Authors: Brenna Lyons
DeMarco winced. “You don’t understand. Rhaazhaa didn’t die in the line of duty. He was targeted. You will be, too.”
Gabe straightened, fighting his ridge plates back. “My job—”
“This isn’t about your job, Zhaahvan. This is about keeping you alive to raise your son.”
He opened his mouth to protest the assumption that he was incapable of defending himself.
“And it’s about keeping Thomas alive long enough to
have
a son.”
His stomach clenched at that pronouncement. “I don’t think I understand.” He hoped he didn’t.
“Rhaazhaa and his partner—”
“Greete,” Gabe recalled.
“Yes. Rhaazhaa and Greete stopped for breakfast after their shift.”
As Thomas and I have lunch together halfway through ours.
He nodded dumbly, sure he knew what was coming next.
“When the anti-Xxan guerillas opened fire, Greete tried to protect his partner with his personal weapon.”
“They killed him as well,” Gabe guessed. He glanced at the steady-stream of work going on outside the bullet-proof glass. “No one knows yet.” News like this traveled fast. How could no one know?
“It happened in grid six-beta.”
Across town.
“I just got the call half an hour ago. Within an hour, it will be all over the station.”
“And you want me gone by then.”
“Thomas is young, Zhaahvan. He won’t let you go to a more experienced partner. He won’t back down if...
when
you’re attacked.”
Gabe considered that. “I think you’re right.”
DeMarco seemed relieved. “You won’t fight me then?”
“No. I’ll change out and—”
“Wear the armor home,” he ordered.
Gabe hesitated, then nodded. “Will do.”
“Good. Let’s sign the paperwork.”
By the time Gabe returned to the locker room, Thomas was nowhere in sight.
He’s probably in the briefing room.
Gabe reasoned it was better this way. If his partner didn’t see Gabe leaving, he wouldn’t ask questions. Gabe wouldn’t be forced to explain that he was leaving to save Thomas’s life.
Thomas would hear about it in the briefing. By then, it would all be over, a ‘done deal.’
Dispirited by the turn of events, Gabe opened his locker and started packing everything into his duffel.
He paused with his hand hovering over the photos of his family, torn. He didn’t want to have to have the pictures on him if he was ambushed, but destroying them wasn’t an option. At a loss for a better idea, Gabe folded them in half, slid his hand inside his body armor, and deposited them in his shirt pocket.
The empty locker room was a depressing sight. Without question, he knew his life as a police officer in this city had ended.
Maybe I can get a job in security at a Xxanian company.
He didn’t doubt
Spice Industries
would consider him an asset. As long as Gabe was working and providing for his family, he could live with not being on the force, he was sure.
One last glance around convinced Gabe it was time to go. He settled his helmet on his head, positioned the mic, locked the face plate, then headed for his car. For the first time in his life, he was glad his
gran-seir
had insisted on the military-grade safety systems in his vehicle...and at the nest.
****
“You’re serious, aren’t you?” Abby felt her face pale. He’d only been on leave from the police for a day, and Gabe was already giving orders to keep her in the nest full time.
Gabe winced. “There are three dead already, Abby. I do not intend to add you or Michael to that number.”
“I’ve already agreed to leave Michael here at the nest when I go out. I’ve already agreed that we’ll move here permanently.”
He sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face. “If they see you leave the nest, they’ll assume you are a mate or prospective mate. They will do their best to kill you, Abby, to keep the population of crossbred Xxan down. They’ve killed two Dominants and a human officer who got in their way. Please...understand.”
She nodded. “But we have to collect our belongings. At least some things from the apartment. How will we—?”
Gabe waved her off. “I’ll arrange a detail of Xxanian warriors to do it. We’ll get everything we can. We may only be able to get in once, so we’ll have to take the most important things first.”
Abby considered that. “I’ll make a list.”
“Include where to find everything. We won’t be searching, so if you say something is in a closet, we’ll probably grab everything from that closet, just to be sure we don’t leave it behind.”
