The Smuggler's Radiant (Renegades Book 2) Read online

  Makios chuckled a throaty laugh and nodded in agreement. ‘My insatiable human.’ He rubbed his hands up her arms. ‘My beautiful,’ he pulled her down to his face, ‘beautiful red goddess.’

  They spent several minutes kissing before finally giving in to sleep.

  ‘You two need to give the rest of us a break and try and keep it down,’ Vella said as she sat down next to Rhona in the galley.

  Rhona was holding a tablet and trying to learn the Amaran alphabet. It was so much more complicated than Earth’s but due to their past empire and influence, it was the lingua franca of the IGC which meant it was the common language of almost every known system in space. Vella pointed to the tablet. ‘You know, instead of that nonsense, I can get you another chip that will translate everything written you see.’

  Rhona put the tablet down on the table. ‘That would be so much easier.’

  Vella nodded, smiling.

  Vella approached Rhona after her fight with Makios, and they talked for a good couple of hours. Vella was easily the tallest person on the ship. Strong, intelligent and strategic. Rhona liked her instantly, though it seemed to take Vella a little while to warm up to her.

  ‘I can help you with that later,’ Vella said. ‘In the meantime, Makios wants you on the bridge, he’s got Tyne in there already.’

  Rhona nodded. She’d been expecting this all day. She was about to meet some important people and tell them about her experience with Drexan.

  She went down the hall to the bridge and placed her hand on the plate. Makios had cleared her for the bridge that morning with the intent of teaching her how to pilot Tala. The door swooshed open and Rhona stepped into the bridge.

  Makios sat in the pilot’s seat, Tyne sitting in the co-pilot’s chair.

  Two huge faces stared out of the screen at her.

  The one on the right was pale on pale. He had almost white skin, pale amber eyes, white hair and a pair of white antelope horns on his head. He was very handsome in a rugged kind of way and he was big. He wore a black uniform and the name Thanesh popped into her mind.

  The one on the left looked familiar by race. He had light grey skin, silver-blonde hair and light turquoise eyes. But while Drexan’s face had an unnaturally kind look that was deceptive, this male’s face seemed to gleam with intelligence. Both sets of eyes followed her as she walked across the room to stand behind Makios at the main pilot’s seat.

  ‘Your Rhona is here,’ the pale male said.

  Rhona placed her hand on Makios’s shoulder, and he reached up and squeezed her hand in return.

  ‘Sorry if I’m late,’ Rhona said.

  ‘We have only just begun,’ the grey male said.

  ‘Rhona,’ Makios pointed to the pale male. ‘High-Protector Thanesh of the Tessan Protectorate.’

  Rhona waved.

  ‘And Ilan Dahnus of the Amaran Ilian.’

  ‘Thanesh’s mate informs me your people would call it an empire,’ Dahnus said, a small smile on his lips.

  ‘I’m not sure it would qualify as an empire,’ Rhona said. ‘Empires are usually conquered. From what I’ve been told, you protect and aid. You seem to have something unique we’ve aimed for a few times and failed to reach.’

  The Ilan considered the information with an arched brow. ‘I believe I was just complimented,’ he said.

  ‘Oh.’ Rhona was horrified for a moment. Had she just pissed off an emperor? ‘No, it was definitely a compliment. I’m sorry if that didn’t come across.’

  The Ilan smiled, and Rhona became acutely aware of the differences between this man and Drexan Thalos.

  ‘Thank you,’ he nodded. ‘May I call you Rhona?’

  Rhona nodded and swallowed. ‘Of course,’ she said.

  ‘You are exceptional, Rhona,’ he said after studying her for a few moments. ‘Such a shame you are already taken.’

  Makios sat forward with a growl. ‘Come here and say that, Ilan,’ he said low in his throat.

  A small smile crept onto the pale-skinned Amaran’s face. ‘My apologies Kathen,’ he said. ‘Though if you ever want to put on a performance here on Amara, it would be a pleasure to watch.’ His eyes looked at Rhona as he finished.

  Makios’s growl grew louder. Rhona grabbed his shoulders and pulled him back into the seat.

  ‘Thank you,’ Rhona called out, ‘but you’ll find most humans are very private when it comes to those things.’

  ‘Shame,’ the Ilan murmured, watching Makios with growing amusement.

