collapsing within him.
He wanted to run and attack the Krezlians – there were only two of them, it would be so easy. It would be so cathartic to rip out their throats and revel in their gory deaths.
Except he couldn’t move. All he could do was stand as still as possible and wait for the horror to end.
CHAPTER 16
KIRA
Shit.
Kira stared at the group of pirates in shock. Pirates… and Krezlians.
Fucking hell. This operation was turning out to be way beyond her paygrade. She wasn’t supposed to be involved in this at all.
The Krezlians were a high-risk non-Alliance race, under constant surveillance and blocked from trading with any Alliance planet. There were countless Alliance task forces, committees, and military units dedicated to managing the Krezlian threat. They shouldn’t even be on an Alliance planet like Riala…
But clearly, they were. And it very much seemed like they were the ones behind the disappearances of the human women on the planet.
The moment Kira had seen the lizard-like aliens step out of their vehicle, she had started recording the scene with her wristband. She had heard them mention being ready to “transport” a new human female, and the thought of the woman’s fate had made her shiver in disgust.
She would have to report to Agent Grimmor right away and let him know what was happening here.
Except…
“Xeegan,” Kira whispered, carefully unfolding his arms from around her. She turned to face him and looked up at his expression. His gaze was unfocused, his jaw set, and shoulders tense. It was as if he couldn’t hear her at all.
Of course. The Krezlians had made the Ezak-X – and the Ezak-T – and the alien rights abuses they had committed were general knowledge. Seeing them must have brought up memories of trauma she couldn’t even imagine.
Kira glanced at Zorq. He seemed equally frozen in place. She turned back to the group of pirates and Krezlians. The Krezlians continued to talk with the off-planet pirates for a moment, and then started to walk deeper into the building. Kira watched the group until they slowly disappeared into a shadowy corridor on the other side of the warehouse.
“They’re gone,” she said to Xeegan, standing as tall as she could to put a hand on his shoulder. “Are you okay?”
Xeegan didn’t respond. He turned away from her, shaking his head. All hair on his body seemed to be standing on end and he shivered, as if physically affected by his makers’ presence.
Zorq seemed to snap out of his own shock and he lumbered toward Kira and Xeegan. The Ezak-T groaned, a pained expression in his eyes, and hung his head.
“Come on, Zorq,” Kira said encouragingly. “Let’s get out of here. Somewhere far from the Krezlians. They might have left, but they could be going anywhere in the building. We need to get out before they discover us.”
Who knew how much Zorq could understand of what she said, but the calming tone of her voice seemed to get through to him. He followed her as she firmly took Xeegan’s hand in her own and led him out of the warehouse, past the quiet armored vehicle, and into the alley.
“Xeegan…” she said, looking up at him in concern. He hadn’t said a word since they left and his face was dark and still in the shadows of the alleyway. “I need you to be here right now. We need to figure out what to do next.”
Zorq made a small sound of agreement, looking at Xeegan with a worried expression. He nudged Xeegan gently with his face.
Finally, Xeegan let out a long breath and ran a hand through his thick mane. He looked down at Kira, his dark eyes clearly pained, but she could see a newfound determination in them as well. She smiled up at him in relief, even though smiling was the last thing she felt like doing.
“I’m here,” Xeegan said, his voice hoarse as he spoke. He leaned against the wall of a building in the alleyway and shifted his eyes to the ground, seemingly in thought. “You know how you asked me about the scar across my eye?”
Kira nodded slowly, confused. Why would he bring that up now?
“You said Zorq gave it to you in a fight,” she said. Memories of the conversation came back to her. Xeegan had seemed like he didn’t want to tell her the whole story.
Xeegan shook his head, his gaze still trained on the ground.
“It wasn’t the Krezlian experiments and torture that fucked you up the most,” he said quietly. “Yes, they were horrifying. Yes, I had nightmares about them and hoped they would end. Hoped they would stop inserting more poison into my system. Hoped they would stop fucking with my mind. But that wasn’t the worst of it…”
He fell silent for a long moment and Kira wasn’t sure if he was even going to continue. Clearly, he was in a rough place now, after seeing the Krezlians in the warehouse. She walked up to him by the side of the building and placed her hand on his arm, trying to show him that she was there for him.
“The Krezlians wanted us to be strong,” Xeegan continued quietly. “We were made to be fighters. Their army. So… in order to gauge our fighting abilities and the effect of whatever drug they had given us at the time, they would pit us against each other. Often, they would release us into a giant, maze-like killing arena everyone called the Pit. That’s where Zorq and I first met. We had no choice but to fight. Fight until only one of us remained.”
