When she nods, I twist the handle and shoulder the door open, bursting into a room that is just as empty as the rest of this asteroid.Hells.What if the whole place is deserted?
Igid pushes past me and comes to a stop in the center of the room. The same realization that this might be a wasted trip shows clearly in the sudden droop of her shoulders. I’m about to ask her what she thinks we should do when her head swings to the side and the knives she’s gripping in her hands come up. Every muscle in my body goes stiff, and I pull a blaster from my hip. When she starts across the room, I move to cover her back.
Igid barely pauses before rushing through another doorway, and in the moment it takes my eyes to adjust to a deeper darkness, I hear a yelp and a scuffle. Once I’ve gotten my sight back enough to see what’s going on, Igid has a male up against the wall with one of her knives pressed into the fleshy folds of his throat.
I don’t even try to hold back the grin that spreads across my mouth at the sight of my female handling herself.
“Where is everyone?” she snarls into the male’s surprised face. I don’t immediately recognize his species. He’s shorter than Igid by several inches, but his body is soft and flabby, without the muscle needed to be any use as security. Igid doesn’t seem bothered by this in the least; she takes advantage of the fact that she is intimidating the hell out of him.
“Where—?” His beady eyes dart to me then back at Igid. “There aren’t any auctions scheduled for the next span.”
“Is the auctioneer here?” She presses the tip of her knife into his jaw.
“Who?” He looks to me for help, but I just fold my arms across my chest.
“Short. Round. Bounces around like a ball,” I offer instead.
“Gavid?” The male’s eyes are practically bulging out of his doughy face.
“Is he the auctioneer?” Igid leans into him.
“Sometimes. He’s the owner.”
“Where is this Gavid? Is he here?” Igid asks.
“You think I’d really be stupid enough to tell you—” His voice tapers into a gurgle as Igid lifts the knife under his chin, forcing his head back and exposing the soft folds of skin protecting his throat. “—I mean, I can take you to him.”
“That’s more like it.” I holster my blaster with a grin as Igid drops her knife from his throat, only to press it against the bottom of his ribcage.
“Lead the way,” she says sweetly.
The male growls but trudges onward with a little prodding from Igid’s knife.
“We don’t keep credits on the premise,” he grumbles as he leads us to another staircase. “So you’ll be disappointed if theft is what you’re here for.”
“We don’t want credits. We’re just looking for some information.” I fall into step behind them, taking my place at Igid’s back as we lumber up yet another flight of stairs.
“All sales are final,” he huffs.
“We know that, idiot,” Igid grits through her teeth. “Shut up and take us to the auctioneer.”
When we get to the top of the stairs, we are met with yet another closed door.
“Just so you know, I make a terrible shield,” the male simpers when Igid changes her grip on him so her blade is back at his throat. “No one gives a piz about me. They just hire me to clean between auctions.”
“Noted.” She looks back at me. Her lips quirk when she says, “How about you do something useful and get the door for me?”
The way her eyes flash with mischief makes my cock stir and my heart jump. With my blaster at the ready, it takes one solid kick for the door to fly open.
On the other side, three sets of eyes turn toward us. Two males, who appear to be security, and one Gavid, I presume. The round little male jumps up from behind a desk with a squeal at the same time the males jump to their feet.
Like a well-choreographed dance, Igid and I rush into the room. I go to the left, training my blaster on one of the guards. Igid goes right, using the blubbering male in front of her as a shield as she goes after the other guard.
“Ah-ah-ah,” she tuts when the guard goes for his weapon. Before he has a chance to draw it all the way from his holster, she shoves the male she’s holding into him. They go down in a tangle of arms and legs so that all she needs to do is crouch over them with her knife.
“What is the meaning of this?” Gavid bellows from behind the chair that is easily twice his size.
“We’re not here to cause any trouble,” I announce. The guard, whose face I’m pointing my blaster at, arches one of his eyebrows. Somewhere behind me, I hear Igid snort. “We only have some questions regarding an auction.”
