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

  Her smile eased the pain on her face. He could still see the lines of grief, the shadow of it in her eyes. In her attempt to reassure him, she was easing her burden.

  Her face softened, and Makios’s heart hammered in his chest. He shouldn’t be thinking about her in terms of desire, but she was beautiful. More than that, she was… He swallowed and took the opportunity to study her face.

  She had full lips that Alethia’s mother would call heart-shaped. She had green and grey eyes and a slender nose that was wide at the bridge. It was indented on the sides as though someone had pinched the shape into them. Her brows were the same colour as her flame hair and straight with only the slightest curve at the ends, and her skin was pale but had a peach tone to it. Her oval-shaped face had prominent cheekbones and there was a slight cleft to her chin. Her whole body was long and narrow, narrower than the other humans he’d met. Her limbs were in proportion with her body, but when he picked them out, they were slender and elegant.

  When he looked back into her eyes, he could see they were used to humour, used to laughter. One side of her mouth crept further up. ‘You like what you see there, big guy?’

  Makios nodded without embarrassment. He liked what he saw. He wanted to see more of her.

  ‘You’re not so bad yourself,’ she said.

  Makios smiled at her, then chuckled when he realised her reaction had shocked her. She wanted him too.

  ‘Now, I’m not saying I’m into you. But you’re not bad, is all. I’m…’ Rhona stuttered to a halt and stared at him awkwardly for a moment. ‘I can just hear my dad’s “I told you so” now.’

  ‘Should I give you two privacy?’ Decimen said, breaking some of the building tension.

  Rhona’s ‘Oh, God, I need the loo,’ shattered the rest. She looked in the corner where a hole in the floor served as the toilet. ‘I’m guessing that’s it?’

  Makios nodded.

  ‘I can’t use that.’ She stared at it wide-eyed. ‘People can see,’ she said, ‘and I’ll fall.’

  Sighing, Makios stood up.

  It was the first time he and the female were both standing, and he was shocked by her height. She had half a fenth on any human female he’d ever met. She was only a fenth shorter than he was.

  He led the way over to the hole. ‘Decimen, will you block her from that side?’

  ‘Of course.’ Decimen moved into position, blocking the view from the cages down the line from him.

  Makios turned his back to her, using his bulk to block her from view

  ‘That’s the best I’m going to get here, isn’t it?’

  Makios grunted acknowledgement.

  ‘Thank you,’ Rhona sighed and walked around him. There were no cages there, so Makios and Decimen were blocking her from everyone else’s view.

  ‘Decimen, would you turn around, please?’ Rhona said from behind him.

  Makios turned to see Decimen facing Rhona. Staring at Rhona.

  ‘Decimen,’ he growled, annoyed by the Aavani’s action.

  ‘If you insist,’ he said, holding his hands up in a gesture of surrender and turning.

  ‘Erm,’ Rhona said a moment later. ‘I realise this is awkward, but I don’t suppose either of you can sing? I can’t pee and have you both hearing.’

  Makios covered his mouth with one hand and tried to suppress the laughter.

  ‘I can see that, Makios,’ she grumbled. It only made him laugh harder.

  Beside him, Decimen began singing a song Makios had never heard before. His voice was strong, silky and soothing.

  Makios listened to the singing.

  There was a yelp. ‘What the hell is… Oh.’ A moment later, it was repeated. Makios chuckled. There was a cleansing and drying device hidden inside.

  A minute later, Rhona jumped up. ‘Done,’ she called. She looked at Decimen, who had stopped singing. ‘That was beautiful,’ she said, smiling at him.

  Decimen smiled and nodded once, deeply.

  Behind him, Makios heard the lift doors open. The three of them turned to find four of Tolomus’s men walking in. A red-skinned Essen. A black-skinned Cithian. A pale cream and red Potuun and a blue, grey and teal Enhari.

  Makios stepped in front of Rhona, blocking her from their view. His eyes tracked them as he sized up the threat. They would have to go through him to get to her.

  The four males started catcalling as soon as they hit the deck. They were all alien, of course, but they were alien to each other as much as they were to her.