Zorq let out a whimper at his words, as if he too remembered the scene.
“I’ve killed many,” Xeegan said, his voice rough. “It was kill or be killed. Any Ezak-X you meet – living whatever life, freed from the Krezlians – only lives now because of how many other creations he was forced to murder. Zorq is the first of the creatures I didn’t have to kill. So, I didn’t. The Alliance came and freed us just as we were in the Pit… But not before he gave me this scar…”
He ran his finger along the long stripe of lighter gray skin that went all the way from his forehead to his cheek. Zorq whimpered again.
Although clearly, they had met in a horrible situation and Zorq had hurt him, it didn�
�t seem like Xeegan held any grudge against Zorq. No, all his hatred was reserved for the Krezlians.
Of course, Kira had already known, on an intellectual level, that Xeegan and Zorq’s past must have been horrifying. Any life that started out in a test tube, being raised as an experiment, was not a happy life.
But this was twisted. Sick.
The Krezlians had prepared Xeegan and their other creations for nothing less than a life of violence and blind rage. She couldn’t imagine what it had taken for Xeegan and Zorq to establish their lives as pirates, figuring out what it meant to live outside of captivity, without a soul to care for them or to help them navigate their new world.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered, feeling the beginnings of tears burning in her eyes. She wasn’t about to let herself cry – she had to stay strong and deal with this messed up situation – but her heart was breaking for Xeegan. They’d had a horrible past, and then the Alliance had failed in protecting them too, fearing Zorq and dismissing him, so that the two of them had had no choice but to become pirates.
“If the Krezlians are involved,” Xeegan said, his voice low and tense. “There’s no doubt that they have Zeon.”
“They mentioned a human woman, too,” Kira said. “They’re definitely behind the disappearances.”
They shared a look. Xeegan’s expression was still dark, and something flickered in his gaze.
“You’re not the only one at risk,” he said. “That must be why the off-planet pirates were so eager to have us come work for the day. And why they followed us on our way out. They – the Krezlians – want all of us.”
Kira nodded, her chest tightening at the thought. “I think you’re right. I should report this to the Alliance and figure out how we’re going to help Zeon and the women.” She looked around, trying to get her bearings from the angle and position of the stars. “It’s too risky to go back now that we know exactly who’s behind this. We should…”
Xeegan shook his head, and she trailed off at the gesture.
“This needs to end here.”
CHAPTER 17
XEEGAN
Kira stared at Xeegan, her expression uncertain. Even Zorq tilted his head and snorted, confused and wondering what he had meant.
“What are you saying?” Kira asked.
“The Krezlians,” he started, hating the feel of his makers’ name on his lips. “You can’t even imagine… You don’t know…” It was hard to articulate his thoughts as the knot of rage and fear grew in his chest. “I can’t risk ending up back in their hands. I can’t put Zorq into a situation like that either.”
Kira’s expression softened and she nodded sympathetically.
“I understand,” she said. “This isn’t your mission. I don’t expect you to continue.”
“You shouldn’t either!” he gritted, looking at her in the eye. “They could capture you… And the things they could do to you…” The image of Kira screaming and being tortured by the Krezlians surfaced in his mind and it made his blood run cold. “I’m not going to let that happen.”
A small smile tinged the corner of Kira’s mouth, but she quickly pressed her lips together in a serious line again.
“We’ve been over this. This is my job. I can take care of myself. And in a situation like this, I would have to call in backup anyway. I’m not going to take unnecessary risks.”
“Exactly,” Xeegan said, grabbing at the first idea for how to keep Kira safe. “This is one of those unnecessary risks. You don’t have to be the one to get anywhere near the Krezlians. You can call and talk to that agent you always update. Tell him you’ve hit a dead end in your investigation and want to be transferred to another operation. Let them send in some other agent to take the risk.”
A part of him felt guilty – for getting Zeon into this and then abandoning him. But self-preservation was what he had taught himself since the day he was made, and it had only been reinforced during his time on Riala as a pirate. He had to protect himself. He had to protect Zorq. And now… he had to protect Kira.
Somehow, along with Zorq, she had become a person he couldn’t let go of. A person he couldn’t allow anything bad to happen to. He had to ensure her safety, and right now, the best way to do that was to get them all as far away from his makers as possible.
Kira shook her head. “No,” she said. “You know I can’t do that. That goes against all my training and my own personal moral code. The women are my mission, but more than that: They are women like me, trapped somewhere out there, and there’s no telling the horrors they’re enduring. I can’t just abandon them.”