“O-okay. I can do that.” Her heart thundered at his stark and serious nature. This wasn’t like Gabe. He was rattled.
“In the meantime, the elders have already arranged to have deliveries for Xxanian nests accepted by the shipping department at
Spice Industries
, checked, and moved to the nests by shuttle.
“If you want to shop at
Spice
, you can likewise go by shuttle.
Gran-Seir’s
shuttle will be available to transport the women and Michael at all times. But only to secure locations, like
Spice Tower
or SLAL.”
“I don’t understand,” she admitted. “Your coupe has military-grade systems.” Was it that
Spice Tower
lacked a bunker garage? She’d thought they had one.
“There are military-grade weapons that can destroy it. The shuttles have the advantage of maneuverability.”
“How can you go back to work?”
He seemed pained by the question. “On duty with the police? I can’t. Not at this point. Maybe not ever.”
Abby placed a hand on his arm, at a loss to comfort him. All he’d ever wanted was to be a police officer, and a bunch of bigots stole it from him.
He took a calming breath and continued. “I’ll be working with the
Spice
security force, overseeing the new delivery measures and the influx of shuttle traffic at the tower. I can go to work by shuttle.”
A potent silence fell between them, and Abby wrapped her arms around him. In all the years she’d been with Gabe, all the specists spewing hate at the two of them...even after the attack on her and Michael, she’d never realized the extremes the anti-Xxan guerillas would go to.
“Be careful,” she begged him.
“I will. I have to. I have a son and mate to come home to.”
There was an unspoken vow in that. No matter what Gabe had to do, he wouldn’t leave Abby alone to die when her mate was killed. She wasn’t sure whether she should take that unspoken vow as crushing her dreams of mating or making them come true.
Chapter Nine
Gabe sat in the back of the second transport van, watching the city streets pass by through the heavily-tinted, bullet-proof glass panels. They’d chosen their timing well. It was after work hours on a Friday evening. The streets were full of traffic, and no one would notice a couple of nondescript vans.
Of course, someone would notice when they all filed out of those vans. Every one of the Xxanian Dominants aiding Gabe with the move wore body armor and impact helmets. The males who would be protecting the vans and doors additionally carried weapons.
Gabe had planned this move with Abby, putting her mind as much at ease as he could with the fact that the Xxanian team he’d assembled could strip down the most important things from her apartment and get them away in less than twenty minutes. Abby had been incredibly picky about what she wanted them to bring first. If there couldn’t be a second trip—for whatever reason—they would be sure to get the things she considered most important.
Sirens screamed in the distance, moving the same direction they were. Gabe listened, endeavoring to separate the overlapping sounds.
Police. Fire. Ambulance. It’s a trifecta.
He itched to help, but he was still officially on leave and was unlikely to go back at all.
“Behind us,” one of the other males decided.
“And ahead,” Gabe corrected him.
It must be something big.
“We’re blocked ahead,” Jaee Vhheaa, the driver of the first van, announced over their headsets.
Gabe launched to his feet and scanned the road blocked by emergency vehicles over Marcus Raash’s shoulder. He pressed the transmit button. “Turn right here, Jaee. Two blocks down, turn left. We’ll work our way down the backstreets to her apartment.” He released the button.
“On our way,” Jaee responded.
Jaee made the right, and Marcus followed in his wake.
“Blocked,” Jaee reported when he reached the alley Gabe had wanted him to use.
Gabe muttered a handful of curses in Xxan, then connected to Jaee again. “Two more blocks. Then make the left. We’ll go around.”
Thankfully, that worked. The street Abby’s apartment building opened onto was a one-way street, so he had Jaee overshoot it and then make another left, so they could come down the cross street her building cornered on and turn in right at their destination.
“Blocked,” Jaee reported again, more than a block from their destination. “Looks like one
huzhaah
of a fire.”
