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“I’m glad you made it out of The Hunt alive.” There was a chuckle in Az’ud’s voice that was one part sadistic and other parts condescending.
Fanian hated the way Az’ud talked to him. It’d been easy to ignore it before. Az’ud’s tone grated on his nerves now. There was no denying it any longer. He didn’t like Az’ud, and he didn’t like Az’ud’s voice.
Fanian sat back in his Captain’s chair and hoped he gave the illusion of calmness even though something akin to overbearing protectiveness raged under his skin. “You knew I would have or you wouldn’t have hired me for the job.”
Az’ud steepled short fingers together. His eyes, all white except for a speck of the lightest gray where his irises were, gave Fanian an assessing look. “Very true, indeed.”
Fanian assumed one of Az’ud’s employees might’ve been unnerved from such a look. Az’ud was average for a Nulxel. His clothes and precious jewels around his neck and adorning his head indicated his high caste status on his planet. He was powerful, owning a majority share of his planet and use to people bowing down to him. Most of all, Az’ud was known for his cruelty and vindictiveness.
Az’ud was older in his years, and it showed. Not by wrinkling or sagging skin. With the excess credits Az’ud had at his disposal, he was able to correct any deficiencies surgically. Cosmetic corrections were easy, but there was no disguising the age and wisdom behind those eerie eyes.
There was also no hiding the malice within them. Even if Fanian hadn’t witnessed Az’ud’s brutality, he would’ve known Az’ud wasn’t a trustworthy person. He’d accepted this job with one condition. Az’ud had to pay for the job and expenses upfront.
Az’ud leaned closer to the camera. His holographic image wavered out of focus then re-focused quickly to accommodate the position change. “When should I expect my package to be delivered?”
“You assume my hunt was successful?”
Az’ud laughed heartedly. “Of course! As you’ve stated, that’s why I hired you for the job.”
Fanian grunted at that remark.
“Now tell me who you claimed.”
Fanian didn’t miss the sparkle in Az’ud’s eyes. “I caught someone. She’s cunning, smart, fierce—”
Az’ud made a rude noise as he silenced Fanian with a harsh noise and a dismissive wave of a hand. “What do I want to know anything like that for? Tell me, is she breeding material? I expressly asked for a human who can carry my offspring. I understand humans only have a short window for breeding; thirteen to fifty of their years, roughly. Does she fall within this age gap?”
“We need to discuss—”
Az’ud talked over Fanian. “Is she young? Do I have time to get her with many children? Or do I only have a few years left to use her?”
“Az’ud, there’s been a change of—”
“Show her to me. I want to see my mate,” Az’ud snapped, his impatience showing in his tone.
Fanian clenched his jaw, and he dug his fingers into the armrests of his chair. “No.”
Az’ud’s face went from excited to confused in a blink. “No? What do you mean, no?” Az’ud narrowed his eyes. “Ah, I see it clearly now. You mean to keep her for yourself, don’t you?” He laughed as if that was the funniest thought in the world. “If my hunter is behaving this way, I can assume my mate is a worthy catch. I can’t wait to get my hands on her.”
“You mean to break her. Destroy who she is,” Fanian growled.
“Of course. Then I’ll rebuild her, make her worthy of my attention and affection. Our children will be well sought after.”
“What if she already has children who went through The Hunt with her?”
“Hm...” Az’ud tilted his head in thought. “She will soon forget about her life back on Earth. Her new life consists only of me and my desires. You can keep them if you want.” Then he shook his head. “Strike that. They’re mine. I can use them to form alliances. Someone would like a human child to raise as their own.”
Fanian didn’t know why he argued with Az’ud about this. He had no plans on giving Miranda to him. He’d made up his mind in the processing center. Maybe sooner if he was honest with himself. He knew exactly what her life would be like under Az’ud’s care, and he’d made the decision—the right decision—to free her.
“No,” Fanian repeated firmly.
Az’ud chuckled, but the humor didn’t reach his voice. “That word again. As if you have a choice. I’ve paid for a service, and I expect you to see this through.”
“I’ll return the credits, less The Hunt entrance fee. There was never a guarantee my hunt would’ve been successful.” Fanian pressed his comlink and opened his credit account. Refunding Az’ud would almost bankrupt him, but there would be other jobs.
He’d have to work hard to earn this amount again. He would also have to avoid this sector and stay out of Az’ud’s political reach. Az’ud would put out the word that Fanian couldn’t be trusted, and contracts in his area wouldn’t be available to him any longer.
“To use a word that you’ve taken a liking to, no.”
“You don’t have a choice. I’m refunding you.” Fanian tried to reverse the transaction between his account to Az’ud and received an error message. He tried again. The funds wouldn’t transfer.
“As I’ve said, no. We have a contract you must honor.”
