Spy (Battle Born Book 8) Page 16

  The thought sent a smile to tug at the corners of his mouth. He was doing it again, presuming she would eventually choose him. But it was hard not to be confident when he’d tasted her kiss and felt her press into his body as the pull swept over her.

  She folded her hands on the table and gave him a patient smile. “What did Raylon say? You’ve tortured me long enough.”

  “I wasn’t torturing you. I just wanted to make sure we had enough time to discuss this in-depth.”

  “We’ve got nothing but time right now, so spill it. Can I keep my pictures or not?”

  He hadn’t really meant to get into all of this while her sister was still missing. Maybe she needed something else to think about. She’d been carrying the burden of Libby’s abduction by herself for almost two weeks. “General Nox was there as well, or at least his holo-image was.” His smile broadened and she smiled back. “I had to tell them you’re a reporter.”

  Her smile vanished in an instant and hurt filled her eyes. “Why? It was just a few pictures.”

  “It’s never just a few pictures with a reporter. I did some digging of my own while you were with Indigo. Your internet channels are very popular, and you still write articles regularly for your old network. There’s no way in creation that you would have kept this to yourself.”

  She didn’t deny it. She just stared back at him with that hurt look.

  “We can’t expect you to change your basic nature, so we’d like to offer you a job.” Her eyes grew so wide he had to laugh.

  “Seriously?”

  “Yes. Both Garin and Raylon agree that it’s time to make ourselves more accessible to humans and the best way to start that process is to hire someone to tell our story. Are you interested?”

  “Of course,” she cried. “They’ll let me interview people and wander around at will?”

  “We can’t give you unlimited access, but we will offer you an exclusive if you agree to let Raylon approve each of your stories before you post them on the internet or submit them to your network.”

  She stared past him, clearly debating her options. “What happens if I decline your generous offer?”

  He shrugged, but he knew he had her. “I delete the pictures you’ve taken so far and confiscate your camera until you’re ready to return to Earth.” Without pictures to prove what she was saying, she’d be just another internet crazy begging for attention.

  She held out her hand with a beaming smile. “I accept.” They were shaking hands as the waitress returned with their drinks. Lexie’s gaze followed her as she walked back into the kitchen. “What planet is she from?”

  “I’m not sure. Likely somewhere in Lorillian. Inhabitants from that star system all have a similar appearance.”

  “I’m sure they say the same thing about us and we’re not even from the same star system.”

  “Actually, most believe we are.”

  Her delicate brows arched, drawing his attention to her expressive eyes. “You’re a long lost child of Earth?”

  He chuckled and took a sip of his blood wine. “No, sweetheart, we’re both long lost children of Bilarri.” Lexie raise her wineglass to her mouth. Her lips pressed against the glass and her features seemed to sigh as the spicy/sweet taste rolled across her tongue. He envied the glass and despised the wine because he wanted her mouth filled with his taste, wanted his tongue sliding over hers. His chest expanded and his pulse thudded through his veins. He had to stop thinking about joining or they’d never make it through this meal. “Do you live in Colorado, or were you just there looking for Libby?”

  “No, it’s my home. We lived in a suburb of Denver called Littleton when I was a child, then moved to Fort Collins after we lost our parents. That’s sixty some miles north of Denver.”

  “That’s where your grandmother lived?”

  She nodded, a hint of sadness shadowing her gaze. “We inherited her house when she died, so we never saw a reason to relocate. Connie got married and moved out. Then Lexie wanted to live closer to campus, so she moved in with Amber and Jodi. Now it’s just me. I might sell it someday, but I’m not ready yet.”

  “Did you always want to be a reporter?”

  “I was always a book worm, but my interest in journalism didn’t develop until college. I wrote for the campus newspaper and thoroughly enjoyed it.” She paused again as if the past had sucked her in, then she smiled and said, “I have got to contact Emily. She would be perfect for this assignment.”

  “Who’s Emily?”

  “My cousin. She’s a first-rate photographer and she’d die for the opportunity to show the world something this important. We’ve worked together before and really complement each other. Can you get permission for me to recruit her?”

  “What’s her full name and current location? I’ll have to do a background check before I bother bringing the idea to Raylon.”

  “I’m pretty sure she has nothing to hide and her name is Emily Jenson. Last I heard she was researching leopards in Africa. I’ll have to find out her exact location.”

  “Let me know when you have the information.” Her only response was a distracted nod, so he guided her back onto the original topic. “What happened after college?”

  She shook away the tangent and refocused on his face. “I wrote articles for a variety of outlets including the TV stations where I’d done a summer internship, but nobody was hiring.”

  “Then how did you pay your bills?”

  “I worked as a waitress.” She made a face and took a drink of wine. “I know, so cliché.”

  She’d gained notoriety, so that wasn’t the end of her story. “Go on.”

  “I ended up dating an up-and-coming detective who was much too ambitious for his own good.”

  He stilled. She’d said she hadn’t had many lovers, but each one had meant a great deal to her. Was this overly ambitious detective one of those lucky men? If he thought about it, his primal nature would end the conversation for him.

