“Sextus, make sure she knows how to use all the weapons we’re sending with her. I’ll have Destin give you a couple lunars worth of food. There’s a town nearby. I have a hover in the old barn out back. I’ll teach you how to fly it. You understand I have no choice in this, right?”
“I get it, Thantose. I do understand. You promise you’ll come back for us when he figures all this out?”
“Yes. I promise. That is if he can learn to control this . . . gift.”
Chapter Seven
KJ
“Let me help you with that,” Sextus says as I try to lift one of the heavy crates laden with supplies. He relieves me of its weight, then stalks down the exit ramp leaving me alone with Thantose.
“You feel competent on the comms unit?”
“Yes, I’ve practiced.”
“Call if you need us. And the weapons? Sextus said you’re quite proficient.”
“Yes. I think I’ve got it. Point and shoot.”
“Turn it on first. The thumb lever.”
“Yes. Yes. Got it.”
I like this protective part of Captain Thantose. I see why Brin looks at him like he was personally responsible for putting all the stars in the sky.
“Destin tells me you have plenty of food. Brin says she’s told you all about Kallion.”
“Yes. I think I’ve got it. She even told me to jiggle the toilet handle.”
“What?” He tips his head back in surprise.
“Just a joke. I think I’ve got everything.”
Griff the mechanic and Destin the chief cook and bottle washer approach with A’Zul on the hover-stretcher. They’ve kept him sedated for the last three days. If I didn’t know how much I cared for him before, I certainly do now. I’ve missed his company.
They roll him down the ramp and I follow. Although I barely take the time to glance around, I notice Brin wasn’t lying when she said this area of the planet reminded her of the lush green hills of Georgia. I’ll explore later, when A’Zul is better.
“I think until we figure out what we’re working with we should put him in the barn,” I tell them.
Half an hour later, we’ve laid fresh hay in one of the two stalls and covered it with blankets. Thantose put me in the hover driver’s seat and is acquainting me with the dashboard.
I’m terrified to drive anything that could come crashing to the ground, but I close my eyes and take a deep breath. We may not see these people again. A’Zul might never get control over his shifting abilities. We might be isolated on Kallion forever, and there are only a few months of food here.
“Okay,” I tell him softly. “Go slow and I’ll learn.” Really, I have no choice.
An hour later I’ve flown the route to the small town nearby and back—twice. Brin described it as an adorable town with one street like you see on Hallmark Channel old-time Christmas specials. It was an accurate description.
When we arrive back at the barn, I’m not great at parking, but I get the job done. The males just lift the thing up and scootch it into the corner so A’Zul and I will have more room.
“Here’s the stunner,” Thantose says as he gives me a piercing look. “I want you to wear it on your hip holster at all times.”
With all the admonitions he’s given me over the last few days, he’s never mentioned this. I knew it was coming, though.
“I won’t need it,” I say with more confidence than I feel.
“I knew you wouldn’t like this, KJ, but I want you to consider it. What if he loses his ability to think like a humanoid? What if he sees you as prey? What if he gets better and you move to the house and he shifts into his dragon form and crashes the house down around you? What harm is it to wear this on your waist?”
He’s right. I know he’s right. I’ve had this same argument with myself a dozen times, but to hear him say it, it makes more sense.
“Okay.”
“Seriously? You’re going to wear it?”
“Why ask,” I joke, “I’d say the same thing whether I was lying or telling the truth. Pirates aren’t the only ones who can lie.” I do, however, sling the holster around my hips and belt it on.
“Earth women!” he exclaims loudly for all to hear. “Just being cautious, KJ. I think of you both as part of my crew now.”
“Really?” I ask, my eyes wide. I assumed he couldn’t wait to get rid of us.
“Really. You’re part of my team.”
“Captain!” Marcus the pilot shouts into Thantose’s comm. “I just intercepted an encrypted space-comm from the MarZan cartel. They know we’re on our way to Aeon II to sell the sword we were going to sell to Sooma Ryone on Rhoid. They’re looking for us. We need to bounce. Now!”
“Fuck!” Thantose says. “You’ll be safer here. If I could convince the women on board to stay, I would, but it’s not worth asking. They’ll want to stay with their mates on the Ataraxia. Be safe. We’ll stay in touch.”
Over the last few days, I got the scoop about the pirates’ nemesis. They told me Daneur Khour is the head of the MarZan cartel, one of the most powerful—and evil—organizations in the galaxy. He and Sextus had a run-in a while back. Khour was in the process of flaying the big, blue Cerulean alive when Sextus turned the tables and somehow carved his initials into the male’s face and then threw acid on him.
Khour and his henchmen have been chasing the pirates around the galaxy ever since. Maybe Thantose was right. A’Zul and I will be safer here.
The