“A contract no authority would uphold because it involves illegal activity. You have no legal claim on her unless you want to litigate the contract between us. I doubt you would want that contract to see the light of day, and you wouldn’t dare let the Okuthyu get wind of it. They would kill us both for violating humans.”
Az’ud smirked. “Who said anything about involving the Okuthyu or the authorities? Ninety-eight percent of my dealings are illegal. Do you think you’re the first person who’s tried to cross me, withheld goods, services or information?” he sneered. “I didn’t get where I am by trusting everyone. I have my ways of claiming what’s owed to me. The question is, how hard are you going to make me work at retrieving what’s rightfully mine? If you turn her over now, I’ll make this unfortunate situation...less painful for you.”
By the gleam in Az’ud’s eyes, Fanian didn’t believe him one bit about the pain part. He was sure he was going to pay for crossing Az’ud, whether he handed over Miranda or not. “You mean to kill me?”
Az’ud shrugged. “You’re making me angry, Fanian. I don’t generally let people who make me angry walk around breathing. It irks me to no end.”
“Then consider yourself irked and without a mate.”
“How do you think this will end? Hm? You and my human will live happily ever after?” An evil gleam was seen in Az’ud’s eyes. “What will happen to the human when the Thruul come to this galaxy?”
At hearing that name, Fanian’s heart skipped a beat as it always did. “What is the Thruul?” he said as calmly as possible, and face devoid of emotion.
Az’ud leaned back, relaxing in his seat. “Who do you think the bio-technician works for?”
“Who?” Fanian played it dumb even though his chest tightened.
“The person who sold you the biomarkers now pumping through your blood, that mask your species. I know exactly what you are, Givvek.”
Fanian tried to swallow past the growing lump in his throat, but couldn’t. He tried to remain calm, so Az’ud wouldn’t know how much he’d unnerved him. “The Thruul don’t have a presence in this galaxy.”
“Right now, they don’t.” Az’ud smiled, showing all his teeth. “But they might be persuaded to send a small warship here to pick up all their cattle.”
Fanian narrowed his eyes. “You think too highly of yourself. If you give them that invitation and entice them here, I’m not the only one who’ll end up as their cattle.”
“It matters not—”
Fanian disconnected the holo-call and scrubbed a shaking hand down his face. Would Az’ud call the Thruul here? They would decimate everything in their path. Az’ud couldn’t be that stupid, could he? “Omni, how are we? Any locks on our position or flight status?”
“We’re registered as a personal ship owned by the Mihr government. No one has targeted us for scanning.”
Fanian let out a relieved breath. He’d changed the signature of the Fortitude as soon as they’d left Turolois airspace. Besides the current signature Fortitude now possessed, Fanian had ten others. The fake signatures were expensive but necessary in his line of work. He hated to burn one for this mission, but it might be required.
“Let me know if someone is scanning us.”
“Yes, Fanian.”
“You’re really not turning us over to him?” The voice came from behind him.
Fanian focused on the systems check. They needed to get out of this sector as fast as they could. Az’ud hadn’t scanned for them yet, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t tried to find him. “No.”
“Then why didn’t you lie to him? Tell him that you didn’t catch me?”
Fanian plotted a course. It would take them a few weeks to leave Az’ud’s reach, a long journey was in store for them, but first, they needed to make some stops for supplies and fuel. “He wouldn’t have believed it. I have a one hundred percent success rate.”
Miranda snorted. “So, I never had a chance of escaping from you?”
“I don’t have time for this!” he erupted.
“Th-this involves me and mine.”
“It was a private conversation. Do you normally hide about listening to other people’s private conversations?” he said, his words too angry.
He wasn’t angry with her, more with himself. He should’ve come up with a better plan. Played like he’d intended to turn Miranda and the children over to Az’ud. That way, he would’ve had more time to get them to a safe and secure location before Az’ud had been the wiser. But no, he’d lost his calm.
“I wasn’t hiding about. I came to see if you were hungry and heard the conversation. It’s not my fault you had a private conversation where I was able to hear it.”
He swiveled his chair to find her standing by the doorway and out of sight from the hologram. She wore one of his t-shirts and pants. Both were loose and big on her. Her hair was down and flowing past her shoulders. The sun damage on her face was healing nicely.
Omni had been able to replicate medicine for her and the children. The deep circles under her eyes were gone and her blue eyes were as alluring as ever. One look at how beautiful she was, and Az’ud would launch a fleet of ships to track them down.
“I’m trying to save your life, and you’re trying to get caught. Do you know what would happen if he saw you?” Miranda stared at him, blankly. “Az’ud would’ve locked you in and downloaded your likeness to a facial recognition program. You wouldn’t be able to hide from him. Nowhere I took you would be safe. He’d be able to locate you and claim you as his.”
