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Chapter 15
Keran
Istared at the vidscreen without seeing it. My eyes kept flicking to the window in Dawn’s office. I couldn’t stop stealing glances at her while she interacted with the two dozen hybrids who had come to work the fields. She had allowed my men and me to use her worktable for our meetings. Tagar’s voice sounded like a distant droning as he went over the triangulation efforts he’d performed to locate the murderer’s lair.
The Veredians’ insights into this case had only raised more questions. They had confirmed our initial assessment that the culprit was draining hormonal fluids from the victims. However, they had found indications that their sensory receptors had been numbed. This meant the killer wasn’t getting off on watching his victims suffer. Their gruesome death was merely a result of their experiment’s needs.
A merciful murderer?
None of this made sense. A thorough analysis of all our fluids failed to reveal what could possibly be of interest to the killer that he’d be harvesting them. This mess was dragging on too long. In a week, I would have to go back to Braxia and let my men pursue the investigation without me. Granted, I had full confidence in their ability to see this through on their own, but me not actively taking part in solving this mystery felt like a failure.
My gaze flicked again out the window, searching for Dawn.
Another wave of jealousy surged through me as I watched her talking with one of the hybrids. Even though I had clearly stated my intentions of taking her with me, Dawn had remained elusive as to her plans. I believed she wanted to stay with me as much as I wanted to keep her. However, things were undoubtedly moving too quickly for her.
Beyond the fact that she would never agree to leave until the culprit was apprehended—or that every hybrid at risk had left Haven—what did I really have to offer her? With every waking moment spent hunting that wretched killer, I didn’t have the time to properly court her. We were much too early in our relationship for me to make a long-term commitment to her. And I wasn’t so special that she’d want to uproot herself to come settle with me on a planet that had been hostile to people like her.
And that was the other issue. While I absolutely didn’t care that she was a hybrid, the purebloods would likely frown at it. My father had married an off-worlder, and now I was considering a committed relationship with a hybrid? Even Krygor, the second most powerful male on Braxia, had married an off-worlder.
People had muttered about Mercy as their new Dagna. But she was a Veredian—a species that the entire galaxy held in awe. Her incredible wealth and powerful connections had all also played a major part in silencing any discontent. That she was an incredible Warrior, and that she’d greatly helped in turning Braxia’s challenged economy around had earned her the respect of all the clans.
Dawn didn’t have all that to bring into the relationship. I could already hear people implying that I was another one of those who thought off-worlder females were better than our pureblood ones. So much so that I’d settle for one that had nothing to offer, which couldn’t be further from the truth. Fine, she didn’t have Mercy’s wealth or connections. But she was strong, smart, charismatic, and undaunted by even what seemed like insurmountable challenges. Her selflessness and devotion to the welfare of others were the exact type of qualities I sought in a companion.
Anyway, I don’t give a shit what they think.
And I truly didn’t. However, Dawn might feel differently about it. Was that part of her reluctance to commit to coming with me? She cared about me. Her affection shone bright in her eyes whenever she looked at me. From the start, she’d been my greatest support here, despite my disappointing performance after a great start. Dawn believed in me and in the fact that I would solve this.
And yet, I’m going nowhere fast, except back to Braxia with my tail between my legs.
I heaved a frustrated sigh and forced myself to refocus on the screen, only to realize the room had gone quiet. I scrunched my face as if I’d bitten into something foul when I found Tagar and Nowik staring at me with a sympathetic expression. Ancestors! When had I become so damn pathetic?
“Apologies,” I said, disgusted with myself.
My men spared me the humiliation of further rubbing it in. Tagar continued as if he hadn’t caught me daydreaming… again.
“We believe we should canvas this sector next,” Tagar said, pointing at an area far north of Jardan’s ranch. “There are a few pharmaceutical labs located in that region. It’s a long shot as they’ve been established for decades. But they are within a fairly short flight from most of the locations where victims were found.”
“That makes sense,” I replied pensively. “Any chance we can get their administrators to let us take a peek inside?”
“Baldur is working on it. But I say we—”
Tagar abruptly stopped talking, his head jerking up to look out the window with a frown. I followed his gaze to see Dawn running towards the main building. I jumped out of my chair and hurried out of the room to go meet her. A million thoughts fired off in my mind as to what had her racing here. Surely a new body hadn’t surfaced already? Assuming the killer followed his original pattern, we still had thirty-two hours before we reached nine days since the last death. But I wanted to hope that he would stretch it to eleven days like with the previous victim, giving us more time.
Even as that thought crossed my mind, I flinched inwardly. Yes, more time would help us. However, that also meant the victim—probably the hybrid named Ramsay that was still missing—would sustain a prolonged torture.
At least, if the Veredians were right, his senses would be numbed during that dreadful ordeal.
In my eagerness to get to Dawn, I nearly tore the front door off its hinges as I violently opened it. I hurried down the short flight of stairs just as she was reaching the entrance. My wariness gave way to a burning curiosity when Dawn looked at me with excitement instead of the grim expression I’d expected.
“Jaek just messaged me!” she exclaimed while closing the distance between us. “The second headhunter contacted him. The meeting is in two days, at 18:00.”
My heart leapt. “In two days! Where?”
She shook her head with an apologetic look. “The headhunter didn’t say, or rather he deliberately withheld that information. Here, Jaek forwarded the message he received. It is a no-reply address,” Dawn said while handing me her com.
“That’s not suspicious at all,” I said with all the sarcasm I could muster while taking the device from her to read the message.
“Information session in two days, on the fourteenth at 18:00. The location will be shared with you two hours prior to the event.
