Leaving Earth (10 page)

Leaving Earth

by Loribelle Hunt

"I almost didn't come. I ignored my instincts." She looked away, but not before he saw the first crack in her composure, the flash of uncertainty and indecision in her eyes. It only took seconds for her to regain control, however. "As soon as I'm sure Laney and Kendall are okay, I'm going home." Barak knew that was best. He'd just moments ago intended to put distance between them himself. But he moved before he could recall that, grabbing the back of her head, tunneling his fingers in her hair before pulling her close enough to inhale her scent, to see the flakes of gold in her eyes.

"And what makes you think I'm going to let you leave?" he practically snarled as he lowered his lips to hers. He nipped at her bottom lip and she groaned but refused to allow him entrance. "Open, Britt."

It was probably the shock of the sharp command that did it, but he didn't care. He took her, thrusting his tongue into her mouth the way he wanted to stroke his cock into her cunt. Warm, intoxicating heat. The taste of her was an addiction he would never overcome. He released her abruptly, lurched away. Not now. He couldn't afford this loss of control now.

She stared at him with shocked eyes, lifted her hand to her lips as if she could wipe the taste of him, the feel of him, away. Turning, she started to leave the room but paused under the doorway and spoke coldly without facing him. "That won't happen again."

He stood rigidly still as he watched her leave, as he watched her walk away from him, amazed he didn't roar his 89

Leaving Earth

by Loribelle Hunt

anger and frustration and hurt. Like hell it wouldn't. It was several long moments before he realized he was shaking.

* * * *

Kendall didn't know how long she slept. When she woke, she eased away from Daggar's chest, afraid of hurting him. He grumbled in his sleep but let her go. Smiling, she stared through the skylights guessing by the purple quality of the light streaming in it was dusk.

She rolled her head on the pillow to watch him. Daggar. Her lover. Her mate? Such an alien thought but it felt right. She'd have to do something about his hair when he woke. It was a mess from where she and Cilia had cut away clumps of it. Sighing, she sat up and gently probed at his scalp with her fingertips. The stitches looked okay. God knew, they'd pumped enough antibiotics into him to kill damned near any infection.

As quiet as she could move, she rolled out of the bed and dressed, carefully opened the door and pulled it closed behind her. She followed the hallway into the living room, relieved to find it empty, and turned into the other hallway, Laney's and Alrik's. And Britt's. She found the right door and tapped lightly. It opened with a snick and she followed Britt inside. She was quick, already sitting cross-legged on the bed when Kendall entered and pushed it shut softly behind her. Kendall stood in a shock a moment, long enough for Britt to look up frowning. "What?"

She shook her head. "Sorry. It's been a long time since I've seen you out of uniform." Or something close to it. 90

Leaving Earth

by Loribelle Hunt

Meaning not long sleeves and pants. Now she wore shorts and a tank top and grinned at Kendall, knowing she hadn't seen the tattoos in all their glory in years. Kendall approached with a soft laugh as she took a good look. "New ones, I see."

She sat down on the bed and Britt held one leg out, letting her see the new vines, honeysuckles that wrapped up one calf. She shook her head. Britt had made her body a canvas, mostly with trails of flowers going up and down her arms and legs, crossing her back and chest. Pretty and innocuous. But Kendall knew there was another more sinister tattoo that wasn't visible. One that catalogued kills. She'd never understood that and Britt had given up trying to explain.

"So what did you find?"

She'd seen Britt slip away when the rest of them had returned to the family quarters. The former spy paled and Kendall scowled. Surely it couldn't be that bad. Britt held up a small black box and Kendall groaned. Damn it. She recognized that and held her hand out. Britt dropped it into her palm and she held it up to inspect.

Yep. A detonator switch. With Arabic numbers on it. They were so screwed. "Who? How?"

"It gets worse." Britt inhaled deeply before speaking. "See the numbers?"

Kendall nodded.

"We developed that switch for a little piece of nastiness called X256K, an explosive designed to make a very big hole in a very small place."

"Okay. And?"

91

Leaving Earth

by Loribelle Hunt

"I found it on the ground, but I'm pretty sure it was placed inside an airshaft. In a council room."

"The warriors we treated were in that room then."

