Rebel (8 page)

“I’m sorry.” The words were out before he even knew why he said them. “I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that. I didn’t mean to. I’m just…”

“Tired. Yeah. So am I.”

Somehow he doubted that exhaustion was the only reason for her silence. “I’m really not as big a jerk as you probably think I am. This hasn’t been—”

“Your typical day?”

He blew out a breath. “You got
that
right.”

“Mine, either.”

Taking her hand, he gave it a squeeze, stopping himself microseconds before raising it to his lips.
Better
not.
That other kiss had caused enough trouble.

Onca certainly couldn’t argue the fact that he’d been the one to do the actual kissing, either. Kim had only asked.

Well…maybe that wasn’t all she’d done. But he could’ve resisted.
Should’ve
resisted.

“Thanks for the kiss.”

His jaw dropped. “Uh, you’re welcome.”
I
think.

“For what it’s worth, you Zetithian guys kiss a lot better than Terrans. I’m not sure if it’s the fangs or the purring, but it was a good kiss.”

Slightly stunned, Onca had no idea what to say. “I’m…glad you enjoyed it.”

“I think I need more practice, though. Who was it you said had three sons about my age?”

Onca glanced at her, half expecting her to have morphed into someone else. She was still the same girl, however, her expression every bit as guileless as her tone.

“Uh…Cat and Jack Tshevnoe,” he replied. “You’ll probably meet them once you get to Terra Minor. Or maybe even along the way. My friend Dax has a ship, and he usually takes me anywhere I need to go. But if he isn’t available, I’m sure Jack will jump at the chance to be the one to bring you in. Speaking of which, I need to send out deep space coms to her and several other people. They’ll all be very happy to know you’ve been found.”

“Didn’t know I was missing,” she drawled.

Once again, Onca had to reassure himself that Kim still sat beside him rather than some imposter. He cleared his throat. “I guess that depends on how you look at it.”

“Fair enough,” she said with a nonchalant shrug. “Do you get a finder’s fee?”

He frowned. “No. What makes you think that?”

“No reason.” She shrugged again. “Just a question.”

Reaching the turnoff, Onca flew the speeder down the street toward his house. “Heads up, now. If you see any Racks or Herps, give a yell.”

“Don’t worry. I will.”

Two of Onca’s neighbors were out watering their flowers, but he saw nothing to arouse suspicion. Flying around to the back, Onca parked the speeder and popped the canopy.

Kim’s gaze drifted up the side of the house, coming to rest on the third-story balcony. “If you’re the only one living here, how come you have such a big house?”

“I dunno. Look around. See any smaller ones?”

“Well, no,” she admitted. “But it seems like an awful waste of space.”

He grinned. “Not anymore. I’ve got plenty of room for you and your gang—three bedrooms and a bathroom on each of the upper floors.”

“Do all the bathrooms have waterfalls like yours? That was pretty cool.”

“No. I had that one put in when I bought the place. I wanted something a little more Zetithian. The brothel has the same design.” Jerden and Tarq had come up with the idea of making the Palace as much like their homeworld as possible. Onca couldn’t remember Zetith at all, but he still felt more comfortable among the trees and waterfalls.

Kim climbed out of the speeder. After giving the hem of her tunic a tug, she combed back her hair with her fingers. “Aren’t Zetithians always born in litters of three?”

“Yeah. Your point?”

She nodded at the house. “You’ve got enough room there for a wife and two litters.” With a wink, she added, “You’ve been planning ahead, haven’t you?”

Planning ahead? For a wife and two litters? This time Onca caught his jaw before it dropped. He’d been gaping at her like an idiot enough as it was. “Not intentionally.”

Kim nodded, but her sly smile suggested she didn’t believe him. She pointed to the far side of the house. “What’s that over there?”

“A pond,” he replied. “The waterfall runoff goes through a purifier, then out to the pond, and then through another purifier before coming back in to the waterfall.”

“So the pond is clean enough to swim in?”

“As long as you don’t mind swimming with a giant turtle and some really big fish.” He chuckled. “The turtle loves company. If you tell Captain to stop up the drain under the waterfall, he’ll come inside and swim with you.”

She cast furtive glances in all directions. “Do you think it’s safe for me to take a look at it now?”

After conducting his own visual scan of the area, he nodded. “Sure, go ahead. I’ll, um, keep you covered.”

Onca led the way with his pistol drawn, unsure whether to stick close to her or stay back so he could keep a lookout. The latter was probably the best option, but for some reason, he was reluctant to do so.

The pond was shaded by a huge
linwayla
tree with trailing branches that nearly reached the water, its purple flowers interspersed with palmate leaves. The grassy bank sloped down to the water’s edge from the ring of closely planted
tantuth
shrubs. Onca opened the gate and ushered her inside. “The shrubs keep the turtle from getting out, and they’re a lot more attractive than a fence.”

Kim touched the shimmering leaves with a tentative fingertip. “I’ve never seen anything like these before. They look like they’re made of glass.”

Recalling that same delicate touch on his face, Onca felt his throat tighten. “Yeah. They come from Edraitia. Pretty, aren’t they?”

