Rebel (13 page)

Kim felt like she was going to throw up and
then
pass out. Onca’s warm hand on her back steadied her, but her voice was a rough whisper. “Oh, Jatki, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s over now,” Jatki said. “But the thought of going through it again terrifies me. I believe I’d rather die.”

“We’ll do our best to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Onca said. “There are enough of us here now to go after these thugs.” He aimed a glare at Roncas. “We don’t need to wait for Jack.”

“We should,” the Zuteran insisted. “And you know it.”

Kim knew Roncas was right on several points, but the sense of foreboding and urgency was becoming more overwhelming by the second. “I can’t stand the thought of my friends being held in cages. We’ve got to save them.”

Jatki nodded her agreement. “We shouldn’t wait.”

“If they’re still there to save.” Val arched his wings before settling them against his back again. “They may have been sold.”

“That’s where you come in,” Onca said. “You can hack into their system and find out where they were taken. We also want to find out where the money’s going. There has to be some kind of corruption or payoffs, otherwise places like that would’ve been shut down a long time ago.”

“Do you really believe they’d keep records like that?” Rashe scoffed.

“Not out in the open,” Onca said. “Which is why we need Val’s expertise.”

Jatki gasped. “I hadn’t thought about them being sold. They could be anywhere in the galaxy! No telling how long it might take us to find them.”

“That’s why we need Jack,” Roncas said. “She tracked her sister for six years before she finally found her.”

“And by the time Jack gets here, we’ll know where to look,” Onca argued. “We should go now—tomorrow at the latest.”

“I just thought of something,” Kim said. “What if they aren’t there at all? What if they never were? I mean, we’re guessing, aren’t we?”

Onca had never had one of the prescient visions that visited Zetithians on occasion—possibly because nothing of any significance had ever happened to him before—but now would have been a good time to start. Practically everyone he knew had experienced at least one vision, and Jack’s husband, Cat, always knew when the mate of a Zetithian friend conceived. He even knew the sex of the children—not to mention the fact that he had been the one to envision the Nedwuts redirecting the asteroid that obliterated their planet.

“But it’s a pretty good guess, don’t you think?” he asked. “I mean, we all seem to agree on the likelihood—don’t we?”

Rashe nodded. “I’d bet almost anything that’s where they are.”

Or
where
they
were.
Onca hated to think they might already be too late, which was why he’d disagreed with Roncas. If some patron took a shine to one of the girls and had the money, she was as good as gone.

Judging from Kim’s anxiety level, if she hadn’t had a vision, she was at least having some serious intuitive feelings—feelings he saw no reason to ignore.

“We’ll give it until tomorrow morning. That’ll give Val some time to hack into their system.”

“It would be best to do it on-site,” Val said. “But from here, I can tell how deeply encoded their records are. If they’re buried as deeply as I think they’ll be, that’s a good indication they’ve got something to hide.”

Onca gestured toward the comlink. “You can access Captain’s link to the Web from there.”

Val glanced at the chair, arching a brow. “I don’t suppose you still have that barstool, do you?”

Kim giggled. “I wondered how you were going to sit down without smashing your feathers.”

“I can do it,” Val said with a shrug of his wings. “But it’s more comfortable to perch.”

“Should’ve guessed that,” she muttered.

“Hold on. It’s around here somewhere.” As Onca started toward the pantry, the door swung open.

“Valkyrie’s preferred seat is behind the stepladder,” Captain said.

“Where—oh, yeah. Here it is.” He pulled out the tall wooden stool and set it next to the kitchen cabinets before moving the comlink to the countertop. “There you go, Wings. Have at it.”

Onca had seen Val do it a hundred times, but noting the way Kim’s eyes never left the Avian made him wary. That wink she’d given him seemed almost flirtatious, and she’d indicated that she preferred cats to birds. But Roncas had been drooling over Val—and turning purple—ever since they were first introduced. The guy definitely appealed to women.

I
need
to
stop
worrying
so
much.
Having already been intimate with Kim gave him an advantage over anyone else. She would have that experience to compare with any others that came after.

His thoughts stopped there as his heart took a dive. The very idea that she might have any kind of sexual relations with anyone but him made him feel downright murderous. He couldn’t sit still and think about it. He had to do something. But what? Haul her off to his bed and fuck her again? Bake her a cake?

Hmm…I could do that.
It wasn’t as if he didn’t know how. She probably hadn’t had cake in her life. The cookies were good, but—

Yeah, right. I’ll bake her a cake while Val sits at the computer hacking into a file that might help us find her friends.

