The figure of Venin had been far too calm for her companion. The man she had come to know would have been fighting to get free in order to keep her from making a choice. He had knocked her out and tucked her into bed to save her from the ships after all.
Iris started to bring the ship down, but the path showed her a switch that set the shuttle into a hover.
Magnetic waves pulsed downward and pushed into the ash with a rhythmic burst of particles. The Raider shuttle rocked violently again and a hatch opened in the roof. Bloody and in shifted form, Venin bounded out of the Raider ship and lunged for her shuttle.
A switch on the console glowed violently and Iris flipped it, opening the hatch to allow Venin to jump inside. The shuttle rocked as he made the jump and she quickly flicked the switch again to seal the door.
“Gain altitude.” His voice was hoarse and more growl than speech, but he was her Venin. His scent filled the cabin as he approached her. In his current state, it was not a good scent at the moment, but it was his.
She took them higher and flew them over the volcano, using the heated air to lift them up. Iris was buying time until he could take over the controls, but as he fell into the navigator seat, she steeled herself to fly them out of the atmosphere.
Iris counted on her talent as never before as it led her, switch by switch, into a steep climb that took her into the blackness of space.
It took her ten hours to get them pointed in the right direction, but by the time Venin woke, they were slowly making their way back to the jump point.
“You flew us all the way here?”
“I did. Are you feeling well enough to take the controls?”
He smiled through a cracked lip and swollen nose. “Sure. Are you eager to see your family again?”
She laughed. “I am eager to see any world that isn’t about to be taken over by lava.”
Venin leaned forward and routed the controls to the navigator station. “How did you know I was me this time?”
“You are far too irritated to be anything else. Also, I can still see the small cut on your finger that I made with my knife.”
He snorted and she got to her feet. “Where are you going?”
“I have to use the lav and then I will get us both something to eat and drink. After that, it will be your turn in the lav. I would recommend a shower.” Her smile was beatific as she sailed into the rear of the shuttle and attended to the pressing matters that had been making her squirm for the last three hours.
She scrubbed her hands and face before gathering water, some ration packs and utensils and returning to the cockpit.
“There you go. This should help your healing proceed apace.”
He grabbed at the water bottle and slugged it down, setting the empty aside with relief. “That was wonderful. Thank you.”
She gave him the rations and then handed over her water. She returned to the back and got herself another bottle. Her rations were still hot when she got back and set the plate in her lap.
“How did you know that he wasn’t me?” He was almost done with his rations and she quickly tucked into hers. She wasn’t going to part with her food. Water was another matter.
She stared at him and realized that he had been very worried indeed when she had wandered off with the false Venin. “He swayed when I sent the impulse through the crystal. That meant that he was considering profiting from the crystal itself and that is something that would not cross your mind. Money isn’t your primary concern, but it was his.”
“And yet you went off with him.”
“I also told him that his compatriots would be rising in a few minutes as opposed to the hours that it actually takes. I wanted him to think that there was a reason that I was running back to the shuttle as opposed to the truth. I needed him to trust me so that he would turn his back to me away from reinforcements. If I had outed him in the clearing, I am fairly sure that you would have felt the hard side of a weapon before I could get to you.”
He nodded slowly. “You were probably correct. They were startled when their companions hit the ground, but they relaxed when their shape shifter was able to fool you enough to let him follow.”
She smiled with a cheeky grin. “And now, here we are. So, get me home and all will be forgotten.”
His face sobered a little. “You want to return to your life as a hunter?”
“It is what I know.”
“Would you be willing to join the Citadel?” He looked horribly shy for a man who had rolled her across the floor of a booby-trapped cavern.
“I don’t know. I don’t mind consulting, but Keroa is home. I have friends, family, a home and my rhesh. I wouldn’t want to leave it for long.”
He nodded slowly. “I would enjoy seeing your home, if I may?”
She smiled shyly. “I thought you would never ask.”
