Bait (2 page)

The agent administering the test was precise and thorough. A few UV flashes and she was good to go.

Her escort loaded her into a skimmer and sealed the top a moment before the skies clouded over and opened up.

Billie smiled out the window at the natural rain. It had a different scent than the precipitation manufactured by machine and chemistry.

“We are very excited to have you here, Officer Praco.”

She raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Really?”

He coloured, and she took in how very young he seemed. His body was adult by any stretch of the imagination, but he had the behaviour markings of a teen. “Really. We were worried you would not be here in time for the reception.”

“We?”

“The support staff for the clan chief.”

His lips tightened as if he had said something he shouldn’t have, but she couldn’t imagine what it had been. Nothing in his words sent off warning bells in her mind.

The rain was heavy, and it kept her from seeing the view, but her ears popping told her she was heading uphill.

Absently, Billie adjusted her uniform collar and touched the coil of blonde braid that she had fiercely confined. If she was here as bait for the Oefric to find working with the Alliance enticing, she wasn’t going to make it obvious.

Her escort hadn’t introduced himself, but she had bigger things to worry about as they slowed in front of a huge building, parking under a canopy that led to the interior of the archway.

He lifted the duffel and helped her from the skimmer. Her hands were slightly clammy when she realized that her assignment was about to kick into high gear.

Billie’s talent for being attracted to danger had gotten her this far, but she knew that eventually her luck was going to run out. As she walked into the shadows of the huge building, she had the suspicion that that moment might have come.

A mature woman stepped out to block her path. “Officer Praco. I am Kadahr, the clan chief’s event organizer. Please come with me.”

Surprised, she looked to her escort, and he bowed shortly. “Your bag will be in your room. You will be in good hands with Kadahr.”

Billie followed the woman through a back hallway, up two flights of stairs and into a brightly lit room where three other women waited for them.

Kadahr turned to her with a smile. “The event you will be attending is formal dress and your uniform is not suitable. The clan chief has made arrangements for you to blend into the crowd. He does not want you to feel singled out.”

It was thoughtful, but the pink gown that was brought forward did not leave a lot to the imagination. It did allow her full range of movement, and the lemon yellow silk pashmina went well with it.

Two women sat her down and unfastened her hair, straightening the ripples left by the braiding.

Billie wanted to ask what the heck was going on, but the third woman swiftly and deftly applied makeup on her face.

Dressed, coifed and made up, Kadahr pronounced her ready, and the woman took her by the hand to lead her further into the enormous edifice.

“There will be a contract at the door. It stipulates that you agree to abide by the laws of Chysan while you are here.” Kadahr was speaking in low tones.

“Thank you for the warning.”

“There is more. There is food, but only take the food which appeals to your senses. It is important. Your acceptance by this community depends on it.”

Billie was getting that feeling again. The sensation that she was entering a very dangerous situation was overwhelming.

As she and Kadahr were approaching a well-lit area full of noise and the scents of food and perfumed women.

At the door, the contract was proffered to her, and she gave it a cursory reading before pressing her thumb to it.

The attendant smiled, “A signature too, please.”

Surprised, she took the pen he held and signed a print copy for the first time in years.
Officer Wilhelmena Praco, Enforcer, born of the Alliance Protectorate of Terra.

It was nice to see her whole name in print even if there was a lot more of it now than she had been born with.

Once she handed over the document, she was waved inside what appeared to be a large ballroom filled with women and men. The odd part to her was that the genders were split fairly evenly down the middle, the men on one side and the women on the other.

Not one to mix it up, Billie moved over to the women’s side of the room as music began to play.

The men moved forward in a slow surge, and one by one, ladies took to the dance floor.

Billie kept back and hid behind the crowd of women who were eyeing the dancers wistfully. The dance seemed oddly formal and everyone knew the steps. It was enough to keep Billie firmly at the back of the gathered females.

A voice brought her out of her study with a jolt. “You always did like to hang back.”

She turned and her mouth opened in an unladylike gawp. “Captain Dlenner!”

He was dressed in elaborate clothing that suited him far better than the Enforcer uniform ever had. Rich black fabric covered with intricate gold embroidery encased his massive chest and left his arms bare to the embrace of several detailed metal cuffs. He was wearing more jewellery than she was, and the thought made her smile as she met his coal dark gaze.

“Officer Praco, I am glad to see you here. Will you dance?” He held out his hand and raised a brow as he bowed slightly.

“Um, I don’t know how to do this. It seems pretty involved.” Despite her words, she placed her hand in his.

“Follow my lead.”

The captain led her to the dance floor, took her in his arms, and with delicate pressure on her back, she swayed back as he stepped forward, and they were off.

They moved together for a minute before she asked, “So this is where you were posted?”

He grinned, “Something like that. I was experiencing a certain difficulty that my own people tried to resolve. After all this time, they decided that the only thing to do was to find the source of my difficulty to resolve the issue.”

“Oh. Are you doing all right? That problem doesn’t sound pleasant.” She held tight as he whirled her in a circle before setting her on her feet and stepping with her again.

“It is manageable. Why have you come to Chysan?”

She bit her lip and blushed when she realized that he was focused on her mouth. “I have been sent here as bait to entice the clan chief into allowing twenty Oefric from the colony to enter service as Enforcers.”

