Authors: Stormy Glenn Lynn Hagen
“Yep.” He smiled up at his mate. “Show me the way.”
Remy chuckled as he laid his hand on the small of Gigi’s back and guided him through the festival. The music was lively, and everyone looked like they were having a good time. Gigi jumped for joy when they came to the merchant stand with his pans sitting out for all to see. He wanted the dark grey set. They matched his mate’s eyes. Gigi soon forgot about mists as Remy spoiled him rotten.
* * * *
Pax watched Gigi jump and bounce around as the commander bought him a set of grey pans. Gigi was really strange. There were stands with jewelry, clothes made of the finest Trillian silk, treasure from exotic worlds, and yet a set of pans was what made Gigi deliriously happy.
It had to be the pink mist surrounding Gigi. Pax had never seen one so vivid before, and he’d been seeing mists since he was a small child. Gigi intrigued him, just not enough to make the commander angry by standing too close.
Pax would never forget the creature Remy had turned into. It still had the same misty color, only darker. He hadn’t really been afraid of the commander, just cautious. The rest of the crew seemed pretty okay, too, except for Colt. He didn’t have a color.
It was Colt’s lack of color that worried Pax the most. He’d never met anyone that didn’t have a color mist. Until he knew what it meant, Pax planned to stay as far away from Colt as he could get—no matter how much he desired being close to the man.
Pax paid for a balloon then started toward the stand with the pans. His steps faltered when he realized he couldn’t see Gigi or Remy. Pax swung around, dread filling him when he didn’t see them.
Panic started to set in when Pax ran through the crowd to try to find his new friends. He ran and ran and ran. When he couldn’t find them in the marketplace, Pax ran toward the docking bay. Even if he lost them, he could wait for them on the ship.
He ignored the angry shouts as he stumbled into person after person. He had to reach the ship. The ship represented safety, a place to hide from the world. He swore to himself he’d never leave it again. He’d lock himself in his room and only come out when he needed to work. He’d do anything if he just didn’t get left behind—again.
Pax inhaled sharply and dropped to his knees when he reached the empty space in the docking bay where the Lady Blue should have been. There was no ship, just a large open area. Tears filled Pax’s eyes, the balloon escaping his hand as he realized his biggest fear had come to life, and just when he had started to believe in the dream. He had been left behind.
Pax sniffled and wiped at his eyes. Fine. He’d been left before. He could deal with this, really he could. He just couldn’t explain the deep aching pain in his chest that he felt at never seeing the crew of the Lady Blue again. He’d never experienced that before.
“Well, well, well, what have we here?”
Pax jumped when someone grabbed him from behind and yanked him to his feet. His eyes widened and he shrank back when he got a good look at the angry black mist surrounding the man holding his arms. This wasn’t good. The man screamed of pure evil.
“Yes,” the man said as he looked Pax up and down, “I think you’re just what I’ve been looking for. You’ll be perfect.”
“Perfect?” Pax squeaked. “Perfect for what?”
The man grinned. “Bait.”
* * * *
Gigi hummed to himself, and he pulled each pan out of its wrapping and carefully set them on the shelf. He was so excited to try out his new pans that he had promised Remy a special dinner. He’d even purchased the items he would need before he left the marketplace.
Gigi grabbed the pans he would need and set them on the counter. Next, he went to the pantry and pulled out the food items he would need. He continued to hum a bouncy little tune as he cut vegetables and added them to a large pot.
He glanced around, knowing he was forgetting something. Gigi twirled around in a circle then twirled again. What was he missing?
“Pax?” Gigi called out. “Hey, Pax, could you come in here a minute?”
Gigi paused, frowning when Pax didn’t come into the kitchen. He called out the man’s name again as he walked into the mess hall. When there was no answer, Gigi walked out of the mess hall and down the corridor to the room assigned to Pax.
“Hey, Pax, you in there?” Gigi called out as he knocked on the door. “Pax?”
Gigi’s confusion began to turn to worry when Pax didn’t answer him. Something wasn’t right. Gigi turned and hurried down the corridor toward the stairs that led to the bridge. He didn’t have access to Pax’s room unless the man let him in, but someone else did.
“Remy, I think something happened to Pax,” he said as he ran onto the bridge. “He’s not answering his door, and I can’t find him anywhere.”
Colt growled and bolted out of the room. Gigi barely jumped out of the way as the man ran past him. He turned to ask Remy what was going on, but his mate was running out the door after Colt. Gigi rolled his eyes and did the same, running after the two men.
He reached Pax’s door just as Remy got it open and Colt pushed inside. Colt came right back out. Gigi pressed himself against the wall as the hawk’s rage-filled eyes settled on him for a moment then Colt was running down the corridor again.
“What the hell?” Gigi whispered as he watched Colt disappear from sight.
“Pax isn’t in his room,” Remy said as he walked back into the corridor.
“What do you mean Pax isn’t in his room?” Gigi snapped as he stepped over and looked into the empty room. “Where the hell is he?”
“I don’t know.” Remy started shaking his head. “But if we don’t find him, Colt’s going to be trouble.”
“But—”
“If we don’t find Pax, we could lose Colt.”