  The first one caught her attention for obvious reasons. His skin was scarlet. He wore black clothes and long black hair that shone red under the lights and lay against the fabric on his chest.

  The one next to him was jet black with red markings across his visible skin. Red hair sat on his head. It appeared feathery-soft. Next to him was a broad male with pale skin that darkened to blue on his hands, head and around his forehead and chin. He had quills growing out of his head that rustled as he walked. His irises were pale—his sclera and pupils black.

  The fourth male was huge. At least as big as Makios, but without the horns. He wore a loincloth and nothing else. He was steel blue and charcoal grey in colour with teal slashed markings that ran from his spinal protrusions around his torso, stopping short of his abdomen. The striations continued on down his outer thighs, arms and tail. His skin was steel blue on his face, chest and stomach; dark along the edges and lightening towards his high, wide cheekbones, chest and abdomen. A lighter version covered his hands, feet, inner thighs and arms and the inner portion of his tail. The charcoal grey was made of some sort of harder skin, the look of which reminded her of lizards on Earth. It covered his shins and outer thighs, his back, the outside of his tail, his shoulders and outer arms in segmented chevrons. He had charcoal hair, which fell in long dreads down his chest. His tail, which swung side to side to counterbalance his gait, which was slightly forward because of his odd legs. They looked like a cat’s back legs, including the long, curved claws, though it was the four arms he sported which really threw her. They were all staring at her.

  ‘Makios, how much trouble am I in?’

  He turned to face her. Rhona’s eyes met his, and she saw grim determination etched into the tense lines of his face.

  Theirs was the first cage in the room. Exposed on three sides and adjoining only Decimen’s cell. The four aliens walked around the pen, the scarlet alien grazing claws against the bars to make a clattering sound as he walked.

  Makios stood between Rhona and the aliens, adjusting and tracking them all the way around until they stood at the gate.

  The scarlet one spoke first. Makios growled, and all four of them laughed. The larger one, with the four arms, answered. Rhona guessed he was deciding if he could take Makios or not. Whatever his decision, it caused Makios to chuckle and respond in a tone that promised pain.

  Rhona looked at Decimen who was watching the proceedings with a scowl. He stood a few feet back from the bars. It was the furthest he’d been from them since she arrived.

  Makios said something that made the black-skinned alien hiss at him. A long tongue protruded from his mouth. Rhona glanced up at his eyes and for the first time realised he had two pairs, one above the other. She took a step back, shocked as both pairs swung around to look at her.

  ‘Oh. I wasn’t expecting that.’ She said it under her breath, but still, he seemed to hear her. He broke from his friends and walked down the cage towards her, grinning. He licked out, his long tongue swiping in between the bars.

  ‘I meant your weird-ass eyes, not your weird-ass tongue, moron.’

  The alien’s features turned from amusement to rage. He growled and struck the bars. Makios took a step towards him and roared, which drove the alien back towards the middle of the small corridor between the pens.

  If Rhona hadn’t just been to the loo, his roar would have eased her problem with peeing in public. It echoed across the chamber; throughout the room, screams and shouts answered.


  One of the aliens fiddled with the door panel. Apparently, they didn’t have permission to access the cell. The scarlet alien got a device out, his hand hovering over the panel when Decimen rushed to the front of his cage and shouted something at them. The four of them turned at once. From their expressions and his tone, he was not complimentary.

  ‘Decimen, what are you doing?’

  There was an exchange, a back and forth of what sounded like insults. Then the scarlet one leading the way used the device on the hand scanner and the door popped open.

  Decimen was still talking, punctuating his statements with laughter.

  ‘Makios,’ Rhona said, feeling helpless. He looked at her, his face a mix of concern and impotence.

  The one with the four arms swung the first punch. It connected with Decimen’s face and he was thrown back, stumbling to absorb the momentum and keep his feet.

  Rhona saw Michael lying on the floor in a pool of blood. Her chest tightened, as though someone had tied a belt around it. The sounds of the chamber, the fading chorus of the prisoners took on a surreal quality. The edges of her vision seemed to blur.

  ‘Makios,’ she whispered.

  He looked down at her, his eyes wide.

