A Monster’s Future (Kadrixan Mates #6)

Chapter 1 Julie

Let’s get one thing straight: I did not sign up to be a reporter. That was Dana’s job. Or it had been, back in Nova Vita.

I slumped into the chair at our one and only table in the Ellaston Gazette’s so-called “headquarters,” an empty but hopeful little room in Ellaston’s newly built town hall.

The walls were still bare, and the scent of fresh paint clung to the air.

The single, large window offered a view of the settlement’s main square, where the occasional Kadrixan warrior stalked past on patrol.

“Come on, you get to go to space,” Dana said. “That’s cool, right?”

I shot her a look. “Maybe to you, but I don’t get a thrill from getting thrown into enemy territory just to get a story.”

Dana planted her hands on her hips. “Don’t tell me the woman who bravely volunteered for a rut with a bunch of demon-looking aliens is now scared.”

“That’s different!” I exclaimed. “We figured out the Utopia Project was a scam, so it was easy to choose the rut. Plus, have you seen these guys? They’re hot as fuck.”

Of course Dana had seen the Kadrixan warriors; she was mated to one. Lucky bitch.

But back to the whole reporter thing. When Dana had offered me the job with the Ellaston Gazette, I’d accepted right away, thinking I’d do all the background work, the research, and sleuthing I was so good at.

I should’ve been suspicious when she walked in here five minutes ago with a triple-simulated vanilla latte in hand, because the second I accepted the bribe and took a sip, she’d sprung the job on me.

I’d been the one to convince Mark and Chris, Ellaston’s co-leaders, to let the Ellaston Gazette tag along for the negotiations when I’d found out that Vossell Industries, a massive off-planet electronics corporation, was courting Ellaston for a direct trade deal.

Specifically, they wanted the ore buried in the mountain we were currently standing on.

The fact that a company like Vossell was willing to bypass Nova Vita entirely?

That was big news. But I had a sneaking suspicion it wasn’t out of the goodness of their corporate hearts.

No, they probably thought a fledgling colony like Ellaston would be easier to manipulate.

I just hoped they realized we had the Kadrixan warriors at our backs.

I hadn’t expected Dana to ask me to go on the trip instead of her.

But with my best friend—and now, apparently, my boss—still recovering from that concussion, she couldn’t exactly handle the heavy lifting.

Not to mention, we were a team of two, which meant we’d both be wearing multiple hats until we could expand.

I sighed and compromised. “Fine. I’ll go this one time, but we have to hire someone else to do the fieldwork after this.”

Dana threw her arms around me. “Thank you. Thank you. And yes, I’m working on filling our ranks.”

I knew she was. Hell, we weren’t even getting paid yet.

But that was fine for now. Ellaston was still a young settlement, barely a few years old, and while we had a credit system in place, bartering was still the backbone of our economy.

Besides, I technically lived in the Kadrixan stronghold just a quick ten-minute shuttle ride away, and all my needs were more than met.

I didn’t need much. I was just grateful to be part of something big with my best friend.

That was the thing about having your basic needs taken care of: it gave you the freedom to chase bigger things. And plus, I owed Dana. She’d spent two years searching for me, risking her life to find me. She hadn’t known I’d been safe here all along, worrying about her.

I pulled away before she could squeeze the air out of my lungs. “Yeah, yeah. But you owe me. Halcyon Station sounds like the kind of place where corporations plot world domination.”

Dana grinned. “You’ll fit right in then, right?”

I flipped her off playfully. She knew exactly how I felt about large, faceless corporations.

After Mark had told me about the negotiations, I’d dug into the history of Halcyon Station.

It was the galaxy’s neutral bargaining table, a hub where factions, colonies, and rivals could negotiate without planetary interference.

Think of it like a conference center the size of a small town, with its own laws and law enforcement.

It also boasted some top-tier shopping, because while you were there brokering deals, why not spend some of those credits? It was a capitalist’s wet dream.

Totally not my scene. And Dana knew it.

She laughed, but the sound faded fast, her expression shifting to something serious.

“Look, I know this isn’t what you signed up for.

But you’re the only one who can do this.

You’re the one who convinced Mark to let us cover the negotiations in the first place.

And you’re the one who’s not afraid to ask the hard questions. ”

I raised an eyebrow. “Since when?”

“Since always,” she said, her voice firm. I knew better than to argue with her when she sounded like this. “Even back on Nova Vita. You made me question everything.”

“I can’t survive being thrown into a viper’s den like you.”

“You just don’t give yourself enough credit. And besides, the Gazette is getting our own Kadrixan guard for the trip. You’ll be fine.”

“Fine,” I muttered. “But if I get thrown out of an airlock, I’m haunting you. Forever.”

