Callopea was blatantly lying to me, but I didn't mind since it diverted his attention from my ignoring of Moddekdum's orders and the mating marks. Or so I thought. Because, with his next words, Callopea proved that he was more cunning than I had given him credit for. He had done the same while I was busy trying to snare him.
"Why were you on Morrakbarr?"
So, he found out about that.
"My orders are to free as many humans as possible, and Morrakbarr is a known slave trading harbor," I stretched the truth.
"Funny, since it is the same planet Moddekdum was supposed to send you to."
That was funny. When I spoke to Moddekdum, it sounded more like he was just making contingency plans after I told him about my human cargo.
"He never mentioned it," I deadpanned.
"So you want me to believe it is a coincidence then that you were on the same planet Moddekdum was supposed to send you to and terminated the very same person Moddekdum was supposed to arrange to meet you?"
I shrugged, "How many slavers providing human slaves are there on Morrakbarr?"
He didn't believe me, but a small tick around his lipless mouth said he was willing to play this game. Since I was interested in his ulterior motives, I played it with him.
"I acknowledge your point and will take it under consideration. Here are your new orders. Get rid of the humans and meet me on Ohrur."
"We're only a day away from Astrionis. I will leave them there and come straight to Ohrur."
"I don't think you understand me, Space Guardian," he stopped right in front of me, but since I had programmed his holocast to be on the smaller side, he barely reached my hips as he stretched to his full height to look intimidatingly at me, or at least what he thought would intimidate me. "Drop your cargo and turn around, straight for Ohrur."
"Drop my cargo? As in out into space?" I clarified.
"I don't care if you drop them in an asteroid belt right now!"
"As you wish, I'll see you soon." I ended the comm. A small gasp from Alice told me that she had overheard the conversation.
"I won't do that," I felt compelled to assure her. "I will take all of you to Astrionis as promised."
"That was your boss?"
"One of them," I nodded.
"But… what will they do to you if you don't follow their orders?" She asked, and her voice's true concern touched a place in me I hadn't realized was alive.
"I don't intend to follow their orders and go to Ohrur," I replied, hoping to ease her mind, another thing I had never considered before.
She frowned, "I don't understand. What will you do? Are you quitting your job?"
"This is not really a job you simply quit," I explained. "But this," I rolled up my sleeve to indicate my mating marks, "is a mystery I intend to figure out."
"Oh," her face lit up, "you're going to find out where you came from."
"Yes," I said because it was simpler. I would try to chase down the other Space Guardians who had been assigned the same mission as me. It didn't escape me that both Moddekdum and Callopea had asked to see my arms; well, Callopea had tried to ask. At least I had been able to distract him from that. I was sure both of them had been checking for mating marks. It left me wondering, if the other three Space Guardians had defected after being in contact with humans, did they also have mating marks? Were they searching for our origins? There was only one way to find out, but first, I had to find them.
ALICE
I couldn't stop thinkingabout Xyrek. Watching him talk to hisminderhad been eerie as hell. The alien had materialized from out of nowhere in the middle of Xyrek's quarters. He walked through furniture like a ghost. Their conversation, however, soon distracted me from this incredible alien high-tech.
It took me a moment to digest that Xyrek had been supposed to drop all of us off at that mysterious planet we had landed on, and instead, had freed more slaves and killed the men responsible. A few months ago, the thought of someone killing anybody, let alone a good amount of somebodies, would have freaked me out. But an alien invasion and my consequent kidnapping had turned me into another person—one who no longer flinched at the idea of taking a life.
Suddenly, I saw Xyrek in a new light. Behind his usually assholey demeanor was a person who cared about others. Enough to risk his career and whatever other consequences he might face to do the right thing. This new light I saw him in was dangerous to my well-being. I was already physically attracted to him, something I had been able to keep at bay because… well, because he was a royal ass, mostly. Now though?
Shit.