  “Anyway,” she continued when he just stared at her. “John, the detective, was determined to make a name for himself.”

  Her story was interrupted by the waitress who arrived with their order. She quickly placed their food in front of them and asked if they needed anything else. Kaden dismissed her with a polite thank-you, but he was much more interested in Lexie’s story than in the meal.

  “This smells delicious.” Lexie gingerly poked her spoon through the flakey rinora bread and took a small taste of the stew. Satisfied that it wasn’t horrible, she took a larger bite. “What did you call it?”

  “Foristrim crock. It’s what you would call comfort food on Bilarri. The bread can be peeled off in layers, or just eaten with the stew.”

  “It reminds me of a potpie.”

  “I’ll take your word for it. I’ve never had potpie.” He picked up his knife and fork. “Please continue. John was desperate to make a name for himself and you were waitressing.”

  Her smile faltered for a moment, but she resumed the tale. “Grandma passed away that summer and I was a little overwhelmed. I needed something to keep me occupied so I wouldn’t feel so depressed, yet I felt guilty for spending so much time away from Libby.”

  Emotion flooded her eyes with tears and she stubbornly blinked them away. Was she thinking about the past or the present? “Libby was a teenager by then, I’m sure she understood.”

  She responded with a tense nod, then went on. “A serial rapist was targeting nurses and Connie was a nursing student at the time so it struck a little too close to home. John desperately wanted to be on the case, but he didn’t have enough seniority. That didn’t keep him from investigating on his own and pretty soon, we were both tracking down leads and interviewing potential witnesses.”

  Protective disapproval surged through Kaden, so he began to eat. It was the only way he could keep from yanking her into his arms. “That had to have been incredibly dangerous.”

  “No, it wasn’t incredibly dangerous until I got impatient with J
ohn and started running down leads on my own.”

  He shook his head and took a drink, barely able to swallow past the tightening in his throat. “How were you able to convince all these people to talk to you if you were no longer with an enforcer?”

  “I still had my press badge from my summer internship.”

  “It was still incredibly foolish.”

  “Looking back, I agree, but at the time I needed the rush. Besides, the suspect was attacking nurses, the ultimate caregivers. It was just so twisted.”

  “I presume there’s a reason you brought all this up. Other than giving me an ulcer, that is.”

  She smiled, apparently pleased by his concern. “Of course there is. My clues kept leading me back to this computer troll. His mother had died in the hospital where the first victim worked, and he fit the profile to a tee. John insisted that he’d been thoroughly investigated and disregarded as the suspect, but I wasn’t convinced. The troll worked from home, some sort of programing, so he had no alibi for several of the attacks. The alibis he did have were flimsy at best, and still the cops wouldn’t take another look. It was infuriating.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I put a tracker on his car and waited for him to leave his cave.”

  He closed his eyes for a moment and concentrated on his breathing. Railing against her recklessness would serve no purpose now. She was sitting here. Clearly, she’d survived. “Where did he go?” He opened his eyes as he waited for her answer.

  She cleared her mouth of stew, then explained, “He drove around for so long, I was afraid he’d spotted me following him. But he hadn’t. He eventually parked outside a walk-in clinic, so I called John. He wasn’t happy with me, but he promised he’d join me as fast as he could.”

  “Not fast enough?” She’d already proved she could be impulsive when she sneaked onto Zilor’s shuttle.

  “The troll made his move. I had no choice but to go after him.”

  He sighed. “I’m pretty sure I don’t want to know this, but tell me what happened.”

  “He followed the nurse out of the parking lot.”

  “In his car or on foot?”

  “In his car.” She paused for a sip of wine. “Not long after they left the clinic, he pulled in front of her. I was confused by the maneuver, started wondering if I was wrong. But he pretended to have a seizure and let his car roll off the road. His potential victim was a nurse, of course she jumped out of her car and ran to the rescue. But as soon as she opened the door, he dragged her into his car.”

  “Then how were you able to stop him?”

  “Luckily, this nurse was a fighter. I called John and he sent out our location over the radio. I ran up and helped the nurse subdue the troll. By the time the cops arrived we had him on the ground beside his car with his hands taped together. The media arrived a few minutes later and the rest is history.”

  “I’m thrilled you weren’t hurt, but how did this lead to your career as a journalist?”

  “I started out helping John so he could make a name for himself, but I’m the one who ended up in the spotlight. According to the press, I was a fledgling reporter who singlehandedly stopped a rape and identified the serial rapist. No one cared that the outcome would have been very different if John hadn’t been on his way. I leveraged my fifteen minutes of fame into my stint on Rocky Mountain Mornings, but the perky host thing wasn’t for me. So I launched my online channels and went freelance. Now I have control over everything I do. I couldn’t be happier.”

  And joining with him was a threat to that hard-won independence. No wonder she was resisting the pull so hard. “And this detective, what became of John?” He hadn’t meant to ask, didn’t really care as long as the man stayed in her past. Even so, the question slipped out, contradicting his indifference.