He frowned, “Bait?”

“Apparently, the clan chief has a fascination with Terrans, so I was tapped and sent here. I have no idea why. You know that my negotiating skills suck.” She twisted her lips in a smile.

His face remained sober. “I am familiar with your tactics, Praco. They are burned in my memory.”

The music stopped.

Billie stood in his arms and looked around. “Captain Dlenner, you might want to release me. The music has stopped.”

He nodded and reluctantly let her go. “Don’t go far, Praco. This night has only just begun.”

Bemused, she made her way back to the women and their group surrounded her on all sides.

One of the women glared at her, “So, what have you done to get the attention of the clan chief?”

Billie’s eyes went wide, and she looked for the captain through the press of bodies. Men who were in slightly subservient postures and obviously holding court surrounded him. She stared into his eyes across the crowded room, and the heat in them translated to her in that instant.

“I don’t know what I did tonight, but in the past, I have been a complete disaster. I am guessing that being a klutz must turn him on.”

She ignored the women around her and inclined her head slowly. His nod of acknowledgement sent a shiver of unease through her. They both knew why she was here, but what was he going to do about it?

Chapter Three

While three of the women were hostile, the rest of the crowd was more curious than anything else. Billie looked at the women who were glaring at her and simply stared them down. Sure, these women were Oefric and could probably tear her throat out, but she wasn’t going down without a fight.

Her instincts may be to court disaster at all times, but for this one night, she wasn’t going to put up with bullying. There was no reason to let these women cow her. She was going to be here for an undisclosed amount of time, and setting the ground rules for not backing down was an important step.

The next round of music went into its beginning strains, and the men surged toward the women once again.

Billie hung back and looked for Captain Dlenner, but he had disappeared.

“Perhaps he wasn’t as enthralled with you as he appeared.” The woman with the disappointed twist to her lips swanned off on the arm of her dance partner.

Billie sat back and watched the men and women dance. While Dlenner was nowhere to be seen, she bit her lip. Perhaps her words had disturbed him, and he was about to send her packing.

She sighed and smiled vaguely at the women near her. Time would tell what the hell was going on.

* * * *

“She doesn’t know why she is here.” Arcros Dlenner was furious.

The council of commanders stared at him and several blushed furiously.

“We couldn’t tell her. You know how she is.”

He sighed and rubbed his forehead. His body had been insistent that he got as close to his mate as possible. It had been the reason for his leaving the Enforcer service. There was no place in the Enforcers for a mated couple. Their active duties were dangerous at the best of times and deadly at the worst.

Billie Praco was indeed headstrong and would not take kindly to finding out that she had been sent to him to ease the symptoms of his rut. The Oefric medics and healers had been unable to change the direction of his affections, and it was finally agreed on that his Terran mate would be sent for.

Unfortunately, no one told her why she was delivered to Chysan and that unpleasant conversation was going to fall to the one person who needed to stay on her good side.

He glared at the commanders. “She is an officer, you are her commanders. You know that she would follow orders.”

Commander Geering winced. “You know as well as we do that she finds ways around orders that she disagrees with. Her creativity is truly amazing.”

Arcros clenched his fists. “Are you so certain that she would have found her way out of this assignment if she knew who was waiting for her at the end of it?”

Geering shrugged, “We were cowardly and didn’t take a chance. You have her there now. The Alliance has signed her over. Her Enforcer pension is already in her account, so she is all set. You merely need to tell her why she is really there. No harm, no foul.”

Arcros smiled uncontrollably, the phrase was one of Officer Praco’s. She had infected them all in one way or another, and right now he had to find out if her scent was everything he remembered.

He ended the call and returned to the ballroom in time to stop one of the guild masters from taking his mate for a spin around the dance floor. No one was touching his Terran but him.

* * * *

Two dances later, one of the other men finally got close enough to offer her his hand.

“I am really not sure that this will end well. I don’t know the steps.” She pursed her lips.

“You danced gracefully with the clan chief. I am sure that you can manage a few turns around the floor.”

She was about to explain that Dlenner had done all the work when the devil she was thinking of appeared.

“Find another partner, Roccol. This lady is spoken for.” He extended his hand, and she took it based solely on the command in his tone.

Billie blushed as they took to the dance floor. He was the only superior she had ever had that she obeyed directly when he gave her an order. Something about him made her nervous and filled her with an urge to impress him. It was a girlish crush backed up by a woman’s hormones and nothing more. It was the only reason that she could come up with.

The dances were becoming progressively more intimate. Dlenner wrapped an arm around her waist, and they slowly circled left while their free arms met over her head. At a break in the music, they switched their hands and circled right.

With the slow stride with her arm touching his waist and his around hers, she felt that low shimmy in her belly that she had come to associate with being around him and him alone.

When the music changed again, their bodies slid from one side to the other, the contact in between them made a few things obvious to Billie. The first thing she noticed was that the fabric that made up her gown was no barrier against the heat blazing off every portion of his anatomy, the second thing was that his trousers were in danger of losing structural integrity as something was pressing for freedom from within.

Her cheeks heated, and she kept her gaze fixed and forward as his arousal became clear to her. Out of the nine thousand fantasies she had had about men since she joined the Volunteers and left the Earth, he had featured in ninety-five percent of them.