Kieran (Tales of the Shareem) (14 page)

Talan reached around Kieran to pat Felice’s knee. Even Rees looked sympathetic.

“What did you do?” Talan asked her. “He couldn’t force you to pay it, could he?”

“Apparently he could,” Felice said, laughing a little, but her eyes held vast anger. “It was in our contracts, a tiny clause that said we were responsible if we incurred debt for the trainer. He got a lawyer, who said we owed him. Never mind our trainer tried to use me to commit murder. But I couldn’t prove he’d given me the needle—in fact, he found it that night while Val and I were out celebrating what we thought was my victory, and destroyed it—and we owed the money. My family didn’t have the kind of income to pay him, and neither did Val’s. We were just kids, and scared. Our trainer said I needed to go out and find the money, and he’d keep Val as collateral. If I didn’t come back with it, she was dead.”

Felice sat back, out of breath, her grief and agitation coming across loud and clear. Kieran nuzzled her hair, wanting to hold her until everything bad went away. The fact that he couldn’t frustrated the hell out of him.

“And you sold yourself?” Talan asked her in a gentle voice.

Felice nodded. “I found the nearest cargo ship and told them how much I needed. They drew up an agreement with me that I’d work to pay it off. They were from TGH Corp and could care less whether I was an elite fighter or just crawled out of a gutter. They only saw I was strong and could work. They paid the trainer, and I left with them. At first I was happy to work, because I knew I’d saved Val, even though she hadn’t been able to get away from the trainer. Then the years went by, and the deadline for finishing my indenture came and went. The company said I’d racked up expenses—food and clothing, plus interest, that I still had to work off. I calculated that I wouldn’t be able to pay it all off for another seventy years, which is what they wanted. I’d tried to keep track of Val to make sure she was all right, and a few months ago, I learned she’d finished her contract with the trainer and went back home. Got married, even.” Another shaky smile. “I was supposed to be her bridesmaid. That’s when I decided to escape. I picked Bor Narga, because of its no-slavery rules, and also because no one would guess I’d try to run away here. It’s a dangerous planet.” Felice finished, slumping against Kieran. “Kieran found me in the space dock. And here I am.”

“And we’ll help you,” Talan said. “Won’t we, Rees?”

Rees still looked sympathetic, even respectful, but he folded his arms. “Sure.
After
we check her story.”

Felice tried to sit up in alarm, but she couldn’t fight the strength of Kieran’s hold. “No—if you start looking for information on me, someone will know. They’ll figure out where I am, that Kieran helped me.”

“No, they won’t,” Rees said in a level voice. “Trust me, I can find out things with no one being the wiser.”

Kieran knew Rees meant he could mess with a computer to erase his footprint, or fingerprint, or whatever it was. Also, he had access to a woman called Dr. Laas—an outlaw herself—who had a computer with a snarky mouth and an amazing brain. Rees could find out anything about anything.

“You can trust him,” Kieran rumbled to Felice. “Even if he’s full of himself.”

A few Shareem guffawed, relaxing. They knew, by reading Rees’s body language, that he wasn’t going to toss Felice out to fend for herself. Or worse, make sure she was caught and taken away.

“I don’t want Kieran to be hurt because of me,” Felice said quickly. “Or any of you.”

“We won’t,” Rees said. “No one will know you’ve been anywhere near us.”

Braden broke in. “Except for Kieran’s fight at the dockyards. That wasn’t suspicious or anything.”

“Yeah, Kieran,” Eland boomed. “What the hell were you doing?”

“Looking for transport,” Kieran growled back. “What do you think? That cargo ship was perfect, but the crew got pissed off at me before I had time to explain.”

“Don’t worry,” Rees said in a firm voice. “I’ll deal with it.” He would. No one questioned his ability to deal with anything, or how he’d go about it.

Felice sat up again. “You know, if you’re looking for a way off Bor Narga, I can help. I’ve worked cargo transports for years. TGH Corp is a big company, and I’ve gone from ship to ship, place to place. I’ve met people, seen things I probably wasn’t supposed to. No one pays much attention to an anonymous worker.”