  If Decimen fell, they would kill him.

  The scarlet one punched him. This one was in the area where a human’s diaphragm would be. It seemed to be the same for Decimen’s species; he was suddenly breathless. Another punch got him lower in the stomach—a third, this time a backhand across his face. Still, Decimen stayed up.

  The chamber had fallen quiet. The meaty thumps echoed around the room.

  The purple alien, Tolomus. How would he react if he saw this?

  ‘Makios, roar.’

  He looked down at her.

  ‘We need to attract someone’s attention—the purple guy’s attention. Roar.’

  He looked sceptical, but he roared. Silence fell across the chamber.

  ‘Again.’

  He roared again. Rhona screamed. The compressed feeling of her lungs acted against her. It stole the edges of her vision and ripped up her already aching throat, but she screamed again.

  ‘Everybody scream!’ she yelled out, running to the bars.

  ‘Rhona?’ someone called. She couldn’t tell who.

  ‘Scream!’ she yelled again.

  Makios roared.

  Bit by bit, the voices rose: humans screamed, aliens roared and a cacophonous choir filled the room. There was a noise to her right, and a scarlet hand reached out to snatch at her. Another roar from behind her and Makios was there. He grabbed the arm, trapped it between the bars and pulled on it. She heard the bone snap, watched the material tent midway down his forearm where his bone had ripped through the skin. The alien screeched in shock and agony and ran for the door, clutching his arm to his chest. Rhona stepped back as he passed. He hissed at her as he went by, the other three aliens following him to the lift.

  The doors opened to greet them, but instead of them getting in, the purple alien stepped out at the head of a column of men. The chamber fell instantly silent. The purple alien looked from the cage to the aliens standing before him and spoke in a cold voice. Several men surrounded them.

  Tolomus walked towards them. He looked at Rhona. Even in her previously dazed state, she had noticed how beautiful he was. His features seemed finely chiselled like some purple marble statue. But when his eyes met her, there was still that cold, calculating look. It seemed like a permanent feature. Nevertheless, at this moment, she needed him. She pointed at Decimen.

  At some point, he’d fallen to the floor and used his arms to cover his head. Burnt umber blood dripped from several orange wounds that marred his golden skin. Rhona put a hand to her mouth and sobbed. She looked at Tolomus, who was looking beyond her, to Decimen. He walked to the bars and crouched down to get a better look.

  Tears blurred Rhona’s eyes. Decimen had done this for her, because of her and her stupid mouth. Makios stepped up beside her and pulled her into him. She leaned against him gratefully, feeling the need for some support.

  After a lifetime of hating aliens, how had she come to trust this one within hours, care for him? And now Decimen?

  The purple alien grimaced. He looked at Rhona, his eyes narrowing before he stood and walked away, shouting to the males standing by the lift.

  ‘That’s it? You’re just going to leave him like that?’

  Makios turned her head and shook his own. His face seemed to be trying to convey that everything would be alright. How could that be the case? When she looked at Decimen, he was seriously injured.

  As soon as the lift closed, Rhona dropped to her knees and reached through the bars to Decimen. ‘Oh my God, Decimen, are you all right?’

  His green-gold eyes looked back at her. He muttered something.

  ‘Decimen, I’m so sorry. This is all my fault. I shouldn’t have goaded him.’

  The look the golden alien gave her told her she was an idiot. They were coming for her regardless.

  ‘It’s still my fault,’ she whispered.

  He shook his head, then looked beyond her, to the lift.

  Makios sat down beside her and stroked her back reassuringly. He and Decimen exchanged a few words.

  Rhona settled against the bars, reached through them and stroked Decimen’s ankle, the closest part of his body to her. ‘Come over here. Let me see you.’

  His golden head shook. He said something, but it was unintelligible noise.

  ‘Decimen—‘ Makios touched her arm. She looked at him. He was watching the golden male with a concerned face, but he shook his head.

  Overhead, the lights dimmed.

  ‘Guess they’ve decided it’s time for bed.’ She looked at the lack of a bed in the cage. The floor was the bed. The only amenity they had was the hole in the floor.

