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Even though she’d only lived there a few months, she’d filled it with plants and cheap holo-posters of various planets she dreamed of visiting. This might as well be a room in a hostel.
“I’ve had it about six years,” he said, dropping the rucksack holding their clothing on the floor. She looked at it in distaste. All she had was her uniform from the bar and the two jumpsuits he’d gotten her on Transit Three. She’d recycled the dress from Josiah. Despite how lovely it was, there were too many bad memories associated with it to ever wear again.
“I think you need to go shopping,” Jerred said, breaking into her thoughts. “Your best bet would be to go on the Station’s ’net. The female population is pretty low here, and while there are stores, it’s probably more efficient to simply order something and have it delivered.”
“All right,” she said, sitting on the couch. It was nice and soft despite its utilitarian appearance, and a thought popped into her mind. She bounced up and down, testing it and looking at him speculatively. He ignored her.
“I have to go and make my report,” he said. “Just go ahead and use the terminal to shop if you like. It should bill me automatically for whatever you decide to get.”
With that he turned and walked out the door. It closed behind him with a hissing noise. So much for the soft couch, she thought wryly.
* * * * *
Nicolai Trasky, commander of Saurellian intelligence operations, searched Jerred’s face, trying to figure out what was different. He’d already heard rumors that one of his most reclusive scouts had returned with a woman in tow—that was unusual enough in and of itself. But even stranger was Jerred’s demeanor.
If he wasn’t mistaken, the man was happy. Or at least content. And now he wanted leave to go and spend time with his new companion. Nicolai made a mental note to have one of his aides look into the situation. Unlikely as it seemed, perhaps Jerred had found a life mate. Thank the Goddess, it was something he was seeing more and more in his men. For some reason, for the first time in Saurellian history, men were finding mates outside their own people.
His own wife was one of them. Not, of course, that it was relevant to the task at hand.
“So, Josiah let you go,” he said thoughtfully. “Very wise of him. It doesn’t benefit either of us to upset the status quo at this point. I’m assuming he just meant to send us a message?”
“I’m not so sure about that,” Jerred said slowly. “I would have sworn he meant to kill me. I honestly think the only reason he changed his mind was because he got the information somewhere else.”
“Yes, well, that source was compromised a while back,” Nicolai said thoughtfully. “We’ve suspected she was a double agent for quite a while. I would imagine we won’t hear from her again.”
Their spy was almost certainly dead by now. Not that he felt sorry about that. She’d been feeding information to the Empire as well, and they were probably better off without her. Still, they’d have to find someone new, and Josiah’s organization wasn’t easy to penetrate. For some reason his people were alarmingly loyal to him.
“Our technicians will have the information out of your databanks soon,” Nicolai continued. “I’m assuming that everything will be in order, but I’ll want you to stay here until we’re sure we don’t have any questions. Preliminary reports are that Josiah didn’t break the sub-encryption shell, which means your information is safe.”
“He’d have a pretty hard time doing it in the amount of time he had,” Jerred replied. “He was angry enough about the schematics of his station that I doubt he looked much further. Not that any of this information would have interested him directly, anyway.”
“No, but it would interest others a great deal,” Nicolai said. “And Josiah is always looking for business opportunities. Don’t underestimate him.”
“I don’t, I assure you,” Jerred said wryly. “Are we done here? I’d like to get back to Giselle.”
Nicolai nodded, and leaned back in his chair. Jerred gave a casual salute and left the room, leaving Nicolai with his thoughts. Yes, he was almost certain the younger man had found his life mate. The thought made him smile. Jerred was a good man, and he deserved better than the life of loneliness and violence that awaited an unmated male.
Now, how long would it take him to figure his situation out?
The com on his desk buzzed, and Nicolai grabbed it. Within seconds he was on his feet, headed out of the office. There had been an ambush in the truce zone, a Saurellian freighter had been looted and the entire crew left for dead. Through some miracle another ship had found them before they all starved to death.
Jerred and his life mate were forgotten.
* * * * *
Giselle scrolled through the clothing catalogues, trying to imagine herself in some of the stranger creations. She had quickly realized that Saurellian women’s fashions weren’t suited to her figure. These women were long and lean. She was short, and while she wasn’t fat, she wasn’t lean, either. She would look ridiculous in most of these outfits There were other types of clothing, though, designed for women with her generous body type. Unfortunately, as far as she could tell, the entire non-Saurellian female population of the station consisted of prostitutes. Cheap prostitutes at that, not licensed pleasure workers. She’d never seen such a nasty selection of tacky clothing in her life. Finally she found some serviceable, if not exactly attractive, jumpsuits. When they left on their vacation, they would have to get more.
She was a bit worried at first about paying for the clothing, but Jerred seemed to have plenty of money available for her. She decided to splurge, and got some pretty black combs to go in her hair. She also got some conditioner for it. The soap he had on his ship made it feel a bit dry, and she was ready to pamper herself.
Her purchases arrived less than an hour after she ordered them, sliding into the apartment through a delivery shaft she hadn’t noticed at first. How handy. Moments later she hit the shower, ducking her head under the hot water and reveling in the warmth of it with a pleasure that bordered on the obscene. She started singing a little song, and turned to the wall so the water could sluice down her back.
She hardly felt his touch at first. His hands slid around her waist, and then he was in the shower with her, pulling her up against his tall body. He leaned over and whispered in her ear.
“I’ve missed you,” he said. “I’m sorry I had to leave so quickly before, but I knew that if I let myself stay, I wouldn’t make my report at all. I really couldn’t let that happen.”