“Edraitia?” she echoed. “Never heard of it.”

“Really? I bet you’ve seen some of the natives. Blue skin and bushy red hair?”

“So
that’s
what Peska was! She never told me—wouldn’t say why she was living on the street, either. She liked to draw—that is, when she could find something to do it with. She gave me some clay once. I made all kinds of shapes out of it until it was too dry to play with anymore.” With a wistful smile, she cupped a leaf in her palm. “I really miss her.”

“Hopefully we’ll find her soon.” If Kim kept saying things like that, Onca wouldn’t wait until she received her share of the trust. He would give her everything he had. In fact, he wanted to do it right now.

What
is
wrong
with
me?

Shrugging off the odd feeling, he opened the automatic feeder and gave her a handful of fish food. “Here. Toss this in the water.”

On cue, the fish surfaced and gobbled up every bit of it.

“Wow. I see what you mean. They’re huge! Can you really swim with them?”

“Yeah. They nibble at your toes a little, but they don’t actually bite. The pond’s not very deep—you’d be able to touch the bottom.”

Laughing, she looked up at him, her eyes brimming with mischief. “See? You even have pets for your children.”

“That’s funny. I thought they were
my
pets.” Her laughter triggered a slight pang in his chest as he tapped the dispenser for more of the food. “The turtle’s behind you.”

To her credit, she didn’t scream when she turned around. The turtle crawling up the bank toward her was easily as big as she was and probably outweighed her. “I thought turtles were green, not orange.”

“Most of them are. This one’s Delfian. They’ve got a lot of weird stuff there.” Not the least of which were the native humanoid females who had eight breasts. “He’ll eat right out of your hand, and he likes having his neck rubbed.”

Kim held out her hand, and the turtle scooped the food from her palm. “Does he have a name?”

Onca shrugged. “Not really. I just call him Turtle. The fish are called
kalifins
.”

“Are they Delfian too?”

“No. They’re a species of goldfish from a lake about two hundred kilometers south of here.” He nodded toward the pond. “Check it out.”

She watched, openmouthed, as the
kalifins
swam together in perfect unison. After performing several spectacular leaps, they cut through the water with their golden tails fanned out above the surface, then turned on their sides and waved their long pectoral fins. “Did you teach them to do that?”

“No. That’s something they do after you feed them. No idea why. Watch what they do next.”

On the word, the fish flipped over onto their backs and skimmed across the pond with their bellies exposed and their tail fins cocked straight up in the air. Then they dove downward, disappearing into the water with one last wave of their showy tails.

“That is
so
cool!” Kim’s delighted smile made Onca long to take her on a tour of the wonders of the galaxy. He’d seen a lot of them himself. Some close up, but most from pictures or holographic videos.

With little else to do aboard the refugee ship, Amelyana had filled the heads of her collection of orphans with all the knowledge she could pack into them—those that were capable of learning, that is. She hadn’t been overly successful with Tarq, but he’d done okay for himself anyway. Onca still hadn’t figured out that “lacking in common sense” remark Roncas had made. Given enough time to figure things out, he considered himself to be quite practical. Then again, in view of what he’d been doing ever since meeting the tiny Zuteran, he couldn’t blame her for underestimating his abilities.

He gestured toward the gate. “We’d better get inside now.”

“Yeah.” She gave the turtle another pat on the head, then turned to go. “Thanks for showing me your pets.” Her expression grew wistful again. “Cassie had a pet
trelink
once. She said it came from a place called Talus Five. It was little and furry and had big eyes and a long bushy tail.”

“What happened to it?”

“Some of the boys from another gang stole it. I think they probably ate it.”

“That’s terrible!” Onca protested.

She shrugged. “They were hungry.”

They passed through the gate, and Onca closed it behind them. “Cassie…she’s Davordian, you said?”

“Yeah. She’s very pretty. They have nice eyes, you know.”

Over the years, Onca had serviced hundreds of Davordians and nearly all of them were beautiful, their electric-blue eyes being their most fascinating characteristic. He hated to generalize, but most of them were sluts too. The brothels were full of them—males and females—both as clients and as providers. They didn’t mind being thought of as oversexed, either. Most of them seemed quite proud of that fact.

“Why was she in a street gang?”

“I’ve never been sure. She just showed up one day and asked if she could join up with us. I don’t know if she’d gotten lost or if she was an orphan or what.” She paused, frowning as she walked over to the house with him. “She liked boys a lot—she was also the first one of us to disappear. We all figured she found a guy she liked and went off with him. It wasn’t until Dalmet vanished that we started getting suspicious.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Peska went looking for them and never came back.”

“Good thing you and Jatki were working together. Even so, the same thing could’ve happened to you.”

“I know. But it was a chance we had to take.” Kim paused at the back door, glancing up at him with a mixture of fear and anger in her eyes. “It scares me to death to think of them being…hurt.”

Onca knew exactly what she was thinking, and also why she hesitated. Becoming a prostitute out of necessity was one thing. Being forced into it was quite another. Aside from that, the possibility that her friends had been murdered was very real. He would never have thought of that before what happened to Audrey. He knew crime existed on Rhylos, but that experience brought him closer to it than he’d ever been—or ever wanted to be.

