Kyro - A.G. Wilde Page 0,47

all right?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“Totally.”

“Why wouldn’t it be?”

“Of course.”

“Certainly.”

Piper’s eyes noticeably narrowed. “Right. Nothing suspicious going on here.” She looked at Xul, her demeanor suddenly brightening. “So, I was thinking. I should tag along on this mission—”

“No!” It was a chorus of five different voices, and it caused the human’s brows to almost meet her nose.

“Geez Louise, what is up with you all?”

“I mean,” Xul cleared his throat, glancing in Crex’s direction before meeting Piper’s gaze. “It is too dangerous to risk it.”

When Piper cocked her head, obviously not buying the excuse, Kyro found himself speaking up. “Maybe it would give you some time to hang out with the other humans. That is how you say it right? “Hang out?”

That seemed to lighten her a bit and she smiled. “Ok, I get it. You want us to spend more time together.” She turned to Crex. “Fine. I’ll spend more time with my friends.”

As she wrapped her arms around him in a hug, Crex’s eyes met his with obvious gratitude.

It was not until they had left the apartment and were in the shuttle that he told Crex he would do some research on how humans broke it to their mates that they were carrying offspring.

He also had other research to do too.

Mainly, if humans could carry Vorti offspring.

Even as he thought it, he wondered why he wanted to torture himself with such questions.

An affirmative answer would only break the remaining muscle that made his life-organ beat.

22

Muk was an unforgiving planet. As soon as they landed, Kyro and the rest of his brothers were hit with a raging sandstorm that had them sheltering under makeshift tents till the worst of it passed. As the grains of sand flying through the air finally calmed down enough for them to walk, Kyro checked his blaster on his hip as his brothers rose around him to begin the trek and search.

“Do you think your hunch was correct?” Rokan began. “Do you think we’ll find humans here?”

Xul was walking ahead of them all and he shrugged. “I hope not.” He paused, checking his navigation instrument.

“The Mukkians approach,” Yce said from behind and Kyro looked in the direction in which Yce’s glowing eyes pointed. Sure enough, a small cloud of dust was approaching and as the Mukkians drew nearer, Kyro could make out the large serpentine beasts on which they liked to travel.

“These little fiends,” Rokan said, crossing his arms over his chest. He looked like a statue with his bald head gleaming in the sunlight and Kyro paused for a second, wondering if that was how he looked too. After all, they looked almost identical if not for Rokan’s thicker frame and wider head and green eyes.

“Fiends?” Crex shot him a look. “Those little beings? Hardly.”

Xul chuckled as the Mukkians arrived. “They can be fiends if they don’t like you. I guess they don’t like you then, brother.” His gaze landed on Rokan, laughter swimming underneath it.

Rokan only lifted his chin higher in the air and eyed the little men as they hopped off their transport. They were short, brown little men wearing robes that matched the color of the sand and their skin. From afar, if they weren’t beside their serpentine rides, they almost blended in with the desert itself.

In one hand they carried little spears.

They looked almost childlike with their small stature, not reaching even his knee in height, and their small beady eyes and large ears added to the picture.

“Oh look,” one of the Mukkians nudged another as soon as they hopped off the creature, “two bald heads today.”

No doubt they were referring to him and Rokan. Why they refused to use anyone’s names was beyond him. It was incredibly...rude.

But the Mukkians didn’t care.

Another chuckled. “Bald.”

“As shiny as Mexclar’s behind.”

More chuckling and Kyro frowned as Rokan made an irritated sound in his throat.

The laughter behind Xul’s eyes only grew in intensity as he heard what they said.

Crex tilted his head. “But you are bald too,” he noted, speaking to the Mukkians as the rest of them hopped off the creature.

There were six of them and they all turned to look at him at once, the laughter dying from their lips.

Crex shrugged, lifting his hands in the air, a rare grin splitting his face.

“You are wise to give up that conversation, Dark Terror.”

“Dark Terror?” he and Rokan spoke at the same time and Yce burst out a laugh. Crex frowned at the three of them.

“Why does he get such a name, but you call us