Chapter 8
Remy rushed to the bridge. They were on a time crunch to get to Beta Five to get the blast job done that Crank had been hired for, but they weren’t going to leave a man behind. Pax had to be on the planet. He was nowhere else on the ship.
“Turn us around, Tank. It seems one of our crew members forgot to join us.” Remy leaned onto the control panel, staring out into space. He was angry with himself for not doing a head check before taking off. Gigi had distracted him with his ramblings and appreciative thank-yous about his pans.
“Damn it.” The back of his knuckles slammed down onto the control panels. If something happened to Pax…Remy wasn’t going to allow negative thoughts in his head right now. The little blue guy was probably still running around, oblivious to his missing crew.
“Get us docked again so we can find Pax,” Remy commanded as he walked off the bridge.
If he lost Pax, he lost Colt. This was unacceptable to him. He hadn’t lost a crew member yet, and he wasn’t about to start now. Remy walked to the weapons room and strapped a phaser onto his thigh before walking to the retractable ramp. He raised his hands and planted them on the wall above his head as he waited for Tank to land.
Colt stepped up beside him, strapped to the nines as he waited quietly at Remy’s side. Remy wanted to say something to his sniper, but what could he say?
Sorry we forgot about your mate?
That would be like a slap in the face, so Remy remained quiet.
When the ship touched down, Remy straightened, waiting for the ramp to lower. Crank and Blade joined them, all exiting and going on the hunt for one missing crew member. Remy wanted to curse when he saw the place had gained an even larger crowd. How hard could it be to find one little blue man? Apparently pretty hard since they didn’t see hide nor hair of him.
“Spread out so we can cover more ground. Turn your com links on. If you find him, let everyone else know right away.” Remy felt like shit when Colt just walked off, his jaw clenched.
He headed back to the balloon stand he last saw Pax at. “Excuse me, have you seen a young blue man with thick, wavy black hair and long bangs that hide his eyes? He has a scar on his left cheek and stands about five foot seven.”
“Sorry, mister. I’ve gots too many customers to pay attention to one person.” The vendor apologized. “I’ll keep a lookout for ya. If I sees him, I’ll tell him he’s being looked for.”
Remy nodded his thanks as he turned around and scanned the partying crowd. Most people here stood over six feet tall, so finding him was going to take foot work.
“I saw you come off of that ship. You got any screws loose, I’m your man. Crossed wires? I can uncross them. Let me show you what I can do.”
Remy stopped in his tracks and stared down at the nutty-ass man in front of him. “Get lost,” he growled before sidestepping the stranger and continuing his search.
The man jumped back in front of Remy. “You looking for the little blue guy that came here with you?”
Remy grabbed the front of the fucker’s shirt, curling his fingers around the fabric and lifting the man slightly off of his feet. “Where is he?” Remy curled his lips back and bared his fangs, letting the stranger know he wasn’t in the mood to be jerked around.
The man shook his head, seeming unfazed. “Hire me, and I’ll tell you what I know.”
“Tell me what you know, and I may not drop your entrails at my feet.” The threat rumbled from his chest and vibrated in his throat as they stared each other down.
“I may be desperate for work, but I’m not really an idiot.” The guy dropped the crazy act as his voice leveled out into a deep timbre. “I’m not fucking you around. I know what I saw, and I’ll tell you as soon as you hire me as your mechanic. I’m damn good at what I do, but everyone around here acts like their shit don’t stink.”
“I’ll hire you as my mechanic if your information pans out and I get Pax back.” Remy couldn’t believe he was basically being blackmailed into hiring yet another person off the streets without having him thoroughly checked out. He really must be losing his touch. He nodded as he lowered the stranger to his feet. “Show me the way.”
He followed as he hit his com link and relayed the message to the rest of his crew members. Within seconds Colt was at his side, Blade and Crank catching up quickly.
“I know that whack job.” Crank growled. “He approached me the first time we were here. Calls himself Livewire.”
“Well, Livewire saw what happened to Pax. So we follow him and get our crew member back.”
Colt growled at Remy. Remy knew Pax was more than a crew member to the hawk shifter, but now was not the time for political correctness. They’d hash everything out once Pax was back on Lady Blue.
“There.” Livewire pointed to a small building. “Some guy marched him in there about an hour ago.”
Before Remy could devise a plan, Colt shifted and flew towards the dilapidated building.
“Fuck,” Remy bit out. “Let’s move in.”
The four men, including Livewire, spread out as Remy signaled with his hands for Crank and Blade to take the south side of the building. Remy kept Livewire with him, because if this was a setup, he’d kill the guy where he stood.
Blade signaled with two fingers that he saw two inside the building. Remy nodded his understanding as he pulled his phaser from his thigh holster. No one was taking one of his men, and he intended to teach whoever had done this a lesson.
Colt flew around the building before landing and then disappearing through an old, broken window. Remy tilted his head back and inhaled deeply, scenting the two men and Pax. He could smell an abundance of fear as well, and what smelled like pure hatred. The strength of the hatred singed his nostrils.
He was guessing that the fear was coming from his crew member. What he really wanted to know was who could hate Pax so much to kidnap him. That was the million-credit question.
Blade and Crank slipped into a window on the first floor as Remy and Livewire slipped around back and into the building through a rusty door that was half hanging off its hinges.