Dana smirked. “Deal. But you won’t. You’re too stubborn to die.”

I picked up my cup and took a sip of my faux-faux-faux-vanilla latte—triple fake because it was artificial vanilla, with coffee substitute, and from a food simulator. The only thing real-ish was the powdered milk. And the water. It was honest-to-goodness H2O.

There was a knock on the door before it opened, and a man poked his head in.

“Victor!” Dana looked relieved as she went to hold the door open. “You must have the rest of our furniture.”

Right. I was currently hogging the only chair.

“I sure do.” Victor walked in carrying a stack of five chairs. “I also have your filing cabinet and your shelf. They’re just outside the door.”

Victor and his wife had joined Ellaston about a year ago, and they’d become invaluable to our growing settlement. He’d worked construction back in Nova Vita, and his wife had been a teacher, two professions we desperately needed in a new colony.

We just finished helping him maneuver the last of our furniture into place when the Gazette’s office door burst open again.

Penelope burst in, her tablet clutched in one hand, her face flushed with excitement.

“You are not going to believe this," she announced, waving the tablet like a battle flag. "Another one."

She and Dana exchanged a knowing look, but I was left in the dark.

“Another what?” I asked.

“Another woman,” Penelope said, like it was obvious. “From Nova Vita. She just sent me a message asking about the next rut.”

“You know how I contacted Penelope through her books when I was trying to get Gnnar out? Well, she’s been getting desperate requests from women to get them out of Nova Vita.”

I frowned. “How do you know it’s from real people and not just Nova Vita trying to get to us?”

“Actually, we already know two of them are Nova Vita plants.”

“One’s from Omnia Pictures,” Dana said. “She gave a fake name, but I recognized the way she signed off the email, and the questions she asked were definitely Omnia Picture specials. I mean, there’s a tiny chance she could be actually interested in getting out of Nova Vita, but I doubt it.”

“But the other two, so far, seem to be the real deal. And this new lady…” Penelope tapped her tablet, pulling up the message.

“She’s young. Twenty-two. Worked in the textile factories.

Debt from her mom’s medical bills, who didn’t survive treatment.

Her father passed away in a mining accident last year.

She had to sell her mom’s bracelet, the last thing she had of her, to make rent this month. ”

“She has nothing to lose,” I said quietly.

I swallowed hard, remembering that feeling.

The desperation. The way my stomach twisted when I realized I was fresh out of options.

The way I’d clung to any lifeline, even if it meant throwing myself at a bunch of rutting alien beasts, hoping for the best. It had ended up being the best decision of my life.

I’d lost my parents years ago, and they’d left behind enough to get me going, but that one kidney infection had stripped my credit account down to nothing.

The authorities came for me the day after that first payment was due.

Those assholes had been so freaking sure I’d choose the Utopia Project instead of the rut, especially since they’d made the Utopia Project sound so good on paper.

I still remember the equal shock and disgust on the officer’s face when I’d chosen the rut.

I’d learned moments later that he got a kickback every time someone got sent to Utopia.

I’d just cost him some credits, twice, because my decision had convinced Clara, who’d been my temporary cellmate, to choose the rut as well.

“What are you going to do?” I asked.

“I’m not sure,” Penelope said honestly. “We don’t have the resources to get them out yet. And we know for a fact that two of them are fakes. So we have to be extra careful.”

The Kadrixan-issued communication device that I wore around my body on a beaded chain like a purse dinged, and I sighed.

I knew exactly what that alert was for. It was the automatic one that reminded me to eat lunch and take my supplements every single day.

It had gone off without fail since that initial visit to the medical bay when I first arrived at the Kadrixan stronghold.

“Lunchtime?” Penelope asked with a raised eyebrow. “I thought you got that alarm removed already.”

“I tried. I really did. But it didn’t work. I still blame Grtirr.”

Grtirr was the bossy, overprotective, and overbearing medic who’d set the alarm up to begin with.

He’d been treating me like a child who couldn’t take care of herself since day one, all because my kidney function had still been subpar when I arrived here.

A year of perfectly normal kidney function later, and he was still treating me like I might shatter if I skipped a single vitamin.

Talk about hover-doctoring.

“What if Grtirr won’t let me go to Halcyon station because of my ‘weak constitution’? That’s the excuse he used to stop me from volunteering for the serum testing, remember?

“Don’t you worry about that,” Dana said with a wave of her hand. “I’ve got you covered. Both Mark and Krxare signed off on it already. Grtirr can’t say a thing.”

Krxare was the champion of the Kadrixan warriors, and even Grtirr had to defer to him. Maybe this trip to Halcyon wouldn’t be so bad after all.