Chapter Eleven
The window through the satellites surrounding Keroa was tiny, but Venin managed to navigate it easily once access was granted. “How long have you had the satellites?”
Iris laughed. “Four hundred years. It deters interlopers to see the ground-to-air guns. It is the only tech that we allow on our surface aside from the transports themselves.”
“What spurred your people to that point?”
“Raids, constant interference by the Alliance, the usual. We are a fairly independent species and their exploration efforts were not appreciated.” She was leaning forward and watching the approach of the Citadel outpost. It was the most amazing feeling to be almost home.
“So, they contracted to get the satellite grid?”
Her snicker was uncontained. “No. You probably are not aware of this, but there was a kidnapping of a Keroan citizen that spurred a backlash in the Alliance. A wife was taken from her family by an ambassador and when the government of Keroa demanded her return, both the wife and the ambassador refused.”
It had been a scandal that was still held up as the reason for blocking interference of the Alliance. The Citadel had been allowed a small outpost and citizens were allowed to pursue whatever education they chose from the Alliance archives but that was the extent of the involvement with the system around them. The Keroans had everything they needed at home.
“Who was the ambassador?”
She looked at his profile. “A Wyoran named Edkerheart. He and Nyolar were mind mates and she went with him happily. Her husband wasn’t pleased, but he remarried and had a nice family all his own. Everyone was happy in the end and the political scandal allowed for Keroa to assert its independence.”
He circled the landing site and parked the shuttle without difficulty. “It sounds like it worked out for everyone.”
“It did and we got the Alliance to pay for the protection satellites. No one who doesn’t go through the Citadel communications centre can land on this world, so I guess we are using the Citadel too.” She unbuckled her harness and got to her feet.
Home. She could feel the pulse of Keroa running through her skin and into her heart.
Absently, she lifted the bag holding the crystal and slung it over her shoulder. “Where do you want me to put this?”
He blinked. “I believe that Hyak has arranged a secure storage area, but since the object is not what we believed it to be, he may have to work out something different.”
Iris grinned and collected her blades and supplies, slinging the harness over her arm before she opened the shuttle to let herself out.
Venin was right behind her as she left the shuttle and the moment that they were clear of it, he was at her side.
Administrator Hyak came out of the main building with a smile as they approached. “You were successful?”
Venin grinned, “She brought me back alive and we have the crystal. I consider that a success.”
Hyak laughed. “That is indeed a triumph. We have a guest. Avatar Keroa-Uli has come to visit. I find the timing suspicious.”
Iris blinked. “Really? I don’t. Uli is a precog. He probably knew we were on the way before we did.”
There was a rhythmic thumping from the far edge of the landing field. Iris looked toward it, but she didn’t see anything unusual.
Venin stepped toward her and wrapped an arm around her waist as the pounding increased until it climaxed in a crash. The low thudding that happened next
was
familiar to Iris.
“How long has Teddi been upset?”
Hyak snorted. “Since you entered the approach vector. How is it that every creature on this planet knew you were landing before I did?”
She sighed and watched her faithful steed thunder toward her. Having a rhesh charge you with fangs exposed was a little nerve wracking. It became more tense when the arm that Venin had loosely on her waist tightened.
“He won’t hurt me.”
“I am aware, but I want him to accept me as your partner. That means that I will have to earn his trust.”
Hyak stepped aside as her riding beast charged up to them and growled at Venin and his grip.
Iris sighed and waited out the very male posturing that was occurring between her steed and the man she had just led through a jungle. She wasn’t sure which was more beastlike when Venin shifted and showed his teeth to her rhesh.
Teddi backed up a little, his head lowering from its nine-foot vantage point to stare eye to eye with the Azon at her side.
The tension broke when Teddi snorted and butted his head against both of them.
She laughed and stroked the warmly furred hide. “Thanks for the welcome home, Teddi. I will be here a little longer, but then I promise you a nice, long ride.”
He nuzzled her hand and nipped her clothing with his dagger-sharp teeth.
“I missed you too. Now go back to the barn and behave. I will be there as soon as I can.”