  Rhona glanced over at Thanesh and found his shoulders moving in time to his laughter.

  ‘Well, you’re not helping,’ Rhona snapped.

  ‘I was not trying to,’ Thanesh admitted. ‘Now you know what it is like, Kathen.’

  After a moment, Makios stilled and looked up at the Tessan. ‘Did you—’ He looked at the Amaran. ‘Did he put you up to this?’

  ‘My apologies,’ he nodded. ‘Thanesh has been teaching the Ilan of Amara how to fight with Adunis sticks for three hundred solars. I owe him a few favours.’

  ‘Nice if you can get them,’ Rhona looked at Tyne. He smiled, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes.

  ‘All this over a few pushes in your interrogation room?’ Makios shook his head.

  ‘I had a much bigger plan, but Dahnus drew the line at actually kidnapping your female.’

  Rhona glanced at the Amaran Ilan. Had Makios not been around, she might have been saved by this male eventually. She wondered how that would have gone down. Would she have hated pale-skinned Amarans by then, or could the Ilan have won her with his charm?

  ‘Next time, clue me in on the joke.’ Rhona looked at Thanesh. He nodded, a guilty look on his face. ‘There are so many ways I could have made this so much worse for him.’

  Thanesh’s head fell back, and he roared with laughter. The Amaran’s smile widened.

  ‘You have to use all your assets, guys. Come on.’ Rhona shook her head and shrugged.

  ‘Serious offer now, human,’ the Ilan said. ‘If you ever get sick of the Kathen, I’ll send a ship straight for you.’

  ‘Amaran,’ Makios growled.

  ‘Makios, be careful,’ Thanesh warned.

  ‘I will not. You do not make suggestions like that to my female.’ Makios stood, ignoring Rhona’s restraining hold. ‘I don’t care if you’re the Ilan, the IGC prime or the god of the universe, you do not say those things to my female. Especially when the first experience she had of an Amaran was Drexan vrokking Thalos.’

  The mounting fury on Thanesh’s face dissipated all of a sudden. The Ilan bowed his head and closed his eyes.

  Her man had done that. Made two powerful males ashamed of themselves.

  ‘My apologies, Rhona. My proposal was inappropriate.’ The Amaran looked at her with genuine regret.

  ‘I—’

  Rhona raised a hand and cut the Tessan off.

  ‘It’s fine.’ She shook her head. ‘My first experience of a Fenion wasn’t great and I don’t hold it against Vanoor.’ She shrugged and smiled at them both.

  ‘I was hoping you hadn’t noticed him yet,’ Makios admitted.

  ‘You hoped I hadn’t noticed a six-and-a-half-foot red-scaled horned alien with a prehensile tail?’ Rhona heard snickering. She looked at the screen. ‘Shut it,’ she said before turning back to her man. ‘Not your smartest moment, my love.’ She noticed Makios grinning at her and then realised why. Eyes wide, she looked back at the screen. ‘Oh my God—’

  ‘Think nothing of it.’ The Ilan held up a hand, a massive grin on his face. On the screen next to him, Thanesh was laughing.

  ‘Alethia’s going to like you,’ he said.

  ‘I think I’m going to like Alethia,’ she admitted. She slapped Makios on the chest. ‘Anyone who cares about this doofus is good by me.’

  ‘I don’t know what a doofus is.’ Makios frowned at her.

  Rhona smiled at him. ‘My doofus,’ she said.

  His eyes narrowed as he stared at her.

>   Rhona looked at Tyne, who was quietly watching proceedings. She didn’t know if it was her, but he looked paler than a few moments earlier. She swallowed. The stories Tyne was about to tell were so much worse than hers.

  ‘Shall we get on with this then?’ Makios said, retaking his seat.

  ‘You first,’ Tyne whispered.

  Rhona spent the next few minutes telling Thanesh and the Ilan everything about her time from being taken by Tolomus up until rescue from the pod by Makios. When she was done, the Ilan closed his eyes.

  ‘The Thalos family have been loyal servants of the Ilian for generations. This betrayal,’ the Ilan sighed, ‘stings.’

  Tyne looked at her. His hand went to his mouth, and he began picking at his lower lip.

  ‘Tyne, are you ready?’ the Ilan said. His voice was suddenly quiet, grave.

  Rhona crossed the room and took Tyne’s hand. He looked up at her, fear and something else in his eyes. Shame, she realised. She squeezed his hand reassuringly.

