Jerred's Price (15 page)

“What about me?” she asked softly.

“Don’t worry,” he replied, his heart clenching. “I’ll take care of you. I’m due for a long leave. From there we’ll go wherever you want and take a nice, long vacation together.”

“And after that? Are they going to send you out on another mission? Would I be able to go with you, or will that be it for us?”

He shook his head slowly, not wanting to think about it.

“Let’s deal with that question when the time comes.”

93

Joanna Wylde

Chapter Twelve

Davidian Station was huge. Bigger than anything Giselle had seen before, and she’d done a fair amount of traveling in her life. It looked like a small moon orbiting the remote planet. In fact, it had once been a moon, according to Jerred. Hundreds of years of building and hollowing out its core had riddled it with tunnels and rooms; now it was little more than a shell for Saurellian military operations.

These were Jerred’s people, the men who dared challenge the might of the Empire.

It was a bit intimidating.

“We’ll be leaving this ship here,” Jerred said quietly as they docked in of many hangars. “They’ll need to go over it carefully for the information encrypted in the databanks, and to make sure Josiah didn’t leave any nasty little surprises on board. I’ll requisition another ship for my leave and we can take it wherever we want.”

She nodded, trying not to think about what would happen after that leave was over. It was pointless.

“How long will we be here?” she asked quietly.

“Hopefully not too long,” he said. “I’ll take three or four days to debrief and write up my reports. After that I’ll be free.”

“Will we be staying on the station?”

“Yes,” he replied with a smile. “This may surprise you, but I actually have an apartment here. It’s my home, at least as much as a home as I have. It may be a military station, but millions of people live here. You’ll find that there are hundreds of things to do in your free time. You’ll want to be careful, though. There aren’t many women, and those who are here are generally life mated. I’ll make sure you have an escort if you want to go out and I can’t be with you.”

“How dangerous is it?”

“Well, I don’t think any of them would deliberately hurt you,” he said slowly. “But Saurellian men tend to lose perspective sometimes when it comes to women. It’s better to be careful.”

When they left the ship an hour later she understood what he meant. All around here were tall, dark men with hungry eyes. Surprisingly, not all of them were Saurellians, and she cocked one brow at Jerred in question.

“Most of the maintenance functions are performed by off-worlders,” he explained.

“Why is that? Are Saurellians too good to do their own dirty work?” she asked jokingly.

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He shook his head and grinned at her. “No, unmated Saurellian males tend to be unreliable in such positions,” he said softly. “Unless a Saurellian finds a mate, he tends to be a bit wild. Most of us won’t live past forty standard years. We need jobs where we can work off our aggression.”

“Like fighting?”

“Well, before the war most of us were mercenaries in the Empire,” Jerred said softly. “It was good work. And it gave us an edge when our people called us back to fight the war against the Empire.”

“So, did all of your people come back?” she asked softly.

His gaze grew distant for a moment, and then he shook his head. “No,” he said softly. “Quite a few didn’t come back.”

“Did they stay and work for the Empire?”

“Some of them did,” he said softly. He didn’t seem to want to talk any further, so she stayed silent. There was a lot more going on here than she cared to understand.

She’d never been interested in politics, and it sounded like Saurellian politics were more confusing than most.

He guided her across the large hangar toward a low arch marked with a green sign.

“This is a transit station,” he said, nodding toward it. “You can catch a pod to anywhere on the station here. You can also catch a train along the main lines. Most of the time the trains are the best way to go, but I wouldn’t want you taking one alone.

Pods are more private, but they’re more expensive. You’ll need a credit account, too. I’ll get one set up on your name.”

She opened her mouth to protest, and then realized how foolish that was. She had no money of her own—she was utterly dependent on him.

They stood in the station for several moments, waiting for the right train to arrive.

Every few seconds a new one would slip into place, and men would get on and off.

Many of them carried blasters, and she noted those who were armed were primarily Saurellian. Their faces were dark and brooding, and a memory of Jerred as she’d first met him popped into her brain. He seemed so different now, so much lighter and happier.

She liked him better that way.