Xeegan sighed deeply. He had known she wouldn’t go for it. He knew she was stubborn and strong, and he knew this mission meant a lot to her. He knew that being loyal to the Alliance was important to Kira, but even more than that, her values were important to her.
There was no way he was going to get between her and what she thought was right. Not that he even wanted to, not really.
Her passion and fiery conviction to do the right thing was a part of her that he found incredibly attractive. He had never known someone so dedicated to their work, not in a way that so enveloped their entire life and way of being. But still, for his own sake, he’d had to try to stop her.
“I was trying to figure out what the Krezlians would have to do with the missing human women and Zeon,” Kira said quietly, staring at the ground. “And… Well, it made me remember something.”
Her tone was cautious and although she hadn’t said anything yet, Xeegan already knew he wasn’t going to like it.
“I’ve been trying to figure it out, too,” he said slowly.
“There’s only one explanation that ties everything together,” Kira said. “The missing human women, Zeon, all of the lab equipment. It all makes sense – why the Krezlians are here on a black market hub like Riala…”
“Tell me already,” Xeegan growled.
“I only know what the Alliance chose to share with agents who weren’t directly involved. I had access to a couple of reports, but I only skimmed them. I had no idea it would be directly relevant to anything that’s happening here…” She took a deep breath. “The Krezlians are trying to breed Ezak-X and human females.”
What? What the fuck?
Xeegan frowned. “That’s impossible,” he said. “Being what we are, a mix of different species… The Ezak-X are sterile.”
“So we had thought,” Kira said. “But it has already happened. A few humans have had children with Ezak-X males and are living on Earth, raising hybrid children.”
Xeegan’s eyes widened and his head swam. It has already happened? What?
Suddenly, he had a million questions. How was this possible? Human females and Ezak-X? And if the Krezlians were forcibly breeding them, how were they raising the hybrid children on Earth? He couldn’t even imagine the story there, but he knew Kira wouldn’t be able to tell him any details she wasn’t already sharing.
“I had no idea,” Kira said, her voice quiet. “We didn’t even suspect Krezlian involvement. The Krezlians must have known that a bunch of smuggled lab equipment would barely register for the Alliance… And even a few missing humans would first be investigated as individual disappearances and then possible slave trade but not… well…”
“Why?” Xeegan asked, barely registering what Kira had said over his own turbulent thoughts. “Why would they do this? If they want to rebuild their army, can’t they just… create more Ezak-X with lab equipment?” He grimaced as soon as the words escaped his lips.
“The Alliance destroyed everything they had,” Kira explained. “All their decades of research are gone and they have nothing to work with. Nothing except the Ezak-X that are already out in the universe.”
So the Krezlians were using innocent human females and unsuspecting Ezak-X trying to live their new lives, just for their own selfish benefit…
Bile rose in the back of Xeegan’s throat. The thought of soft, small human females like Kira in the hands of hi
s makers made his blood boil and his hands fisted at his sides…
Fuck!
Xeegan punched the side of the building he had been leaning against. Chunks of reddish-brown brick crumbled around his first.
“They can’t do this,” he growled.
A low rumble came from Zorq’s throat as well. The Ezak-T was picking up on Xeegan’s anger.
“I understand if this isn’t something you want to be involved in,” Kira said gently. “But I need to report this to the Alliance. Maybe even try to go work at the warehouse again tomorrow and continue to investigate. I can pretend I never knew they were onto us – or tried to kidnap us – or whatever reason they had for following us out of the warehouse.”
“No,” he snapped, and she flinched at his harsh tone. His heart fell as he realized he had scared her. “You’re right… We need to put a stop to this.” Self-preservation might have been the only thing he’d ever known, but… “I would never want anyone else to endure what I did at the hands of the Krezlians.” Not Zeon. Not the human females. Not anyone.
Kira nodded slowly. Her expression was carefully controlled, but he could smell the salt of the tears that she was holding back.
“You know,” he said, taking her head in his hands. He inhaled her sweet scent into his nostrils, taking strength from her nearness. Kira relaxed into his hold and he moved his hands down to her waist, pulling her close. Tentatively, she rested her cheek against his chest. “There’s no way I would let you run into such a dangerous situation on your own.”
She might have Alliance backup, but that wasn’t enough. The Alliance didn’t know the Krezlians like he did. He would come with her.
“I don’t need your help. I already told you,” she muttered into his t-shirt, but her protest sounded weak even to him. He squeezed her tightly, holding her closer against his body.