  Whatever Rhona thought she would hear, however she had prepared herself, what she actually heard was so much worse. Over the next hour, Tyne told his story. But it wasn’t just his story. It was also Aran’s and a dead adalan called Niyal—an adalan Drexan had beaten to death. Tyne’s shame came from his inability to save him.

  When Tyne finished, the room fell silent.

  ‘I remember Niyal,’ Dahnus said. ‘Drexan told me he had met his bond-mates and moved to an outer planet. I should have checked.’

  ‘What happened to his body?’ Thanesh asked.

  ‘He spaced it,’ Tyne said. ‘He made me carry him, made me put him in the airlock. Locked me in there with him and told me if I ever told anyone, I would be next, only I wouldn’t be dead.’

  Rhona made a fist of her free hand and swore one day she would throw it into Drexan’s face. Even if he felt nothing, it would make her feel better.

  ‘Then what happened?’ Dahnus asked.

  ‘When I got there, Drexan began abusing, scarring Niyal. He became the focus of Drexan’s worst depravities, and I was his public, clean adalan.’ Tyne’s hand was shaking in Rhona’s. ‘When Aran arrived, he began abusing me. I became the focus,’ he waved his hand over the X-shaped scar on his face, ‘and Aran became his public adalan.’

  The bastard would have killed Tyne next.

  Rhona remembered him hanging from the A-frame and wished she could go back to that moment and end him. She wasn’t sure if she could, but for Tyne, she’d try.

  ‘I’ve got ships out searching for him,’ Dahnus said. ‘I don’t want to tip him off to us coming, but without asking him where he is, I’m not sure how to find him.’

  ‘I can help with that,’ Makios said.

  Rhona turned to see him grab at air and throw it at the screen. She frowned and looked at the screen to find a file had uploaded and transferred over the open comm.

  ‘Cool,’ she said.

  They all looked at her.

  ‘I just—we don’t have that on Earth.’ She made the grabbing and throwing gesture.

  Makios grinned at her. The others smiled indulgently.

  ‘Ah, look at the human and her backward ways,’ Rhona muttered. ‘Isn’t she cute?’

  ‘You think you’re cute?’ Tyne frowned at her.

  ‘I think I’m gorgeous,’ she whispered. ‘And so does your Ilan.’ She waved at the screen.’

  ‘Indeed,’ the Ilan agreed.

  Rhona bowed her head, allowing her hair to fall in front of her face to cover her blush. She opened her spread palm and placed it over her eyes for another layer of protection.

  ‘Shut up, Rhona,’ she whispered to herself.

  ‘Probably a good idea,’ Tyne countered quietly.

  There were two things Rhona could salvage from this meeting: one, Drexan Thalos was going to end up rotting behind bars, or energy bars, or an energy shield or whatever, for the rest of his life and the many lives to come, and two, when she looked down at Tyne, his eyes held fire again. He smiled up at her, genuinely, for the first time since she entered the room.

  ‘You’re a warrior,’ she whispered and squeezed his shoulder. Shame shadowed his face for a moment, but he smiled.

  ‘You managed to tag Thalos’s ship?’ the Ilan said to Makios.

  Rhona looked at Makios, who nodded. ‘I wasn’t letting him leave with my female.’

  When? How? At the same time warmth spread through her. Even in the cell, it wasn’t just sexual attraction. He had claimed her as his in mind and was determined no harm would come to her.

  The Ilan looked at him with sincere gratitude on his face. ‘As soon as we have your Aran back, I will contact you,’ he said, looking at Tyne. ‘You and Aran are welcome in the palace. There is no obligation. I mean it only to give you a safe place to heal.’

  ‘Such a shame there are no obligations.’ Tyne smirked, then nodded in thanks.

  ‘Do not get me wrong.’ Dahnus smiled. ‘I am always open to taking on more lovers,’ he said with a glance at both Tyne and Rhona. Makios growled, ‘but that would be your choice, and in your own time.’

  ‘You too, Kathen,’ Dahnus smiled and the screen went black.

  Rhona stared at the screen for a few moments, mouth agog. ‘Did that cheeky bastard just offer me a place in a harem?’ she cried out. Then she looked at Thanesh, who was chuckling.