Cake baker…computer hacker… Which would she choose? He guessed her choice would depend on how hungry she was.

I’m losing my fuckin’ mind.

That was the problem. He wasn’t fucking anymore. Since that had been his primary occupation for the past ten years, he had no idea what to do with himself.

Why
the
hell
did
I
retire?

Upon further reflection, he was forced to admit that, along with the desire for a more normal life, he’d mainly done it to shut Jack up—which wasn’t a particularly good reason, whether she was right about the perils of the sale of Zetithian sex or not.

A flutter of Val’s feathers drew his eye. “Sorry, Val. Forgot you don’t like having an audience.” He nodded toward the living room. “We need to get out of here and let him work.” Onca wasn’t sure why Val disliked being observed so much, but he suspected it was from having spent the greater part of his youth locked up in a cage while whatshisname studied him.

“And what, pray tell, will we do in there?” Roncas asked. “Sit and talk?”

Onca glared at her. “Got a problem with that? I mean, that’s all we’ve been doing so far.” He raked a hand through his hair. “Watch a movie, read a book, play a game or something. Geez, Roncas. Don’t you have a life, either?”

Roncas cocked her head, considering his question. “Do you know, I actually don’t? Seems like all I’ve ever done is eat, sleep, and work.”

Rashe snickered. “Sounds like my life.” His expression sobered. “Guess we all needed a good adventure to liven things up.”

Kim’s eyes darted back and forth between him and Rashe. “Didn’t any of you go to school?”

“Well, yeah, when we were kids, but—” Onca stopped as he remembered the one thing Kim had seemed interested in during that first conversation he’d had with her.

“I wasn’t in school very long,” Kim said. “I’ve learned a few things since then, but not a whole lot. Sometimes I feel really stupid.”

Onca smiled. “If you were stupid, you wouldn’t have stayed alive this long. But I’d be happy to teach you anything you’d like to learn.”

Roncas twittered. “Better let Captain be your teacher, Kim. I can only imagine what you’d learn from
him
.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, Roncas,” Onca snapped. “I’ve probably had more education than anyone on the planet. What do you think we did on that ship for all those years? Amelyana taught us tons of stuff.”

“I’d like that,” Kim said. “Could we start right now?”

Her eyes were aglow with eagerness. A man made of sterner stuff might have been able to ignore her request. Onca wasn’t one of those men. “Sure. Can you read?”

“A little,” she replied. “Enough to get by, but not enough to read a book.”

He glanced at Jatki. “What about you?”

“A little more than that,” Jatki said. “I’m out of practice, though.”

Teaching both of them wouldn’t allow him to get as close to Kim as he would have liked. He was in the process of resigning himself to that fact when Jatki surprised him.

She pointed at Rashe. “Can he be my teacher?”

Rashe’s astonished expression was so much at odds with his war paint as to be downright comical. “I-I suppose so.”

“Great,” Onca said, pleased to have at least one problem solved. “Roncas, you go ahead and do whatever you like, and Rashe and I will find out how well these ladies can read.”

Roncas glanced at Val, whose intense gaze appeared to be glued to the viewscreen. “Maybe I’ll, um, fix lunch. Something complicated.”

Yet
another
problem
solved.
“Go for it.” Hanging out in the kitchen with Val would keep her out of Onca’s hair, although he knew her ruse was pointless. As absorbed as Val normally was while he worked, he probably wouldn’t notice much else—not even Roncas flitting around the kitchen.

She sidled up to Val, eyeing his wings with fascination. “What would you like for lunch?”

Val jumped as though the Zuteran had yanked out a handful of his feathers. “I am not hungry.”

“It’s not lunchtime yet,” Roncas cooed. “I’m just asking.”

Onca couldn’t recall ever having seen Val eat anything, although he knew he had to in order to maintain a body like that.

“Fruit and nuts,” Val replied.

Kim giggled. “Sounds really complicated, Roncas. Should take you at least a couple of hours to get it ready.”

Onca held his breath waiting for Val to retort, but once again, the Avian was focused on his task to the exclusion of everything else. “What was that stuff you brought to the Palace last month?”

“Paemayan stew,” Roncas replied.

“Think you could make some of that?”

“Yes, but it takes hours to cook,” Roncas protested. “I’d be in here all—”

Onca arched a brow so high it hurt.

Roncas frowned. “What—oh, yeah. Sure. Paemayan stew.” Glancing at the clock, she let out a peculiar-sounding twitter. “No problem.”

