Harden My Heart (Club Release 3) Science Fiction Abduction Romance (15 page)

"Playrooms? What are those?"

"Fun rooms. I love the Hide and Seek room," Hallie says her voice high with emotion.

"Oh yeah, that's a good one." Skyla looks at me. "With time you'll visit them all. This is a big club."

I hope her words ring true. Tling By dances past with a warrior. Her pink skin is glowing in the lights. Her white eyes brighten when she sees us. She smiles and waves. I wave back. She looks happy. I remember her telling me I could find happiness here. I think she was right. I’m glad she works here. I need to get to know the sweet petrokian better.

Through the strobing light, a male approaches the guys. I swear I hear Din Zar groan.

Din Tairin settles back in his chair. "What can we do for you, Tin WorMoc?"

The light of remembrance strikes. Tin is the male that was whining about the bartenders putting on a show, wasting time.

Tin gestures around. "You can save money if you cut off the strobe lights."

Din Ryk blows out a frustrated breath. "The lights add to the energetic atmosphere."

"They cost a lot," Tin says.

Din Tairin tsks. "We don't care. This club is all about fun and releasing tension." He looks pointedly into Tin’s green and silver eyes. "Warriors
need
tension relief."

Oh, Tin is not a Din so he doesn't understand.

Tin frowns. "I brought it up to a few people and they agreed with me."

"Who?" Din Ryk asks.

Tin doesn't catch the slight growl in the warrior’s tone. Yep, Tin is a civilian.

Tin steps closer as a loud song fills the club. "Some of my friends and a few of the caterers."

"I take it none of them are warriors," Din Tairin says.

"Well, no," Tin answers looking confused.

Din Ryk blows out another breath. "They don't understand a warrior’s needs. We appreciate your concern but the warriors come first in the club, not money. You are new here so that’s something you’ll have to grasp."

Confusion continues to cloud Tin’s face as he nods and then walks off.

"Get out of my way you prelling reslikian trash." The sharp voice cuts through the area. Several people stop and stare at the abusive petrokian. Looks like some petrokians are not nice like Tling By.

"You take that back. My sister is good, unlike you," a male yells.

Cruel laughter follows. Din Ryk stands and calls the pink female over, “Looki My, come.”

I jump at his tone and so do Hallie and Skyla. But Looki My doesn’t. When her white gaze lands on Din Ryk her whole attitude changes. She meekly walks over to the guys, all of them are scowling at her. The reslikians follow.

My heart twists when I realize that it’s Rosda and her twin Rosman. They are nice. I’ve even eaten with them at the restaurant. I frown at the petrokian and notice that Hallie and Skyla are as well.

Looki My’s eyes take on a false look of sorrow and then she turns to the twins. “I’m sorry. I’m not feeling well and I took it out on you.”

Oh, feeling bad will change your behavior. I feel sorry for all of them…until I remember the ugly look on Looki My’s face before she realized she was busted. I’ll reserve sympathy or judgment for later.

Looki My squirms under the guys’ stares. “I’m also horny. Sex would help.”

I have heard that some petrokians get snappish when they go for even half a day without sex. Maybe that is all that’s wrong with her. I just don’t know. But her attitude doesn’t make me want to get to know her better.

A tough looking warrior steps forward. “I can help her out.”

“Thank you, Din Broc.”

Din Broc leads her away. His shifty eyes make me wonder about him. Flipping fuck, it’s not easy being a club owner. My heart goes out to the guys.

As the guys settle into their chairs, Din Ryk says, “Something feels off with her.”

Din Zar adds, “Yes, but she could be having trouble adjusting since she hasn’t been here long.”

Din Tairin dips his chin and tsks. “True, but she came to us for a job. She’ll have to do better or be fired.”

“I agree,” Din Zar says.

“We’ll keep an eye on her,” Din Ryk says.

We females huddle and the girls start talking about life here. I agree with them, even with some flaws it’s better than Earth.

My gaze is drawn to Din Tairin. My heart flutters. His strength and kindness are a big draw. I’m liking him more each day. I’m going to cry if he leaves me anytime soon. Yeah, I want to stay with him for a long time…maybe forever.

Din Tairin feels like home.

That’s a dangerous thought. But I can’t stop it. He inhales and his eyes are lightly glowing as they lock with mine.

I give him a small smile and he returns it. My foolish heart flutters with more force. I can’t tell him how much I like him. Desperate for love scares people off and looks bad.

I don’t want to look bad to him…ever.

CHAPTER

17

~ Din Tairin ~

♥

“Do these stalks look thinner?” Zar asks. His voice has a sweetly innocent sound to it.

“No, TocGar,” Ash returns, unphased. “Quit trying to mess with us because we are not falling for it.”

“That’s right, you three will lose this race,” Zairin taunts as he bumps fists with Ash.

I give Ryk and Zar a meaningful look. We run and jump out into the stalk filled canyon as far as we can. We have to beat Zairin, Von, and Ash to the other side.

The stalk I catch and cling to starts sinking, I leap to a more stable one. I have no desire to fall into the thick thorn bushes below. Those things hurt worse than a dagstabs quills.

I look back and see Von has landed close to me. Prel, I need to hustle ass. As I leap from one stalk to the next the sun beats down unmercifully. This training session is going to be prelling awful. I barely dodge being slapped in the face when I land on the next stalk. Prelling leaves. I hate these plants and the thorn bushes below.