Her face reddened. Very slowly, she tipped the cup she’d been holding, and blood spilled all over the floor. “Enjoy lapping your blood off the floor.”
Miranda turned on her heels, making her way back through the narrow hallways toward the kitchen. After the night they’d spent together, she’d expected a change in their relationship. No one had ever touched her the way he had. The effects he’d had on her body were still present. She felt alive, complete, whole.
Last night had been like one of those old romance novels her mom liked to read. It’d been swoon-worthy. She’d known her fate while being led to his bed, but at least she had some control over what would happen over the next thirty minutes. Thirty minutes had lasted the entire night.
Her emotions were all over the place. A war waged within her. She hated Fanian for hunting her but loved the way she felt in his presence. Then she’d heard him staunchly defend her and refuse to honor his contract. She’d been on the verge of tears. He was protecting them.
Now, she was as confused as ever. She wasn’t going to live with Az’ud, but she also didn’t know where they would be residing because Fanian sure as hell wasn’t acting like he wanted her to stay with him.
She entered the kitchen to find Adam using his foot to kick off the small table, sending his stool to spin around and around. Lexi was on her knees, clapping her hands and laughing at him. She’d asked Omni to keep an eye on them while she delivered Fanian’s breakfast to him.
“Wheeeee!”
“Honey, be careful. I don’t want you to break the chair.”
Miranda passed them both and made her way to the wall-sized porthole. She lowered herself to sit cross-legged in front of it and stared out the great beyond. Although it was dark with sprinkles of twinkling lights, it was beautiful out there. Truly breathtaking. Every time she looked out of one of the portholes around the ship, she couldn’t help but be overwhelmed. She was in space. There were so many people on Earth who would kill to be in her shoes. When she thought about it longer than a few seconds, her chest hurt with overwhelming fear.
What’s going to happen to us?
Lexi crawled across the floor, leaving the toys Omni had replicated for her behind. When she got to Miranda, she scrambled over her lap and slapped the window. Miranda lifted her to stand, supporting Lexi’s butt as she stood on unsteady legs next to her. Lexi pulled her fingers from her mouth and slapped them on the window, smearing it with spit as she giggled.
“I love this space adventure.” Adam picked up a crayon and worked on the picture he was making of Fanian.
Omni had made the colored sticks and something to draw on using one of the fabrication processors. Miranda couldn’t wrap her head around all the alien technology. She was too drained to even try at the moment.
“How long are we staying with robot Fanian on this adventure anyway?” With his tongue stuck between the side of his lips, Adam concentrated on his coloring.
Miranda winced. She still hadn’t the heart to tell him the truth. Maybe if she hadn’t killed hunters in front of him, it would’ve been easier to tell her son what really happened to them, and they weren’t ever returning to Earth again. If she told him now, after everything he’d seen, her boy would see her for what she truly was. A liar and a killer.
Fanian strolled into the kitchen and took a seat at the dining table, next to Adam. “Robot Fanian doesn’t know because robot Fanian didn’t think any of this through.”
“I think I like this adventure the best. I would’ve liked to meet Santa, though, but the space adventure is fun. We don’t have to sleep outside. We get to eat real food. We get to sleep in beds, and most of all, I don’t have to be quiet anymore!” The last sentence was said with his head tilted back and yelled loudly. “I can’t wait to tell Grams and Grand Da about space. Daddy will want to hear about this adventure too!”
“I’m sure they’ll want to hear about every adventure you’ve had thus far,” Fanian said.
Adam stopped coloring long enough to focus on Fanian. “Do you have a phone? Can I call them?”
“I don’t have an er, phone, but maybe when we reach the next planet, we can look for a one.” Fanian glanced at Miranda for help. It was painfully obvious he didn’t know what a phone was or how to continue the conversation.
“You know what? No more lies.” Miranda let out a breath and helped Lexi to sit. “Baby, we won’t be able to talk to your grandparents or dad again. I wish there were a better way of telling you, but we’re very, very, far away from them. Too far to call. I wish I could tell you that we’ll get back to them one day, but we can’t.”
Adam looked at her and blinked slowly. “What do you mean?”
“We won’t ever see them again.” It pained her to say it, but unless she planned to lie to him for the rest of his life, she had to come clean and tell him the truth.
Adam frowned. “Never again?”
Miranda scooted closer to Adam. “I’m sorry, baby. I wish there were a different outcome. I wish we hadn’t been abducted at the bus stop. I wish we hadn’t been taken to that alien planet, and I wish those aliens hadn’t been hunting us. You’re supposed to be going to pre-school and playing with your friends. You’re not supposed to be in space.”
