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“What is it?” Raxnor asked.
“The parts are on Pranch.”
Silence fell around the table, and no one smiled. “What is it? We have a location. Isn’t this good news?”
“No,” Hazel said. “Kirel and I hacked some computers there not that long ago.”
“They’ll have tightened all of their security,” Raxnor growled. “We’ll never be able to steal this many parts.”
“Pranch might be the Grug’s main factory world, but it’s not the only place they keep special equipment.” Kirel took his phone back and started typing again, his fingers a blur. Then he froze and looked up at us, his expression wary. “It’s a good news, bad news situation, as my lovely Hay-Zul likes to say. Good news, I found both pieces of equipment already built and ready to use. Bad news...” His eyes met mine. “They’re at a Tula mining facility.”
My stomach dropped. I knew what he’d say next.Dios mío, anyone but her.
My prayers went unanswered.
“The one owned by Senator Bila.”
CHAPTERTHIRTY
Raxnor
“No!” The word ripped from my throat, my chest. “I will not allow it! I’ll never let you near those people again!” She’d hidden it under her sunny nature, but how the lizards had treated my Zo-Fee had hurt her deeply.
My mate spun to face me, her hand touching my arm, my shoulder, quivering like a cloflutter hovering over a dravar flower unsure of where to alight. “It’s okay. It’ll be okay.”
I clasped her hand in one of mine and gave a squeeze. Then I turned to Kirel. “Find another place.”
He didn’t look up from his comp. “I’m trying, but…” He shook his head.
The main door to the room slid open, and Glitter swooped in, Lila and Vree running right behind her.
Lila let out a yowl and dashed for Zo-Fee, who spun to catch the leaping animal. “I’m okay, niña.” Zo-Fee held the kreecat close and buried her face in Lila’s purple fur. “I just had a shock, is all.”
Glitter landed on Mol-Lee’s shoulder.“New friend upset.”
“We brought her here as fast as we could!” Vree added, hopping up on the table and trotting over to Kirel and Hay-Zul.
The captain muttered something about running a zoo, but too quietly for any of the females to hear since human hearing wasn’t as acute as a Zaarn’s. Louder, he said, “What are our options?”
Tark stared at his comp screen. “We do it the slow way, buying parts piecemeal, whenever we can. I could probably build the X-ray thing in a few months. The atomic 3-D printer…” He shook his head. “It’s a no go. The Grug don’t even admit they have this technology, let alone sell it to any of the other species.”
“Yeah, I had to dig into the Grug database I’d hacked to find any mention of it,” Kirel said.
“So, that settles it.” Zo-Fee lowered Lila to her lap and looked around the table. “We find a way to get into this mining facility.”
“Zo-Fee—” I started to protest.
“No, Raxnor.” She put a hand over mine. “It’s okay. I trust you to keep me safe.”
Her words pierced my heart, cracking it wide open. After the way I’d hidden our mating from her, to have regained her trust was a gift I never hoped to earn. I had loved her from the moment I saw her, in a primal, biological way. But what I felt now transcended any of that. My fated mate was joy and intelligence and strength.
My tail rose into the air, buzzing loudly, as I reached for her and—
An elbow hit my ribs as Tark’s cheerful voice echoed my own words from only a week ago back to me. “You do realize we’re all still sitting here, right?”
I jolted upright, growling, as Sul broke into laughter. The big male pointed. “Ha! This is too good! After the way you gave me such a hard time for wanting my Mol-Lee.”
I bared my fangs at him, not appreciating the irony one bit.
