followed the shopkeeper.
“Psssssst. Pssssssst.”
“No more protests then,” he answered. The grophki had been insistent on them beginning the day with the healer, despite his protests that the wounds he had received the evening before were healing. A handheld med unit would be nice, but he was anxious to begin work. Once he was working, he could really set to thinking about the problem plaguing him. Where were the brides?
Luckily, the healer was one within the vendor’s family pod meaning, which meant they wouldn’t have far to travel.
Throughout the night, he’d thought long and hard, his mind running through multiple scenarios that could potentially lead him to the females and completing his mission. He still wasn’t convinced that she wasn’t being held in one of the brothels, but since their search hadn’t turned anything up, he had to consider the alternatives. Her masters may have shipped her off-world, which could easily explain how she’d disappeared without a trace. Or…
She could be dead.
Axis’s stomach turned at the thought before could shake it away. He refused to consider that option. He felt he was close.
“Pssssst.” Click.
The sound brought him back to the present as they arrived at the healer’s stall. Standing behind the vendor, he waited while the alien called out to the family member he presumed was inside.
“Psssst.” Click. Click. Click.
“Who’s that?”
Axis sucked in a breath at the feminine voice coming from the other side of the door.
“Should I hide?”
“No!” he yelled without thought as he pushed past the startled little alien in front of him. Shouldering the door open—and off the hinges—Axis skid to a halt at the sight of his female with her fists up in a defensive pose.
“Pssssst,” the healer hissed, clicking frantically.
The squat little alien stepped in front of her, taking a protective stance, which hadn’t stopped Axis. He picked the small alien up by the shoulders, turned, and deposited him next to his equally startled family member before turning back to the female. He still couldn’t believe it.
“What?” he breathed heavily, the air seeming to catch in his chest. He had so many questions and couldn’t get any of them out of his mouth. “How?”
Before him, wrapped in brightly colored fabric that appeared more than a little damp, stood the female who’d filled his mind for days. Clean now, instead of smudged with dirt like when he’d seen her before, she dropped her fists and propped her hands on her hips.
Curvy hips, he observed, wanting nothing more than to feel them in his grasp as he powered into her soft body from behind.
“Where the hell have you been?” she yelled, stepping close enough to jab a finger into his stomach.
“Wha—?” Axis caught her finger where it poked. Where was this anger coming from?
She had no reason to be upset at him. In fact, if anyone should be upset, it was him. Didn’t she realize the hell he’d been through over the past few days looking for her? “Where have I been? Where have you been? We’ve looked all over the brothel district for you and absolutely nothing!”
“We?” she asked, looking around him with a frown. Her frown deepened when she saw his small companion. “You and the little alien fella? Are all of these clicking guys your friends? Wait…did you send him to help me?”
“What? No,” he answered. She was mixing him up with her words. “I mean, I guess the vendor could be considered a friend, but I’ve never met the healer before. Grophkis are generally a friendly race—” He paused and shook his head to clear the confusion she’d clouded it with by asking questions. “I was referring to Paine and Rowe, the paired fighters the council sent to help me search for you.”
“Really?” she asked, peeking around him with a frown. “Where are they?”
“They shuttled back to Phaeton One last night. When we were unable to find you,” he answered without realizing how badly that sounded until it had left his mouth.
“Geez,” she huffed with a look of disgust on her face that made him bristle. Pulling her hand free of his hold, she took a few steps back. “The three of you looked for what…one day? Two?” Her tone dripped with sarcasm as she turned her nose up at him.
Axis caught a brief glimpse of more than anger. He heard in her voice a smidge of disappointment tinged with sadness. The only thought he imagined could have put such a look on her face was that she thought he’d been about to abandon