“Yeah. I hope you never try that again. We’ll do our best to find them or at least figure out what happened to them. But you do realize, we may never know.”

She nodded. “That’s what scares me the most.”

Her subsequent shudder aroused instincts Onca had never given himself credit for having. Protective, possessive instincts. He wanted to take her in his arms and hold her until she stopped shivering. The whole “mate” issue crept back into his thoughts. Getting closer to her was wrong, and he knew it.

“Open the door, Captain.” As the door slid back, he waved her inside. “After you.”

He followed Kim into the kitchen, where Roncas and Jatki sat waiting at the table. “Took you two long enough to get here. Were you followed?”

“I don’t think so. I used the cloak on the speeder for a while. Then we took the scenic route the rest of the way.”

Onca expected her to make some snide remark, but Roncas seemed content to leave it at that. Following a brief nod, she yawned, her pearly teeth catching the light. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m beat. Mind if I crash here for a while?”

He nearly sighed with relief. “Not at all. We’re probably safer here than almost anyplace else—and so are you.”

“Yeah. That’s what I thought.” She got up from the table and motioned for the girls to follow her. “The spare bedrooms are upstairs.”

Jatki stared at Onca with frank disbelief. “You have extra rooms?”

“Six of them,” Roncas said. “And don’t worry. They’re fully furnished.” With a wink, she added, “I did the decorating myself.”

Jatki still seemed puzzled. “How come you have so many?”

“I have friends who stay here once in a while,” Onca replied. He glanced at Kim.
So
much
for
planning
ahead.
“When a family of Zetithians comes for a visit, you need lots of room for all the kids.”

He pictured Kim coming back to see him someday, with whichever of Cat and Jack’s boys she wound up marrying. He guessed it would be Larry rather than Moe or Curly, although any of them would make her a good husband. Of course, they would have a litter of adorable children and—

“Onca!” Roncas said sharply. “Stop that.”

“Stop what?”

“You were growling.”

“I was not!”

“Yes, you were. Come on, girls. Let’s let the beast get some sleep.” Without a backward glance, Roncas led the way to the stairs, followed closely by Jatki.

Kim, however, hesitated. “Thank you for letting us stay here. I haven’t felt safe in a very long time.” The gratitude shining from her deep brown eyes was unquestionably sincere. “Come to think of it, I’m not sure I ever have.”

“And you feel safe now?”

She nodded. “Ever since I first saw you. Weird, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. Very weird.” Like the way he had felt so…protective.
Best
not
to
dwell
on
it.
“Captain will keep the place locked down tight and alert me if anyone comes snooping around.” He gestured toward his bedroom. “If you need anything, I’ll be right here.”

Her brief nod was followed by a deliberate swallow. Moistening her lips with her tongue, she drew a breath as though about to say something but, instead, gave her head an infinitesimal shake and turned away.

As he watched her go, a sense of profound loss swept through him. A moment later, he realized he was purring.

At
least
she
isn’t around to hear me this time.

Nevertheless, as he stripped off his clothes and climbed into bed, he couldn’t help wondering when he’d
started
purring. Was it before or after she left him? Purring was supposed to entice females, but she’d gone upstairs without saying a word. If she
had
heard him purring, would she have stayed?

I
have
absolutely
no
idea.

He was still trying to sort it all out when he finally fell asleep.

***

Kim, Jatki, and Roncas each took a different room on the second floor. Onca’s bed had tempted her earlier, but Kim gave in to this one without a fight.

Her body did, anyway. Her brain had other plans.

Sleeping in a real bed for the first time in years should have had her nodding off instantly. However, Onca’s expression when she left him standing there in the kitchen kept her awake for a very long time—not to mention the fact that he’d been purring.

If he didn’t want her kissing him again, he damn well better stop doing that. Too bad his words were so completely at odds with the way he looked and acted. Except that last thing he’d said.

“If you need anything, I’ll be right here.”

He should have known better than to say such things. Kim wasn’t exactly well-versed in courtship rituals, but that sounded like an open invitation to join him in his bed. He hadn’t meant it that way, of course. He’d meant other stuff, like…

Like what? She’d been living on the streets of Damenk for years, and now she was safe inside his house, snug and warm in an actual bed. There was food in the kitchen if she got hungry, and drinking water was readily available. All she had to do was ask Captain if she had any questions. What could she possibly need from Onca aside from himself?

He made her drool. Every time she laid eyes on him or thought about him, she felt…hungry—and not the kind of hunger caused by an empty stomach. She wanted to bite
him
, especially when he purred. The feeling was disturbing, to say the least.

She shouldn’t stay here. Just as soon as they found the missing girls, she would go to Terra Minor and claim her money.

Yeah, right. And throughout all that time, Onca would be with her. She was stuck with him for now—and who knew how long it would take to do all of those things? She certainly didn’t. Finding her friends might prove to be impossible, which meant that at some point, they would have to admit defeat and call off the hunt.

But how long would it take to reach that point?