Mate Abduction (Alien Abduction #9) - Eve Langlais Page 0,17
reason, he didn’t see this method succeeding. He did, however, see himself either dying young or acquiring some interesting new scars if he tried.
What other option remained?
She was his mate. The woman he needed to save his clan and the life tree. He tired of her arguing with everything he said, so he decided to put Karma to the test.
“Since you don’t wish to make a bargain, then I’ll take my leave. Best of luck.” Without even a look back, he left.
He couldn’t help wondering if he’d made a fatal mistake.
Five
“About time he buggered off,” Clarabelle muttered, watching the cloak as it swirled around Thyos’s frame as he marched away.
“What is that expression you like to use?” Ishtara mused aloud. “Another one bites the dust?”
That earned her friend a scowl. “He wasn’t even close to being a contender.”
“On account of his eyes. I heard,” Ishtara muttered icily before turning on her hind claw.
In that moment, the insensitivity of her earlier remark hit her. “Oh shit. I’m sorry, Ish. I didn’t mean I didn’t like you. You know I adore you.”
“I have yellow eyes.”
She did, big glowing ones; whereas his were beady and mean and… Okay, he had gorgeous eyes and a metallic bronze cast to his skin. And an ego the size of a solar system.
“I’m an insensitive jerk who doesn’t deserve to call herself your friend.” She hugged Ishtara and leaned her head on the chest of the larger woman, baring her neck in a sign of trust.
Ish sighed. “You are irritating.”
“But cute, right?” She grinned up at her friend.
“We should leave before someone takes offense at the bodies you’ve left littering the station,” Ishtara grumbled.
“I’m sure some chef will be happy to recycle them.” In the galaxies, where meat could oft times be limited, nothing was wasted. With the right spices, it tasted delicious.
It didn’t take long to receive a window for departure. Only as they exited the space port did Ishtara ask, “Where to?”
Clarabelle bit her lip. She’d gotten no intelligence on the station, not even a rumor of a place to go. Just one annoying dude in a cloak. Who said he could help.
Yet left.
Obviously, he didn’t mean it when he claimed they were soul mates. The very idea. It was—
“Where to?” Ishtara repeated.
For a moment, Clarabelle almost told her to follow his ship, but sanity affirmed itself, and instead, she said, “The next waystation. Let’s talk to some more folks.”
“Not giving up yet?”
“Never,” she huffed.
Out there existed a home, a place to belong, and she was going to find it.
To Clarabelle’s surprise and delight, they finally got a clue at their next stop. The news came from a purple dude with a dark, brooding appearance. He called himself Makl, the Galactic Avenger.
She’d never heard of him, but he had some interesting stories to tell about his supposed exploits. The one she enjoyed most was the rumor of a human outpost on a planet in an unclaimed star system. Makl even had vague coordinates for it that he sold to her for an astronomical sum.
“If this rumor is a trap, I will hunt you down, strip out your entrails, and feed them to you as you breathe your last,” Clarabelle threatened.
Makl put a hand to his chest. “I can only look forward to the day we match wits and strength.” Then he winked.
What did that mean? While his voice didn’t make her shiver like Thyos’s, she could admit maybe purple wasn’t so bad. But bronze was nicer.
She shook her head and returned to the ship with the news.
“I’ve got a location!” She waved a jagged piece of parchment, expensive and yet still widely used. On Earth, paper was cheap and wasted on a horrendous level. In space, because electronics could be wiped, along with their data, many still chose to put to paper—or leather, or whatever they could write on—important things. Like coordinates. But actual paper could be difficult to find. And she currently held a fragile piece that was the equivalent of a space treasure map.
Ishtara eyed the squiggles and waggled the bony protuberance jutting past her eyes. “You bought this from a pirate?”
“He never claimed to be a pirate but some kind of galactic avenger.”
“Of what?”
She shrugged. “He never said; I didn’t ask.”
“And on the basis of a rumor you spent how much?”
Never show uncertainty. She lifted her chin. “As much as needed to accomplish my task.”
“Good girl.” Ish nodded. “Let’s see what these coordinates lead to.”
Putting data into the computer wasn’t a strong