“She’s got a point,” Calder said. “She could tell us who is who down at the dockyards, who’d be most likely to help us.”

“No.” Kieran scowled at both Calder and Rees. “Leave Felice alone. She’s been through enough. I promised we’d take her with us, and that’s what’s going to happen.”

“Calm down,” Rees said. “Believe it or not, big guy, I understand. I won’t put her into any danger.”

Kieran didn’t relent. “Anything you want from her comes through me. Got it?”

Rees looked pained, but he unfolded his arms, relaxing his stance. “All right. You win.”

Kieran felt anything but triumphant. He turned back to Felice, wishing he could use his strength to keep her from all harm, all pain. What she’d done for her friend had taken great sacrifice, honor, courage, things Kieran wasn’t supposed to understand but he did, all too well.

The experiments to his brain had been done to give him singleness of purpose. Everything to him was simple, straightforward.

Other people caused complications, but for Kieran, there was only one answer.
Protect Felice.

All that programming had to be good for something.

*** *** ***

Kieran walked closely beside Felice on their way out. She’d resumed her covering robes, pulling a fold across her face. One thing she liked about being on Bor Narga—Felice could become anonymous if she wanted.

Almost. The symbols on women’s robes meant specific things, Talan had explained—that the woman was unmarried, married, celibate, highborn, middleclass, doctor, solicitor, other professions. People with unmarked robes were usually workers or from off planet, and patrollers watched the off-planeters pretty closely.

An off-planet woman running around with a Shareem would attract attention, Felice knew, and Kieran couldn’t disguise himself, no matter how hard he tried. His very walk screamed that he was different, not to mention those blue eyes.

Kieran took her back to his apartment in a route that avoided most patrollers and their stations, though the two of them had to duck into alleys a couple of times to hide from passing patrols.

When they reached Kieran’s place and closed the door on the day’s hottest temperatures, Felice pulled off her robes, but she was still apprehensive. “You know it’s dangerous for me to stay here.”

Kieran wore his stubborn look as he locked the door. “I said I’d take care of you.”

“Kieran.” Felice went to him and rested her hands on his arms. She loved his strength, so vast, but tamed for her. “It’s only a matter of time before the patrollers come to search this place. If you’re found with me—if they know you helped me . . .” She took a sharp breath. “They’ll punish you.” Felice squeezed his forearms and let her hands drop. “So, I’m going to go find another place to hide. I wasn’t lying when I said I’d help you find transport, and I will. But it’s far too dangerous for me to stay here with you.”

Kieran said nothing, only watched Felice tug at the collar around her throat, finding no way to unfasten it. “I don’t mind keeping this,” Felice said. “Though it might be easier for me to hide without it.”

She gave up on the collar, grabbed the robes again, and made for the door, her heart pounding and aching. Felice didn’t want to go, didn’t want to leave Kieran when she knew something was beginning between them. She hadn’t made a connection with another living being since Val, and what she felt for Kieran . . .

Felice reached for the controls to open the door, but a giant hand closed around her wrist in an impossibly tight grip.

“No.” Kieran dragged her around to face him. “You
belong
to me. I take care of you.”

Felice took a step back. Kieran looked down at her with determination so great it was almost palpable. Behind the rage in his eyes, though, she also saw hurt, confusion, even fear.

“Kieran . . .”

“You are not allowed to leave. I command you. You obey me.”

Any other man might say,
Please, don’t go . . .

“I want to keep you safe,” Felice said softly. “I have to.”

“No.” Kieran didn’t shout, but his voice was strong, like a solid wall of sound. “Leaving won’t keep me safe. I won’t be safe out on the streets looking for you. I won’t be safe throwing down patrollers who find you and try to arrest you. You let
me
take care of
you
.”