  ‘Fucking arseholes,’ she murmured. Beside her, Makios chuckled. She looked at him. ‘Shut up you.’ Rhona almost lit up when he chuckled again, shaking his head.

  They sat in the dimmed room and communicated, mostly by insults and laughing, while Decimen watched with a wry grin on his face, occasionally shaking his head at them as they tried to cheer him up.

  Sometime later, the lights brightened, and a new alien walked into Decimen’s cell. He carried a bag and set about tending him; patching his wounds and injecting him with something. When he was done, he called Rhona over to the bars and inspected her face and throat. Makios appeared beside her and growled low in his throat, spurring the alien's examination until he pulled out medspray. Only when he and Makios exchanged a few words did he encourage Rhona to take the spray before the medic left.

  Decimen sighed, seeming more comfortable. He said something to Makios, who replied in soft tones.

  The lights dimmed once more.

  They spoke for a while longer, before the day’s events, stress and trauma caught up with Rhona and she found herself nodding off against the bars. Makios lifted her and pulled her into his arms, lying down and carrying Rhona with him. He was so warm. He lay her against his chest and wrapped an arm around her. Rhona slipped into sleep.

  Makios watched the ship’s medic administer the nano injection. Tolomus wanted Rhona unsullied for her sale; Makios gritted his teeth and vowed that would not happen. He would not get the chance to sell her. They sat for a while longer. Rhona’s head nodded, her eyes falling closed but she fought sleep until she saw Decimen sigh and visibly relax.

  ‘They always take care of their Aavani and Humans. We fetch too high a price. He doesn’t want us bruised for market.’

  ‘As long as you’re feeling better.’ Makios shrugged. ‘Thank you for what you did today. I could have taken them, but I believe she would have been harmed.’

  Decimen shrugged, his own eyes falling. His breathing evened out.

  The lights dimmed, and Rhona nodded again. Sighing, Makios pulled her into his arms and lay down, arranging her on his chest for her comfort. He wouldn’t make the most comfortable bed, but
at least it wasn’t the floor.

  ‘What does she feel like?’ Decimen asked her.

  Home, Makios thought. ‘Nice,’ he answered. He revelled in the feeling until sleep took him.

  ‘Aavani heal quickly.’ Rhona was staring at Decimen. The bruises were fading. The cuts were healed and appeared as dark gold blemishes against his skin. His eyes, which had been swollen for two days and bruised and tender for three more, were now normal-sized, and there was only a yellowish tinge of old, pale blood in one sclera.

  Decimen was an Aavani. Makios was Kathen. During questioning, Rhona asked what their races were known for. Kathens were known for their love of nature and being warriors.

  It took Rhona a while to guess Decimen. When he pointed out the whip scars on his back, she realised the Aavani were known as slaves. Their whole race had been enslaved; they even took the Aavani homeworld.

  Rhona’s chest tightened at the thought. That’s what they wanted to do to the Sol system. To Earth and Mars and all of the populated asteroids and space stations scattered in the black.

  Communication was one-sided, so Rhona talked about home and her family. She spoke of her uncle Michael and what a shit he was. She regaled them with tales of babysitting for him, back when she thought she knew everything, and so did he and how they clashed over their conflicting beliefs. She told them about how insufferable he was in his first year of university. Between being exhausted and a know-it-all, he’d been almost impossible to deal with, only finding his stride in his second year.

  Makios and Decimen listened, though they didn’t have much of a choice. They were captives, stuck with her, and she was taking full advantage of the fact.

  Every night she went to sleep on Makios. She didn’t mean to, but he always pulled her atop him and settled down. He was firm muscle, but more comfortable than the floor.

  How the hell he could stand her smell was anyone’s guess. After days on the ship—she was guessing six by the day-night cycle of the lighting—and no shower, she was ripe.

  Makios, on the other hand, smelled of musky cinnamon and something else. It was a masculine scent that was slowly driving Rhona insane. It was so nice she often leaned into him to get a smell whenever her own became overpowering. Whenever she did that, his nose would crinkle and he would sniff, but he never stepped back or pushed her away, a fact she took full advantage of.