  “According to John, I threw him under the bus. I hadn’t done it intentionally, but the result was the same. He moved out of state a few months later, and I haven’t seen him since.”

  “Do you miss him?” Another useless question. She didn’t belong to some human detective. She was meant for a fierce Rodyte mate, and Kaden intended to make sure he was the one she chose.

  “Sometimes. We were together for almost three years. I thought he was the one.”

  “He wasn’t.” His voice growled over the declaration.

  “Because you are?” She pushed her dish aside and drained her wineglass. “Your turn. When and why did you join the military?”

  Chapter Eight

  Lexie waited for Kaden to tell her about his past as their last few exchanges echoed in her mind. She knew he thought they were destined to be together, bonded mates headed for a happily ever after. But she knew from experience that life wasn’t anything like the fairy tales. Life was hard, sometimes cruel, and always arbitrary. Things happened because they happened, not because it was part of some master plan.

  “Did you always want to be a soldier?” She tried again.

  “I was battle born and my father was career military. I didn’t really have a choice. I was enrolled in military schools until I was old enough to join the fighting.”

  The tension in his voice warned her that these memories were dark. “And how old was that?”

  “Fifteen.”

  She felt her eyes widen and tried to relax her face. “They handed you a gun at fifteen and sent you off to war?”

  “They gave me more than a gun, love. They gave me implants and supplements, com-bots and synthetic hormones to make me stronger and more aggressive. And no, they didn’t just turn me loose at fifteen. I underwent years of additional training specific to the military.”

  After a moment of silence, she said, “I’m sorry all that was done against your will.”

  “I didn’t say it was against my will. I said I hadn’t had much of a choice. If I’d insisted, Dad would have allowed me to follow another path. Dakar chose law enforcement over the military.”

  “Which is still violent and dangerous,” she objected.

  “The other vocations available to battle born sons are even less appealing than the military.”

  Menial labor. That was what Garin’s messages had said. Anything that required muscle, but not a lot of intelligence. But that didn’t make sense. All of the battle born soldiers she’d met so far were certainly not simple minded. “Were you allowed to choose your role within the military or was everything dictated to you?”

  “I’m good at thinking on my feet and reading people, so I was transferred to covert operations after only a few deployments. I was a field agent until last year.”

  He was skimming over the surface of his past, but she decided not to pry. The past couldn’t be changed, so she’d never understood why people wasted so much time fixating on it. “What happened last year?”

  “Garin transferred me to the Intrepid. It was vital that the battle born controlled it during the coup.”

  “A wise precaution.” He offered her more wine and she accepted. “What was the best part of your childhood?”

  “My parents. They made sure each of us knew we were loved unconditionally. And their relationship with each other was always a comfort to me too. I knew no matter what our family encountered, it wouldn’t drive them apart.” He started to say something then shook his head and picked up his glass. Rather than taking a drink, however, he swirled the ruby liquid around and silently watched it rotate.

  “What did you start to say?” His mood had changed so completely, she couldn’t just let it go.

  “It doesn’t matter. It’s not true anymore.” He glanced at her then resumed his study of the swishing wine.

  “Oh come on. I’ve told you all sorts of embarrassing details about my past. What did you want to tell me?”

  He released a sigh then set down the glass. “While I was a child, my parents’ relationship was ideal. I loved how happy they made each other, and how involved they were with each of us. But once I began to think about building a future of my own, their love
became a cruel reminder of the sort of relationship I would never have. It was depressing.”

  “But why? I don’t understand why you felt that way.”

  “I’m battle born, tainted, unworthy of any elite female’s consideration.”

  She shook her head, disgusted by such superficial prejudice. “That’s ridiculous.”

  His gaze narrowed and his lips thinned. “Humans never judge others by the circumstances of their birth.” Challenge arched his brow as he added, “Or the color of their skin?”

  She sighed. “Yes, prejudice exists on Earth, but I find it just as ridiculous there as I do now.”

  “That’s why I didn’t bring it up.” He took a quick drink of wine before he added, “Those feelings have no meaning any longer. Against all odds, I’ve found a potential mate.”

  Wanting to understand his perspective, rather than the bigots who had unfairly judged him, she approached it from a slightly different angle. “Have you ever had a long-term relationship with a female?” She didn’t need to ask if he’d ever had a lover. No one could kiss the way he kissed without experience.

  “Not in the way you mean. My missions frequently took me off world and even when I was on Rodymia, I didn’t see the point in pursuing anyone. I had so little to offer a potential mate.”

  She didn’t want to start a fight, but his attitude really bothered her. “Then why are you pursuing me? Why are you good enough for me, when you weren’t good enough for a Rodyte female?”

  “That’s not what I meant. Things were—”

  “What else could you mean? ‘I had so little to offer a potential mate’ is pretty self-explanatory.”

  He smiled as his gaze moved over her face. “We need to go back to my ship if you’re feeling feisty.” He summoned the waitress with a negligent wave and she scanned his thumbprint to settle the bill.