Hide to Stay Alive (Club Release 1) (31 page)

Ziv snorts in disgust.
“They started a fight and continued to be so mouthy that several of
my regulars drew their swords. A big zyfing fight broke out and
several mewmosians were hurt. These pieces of clocpinian trash have
done enough damage that they can easily be sent back to their own
planet without their officials claiming we wronged them.” Ziv spit
on the ground near Glip’s big bare feet. The clocpinian snarled.
“Worthless, that’s what they all are. Their families should be
ashamed of them.”

“
I believe you, Din Ziv but
we have to hear their side of the story.” I turn to all four of the
seething males. “Take your gags out.” When Stil glances at the
owner’s security team, I add, “They aren’t going to cut your hands
off for removing them.” To keep Ziv’s threat alive and well, I add,
“Not while we are here anyway.” When the men start removing their
gags, I know for sure that is the threat Ziv is still using on his
unruly customers. That threat works every time.

A fresh wave of hate comes
from the slender yet strong men. Once again, I wonder what is
happening. Are these men on something? A glance at Ryk tells me
he’s wondering the same thing.

All four of the males
start yelling at the same time. Their slightly slurred tone lets me
know they are definitely drunk or on some type of drug.

I hold out my hand to stop
them. It takes a moment but they finally stop talking. “What is
wrong with all of you? Clocpinians don’t get messed up in public
and they don’t try to rape people or start fights.”

Mocso smirks. “You don’t
know much about clocpinians, do you?”

Ryk snarls. “We know
enough to know that this is not normal behavior. We also know that
the only way you four are getting out of here alive is if we help
you.” At Mocso’s doubtful look, Ryk says, “The regulars at this
club already wanted to kill you and leave your rotting bodies out
in the jungle for the animals to feast on.” A pause has all four
males staring at Ryk in surprise. “Why do you think the crowd was
ushered outside instead of you?”

I look at the jungle and
then back at the males that are just now understanding how close
they’d come to dying. The air around them only changes to fear and
understanding for a few moments before their anger comes back.
Strange.

Glip glares at Din Ziv.
“This is your fault for not having a more accommodating staff.” The
male gestures toward the club behind him. “This place is supposed
to be fun.”

After such a short time of
being outside, the males are already starting to sound less messed
up which means they must not have been as drunk as I’d
thought.

Ziv’s face flushes with
anger. “This club is fun…unless your idea of a good time is raping
and fighting. You are all a disgrace to your people.”

Angry fire lights Glip’s
black eyes. The male’s thick short orange eyelashes make the fire
look more menacing. In a quick move, Glip pulls a gun from his vest
and shoots at Din Ziv.

The club owner dodges but
from the grunt he releases, I guess he’s been at least grazed. Glip
snarls and takes aim again. I leap forward, push his arm up, and
slide my hand up to his so I can retrieve his weapon. As I grab the
startled male’s gun, I step behind Glip and get him in a
headlock.

While I’m chocking Glip,
Ryk struggles with Stil and Mocso. Ziv’s men are checking on him.
This is prelling messed up. These are clocpinians!

The sound of steel singing
as it leaves its sheath has me zeroing in on Rep. Time slows as I
watch the male pull his sword and raise his arms in a deadly
threat. I drop Glip and barley notice the thud of his body hitting
the hard ground.

Lethally, I pull my
weapons. All of my combat training leaps forward. My muscles
automatically move.

I block Rep’s deadly blow
with my sword and reflexively stab Rep through the chest with the
long blade of my knife. Air whooshes from my enemies lungs and a
shocked look enters his black eyes.

As I pull my knife from
the clocpinian’s chest his orange blood pours from his chest wound.
The insane fire that had fueled his dark eyes goes out as death
takes Rep into its cold arms.

For a moment silence
rules.

Then an explosion of
curses and threats taint the air.

Ryk has Stil and Mocso
cuffed. I quickly cuff Glip before he wakes. Ryk shoves the other
two males to the ground and orders, “Don’t move or you’ll end up
dead like your friend.” Ryk looks at me, the gleam of battle still
in his eyes. “I’m going to get our vehicle so we can take them in
before this evening gets worse.”

As Din Ryk leaves Glip
comes to. I stand over the males with my weapons drawn. Glip shakes
his head and then frowns and looks around. His black eyes widen
when he spots all the blood pooling around his dead
friend.

“
That one did it, Glip. He
killed Rep. We can’t let him get away with it,” Mocso yells as
hatred fills his pitch black eyes.

My wrist-com sounds off.
“TocGar,” I answer and then wait to see what Commander Graltin
LocMir is going to say.

“
I’ve heard what’s going
on. Try to bring the rest of them in unharmed, TocGar.” The
Commander’s tone is gruff as usual.

“
Yes, Commander.” As the
com-link ends, Ryk pulls up with the vehicle. Din Ziv’s men help us
get the four clocpinians into the vehicle. I let their threats roll
off me. I’ve heard them all before and in my line of work, I’ll
hear them many more times before I die. It’s part of the
job.

Ziv clutches his injured
shoulder. “Thanks for coming out and taking care of this matter. My
men and I will gladly answer any questions your commander may
have.”

“
Thanks, Din Ziv. Some of
our team will be out shortly to ask a few questions of you and your
men. They’ll also need to question anyone else that was attacked
physically or verbally by the clocpinians. Can your men round up
the people that were the most affected by the four males?” I
ask.

“
Yes, of course. We’ll get
right on it.” Din Ziv turns and starts giving orders to his men as
they head back inside the club.

