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There was a medium-size domed station, a slightly smaller storage building and several residential buildings spread out around the station. The base didn’t have a protective fence, which wasn’t typical but was a good sign. Xera might just be the first planet Miya visited free of the threat of unfriendly local aliens and/or human-munching wildlife.
Therak nodded. “It’s good you know the layout of the settlement in advance. That will save us time.”
“Well, it’s not like we’ll be infiltrating the place. Right?”
“We’ll walk in and ask for assistance and a ship. If they refuse or try to delay us, a change in tactics will be necessary. Your knowledge will be crucial then.”
Fantastic. Nothing ominous-sounding in that change of tactics bit. “I guess this means there is no option where you go in alone to get me some clothes while I hide behind a rock here. I’ll be giving some 50 to 70 colonists an eyeful.”
“I understand you wish your useless green contraptions to be for my eyes only–”
“Now, wait a minute–”
“–but I’m not letting you out of my sight even for a second.”
Miya huffed.
“You could tell the colonists I’m an escaped prisoner, try to get their help against me.” His eyes bore into hers. “I don’t kill innocents, but I will be forced to defend myself if someone tries to imprison me again. Therefore, you’re staying with me, Miya.
He didn’t kill innocents? Did that mean Therak was an assassin with a code? She should ask him to elaborate on that, but now was not the time. They were getting closer and closer to the base, and they might get spotted soon. Her undergarments included.
“Therak, I’ve already seen what you being in the authorities’ hands leads to. I have no intention of getting colonists hurt.”
“Excellent. But you’re still coming with me.”
She rolled her eyes, but what could she do? Enjoy the little time she had left nestled against the hard plains of his body, that was what. Dying of mortification in lace would come later.
“What happened with needing your hands free to fight, anyway?”
“The only present threat is the colonists. And they will think twice before attacking an alien carrying an Earthling.”
He had a point. Maybe that was the real reason why he wanted to keep carrying her, but Miya preferred to believe he enjoyed it as much as she did. He simply didn’t want to admit it.
“Speaking of imprisonment, how did you get caught by the military?” It was a question that had bothered her for some time now. “You’d think someone who can become invisible at will is uncatchable.”
He stopped so abruptly at the foot of the hill that he startled her.
“How do you know of that ability?” Therak asked with a commanding tone, eyes trained on her face. “Did the soldiers tell you?”
“Uhh… no?”
He abruptly put her down on her feet and caught her by the nape of the neck to keep her face right under his. “How, Earthling? Tell me exactly.”
She should have kept her mouth shut. Now they were back to ‘Earthling’ and manhandling. Or what she was beginning to see as Therak’s interrogation mode, where there could be no attachments in the form of first names and no moving away from his lie-detecting sniffs.
Miya had thought they were past this stage in their relations but, clearly, his invisibility was not common knowledge. And he would like it to stay that way.
She had been getting too comfortable with the sexy assassin, when the truth was she might disappear without a trace once he no longer needed her piloting skills. Hadn’t he himself said she was alone and no one would raise questions if something were to happen to her?
“I saw one of the mercenaries go puff,” she told Therak, eyes meeting his. She wasn't one to cower. “An alien of your kind. Invisible one second, visible and naked the next.”
“Sakhin.” Therak bared his fangs as he said that name, then he schooled his features yet again.
Whoa, so somethingwascapable of getting an emotional response out of him. “No friend of yours, I presume?”
Therak shifted his gaze to the road ahead, lost in thought. So lost, in fact, that he probably didn’t realize his fingers were no longer holding the back of her neck but running gently through her curls there. And Miya enjoyed his soothing touch too much to interrupt him.
“There are no friends in my line of work,” he said eventually. “However, there is professional courtesy. Sakhin spat on that by taking this job.”