"Yeah. And it was in the wall behind the head of the table." She felt herself grow pale. The Overchief's seat. Daggar's place. "They meant to kill Daggar," she whispered, terrified but getting pissed off. No way in hell was she letting that happen. "Who? And how the hell did they manage to get it here?"

That characteristic shrug. "I dunno. You know about the attack on Earth? After the peace talks started?" Kendall nodded. She knew. The Delroi had decided to give the Earth forces a demonstration of their power and it hadn't ended quite the way they'd expected. They'd been attacked by their own rebel forces, but no one had ever been able to determine if there were Earth rebels also involved. That seemed obvious now. Earth technology smuggled on to Delroi to kill the Warrior Caste's Overchief? The two groups had to be working together. That was easy enough to figure out. Identifying them? Not so easy. It might be easier to go at the mystery backwards.

"How?"

"I've been thinking about it," Britt said. "Everything going on to the ship was searched and the same when it was transferred to the shuttle."

Kendall fought a blush. If that was true, there was no telling how many people saw her sex toys.

"But there were two cases I bet weren't opened." 92

Leaving Earth

by Loribelle Hunt

Kendall had stood with Britt and watched the shuttle loaded. She bet she knew exactly which cases she spoke of.

"The biohazard boxes."

Britt nodded. At the time, Kendall had thought it damned strange, but knowing Adam Peters was here it made more sense. And Britt was right. It was very unlikely anyone would have touched something stamped biohazard. The perfect way to smuggle something.

"So we need to find out who the boxes were delivered to. My assumption would be Dr. Peters."

Britt grinned. "I did a little hacking. And yes, they went to Peters. He even signed for them."

"And now he's dead."

They both sobered at the reminder. "Yeah," Britt replied softly. She stood and rummaged through her suitcase before pulling out a clean set of clothes. Jeans and long sleeves that covered her body art. "Time to get to work." Kendall nodded agreement as Britt stepped towards the restroom to change. "I'll check out the labs. See who else had access to those boxes."

"I'll meet up with you later then." There wasn't anything left to say so Kendall left, shutting the door softly behind her. She paused in the living room, gazing down the hall that led to Daggar and barely resisted the urge to go check on him before leaving. If he woke and realized what she was planning, he wouldn't let her leave. Scowling her irritation, she stomped out of the family quarters and into the corridor. It was nice that there was someone, okay a smoking hot man, who wanted to look out 93

Leaving Earth

by Loribelle Hunt

for her. But she had to make him understand there was a middle ground. His protectiveness would suffocate her if he didn't. She'd just end up resenting him and miserable, because as much as she hated to admit it, she knew bond or no bond, she couldn't walk away anymore. He'd got under her skin, sunk his teeth into her heart like some great hunting cat.

She sighed when she saw the infirmary sign and tried to push her worries away, to concentrate on Dr. Peters and his murder. It was calm when she entered, eerily quiet after the excitement earlier. Now that there wasn't blood and trauma everywhere she took a better look around and noticed a hall in the back corner of the large room. A sign above it bore letters she couldn't translate and she hoped it wasn't some kind of gruesome warning as she stepped under the archway. After a short walk, she left the hall and grinned. She'd found the lab and saw the biohazard crates stacked against the far wall. She took a step in that direction before noticing the man sitting alone at a round table, watching her. His gaze was intent, measuring. Feeling like a sample under a microscope, she approached silently. He rose to his feet slowly, waited for her.

She stopped a few feet away. "I'm Kendall Marks." He nodded. "Tallus."

Her smile was tentative. She pulled out a chair and sat, was relieved when he did the same. Not that it helped much. Like all the Delroi men, she'd seen, he was tall and broad shouldered, built like a warrior. But unlike most of the others, intricate tattoos ran down the side of his face and 94

Leaving Earth

by Loribelle Hunt

disappeared under his collar. She'd only seen those once before, on the Delroi spy Barak Trace. They gave both men a savage, almost sinister look. What was he doing in the lab?

"Are you a doctor?"

He smiled slightly, the movement transforming his face. She relaxed a little. When he smiled, he no longer looked like a rampaging killer.