He blinked a few times. Miranda recognized it as him processing information. She shouldn’t have laid everything on him at once. She should’ve eased him into it gradually, but she was so tired of holding in all the lies.
“Aliens are real? Like, outer space aliens in the movies?”
She nodded. “They weren’t robots in the campground, honey. I’m so sorry.”
“And we weren’t really on an adventure?”
“Oh, this is a real adventure, don’t you think?”
“And now we’re on a new adventure,” Fanian added.
Adam turned to Fanian. “We are?”
Fanian nodded. “We sure are. There’s an evil man who wants your mom, and we have to keep her away from him. We have to get her to safety. Do you think you can help me do that?”
“Is this for real or pretend?” His face was set in concentration. “I’m getting so confused.”
Miranda pulled her knees to her chest. “This is all my fault. I’m the one confusing him.”
“This is very real, and I need your help. Can I count on you?” Fanian said in a tone that was all business.
Adam straightened in his chair. “Yes! We have to keep my mom safe.”
He nodded toward Adam. “I knew I could count on you, co-Captain. First, I have to give you this.” Fanian pulled something gold from his back pocket and handed it to Adam.
“What’s this?” Adam asked.
Fanian glanced toward Miranda. “It’s a medal. It might not be exactly how you’ve described it, but it should be close enough.”
“You remembered what he told you?” Miranda whispered.
Fanian lifted a shoulder. “I tried to.”
Adam clasped the gold in his hand and let the medallion dangle. It was a beautiful piece of jewelry. It sparkled under the artificial lighting.
“Here, let me help you.” Fanian slipped it over Adam’s head.
Adam stroked the medallion gently. “This is the best medal ever. The kids back home are going to be jealous of me when I show this to them.”
Miranda closed her eyes briefly. Adam hadn’t understood a word she’d said about not returning to Earth.
Fanian clasped him on the shoulder. “You helped your mom and sister through all the adventures. This medal is a reward for a job well done.”
“Thank you.” Adam straightened his shoulders. “I’m ready to start our next adventure, Fanian. What do you need me to do?”
“We have to plot our course to the next planet to pick up some supplies. You can help me find the best one.”
Adam leaped from his chair. “You have to show me how to look at the star map, though. You do have a star map, don’t you?”
“Of course. Every good space captain has one.” Fanian stood. “When you get to the bridge, have Omni open the map for you. I’ll be right behind you.”
Adam took off, and Miranda slumped. “I told him the truth, and he still didn’t understand any of it. He didn’t ask about the alien planet, and he might still think you’re a robot. I know for sure that he still thinks we can go home.”
Fanian rested his hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “He’s a child, Mishka. He doesn’t have to know everything right at this moment.”
“He’s going to ask to speak to my parents and his dad again. It’ll break my heart to have to tell him all over that he can’t.”
“When that time comes, you’ll be better prepared to tell him the truth. It doesn’t have to come all at one time. Take your time to tell him what you think he can handle.”
She nodded and rested her chin on her knees. How many times would she have to break the news to him before he finally got it? She let out a heavy sigh. She wanted to call her parents too. Maybe they would have some good advice about how to move forward in this new world.
“I came to apologize. I shouldn’t have gotten angry with you. None of this is your fault. It was my choice not to hand you over to Az’ud, and I have to live with the consequences.”
“What’s going to happen now? He didn’t sound too happy.”
“He’s not used to being defied. He’s going to come after me to get you.”
So she wasn’t exactly safe after all. Last night had been her first good night’s sleep since before being taken from Earth. She didn’t know if it had been the soft hum of the ship’s engine or Fanian holding her tight well into the night. All she’d known was peace. Now she understood that safety and peace had been short-lived.
“I won’t let him get you.”
“Do you have a plan about how we stay away from him?”
“He’ll find me sooner or later. His reach is long, and my face is easily recognizable. His employees will get a hit on me from the facial recognition program as soon as I pass their way.”
“So, my freedom is short-lived then.” She dug her nails into her legs.
He yanked at the end of the hair he wore back up in a high tail. “No. I wasn’t giving Adam busy work. I’ll find you someplace safe to live—a habitable planet where you can blend in and won’t stand out. I’ll give you enough credits to settle down and be comfortable. You’ll live a very happy life.”
She glanced at him, looking for a hint that he’d misspoken. He looked serious. “Wait. It sounds like you’re getting rid of us. Like you’re dumping us off.”
He dragged in a deep breath. “I’m not dumping you off. But we can’t stay together.”
“You expect me to raise my kids on an alien planet, all alone?” The words made her throat hurt. He’s abandoning us.
“The only way Az’ud can get to you is through me. We’ll have to part ways, Mishka. Never see each other again.”
Fanian got up and left the kitchen, leaving Miranda to stare at an empty doorway.
His words hung heavy in the air and heavy in her heart.