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“Hmm,” the female says. “What about a missing person retrieval? No foul play suspected, just a mate that hasn’t returned home. Pay is at the top of the scale.”
Well now I’m interested. “If someone’s missing, why not go to the authorities?”
“The person that opened the bounty is a human,” she says.
Ah. That’ll do it. “I’ve got a soft spot for humans,” I drawl. “Give me the ticket info.”
“You’re lucky that you get this one,” she grumbles. “The human just filed it yesterday. She’s still on station, too. You can get all the information directly from her if you like. See if you can squeeze a bit more out of her.”
I guess it’s good that we expanded the Pleasure Spot. Something tells me this human isn’t going to want to sit around on Haal Ui waiting while we hunt down her erstwhile mate. Dora might like another of her kind to chat with, too. I picture the excitement on her face and my enthusiasm for this particular bounty grows. “Sounds good. Give me the contact info and I’ll go look her up.”
The clerk shakes her head, tapping a few more things into her data-pad. “Let me just log it into the system that you’re taking the bounty.”
I drum my fingers on the counter while I wait, glancing behind me to look for Jamef. He’s sitting at a kiosk, no doubt scrolling through bounties himself, looking for something to take on. His expression is grave, and I admire him from afar. Not bad, not bad at all. For some reason, I really love the intense look of concentration on his face. It reminds me of the expression he wears in bed, when he’s determined to get me—or Dora—off.
I clench my thighs together pleasurably, smiling to myself. Kef, I’m in such a good mood. It’s disgusting.
“Here you go,” the clerk says, and slides a plas-card across the desk to me. “Her quarters. You can’t contact her via the comm system. She doesn’t know how to work it.”
Typical human. “Reminds me of one I used to know. She didn’t want to learn it and refused. Said our alphabet was too hard.”
“It might be for an inferior race like hers.” The clerk shrugs. “Don’t know, don’t care. Just make sure she pays you in good, unmarked credits.”
I give the clerk a jaunty salute and pick up the plas-card, glancing down at the name on there and the room number.
My heart stops in my chest. I recognize that name.
Rhonda.
The human that broke my heart is now the one that’s hiring me. I freeze in place, my insides turning to ice. I can’t do this. I can’t. It doesn’t matter that it’s been ten years since I last saw her. Rhonda made me fall in love with her and then threw me away.
For the first time in my life, I’m speechless.
Seventy-Six
JAMEF
There’s a few promising bounties in the system, but I don’t claim any for myself. Not yet. Now that I’m mated, I need to run them past Bethiah before I make any decisions. I feel a little guilty that I can’t include Dora in that particular aspect of our lives, but maybe eventually she’ll be familiar with the job enough that she can offer advice. So I tag them in the system as potentials and then look around the headquarters for my mate.
I find Bethiah by the counter, where a guild assistant helps those that can’t read or have questions. She’s staring down at a plas-card in front of her, expression stricken. That’s not a good sign. Concerned, I jump to my feet and head to her side. “What’s wrong?”
“I have our next bounty,” Bethiah says in a distant voice. She holds a card out to me. “We’re taking this one.”
There’s a name and a room number on the card, but no details about the bounty. I glance over at Bethiah’s face but she’s staring off at nothing. “What kind of job is it?”
“Retrieval. Missing person. Doesn’t matter. We’re taking it.”
I give her a curious look. Here I thought we’d talk things over, but if she’s made her mind up, I suppose we can take this particular bounty. “Is the pay right?”
She nods and jumps to her feet, plucking the plas-card out of my grip. “It’s safe, too. Come on. We’ve got to go meet her before someone else grabs this bounty.”
“You didn’t put your name on it?”
She shakes her head vehemently. “No. She can’t see my name. This has to be anonymous.”
That’s…not how things work. I eye the assistant behind the desk. “Put my name on it, then. We want to make sure it’s our bounty and it’s not claimed by someone remotely.”
“Good idea,” Bethiah says, but she still sounds distracted. She heads past me, making a line for the elevator, and I follow after her, trying to decipher her strange mood change. We get in and she pushes the button, and several other people file onto the elevator with us, nixing any chance of a conversation between the two of us.
