Blaize stood up, marched over to the ship, and raised her wrench. She brought it down with her full strength just below the area where the bridge jutted out from the main hull. Again. And again. She lifted the wrench to continue when a strong hand stopped her.
“What are you doing?” Dez hissed from where he still crouched.
“Knocking.” Blaize tilted her head. The crew ramp lowered, and Varik emerged, looking nearly purple with rage.
Blaize grinned at Dez. “Guess they’re home.”
Dez whipped out his data pad, rested it on his thigh, and tapped out a message.
Blaize marched toward Varik, wrench held like a club. “Where’s Cifer?”
“You fucking crazy bitch. You’re going to pay for that.”
“Doubt it. You’d have to call the authorities. And knowing you, that isn’t an option because you have to be the vilest criminal asshole I know. All I’m curious about is if Cifer is working for you or against you.” Before she could continue, a male came racing past Varik, a stunner in hand. As he lunged for Blaize, she swung as hard as she could. Teeth fountained out of his mouth, and he dropped into a heap. Her distraction allowed Varik to sneak up on her, but a single gray arm wrapped around his neck and tugged him off his feet.
Blaize continued up the ramp. Over her shoulder, she told Varik, “Purple is a good color for you.”
Inside the ship, there were two options. One upward-sloping hall led to the bridge. She pivoted to the aft door. A single unsecured button made the thin panel slide back. A cramped space filled with metal cages enraged her more than she already had been.
She would kill Varik. The wrench weighed heavy in her hands as she moved to the first cage. The oldest child stared up at her from his knees. He couldn’t even stand up in the too-small space.
“Move back and cover your face.”
The child didn’t move.
“I’m going to get you out.” She flapped her hand to shoo him back and mimed covering her own head.
Finally, the boy moved back. Blaize whacked the biometric lock on the cage. It took two hits before it shattered, and she was able to sweep the door open. Without waiting, she moved to the next cage. The little one was already in position. At the third cage, she froze. Instead of a child, she found Cifer, smelling foul and completely unconscious. She bashed the lock, her heart racing, hoping he didn’t catch any shrapnel. Although the door opened, he still didn’t move, except for a slight rise and fall of his chest. Alive.
A wave of relief washed over her. She may have felt like killing him at a point or two in the last cycle, but that didn’t mean she really wanted him dead.
Without Dez, she wouldn’t be able to move him, and there were still two more kids to free. Once they were all out, she guided them back through the doorway. Dez had turned over Varik to the uniformed port guards. Medics were lifting the toothy asshole into an emergency service sled.
“Wait,” she called out to them. “There’s one more. He’s unconscious. I don’t know from what, but he needs help, and I can’t get him out of the cage by myself.” Just because Cifer was in a cage didn’t exonerate him. Varik turned on his partners all the time. She should know. But she couldn’t leave Cifer there like that. One of the medics clambered into the sled next to the toothless guy, and the other met Blaize at the end of the ramp.
“Show me.”
“He’s breathing, and I don’t see any obvious issues. I mean, besides the fact that he’s not talking or opening his eyes or moving. But I mean, he’s not bleeding, and nothing is at an odd angle. I don’t have any medical training, though. I’m an engineer.” She held up the wrench. “Tools and tech, not blood and guts.” And then she clamped her mouth shut, her cheeks heating.
The medic stayed silent but followed her.
Cifer stood out because—holy fuck.
She hadn’t noticed it before, but his skin wasn’t copper… It was green and kind of scaly. And he wasn’t as bulky as he had been, and— She blinked. Something besides a foot had emerged from one of his pant legs. What was he?
The medic had crouched beside him, blocking some of her view, but there was no mistaking that he had a tail. So besides being able to change his coloring, he could change his shape. Green and scaly with a tail was his natural shape? Spots dotted her vision, and she lowered herself to the floor and put her head between her knees. She’d had sex with him. He hadn’t had a tail then. Had he?
She flashed to the moment he’d teased her ass. Had he?
Her distress wasn’t about how he looked. He was still a perfectly cut, sexy example of masculinity, but she’d been intimate with a lie.
“Where am I?”
She lifted her head. The medic had moved back, and Cifer was crawling out of the cage, looking exactly as he had the entire time she’d known him. No tail. Scaleless copper skin. Bulky muscles.
A quick glance at the medic did nothing to confirm or refute that she’d lost her mind.
Dez appeared at her side from nowhere. “Are you okay?”