***

If Onca was trying to play matchmaker between Roncas and Val, Kim suspected he wouldn’t have much luck. Sure, Val was a handsome fellow, but he seemed a bit…stuffy. Onca was much friendlier.

Maybe
it’s a clone thing.

Or maybe she simply preferred Zetithians in general—and Onca specifically.

Nothing wrong with that. She felt sorry for Val. Sure, he could fly, but he seemed intent on cutting himself off from other people. Maybe that was a clone thing too.

All she knew was that she would much rather have Onca teach her how to read than anyone else. They could spend lots of time sitting side by side. She would get to listen to him purring, which would undoubtedly cut their lesson time short if they wound up doing what they’d done the night before.

Something told her she wouldn’t find him in the kitchen eating cookies in the middle of the night again. And if they ate supper before they went to bed, she might not wake up at all.

Perhaps
I
should
have
Captain
wake
me
up
anytime
Onca
has
a
midnight
snack.

Captain didn’t have to know why he was getting her up—at least, not for anything other than food.

She followed Onca into the main room, her eyes immediately drawn to the artwork attached to the walls. Cushioned sofas and chairs lined the perimeter, and an enormous sculpture with a trickling fountain stood near a picture window that faced the street. The rear window looked out onto the hillside behind the house where flowers grew in profusion and another sculpture stood like a tall metallic plant, its leaves waving in the breeze.

“Have a seat there by the window,” he said, indicating the couch next to the fountain. “Jatki and Rashe can sit at the other end so we won’t disturb each other too much.”

She looked down into the pool at the base of the waterfall. It, too, was filled with goldfish, but of a different species with amazingly long, delicate fins. She sat there for a moment, enjoying the peaceful setting, just as she had done with the pond outside. The water flowing down over rocks and pebbles soothed as well as fascinated. If ever she wasn’t able to sleep, this place would lull her to sleep faster than anything she’d ever known—except for Zetithian sex.

Onca had nearly knocked her out the night before. Granted she’d been tired and more comfortable than ever before, but what he’d done to her went beyond that. She doubted she could resist him if they were ever alone together again. Not that she wanted to resist him. She was unsure of how fast she should move, how intimate they could become before he considered her to be his mate and an essential part of his life.

Would she have to conceive his children before that happened? Or did that come afterward? She wasn’t even sure it mattered. Perhaps she could ask Captain for more information when she was alone in her bedroom.

Right now, however, she was anxious to learn what Onca had to teach—and not with regard to love, either in the physical or mental sense.

Onca gave a small, flat device to Rashe, then came over and sat down beside Kim, holding a similar object. “You can access any book ever written on this thing, so I’m sure we can find some stuff for beginners.” He tapped the screen on the pad, and pictures popped up, images that moved so swiftly, they seemed to merge into one another. Eventually, the mass of color settled into what she recognized as printed words.

He handed her the pad. “Here. Take a look at this. Can you read any of it?”

Most of what she’d read involved the names of streets and businesses. These words meant nothing to her at all. She shook her head.

“Okay, then. Let’s take a step back.” He tapped the screen again, and single letters formed. He named them each in turn for her. “Do you remember any of that from when you were in school?”

“Yeah. I think so. There was a song we used to sing.” She sang the first part of it, stopping when he nodded.

“Good. We’ll start from there.”

As she sat there beside him, absorbing letters and sounds like a sponge, old lessons came back to her. She also soaked up his essence—that scent or aura surrounding him. Her mind became more acute, more honed and attentive, rather than drifting away. Simply sitting next to him cleared her thoughts and calmed her fears. The very air around him spoke of warmth, protection, and more. She barely heard the soft voices of Rashe and Jatki at the other end of the room. Val and Roncas might have been in another city rather than the same house.

Isolated from the others and completely engrossed, she let him fill her head with new words and meanings. He taught her to spell her own name, to arrange the letters in such a way that they meant her and only her. He showed her his name, then the written names of Jatki, Roncas, and Rashe.

She studied them side by side. “Did you know your name is a part of hers?”

“What?”

“Look,” she said. “If you write the name Roncas and erase the
R
and the
S
, you get Onca.”

He stared at the pad. “Well, I’ll be damned. You’re right.” Grimacing, he went on, “Don’t tell her that. She’s bound to use it against me somehow, like she’s two letters better than I am or some such nonsense.”

Kim laughed. “Or you could argue that for you, only four letters are necessary to make you unique and special.”

“Yeah, right. It’s only a coincidence, but I’m sure Roncas will find some way to rub my nose in it. Don’t give her any ideas.”

“No worries. I’ll find something else to embarrass you.”