Everywhere she turned, men watched her. She noticed one or two other women in the crowd, but they all seemed untouchable somehow, as if there was an invisible aura of protection over them. She noticed that the men watched them with just as much hunger, but they didn’t do it openly. These women were Saurellian. Tall, dark-haired goddesses with ivory skin and light green eyes. She stepped closer to Jerred, and he wrapped a protective arm around her.

“I don’t like this station,” she whispered softly. “I don’t feel safe here.”

95

Joanna Wylde

“You’ll be safe with me,” he said, giving her a gentle squeeze. All around her, men stared with speculation in their eyes, stripping her mentally and laying her out before them. One caught her eye, and walked up to them slowly.

“Jerred,” he said in greeting, his expression cool.

“Xander,” Jerred replied, nodding his head. Giselle waited for an introduction, but one didn’t come. It was just as well, he decided. Xander didn’t seem like a particularly nice man. His cold eyes swept over her, taking in everything about her person in a way that seemed somehow dirty. She shivered.

“I’ve never known you to have a pet,” Xander said to Jerred, his tone conversational. “How long do you plan to keep her?”

Jerred bristled beside her. His tone of voice, though, was casual as he replied. “I can’t imagine you would be interested in the details,” he said lightly. “I’m certainly not interested in sharing them—or her—with you. You’d do well to stay away from me while I’m here.”

A flash of intense anger, even rage, blazed in Xander’s eyes, and he flushed a deep red. Giselle held her breath, terrified he might attack. She could feel an answering tension in Jerred, and he pushed her behind him. A loose ring of watchers had gathered around the three of them, their grins feral and menacing. Without thinking, she spoke.

“I don’t feel very well,” she said softly. All eyes turned to her, and some of the hostility left their gazes. Deciding to play it for all she was worth, she spoke again.

“Please, can’t we go to your apartment and rest?” she asked, turning to give Jerred a liquid look of concern. “There are so many people here,
I really don’t feel well…”

She allowed herself to sway on her feet, clutching Jerred’s arm for support. It provoked a protective instinct, not only in Jerred but also in the men around her.

Xander nodded his head tightly and backed away, and the ring of observers broke apart. Jerred took her arm and walked her toward one of the pods.

“We’ll skip the train for now,” he said. He helped her into the small vehicle, and she sat down gratefully. He knelt beside her, searching her face. “How sick are you?” he asked.

“Not sick at all,” she replied tartly. “I’m annoyed. You and that Xander were going to fight, weren’t you? Why? Are you enemies?”

“No,” Jerred said softly, a slightly confused expression coming across his face.

“Actually, we grew up together. Normally I would consider him a friend.”

“So that’s how you treat your friends?” she asked.

He sat back on the seat across from her, and keyed something into the pod’s control pad. She felt a slight motion as the pod slid away from the station. He sat, silent for a moment, and then leaned forward

“I have no idea why we acted that way,” he said finally. “It doesn’t make sense to me at all. Xander and I have fought thousands of times, but never over a woman.”

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She stayed silent, unsure of how to respond. She didn’t quite like the way he referred to her dismissively as “a woman,” any more than she had liked Xander’s tone earlier. She was getting pretty tired of everyone thinking she was Jerred’s pet, for love of the Goddess. On the other hand, in a way she
was
his pet. She was his toy, completely dependent on him for everything from food to affection and companionship.

The doors opened as the pod slid to stop. This transit station was much quieter, with only a few men around them. It was smaller, too. Jerred took her arm and guided her through the exit into an open gallery that stretched above and below them for hundreds of stories. Looking around, she could see bridges stretching from one side to the other, and walkways stretched along the walls to either side of them. Across the open gallery, there was another walkway and more doors. It was similar to many of the stations she’d seen in her life, but once again on a scale almost beyond her ability to comprehend. It was just so
big
. It reminded her of the descriptions she’d read of the Imperial warrens on Tyre, vast developments deep within the planet surface housing billions of people.

They walked down the gallery for twenty minutes before he stopped, sliding a keycard into a door that looked just like every other one on the corridor.

The door’s light blinked green, and slid open.

The apartment was good-sized, with a large kitchen and living area, fresher and a bedroom. Still, it looked as if no one lived there. The walls were bare of decoration and the furniture was plain and bland.