  ‘Are you really one of the humans taken during The Violation?’ she asked the question that had been burning in her mind since she walked in.

  Thanesh stopped laughing and went completely serious. ‘The Cealin who took us confirmed it.’

  ‘Bloody hell,’ Rhona said, shaking her head. ‘You know we had the remembrance for you guys a week before they took me,’ she said. ‘It was the three hundred and thirty-fifth anniversary.’

  Thanesh remained silent.

  ‘They have a data packet of information,’ she said. ‘Your families had them put together in case you or any descendants ever came back to Earth. They had genetic profiles of family and some of the men. Identities. Some of the families updated daily diaries so that you could know how they lived after you were taken. So you could see they thought of you.’ Rhona sighed. ‘I always thought it was the saddest thing. But if you contact Earth, they would probably give them to you, once they can confirm who you were.’

  Thanesh’s face had gone from impassive to thoughtful as she spoke. ‘Thank you, Rhona,’ he said finally. ‘We will be contacting Earth once Makios has finished his mission.’ He looked at Makios, who nodded. ‘I will do that.’

  A pale, slight, feminine figure appeared behind him and walked into the room. For a moment, Rhona thought she was seeing a ghost.

  She was paler than Thanesh, with long, white hair, pale blue eyes and the palest skin Rhona had ever seen in her life. She smiled, full lips over a cute overbite.

  ‘You must be Rhona,’ she said. ‘I heard you guys wrapping up and I had to come in and meet you.’ She glanced at Thanesh.

  The Tessan was so much larger than Alethia that she looked almost like a child next to him. His expression turned adoring. Alethia smiled at him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

  ‘It’s nice to meet you, Alethia.’ Rhona smiled back. ‘Makios talks about you, incessantly.’

  ‘Alethia talks about Makios incessantly,’ Thanesh said dryly. Rhona suddenly understood the prank at the beginning.

  ‘So I guess we’ll be off drinking beer whenever these two are together?’

  ‘What’s beer?’

  ‘Oh, I have so many Earth products to introduce you guys to,’ Rhona said.

  ‘My mother talked about chocolate so much. Is it any good?’

  ‘Is it any good?’ Rhona repeated. ‘I will forgive you your alien ways because you were brought up away from your people. But just so you know, chocolate is better than sex.’

  ‘I doubt that,’ Makios grinned.

  Rhona kept a straight face. What she could have said was chocolate was better than any sex sh
e ever had before Makios, but it wouldn’t hurt to have him try a little harder.

  ‘We grow some on Mars, and it makes the most amazing hot chocolate.’ She shook her head, realising Alethia probably didn’t know what she was saying. ‘Anyway, if I ever get back there, I’ll bring you some when I return.’

  ‘That would be great, thanks,’ Alethia said.

  ‘We should go,’ Thanesh said, looking up at Alethia. ‘I have to show my female nothing is better than sex.’

  Alethia went a delicate shade of pink and laughed, her eyes closing from embarrassment.

  ‘Good luck with that,’ Rhona called. Thanesh glared at her as the screen went black.

  Beside her, Makios roared with laughter. He looked at her. ‘That was a good joke,’ he said. ‘Better than sex.’

  Rhona stared at him, focusing her whole being onto not laughing.

  Makios’s laughter faded. ‘Come here, female,’ he growled. ‘I’m going to show you nothing is better than sex.’

  Rhona turned to find Tyne had left the room while they were talking. She looked at the door and a moment later heard a loud click.

  ‘What was that?’ she turned to find Makios standing and stalking towards her.

  ‘The door lock,’ he said.

  Rhona grinned and took a step away from him. ‘What are you doing?’ she said despite knowing full well.

  ‘I’m going to vrok my female into forgetting there was ever such a thing as chocolate,’ he growled.

  ‘So you can see there’s been a small change in our trajectory,’ Makios whispered into Rhona’s ear.

  He was teaching her how to fly the ship. She sat on his lap in the pilot’s seat where they had made love three days before. Two days before. Yesterday. Twenty minutes ago, Rhona had sat on his lap, her legs over his arms so she was entirely at his command—it was a favoured position. Slowly, her tendons were getting used to the stretch.

  Now she faced the terminal, leaning her back against Makios’s front, his arms wrapped around her while he whispered instructions into her ear while nibbling it, nuzzling her neck, kissing her cheek. It was very distracting.