Through the stalks I see that Ryk and Zar are making good ground. The crunching of a stalk behind me proves that Zairin, Von, and Ash are doing well too. I leap up and land on a stalk tall enough to see a flash of yellow. A purrdot flower. That flower would love Kinsey Lea’s scent as much as I do.

A crack tears through the canyon. I see that Ryk and Zar are fine. Zairin yells as he leaps from the snapping stalk to another one. Another crack sounds and Zairin starts falling. “Prelling star,” Von shouts as he throws his knives. Metal whizzes through the plants cutting a lot before returning to Von. Zairin lands with a thud. I leap close enough to see that Von’s throwing knives have cut a stalk cushion. I laugh as I leap quickly away one stalk to the next. Their group grumbles at the slow down.

It doesn’t take long before I hear them coming. If Zairin had gotten stuck in the thorn bushes that would have really slowed them down.

Sweat slicks my hands, I rub my palms over my pants legs while in midair. Dust from the plant I land on flies around me. “I can’t wait for this to be over.”

“Me either,” Von agrees.

“Speaking of needing things to be over, we need to do something about Tin WorMoc,” Ryk says.

“Prelling right, he’s pissing off a lot of people,” Zairin says.

“True. Now he has the brewmars riled. He told them to eat less,” I say as I keep moving through this black starring terrain.

“Yes, and a few days ago he told the cleaning staff to use less soap,” Von adds in.

“We’ll make it a club priority to do something about him,” Von says.

Between leaps and dust flying we all agree. Because Tin is young and wants to help, we’ll keep him for now. But we have to find a better job for him. Helping with club finances is not his thing. His education is hindering him in this case.

Zar lands on a stalk close to me. “Your seema is falling for you. That’s good.”

We all move on through the rough terrain. Ryk gets close and says, “The scent of her love is pleasing.”

Love
. Does she love me? I’ll have to pay more attention. The prelling grounfos have me working too much and I don’t see a quick end to this problem.

The next stalk I land on crumbles. I move to another and it too deteriorates. The thorn bushes get closer and closer.

Zairin pulls me up and over.

“Thanks.” He’s a good twin.

“No problem. Are you okay?” he asks.

My heart is pounding. “I’ll be fine.”

“Good,” Zairin says with a twinkle in his gold and purple eyes.

He’s up to something. Zairin moves in a blur. Something wraps around my wrists. I look down as Zairin laughs and leaps away.

“Black star.” It takes a few seconds for me to free myself from the sticky vine around my wrists. When I get back to crossing the canyon I see that Zairin, Von, and Ash are now ahead of us.

I move faster.

“You good,” Ryk asks.

“Yes, now that I’m free.”

Zairin’s laughter echoes around us.

“Prelling ass.” That just makes my twin laugh more.

We focus on our task for a while and then Von breaks the silence. “Nof HabTe is gathering a large following. I don’t like it.”

“Me either. The grounfos can only get worse with a strong and determined leader. One who’s willing to draw the support of several individual groups.” My thighs and arms are burning but not as bad as my desire to stop the rebel leader.

“We’ll have to watch our females more closely,” Ryk says. He lands on a stalk and a bird squawks in his face.

I move over and steady Ryk before he falls into the thorn bushes.

“Whew, thanks. That prelling bird was a surprise.”

“So is Nof HabTe’s growing followers. But like here, we can conquer them with patience and a group effort.” I leap to another dusty stalk.

Ryk’s earlier words ring through my mind. We do need to watch our females more carefully. Ryk knows about the grounfos threat better than any one of us. I slip on the next stalk but quickly gain my grip and safely move on. Safe. I’m glad Kinsey Lea is safe at home. I don’t like the scent of worry that still comes from her at times. A harsh breath rumbles from me. With time that bad scent will quit coming from her. I’ll make sure it does.

This prelling shit with the grounfos is taking precious time away from me getting to ease her into her new home. I’ll hurt the grounfos for this atrocity.

Kinsey Lea is meaning more to me every day. My heart warms at that thought. I should be scared but I’m not. She did something to me the second I saw her. She is mine.

Crashing sounds draw my attentions. Ash is going down. I pick up my pace as Zairin stops to help his teammate.

My team races to the craggy canyon wall. Ryk climbs out and then helps me and Zar over the edge. Our victory shouts fill the muggy air.

I laugh when the others climb out moments later. Turning to my twin, I say, “Cheater never win.”

“I wasn’t cheating.” Zairin presents an innocent face. He’s good. “I was securing you so you wouldn’t fall again. Mom would expect nothing less.”

As the others laugh, I tsk. “She would expect you to leave me tied up?”

“What? I knew you’d free yourself. I was just giving you time to steady you nerves.” Zairin’s innocent look could fool most but not any of us.

“Ready for round two?” Von asks as he wipes the sweat from his brow.

I can tell he plans on winning the next round. I swipe away a drop of dusty sweat before it can fall into my eye. “Yeah, let’s do this.”

An alarm blares from our com units. “Black star, it’s the Commander.”

Our training comes to a quick stop. He’s not contacting us thoughtlessly. We are needed. I look the message over. My blood heats. We have to take care of another grounfos problem. They’ve started a vicious fight where lots of civilians are.

With Kinsey Lea so new here, this is the worst time for the grounfos to start trouble. I long to spend more time with her but duty comes first. I look at my friends. They look dirty, menacing, and ready for action. We have to give her and the others who live here a safe environment.

In the end, Kinsey Lea is my top priority. I’ll do whatever it takes to protect her. My heart lightens knowing she’s safe at home.