“How long have you had this place?” she asked, thinking of her own tiny apartment on Transit Three. Even though she’d only lived there a few months, she’d filled it with plants and cheap holo-posters of various planets she dreamed of visiting.

This might as well be a room in a hostel.

“I’ve had it about six years,” he said, dropping the rucksack holding their clothing on the floor. She looked at it in distaste. All she had was her uniform from the bar and the two jumpsuits he’d gotten her on Transit Three. She’d recycled the dress from Josiah. Despite how lovely it was, there were too many bad memories associated with it to ever wear again.

“I think you need to go shopping,” Jerred said, breaking into her thoughts. “Your best bet would be to go on the Station’s ’net. The female population is pretty low here, and while there are stores, it’s probably more efficient to simply order something and have it delivered.”

“All right,” she said, sitting on the couch. It was nice and soft despite its utilitarian appearance, and a thought popped into her mind. She bounced up and down, testing it and looking at him speculatively. He ignored her.

“I have to go and make my report,” he said. “Just go ahead and use the terminal to shop if you like. It should bill me automatically for whatever you decide to get.”

With that he turned and walked out the door. It closed behind him with a hissing noise. So much for the soft couch, she thought wryly.

97

Joanna Wylde

* * * * *

Nicolai Trasky, commander of Saurellian intelligence operations, searched Jerred’s face, trying to figure out what was different. He’d already heard rumors that one of his most reclusive scouts had returned with a woman in tow—that was unusual enough in and of itself. But even stranger was Jerred’s demeanor.

If he wasn’t mistaken, the man was happy. Or at least content. And now he wanted leave to go and spend time with his new companion. Nicolai made a mental note to have one of his aides look into the situation. Unlikely as it seemed, perhaps Jerred had found a life mate. Thank the Goddess, it was something he was seeing more and more in his men. For some reason, for the first time in Saurellian history, men were finding mates outside their own people.

His own wife was one of them. Not, of course, that it was relevant to the task at hand.

“So, Josiah let you go,” he said thoughtfully. “Very wise of him. It doesn’t benefit either of us to upset the status quo at this point. I’m assuming he just meant to send us a message?”

“I’m not so sure about that,” Jerred said slowly. “I would have sworn he meant to kill me. I honestly think the only reason he changed his mind was because he got the information somewhere else.”

“Yes, well, that source was compromised a while back,” Nicolai said thoughtfully.

“We’ve suspected she was a double agent for quite a while. I would imagine we won’t hear from her again.”

Their spy was almost certainly dead by now. Not that he felt sorry about that. She’d been feeding information to the Empire as well, and they were probably better off without her. Still, they’d have to find someone new, and Josiah’s organization wasn’t easy to penetrate. For some reason his people were alarmingly loyal to him.

“Our technicians will have the information out of your databanks soon,” Nicolai continued. “I’m assuming that everything will be in order, but I’ll want you to stay here until we’re sure we don’t have any questions. Preliminary reports are that Josiah didn’t break the sub-encryption shell, which means your information is safe.”

“He’d have a pretty hard time doing it in the amount of time he had,” Jerred replied. “He was angry enough about the schematics of his station that I doubt he looked much further. Not that any of this information would have interested him directly, anyway.”

“No, but it would interest others a great deal,” Nicolai said. “And Josiah is always looking for business opportunities. Don’t underestimate him.”

“I don’t, I assure you,” Jerred said wryly. “Are we done here? I’d like to get back to Giselle.”

Nicolai nodded, and leaned back in his chair. Jerred gave a casual salute and left the room, leaving Nicolai with his thoughts. Yes, he was almost certain the younger man 98

Jerred’s Price

had found his life mate. The thought made him smile. Jerred was a good man, and he deserved better than the life of loneliness and violence that awaited an unmated male.

Now, how long would it take him to figure his situation out?

The com on his desk buzzed, and Nicolai grabbed it. Within seconds he was on his feet, headed out of the office. There had been an ambush in the truce zone, a Saurellian freighter had been looted and the entire crew left for dead. Through some miracle another ship had found them before they all starved to death.