He shook his head and reared up on his hind legs.
Iris heard Hyak gasp and felt Venin tense up. Neither moved. When Teddi shifted his weight and whirled around to trot back to the barn, the men in her vicinity breathed a sigh of relief.
Iris rocked her head on her neck, stretching slowly. “I think I need a hot shower and a brush, and after that I will be up for whatever pops up next.”
Administrator Hyak smiled. “Come this way. The guest quarters are ready for you.”
Venin pulled her forward with an arm around her waist and shepherded her into the main admin building. He was still wearing his fur and fangs, so she very politely decided to follow where he led.
Hyak showed them to the guest quarters and opened a wardrobe. “Standard Keroan clothing is here. The lav is to the left and the Avatar is expecting you to join us for dinner. He was most insistent. I would not cross him.”
Iris dropped the crystal on the bed, along with her knives, selected a female tunic and trousers and headed into the lav. She glanced at her reflection in the mirror and shuddered at the smudges of soot, the grime and the green smears that decorated her skin. She had been too intent on returning home to worry about her appearance, but now, it was a much more pressing concern.
A quick scrub followed by three more made her feel more like herself, but when she slipped on the casual clothing and brushed her hair into a long white cape down her back, she knew that she was home again.
“Oh. I thought this was my room.”
Venin was clean and dressed, sitting on the edge of the bed. “It is. I am merely here to ask you to have a frank discussion.”
She blinked rapidly. “About what?”
He surged to his feet and came toward her, taking her into his arms. “About this.”
Venin kissed her as if his life depended on arousing her as rapidly as possible. His hands roamed over her back and pressed her into him, but she was too confused by the sudden caress to respond as he would have liked.
He raised his head and looked down at her with sadness in his eyes. “I thought as much. You don’t want me.”
She hissed under her breath, “Idiot,” and reached up, tangling her hands in his hair and hauling him down so that she could kiss him.
His hands on her waist tightened so that she didn’t know where she ended and he began, but she had a distinct suspicion that there were a few places that would do better in a different configuration.
He leaned back, “You want me?”
“I do. But, for now, let’s just have dinner with Keroa-Uli. I have questions about the Morin and he is the man to answer them.”
“As long as I am the man for you.” He pressed his forehead to hers and they stood with their faces an inch apart until Hyak came to collect them for dinner.
Chapter Twelve
“So, Keroa, are the Morin still alive?” She broke her bread into pieces with her fingers and smiled brightly.
Her game companion and Avatar of the entire world beneath their feet gave her a haughty look. “Eight of them survived. I have kept them alive within the caverns but was unable to wake them again without some of their own technology.”
Iris chuckled as the men near her looked confused. “Haven’t you figured out that Keroa was the one who planted the information about the crystal? Wow, fellas, catch up.”
Keroa-Uli leaned back and toyed with his breadstick. “How did you figure it out?”
“It isn’t a crystal. It is an amplifier. The only way for it to be safe to be around talents is if it had initialization properties and linked to a citizen of Keroa. We are loyal, trustworthy and in no hurry to leave your world.”
“Not to mention descended from the Morin so the tech would recognize you. Waking the Morin has been on my mind for centuries and when you became the first female prime hunter as well as a talent, I knew that you were the one who would be able to wake them.”
Venin leaned forward. “So, you also planted information on her skills in the Alliance missives?”
Keroa looked at him with a haughty expression. “Of course. Iris can’t fly a shuttle. She needed you to take her to Thiiril and bring her home again.”
“I am glad I could be of service. I would like to ask you if you would consider authorizing her to leave on missions not strictly of Keroan origin.”
The Avatar blinked, “But she is mine.”
Iris stepped in. “Not the way it counts, Keroa-Uli. I want to take Venin to mate. I wish to be a life companion to him but with Keroa as my home base. I want to travel worlds with him at my side and come home to friends and family when the deeds are done. I believe I have a lot to offer the Citadel and it might even be good for me.”