Gabe pulled his visor up to get a better look, his heart stuttering. He sank to the floor of the van, heartsick. Fire poured out of the windows of Abby’s apartment and those on the two floors above. Part of the roof had already collapsed.
A hand closed on his shoulder. “It’s hers, isn’t it?”
Since Marcus’s question had gone out to the entire crew, Gabe answered in kind. “It’s her apartment.” His fingers felt numb against the button. “Head back to the nest. There’s no way we can salvage anything from this.”
He peeked up again as Marcus turned away, his heart stuttering at the gaping hole in the brick face halfway down the length of Abby’s apartment. This hadn’t been a fire. It had been an explosion. Gabe didn’t question that it had been set.
“What are you going to tell her?” Jaee asked.
“The truth. What else can I tell her? How? Isn’t that the question?” How was he supposed to tell Abby that all her most precious belongings were gone?
Gabe shuddered at a more disturbing thought.
What would I have done if Abby and Michael had been there?
His killing rage would have shaken the foundations of the tentative peace between humans and Xxan.
****
“They’re coming back in, Abby,” Ariel informed her.
Abby rushed into the center nest though she reasoned that the men would need at least a little time in the
s’sanuea
to change clothing. Then again, it wouldn’t be practical to move her belongings in dressed in
S’suumea
.
What will they have to remove?
As if in answer, Gabe strode into the center nest, barefoot and unarmored but still dressed in the uniform he’d been wearing beneath, his
seir
and more than a dozen similarly-dressed Xxanian warriors at his heels. It took a moment for their empty hands to resonate with her. Something was wrong, and the hair at the base of her skull rose in warning.
“Gabe?” she questioned.
He crossed the cave to her, looking pained. Gabe took her hands in his and sank to one knee, pressing his forehead to the backs of them. “I’m sorry, Abby. We were too late.”
She glanced up at the other males, noting their bowed heads. “Too late? Too late for what?”
Gabe hesitated and looked up at her, seemingly at a loss. Finally, he started talking.
“There was an attack.”
“On you?” Abby felt the blood draining from her face at the thought of them under attack.
“No. Your apartment. The cowards—”
“Then you can’t go there,” she decided. “Not even when the attack is over.” Nothing was worth that.
Gabe shook his head. “There’s no reason to. It’s...gone, Abby. The entire building will be gone by the time the fire is extinguished.”
A lump lodged in her throat. “You’re saying someone
set
the fire?”
“There is no question of it.”
Abby’s knees started to shake, and Gabe helped her down to the thick grass floor of the center nest.
“I will replace everything I can,” he promised. “Nearly as perfectly as I can, but your precious mementos—I am sorry, Abby.”
She wrapped her arms around him, shivering hard.
Gone. Everything is gone.
Gabe stopped speaking and scooped her into his arms. He paused for a moment and offered a word of thanks to the other warriors who’d gone with him. Then he carried Abby up the stairs to the human-style bedroom they shared.
Everything is gone. Except Gabe and Michael. Thank the stars none of us were there.
His warnings about going out alone had seemed somewhat irrational.
Until now.
Something told Abby she would think twice about walking the streets of the city ever again.
Chapter Ten
“Someone to see you, Abby,” Jana announced.
She looked up from the screen, shocked by the pronouncement. “There is?” Who would visit her? Abby didn’t have family, and she’d lost her only friend when she announced she was keeping the Xxanian child she carried. Since she lived at the nest, who else would come to see her?
Jana smiled and waved her toward the center nest. Her heart pounding, Abby followed her. Ariel was currently babysitting Michael, so there was no reason to stop and pluck him from his playpen in the upper bedroom that doubled as her office. That left her hands disconcertingly empty.
It wasn’t just
someone
to see her. It was a crowd of some
ones
. There were at least a dozen women, all dressed in
S’suuhhea
, at the center of the room and half that many men in
S’suumea
congregated at the exits to the room.
Standing guard. With the threats against the Xxan and Xxanian mates and children, they don’t trust their women are safe, even here.