"I'm a healer. Doctor is an Earthling word." She shrugged. Same difference. "I suppose." This time he grinned. "You'll adjust to our ways soon enough."

She arched an eyebrow. No way in hell was she touching that one. "Did you know Dr. Peters?" The smile fled from his face and his expression closed down. "Why?"

She felt a wave of sadness for a life lost, a brilliant mind lost. "He was a colleague. A genius Earth really can't afford to lose. What was he working on? Why was he even here?"

"He was working with me to see what the effects of combining Earthling and Delroi DNA will be." She frowned. There were some mixed marriages, but considering the size of both populations the numbers were negligible. It seemed a horrible waste of resources. "Why?

Surely there are more pressing things to spend time and money on."

He hesitated long enough that she knew he was going to put her off. "You should ask the Overchief." She rolled her eyes. "Why would I do that? He's not a doctor."

95

Leaving Earth

by Loribelle Hunt

He frowned and she knew she wasn't going to get an answer about the research. "That's a question for your mate. It's not my place." His eyes narrowed. "Does he even know you're here?"

Just freaking wonderful. It wasn't just Daggar with the archaic, woman-in-her-place attitude. It seemed to be pandemic among the Delroi. The chair legs scraped across the tile as she shoved back from the table and stood. She paced a few feet away and stopped, hands on her hips as she stared at the crates. "What was in those?" she asked without turning to face him. He approached to see what she was asking about.

"Blood samples."

She cocked an eyebrow and watched him from the corner of her eye as she moved towards the boxes. He kept pace at her side. "Marked biohazard?"

She flipped the catches on two sides of the top crate and lifted the lid while he shrugged.

"They were contaminated by viruses and though they aren't harmful to Delroi, they are to humans." Scowling, she turned to face him. The crate had already been unloaded. "I thought you were trying to see what the effects of combining our DNA were?"

"Yes." He turned to a counter, motioning her to follow him to a microscope. She looked through the lens and caught her breath when she saw the HIV5 virus being attacked and killed by foreign looking blood cells. She straightened and met his gaze, waiting for him to tell her what she'd seen. "That's one of the diseased samples combined with Delroi blood." 96

Leaving Earth

by Loribelle Hunt

"You have a natural antigen."

He nodded.

"Is it dangerous to us?"

This time he shrugged. "We don't know yet." As fascinating as it was, the research wasn't her primary reason for visiting the lab. "Who else had access to these crates?" she asked, trying to sound casual. Maybe he'd assume she was worried about exposure for the humans on planet. He narrowed his eyes but answered.

"Everyone in the lab. They arrived the same day you did. Usually we'd let the techs unload them, but Adam stayed late to do it." Pausing, he ground his teeth together. She just kept from cringing at the soft scraping sound. "You think they have something to do with the explosion." A statement. Not a question. Was she that transparent?

This time she shrugged. She was gathering information, not giving it away. "Who are the techs?"

"You should really let the Overchief handle this. Or better yet, Barak Trace."

She stared him down and with a sigh he continued. "This is dangerous, Lady Torfa, but I can see you aren't going to let it go. There are two techs that work on our project. Daire and Hakon." She ignored his calling her by the honorific and Daggar's family name. Daggar seemed to think she belonged to him and apparently so did his men. She'd deal with that later.

"I thought Daire was a nurse?"

"Yes, but she's studying to be a healer and part of the practicum is research."

97

Leaving Earth

by Loribelle Hunt

"I see." And she hoped she was jumping to all the wrong conclusions. She'd liked the efficient young woman. It would suck if it turned out she was involved in the attempt on Daggar's life.

She looked around the gleaming white lab, overcome with sadness again. She was so sick of death and destruction, had hoped with the peace treaty those days were behind them, but it appeared that hatred was still the rule of the day. Back in the royal family's quarters, Daggar shifted, coming awake and she felt him reach out for her, felt the mental probe against her mind. He enveloped her in comfort, support. She wanted nothing more than to return to his rooms and let him hold her until she forgot the world. And she would, but not quite yet. She felt his anger at her determination before he withdrew. She felt the loss like a punch, a big aching hole in her stomach and almost changed her mind about returning to him right away. Hardening her resolve, she turned to leave. "Thanks for answering my questions, Tallus."