“How can you?” Felice looked up at him in anguish. “I’m death to you. Even the other Shareem think that. I can see they feel bad for me, but they’re not going to risk their lives for me.”

“Because you’re not theirs.” Kieran let go of her wrist but only to transfer his grip to her shoulder. “Look at Rees. And Calder. Even Aiden, who acts like an asshole, but he isn’t. Rees would never let Talan leave him for his own good. He’d go after her and drag her back. She’s highborn, and she gave up a lot to be with him. He won’t let go of that.”

“Talan isn’t a fugitive,” Felice pointed out. “One of those women in that basement used to be a patroller, you said. How do you know she isn’t running back to her old friends to report us?”

Kieran stared at Felice as though she’d lost her mind. “Because Deanna belongs to Justin. She won’t betray him. Or his friends.”

“So when a woman belongs to her Shareem, she stops being everything she was before?”

“I didn’t say that. Katarina is still a medic. Elisa is still a librarian. Brianne is still in the ruling family.”

“Not exactly what I meant . . .”

Kieran released her, but he remained firmly in front of the door, not budging. “I don’t always know what you mean.” He tapped his temple. “Screwed in the head, remember? But I understand that you trying to survive on the streets of Pas City by yourself will kill you. You have to stay with me.”

“I don’t know.” Felice gave him a faint laugh. “I’m pretty resilient.”

“Yeah, the elite fighter. I remember that part.” Kieran didn’t look amused. “You try to fight someone like you did at the docks, and everyone will notice. They’ll talk about it for days. That cargo ship was scheduled to blast out of here today, thank the gods, or the crew would be spreading the story of the crazy fighter through every bar on this side of the hill.”

Felice folded her arms, trying to mirror his belligerent stance. “How do you know the cargo ship was scheduled to take off today?”

“Because I read the manifest they posted on their hull as per regulation. Cargo and schedule. Like I keep telling Rees, I’m fucked up, not stupid.”

Felice suddenly wanted to smile, but she fought it. “Then you’ll know
I can’t stay here
.”

“I do know that. I’m working on finding you a safe place to hide.”

“Oh.” Felice stopped. “Where?”

Kieran’s growl rumbled through him. “It’s not something I talk about out loud. I was planning to wait until dark, but it’s probably better now. Put your robes back on—we’re going.”

Felice wasted a few seconds staring at him with her mouth open, then she quickly slid the robes over her head. “Why didn’t you say so? Before I got all brave about leaving you?”

“Told you—not something I mention out loud. You’re supposed to trust me. I’m going to work on that.” Kieran snatched sun goggles off the hook beside the door and thrust them at her. “Rees will kill me, but too damn bad. Come on; we’re going.”

Chapter Twelve

Felice didn’t speak as Kieran tugged her by the hand through the narrow, unshaded alleys and crowded and covered markets. Again, he seemed to know the best ways around the patrollers and their routes. But then, he’d walked these streets for years, probably knew by heart every step the patrollers took.

Felice’s heart was still thumping strangely. No one, but
no one
had been this protective of her, this caring, in years. Whenever an indentured worker got hurt, they were taken to a medic, true, but only so they could be patched up as quickly as possible and sent back to work.

For all his hard words, Kieran wanted to help her, and not because she could give him anything in return. Felice hadn’t given him a damn thing so far, yet he’d fed her, clothed her, protected her, pleasured her.

Felice squeezed his hand. Kieran was large and strong, and could be frightening, but her affection for him was increasing every moment.

Kieran looked down at her at the squeeze, and then one of those sinful Shareem smiles spread across his face. Felice wanted to melt right here in the street, his smile hotter than the desert sun.

They reached a part of town that had very little traffic, foot or vehicle. Warehouses abounded, and shade was nowhere. At this time of day—midafternoon—wise Bor Nargans stayed inside where it was cool.

Felice said nothing when Kieran led her inside a large, empty open warehouse. Asking him out loud where he was taking her would be foolish, even in this seemingly abandoned area. One never knew who was listening.