I take his hand, and we shake. “Elix. That’s Zariah.”
I look down at her as she stumbles back and falls. Teol offers her a hand and helps her up.
Maybe I didn’t need to come here.
“You’re an endangered species, Lazariot, right?” Keo moves back into his place against the window wall. “Rejected by your mate? Heard you were all on lockdown somewhere trying to save your species.”
“Myspeciesrejected me,” I say bitterly, remembering back to hitching a ride on a cargo vessel off-planet as a kid.
“What in stars for?”
I stare down at Zariah and wish she would see me. Then again, I’d rather confront her in private so her surprise doesn’t cause a scene. “We are dying off because they didn’t believe in intermixing tribes. Two tribes, no home.”
“Ouch. Double the skills or none?” he asks.
“Double.” Plus a few. “So your sister, does she teach hand-to-hand combat or something? Is that why she’s doing this?”
“Yeah. Started beating me up at a young age.” He laughs, then grows very quiet. Keo runs a hand over his tattooed neck. “I got in with the wrong crowd. She straightened me out. Little sister became the big sister. After an enlistment with the Terranmilitary as an alternative to jail, I’ve dedicated the rest of my life to her. She stopped me from making some big mistakes.
“How’d you end up guarding Zariah?”
“Recent bar fight. Just before she got here, actually. A human trafficker tried to snatch her up. Had to push the request through fast. I owed her for a past life debt. Nothing violent. I was just a starving kid.”Hunted for my skills.
“Sounds like you’re already even then.” Keo smiles.
I’m not sure, but I can’t let that be what others see, or they’ll doubt my reason here. “Not enough time to let the dust settle and be sure she’s safe. I am the backup measure.”
“You’re a pretty serious guy, you know that?” Keo clearly hasn’t been caught up in enough battles to know what I mean.
I face him. “Where did you serve your enlistment?”
“Nytheralian territory.”
“Any deep space, unpatrolled Sol Territory?”
Keo shifts between his feet. “No, no serious deployments. I was just security.”
“That’s why youaren’tserious.”
Keo seems to get the hint as he hangs his head and nods. “Fair enough.”
I scan the other females that gather outside with Zariah and Teol. Turning my back to Keo, I covertly search on my wristband for him and his sister. They are MAMA instructors, vetted by Terran and Nytheralian empires. The trouble is, I know that everything I find can be forged. I’m supposed to be one of the good guys, and I entered Zariah into a contract she doesn’t yet know about.
Anybody can be anything, anywhere, with the right alliances. I owe Aurelius a debt of gratitude.
The males’ ABR transport should arrive soon. I check the screens, the other personal security officers, and the teams in theobservation room. Quiet chatter is all I hear. I close my eyes and isolate the various voices.
“She was so excited, she literally trembled the entire way here. I don’t get it.”
“Mine spent the trip researching different species and making a list of her interests.”
“You know those alien males are just using this as an excuse to go on a hormonal rampage and turn into animals. But when we do that, it’s considered r—”
“Ah.” A female voice—older, weathered, practiced—interrupts him. “This kind of behavior you speak of is only permitted here or in designated homelands, where females areawareof it andwillingparticipants. There are drones everywhere. Our security systems are designed to stop any such activities that a woman changes her mind about and also to control any male who gets out of hand.”
I don’t think Zariah is aware, and it stirs a deep protective urge in my bones.I need to tell her—warn her.
The woman gets onto a small box. “I know you are all anxious regarding the week ahead. But there are rules you must follow.
