annoying spark of concern churned her stomach.
If he had died, then she wouldn’t get the satisfaction of killing him. That’s what she told herself.
“Is this why you’re here, Dear?” he asked. “Or was there something else?”
Alexa internally shook her concern away. “Where are the creatures?”
Hysterian lifted his hand and looked at his fingers. “Still on Titan.”
“Were you not able to procure them?”
His gaze shot back to hers. “Are you questioning my abilities?”
“I’m only trying to do my job, sir.” But she wanted to kick herself for caring at all. Who cares if he procured them or not?
“Your job is to answer me when I ask you a question, to make certain any acquisition we bring aboard this ship remains healthy and intact. It does not include questioning me.”
“But I am questioning you,” she snapped.
Teal flashed in his eyes, and she managed to catch it.
“I chose not to procure them,” he said, dropping his hand.
“Why?”
“Those who gave me this job left out some key elements to the reason why it needed to be done. I don’t like being lied to, not when that lie can lead to the eradication of a species, human or otherwise. Not when that lie puts me in a position to decide such fates when I should have no authority to do so. Titan’s officials need a solution to their problem because they are bleeding money and resources, and their solution was us. They paid a lot of money to shift the blame on another. What they didn’t realize is that they’re already fucked from here across the galaxy. They invaded a hive in the mountains, rich with iron. An active hive of a species that predates them by many millennia, I assume. A species that clearly rules the bowels of this planet. I closed off what I could of the hive to the surface and did what I thought best. It’s not my job to decide what comes next.”
“But isn’t that what we do? Make these decisions, and help others make similarly tough decisions that may be out of their scope? You’re sent because you offer a unique perspective—”
Hysterian held up his hand. “Let me stop you right there. That’s what the other retrievers might do, but not us. We procure, we transport, and we provide. That is the job we’ve been hired to do and the job we will do. We’re not experts, not seers. We are living, breathing beings like anyone else. Even if one of us has metal for bones.”
“So you closed off the hive and left?”
“I did what I thought best. I told them to find a new prospector and move their mining equipment elsewhere. Whether they listen or not is not our concern.”
“Will these creatures… Are these creatures that dangerous?”
His gaze sharpened. “Only if you invade their domain and provoke them.”
“Am I provoking you?” Alexa was feeling brave—or reckless. She had no idea. But he was answering her, and she…she was listening.
“If you were, you would know.”
“I only want to do a good job,” she lied. He was bothered, it was obvious. Was it because of whatever happened with Daniels before she arrived, or was it because of Titan?
What could bother a Cyborg like Hysterian? She needed to know, she had to know. A weakness meant everything. But it was more than that…
She was also genuinely curious.
“You’ve said that already.”
“Is there something wrong with that?”
“No.”
“Good.” Alexa adjusted her jacket. “Wh—”
He interrupted her, “You’re done asking questions.”
She knew when to back down. “Yes, Captain.”
Hysterian’s gaze trailed over her, and she tensed. “If there’s nothing else, you’re dismissed, Dear.”
“Thank you, Captain.”
Alexa felt a rush of tension leave her at his order. I made it. I made it through a conversation with him without making a fool of myself. And she learned he could be bothered, could be manipulated. Since she’d first encountered Hysterian, he’d been cold and calculating, but now she knew he could feel more, that he wasn’t just a machine under his man suit.
That was something, wasn’t it? It had to be.
Perhaps I need to find Daniels, try and find out what happened…
She turned to leave.
“Wait,” Hysterian ordered.
Alexa inhaled sharply, tearing her eyes away from the passageway of beautiful freedom, and faced him. Suddenly, he was right there, pinning her with his number-laced eyes. Loose, messy strands of his hair fell forward, making him look mad. The heat coming off him enveloped her.
She stilled, fully aware of how very close they were. She closed her fingers into her palms and stopped