What a zyfing
mess.

Anytime a person dies a
crew has to come out and investigate. Tonight they’d be spending a
lot of time here. These idiots had hurt and pissed off a lot of
people. Now one is dead and threats are flying.

What should have been an
easy mission had turned bad quickly. Since they are not from Zaphin
we’ll have to take them to our detainment center at the spaceport.
With any luck the clocpinians will be homebound in a matter of
hours.

At the port, we guide the
live ones in while a couple of our men retrieve the body from the
vehicle to place in cold storage. Once the men are locked up, Ryk
and I are met by Commander LocMir. A dead body always equals a
harsh debriefing.

Hours later, Ryk and I
leave the spaceport.

“
That was a disaster,” Ryk
says as he rubs his hand over his face and then squeezes the back
of his neck. “As undisciplined as Glip and Rep were, I’d never have
guessed they were commanders’ sons.”

I snort in response. “We
are talking about clocpinians. They aren’t usually as aggressive as
these four were. I guess their fathers didn’t think discipline
would be necessary. I’m just glad they’ll be off our planet soon.”
Exhaustion settles over me as we head to the mission
vehicle.

All I can think about is
getting in my own vehicle and heading home to Hallie Mead—my
perfect little seema. She makes going home feel right on a level
I’ve never experienced before. Tonight I need that sense of
rightness more than ever.

CHAPTER

34

~ Hallie ~

♥

The growling of my stomach
has me heading to the fridge. I pull out a piclot muffin and start
nibbling on it as I think about what I’d like to eat for supper.
It’s a shame Zar doesn’t eat but once a day. It would be nice to
wait on him so we could eat together.

Things could be worse.
What if he didn’t eat at all? Some beings live on
liquids alone
, my logical
side points out. She’s right. At least he comes home every day and
eats midday meal with me.

I take another bite of my
muffin and relish the rich flavor that tantalizes my taste buds.
Things could be a lot worse. Here on Zaphin the food is more
flavorful than on Earth

The word flavorful makes
me think of Din Zar’s creamy release. Now that’s something to be
extremely thankful for. A familiar ache starts between my legs. The
sight of him continues to make my stomach flutter and my heart
race.

Knowing he’ll be on his
way home soon makes me happy. I can’t get enough of him. He’s an
addiction I’ll never willingly give up. The chemistry between us
hasn’t died down a bit since the day we met. I have a feeling it
never will. That thought has joy swirling around my heart and
zipping through my veins.

While taking my last bite
of muffin, I hear a strange noise. I squash my natural need to run
and hide. I’m on a safe planet living with a badass male. I’m safe
here. Din Zar and his warrior friends have made sure of that. All
is well. Being safe feels good.

I hear a tapping and think
of the Zaphin bird similar to Earth’s woodpecker. Thanks to Zar I
now know the pretty purple and yellow bird is called an ardop. The
tapping sound comes again. It’s not coming from the backdoor. I go
search for the source expecting to see an ardop trying to get in. I
chuckle at the thought of such a small animal thinking it can break
through a sturdy zaphinian wall.

Thinking I’m going to be
entertained by a brightly colored bird, I happily follow the
tapping sound. It seems rather loud. Maybe it’s a large bird.
Covertly, I peek around the living room being careful not to move
too quickly. I don’t want to startle the little thing.

Stealthily, I inch into
the room until I can see our foyer. I believe the sound could be
coming from there. I picture the small bird—or a larger one—trying
to get in our front door. I smile now that I’m mentally prepared to
see something cute.

I peek toward the door. My
smile drops. My blood freezes when I see strange males hanging out
around our front door. Through the window I see them talk for a
bit. They are not zaphinian. Fear snakes up my spine. They can’t be
friends of Zar. That means they are strangers, possibly even
enemies. Shit, what should I do? What do they want?

As they move I lose sight
of two of them. The one I can see rears back a huge bare foot and
kicks our door. The sound echoes through the room. When my gaze
locks with a pair of mean black eyes ringed with orange eyelashes,
I jump and barely withhold a scream. An evil grin curls the male’s
lips.

When the male turns to his
friends, I snap out of my shock and run from the living room. In
the kitchen, I gulp in a few breaths and try to calm the zyf down.
I pause when I realize I’m starting to talk like Zar. He’s wearing
off on me and that’s okay.

“
This place is secure,” I
say out loud. Hearing the words calms me. They can’t get
me.

That calm is shattered
when I hear the boom of our front door being slammed into. All
three of them must be kicking the door at the same time now. Can it
hold up? Knowing I have to see how bad it is, I tiptoe into the
living room until I can see the front door.

Another booming sound
echoes through the room as they try to break-in. The cracking sound
that follows closely on the heels of the boom has me jumping and
running.

With my heart pounding
viciously against my ribs, I stand by the back door. I’m tempted to
run outside but fear that there could be more of them lurking
around the yard. All I can do is wait and hope the door
holds.

I start breathing long,
deep calming breathes, the kind I do at night with Zar. My heart
slows a bit. With one hand at my throat and the other at my belly,
I breathe and hope for the best.

The sound of the door
shattering is followed by victorious shouts. I silently scream. My
heart starts beating out a deafening rhythm. Fear slithers up my
spine and spreads throughout my body.

Footfalls jar me from my
state of horrified shock. I quickly slide out the backdoor and
close it behind me. I scream when one of the males slams into the
locked door and tries to open it.

The coldness in his black
eyes has me spinning around and running toward the jungle. Horror
floods my system when I hear heavy footfalls racing after
me.