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Nassakth clenches his fists and glares at Bethiah. He looks so furious, teeth bared and shoulders bristling, that for a moment I’m terrified. Not for myself, but for her. He looks like he wants to rip her throat out, and I remember what his arena name was—the Arena Scourge of Askorthi Prime. He was known for his brutality. But Bethiah doesn’t look concerned. Her pose is easy, and as I hand her the freshly warmed meat pocket, I see knife blades stuffed up her sleeves, and what look like hidden needles tucked into decorative bracelets. She has a half-dozen weapons strapped at her waist and another on her thigh, and her heavy boots probably hold a few secrets, too.
She can take care of herself, I suspect.
“Okay, well, for starters, the bounty hunter your mate was paying for me to follow showed up last night at your homestead. He disabled the alarms and went into your house and performed a DNA scan.”
I gasp. “He broke into my house?”
Nassakth groans somewhere behind me, the sound full of irritation and defeat. “Female, do not—”
“Oh, I do,” Bethiah coos. “This is all information that’ll come out soon enough, so it hurts no one to speak of it. And besides, your human has a right to know, even if it taxes her poor, tiny brain.”
I raise my hands, frustrated by their bickering. “Can we go back to the part where someone broke into my house? Why?”
“I told you,” she says, irritated. “DNA scan.” Her gaze flicks to Nassakth. “Do I need to speak slower around her? Use smaller words?”
“Hey!” I snap. “Just fucking spit it out, all right? Why was someone at my house? Why were they doing a DNA scan?”
Bethiah takes the slowest bite of her food ever and then shrugs. “He was looking for evidence of Kolvir al’Naanti, who is his bounty. A DNA scan will pick up any trace evidence he might have left behind if he touched furniture or any of your belongings.”
I frown as I hear the name. It sounds vaguely familiar, but I can’t place it right away. Then it occurs to me. That was one of my mesakkah suitors, the second one. I vaguely remember the man. He had decent teeth and nice clothes, even if his thick hair had seemed a little greasy and his horns slightly tarnished. He’d showed up at my place after answering my ad and we’d talked about the potential of mating. He’d seemed interested and had promised to come back later that night with his decision…and then had never showed up again.
I just figured he was yet another alien not interested in an older human woman, not when there were so many younger ones on the planet also on the hunt for a mate-slash-protector. I give Bethiah a curious look. “I think I met the guy for an hour about two months ago. Why would they check my house for him?”
“He’s been missing for just that long,” Bethiah points out. “And someone passed information along to our friend that you had seen Kolvir before his disappearance. And they suspect you might have something to do with it. ”
“Me?” I squeak. I turn to look at Nassakth, whose face is completely shut down and his glare is furious. He’s shooting daggers with his eyes at Bethiah, his arms crossed over his big chest.
I’m starting to piece things together. This bounty hunter thinks I’m involved with some jerk who disappeared. That’s why he showed up on our doorstep the other day. That’s why Nassakth is freaking out. That’s why he went to my house last night and…rolled in noli for some reason. In his incredibly overbearing way, Nassakth is trying to protect me. It eases some of the frustration I’m feeling at him right now to realize that.
“You,” Bethiah agrees. “He’s a guild bounty hunter, and they usually don’t do the super-sketchy stuff that I love to specialize in. They’re sticklers for the rules.” She makes a face, as if following the rules is SO lame. “But guild records are also available to the public, so I checked Jamef’s particular bounty on this one. It’s actually been assigned by law enforcement from a nearby space station. Kolvir is a criminal, wanted for—”
“Don’t,” Nassakth says softly.
Bethiah pauses and then shrugs. “Well, it’s not really important.”
Isn’t it? I glance back at Nassakth but his gaze is like iron. He’s utterly unmoving. Whatever this guy is wanted for, Nassakth wants to shield me from it.
“The thing is with criminals,” Bethiah continues, “the bounty is for either the return of the criminal to authorities, or proof of demise. So that’s good news.”
She says it so very brightly that for a moment, her words don’t register. “How is any of that good news? I met the man two months ago for an hour. And what does that have to do with DNA scans of my house?”
