Chapter 16
ZILL
Breaking News! New collector pieces for fans or a dirty cash grab? Empress to release old albums with new covers.
The transport is filled with shadows, all trying to keep themselves tucked away and not in anyone's business.
Well, all of them are except for mine. Mine are currently roaming over Reese's body as she stares out the window, eyes wide.
Watching her, in awe of the world and the beauty of it all, is something I love seeing on her face.
She's been up to port stations before, but she told me it never gets old seeing the world from so high above.
"Where were you from?" Reese asks, her nose still pressed to the glass as we continue our descent back to planetside.
I'm about to tell her that my family's always been on the west coast, and I'd still be there if not for starting up the security company and being needed out in space more often than back home. But it's not me she's asking, something I would've known if I were in her head.
"Middle of nowhere Montana district," Kolos says, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning his head back against his seat.
"My mother works for a very successful family in weapons manufacturing.
And before you ask, because I can already hear it rattling around in your head, no, I have no interest in working for them. Dreadful people, truly."
"And you?" Reese asks, not bothering to look at Isha as she asks.
"My brother and I were born on Sombra. It's a nicer planet than Earth, no offense. But when you're as strong as Skia and I are, it's expected of you to find work outside the system."
"Do you regret it?" Reese asks, finally turning to face the other woman.
"Do you regret your line of work?" Isha asks, a small smile on her lips.
"Sometimes," Reese answers, then looks back out the window. "But I've enjoyed it more than I've regretted it. Plus, I wouldn't have met Zill if I'd stayed working at the bar I was serving at when I was nineteen."
"That's another reason Sombrans travel so much," I say, wanting to be a part of the conversation. Reese is much quicker to turn to face me when I talk than she was with the other Sombrans, and it's silly to feel smug about it, but I do. "We're looking for our soulbonds."
"How common are they?" Reese asks as my shadows squeeze her a bit tighter.
"Most of us eventually find them," I say with a slight shrug. "Our shadows guide us in ways that we're pretty sure are meant to help us locate them."
"And bonds with other species are common?"
"They're more common with some species than others," I tell her. "Humans are some of the more common ones because of our compatibility. Lokans are relatively normal to be bonded to, and Straxions, I think."
"Rytharians," Kolos says. "Quite a few of us bond to Rytharians."
"Which is always so surprising to me, seeing as the sheer amount of sexual thoughts on that planet is so great that you can hear them as soon as you enter the atmosphere," Isha says with a little shiver. She's being dramatic, of course, but the people who live on Rythar are voracious breeders.
"Probably because of how horny all of your shadows are," Reese says more to herself than to anyone in the transport, but we all hear it. Isha glares at me as if it's my fault my shadows are making Reese judge all Sombran shadows, while Kolos snickers at the comment.
"They are insatiable once they're awoken," Kolos says, and because I don't like the idea of him talking about anything sexual with my soulbond, I glare at him until it's clear he should change the subject.
"Speaking of insatiable, do the two of you plan on the events of last night frequently?
It's fine if so, I'm just trying to figure out what precautions to take so my shadows and I don't listen in.
Then again, it wasn't like I needed to be in anyone's head to hear Ree–"
Reese holds up a hand, and Kolos stops talking, his taunting smile still on his lips as he looks to my soulbond.
Neither of them speaks, and I wish more than anything that I were in Reese's head so I could listen to whatever it is she's telling him.
Based on the way Isha's lip is twitching as she tries to conceal her smile, it's clear to me that it's an enjoyable conversation.
Kolos holds his hands in the air, his smugness still heavy. "Very well."
Reese does a little wiggle as though she's pleased with herself, and now I genuinely want to know what she's said to Kolos to get him to relent in his teasing.
I look between Isha and Kolos, but neither of them looks like they have any plans to tell me.
Reese is back to looking out the window as my shadows wrap around her.
I let out a little huff, but other than that, I just let her enjoy the view as we slowly make our way planetside.
After we enjoyed each other's company last night, I finally checked my comm for the message that came in right as I stepped onto my ship and saw Reese clothed in barely anything.
It was a single charge request from Kolos for the amount of ten credits, and I sent it over to him without hesitation.
He'd been right about Reese's plans for me after all.
"Want to go over the plan so you're not just sulking for the next half hour?" Kolos asks me, and when Reese snaps her attention in his direction, he holds his hands up again. He looks at me, amusement all across his features. "Vicious little thing you've bonded. Did you know that?"
I glance at Reese out of the corner of my eyes, thinking to myself that Kolos is talking about someone else entirely. Reese looks fierce, though, as she glares at Kolos. My shadows and I decide we're into her being vicious so long as it isn't directed at us.
"He doesn't because he treats me right," Reese says.
My chest swells with pride at my soulbond thinking me a fit male for her. My shadows also lift off her skin enough to sway, celebrating how Reese speaks of us. I rest my arm behind Reese on the seat, and she scoots closer to me. It's hard not to feel smug when she treats me so well.
"I do think we should go over the plans, though," Isha interjects. "Just to make sure we're all on the same page."
Reese places a hand on my thigh, her fake nails tracing patterns against my pant leg that my shadows are quick to recreate for her.
She does this sometimes when she's listening.
Not that she's ever done it on my legs, she usually has a notebook or paper and pen that she doodles with while we're discussing things.
I asked her once why she didn't do it on her comm, and she said she felt rude being on it while people were talking.
I had flushed in embarrassment at Mauve's actions for probably the entire time Reese had known her, because my mother always has her nose pressed to a comm screen.
"Today, we visit with Reese's family. They don't know we're coming yet, and won't until Reese calls them," I look down at my soulbond, who is still doodling against my leg.
She's not excited about seeing her family, but it's good to get this part out of the way. She won't be supporting them for much longer, and if we're lucky, she'll be cutting contact with them because they're not good people.
We haven't warned them of our arrival, because I'm not convinced that they're not the ones who sold out her identity.
I don't know why they would, but it's the only thing that makes sense besides Mauve doing it.
As much as it pains me to say, I asked my father to drop the protections on her mind so I could sift through them.
Of course, she had nothing to do with it, but I had to be certain.
"You don't have to speak with them," Kolos says, his tone a lot more gentle than I think I've ever heard him speak.
The fact that he's talking that way to Reese of all people has my shadows stilling against her, tightening just a fraction as though to wrap her up in their protection.
"Family can be fucking rough. If you just want us to show up and tell them you're not going to be around anymore, we can do that easily.
Gods know I wish someone would've done that for me. "
Isha and I share a glance, a quick little thing that means we will be talking about this later. Kolos doesn't talk about family, doesn't talk about his time growing up on Earth at all. Yet here he is trying to comfort Reese with situations that they have in common.
"No, I should talk to them," Reese says.
She doesn't seem to care that Kolos is prying way too much into her mind.
He's being rude about it, too. We're trained not to let others know we listen in, trained to act as though we can't hear their thoughts at all.
Kolos has always been a little more loose with how he does that, but he's never been this blatant about listening in.
It'll only be an issue until Reese and I are fully bonded, and then I can keep him out. I'll check with Reese later and make sure she's okay with his prying. If she isn't, he should pick up on it, and I think he'll have the decency to drop it.
"Kolos is right, though," Isha says. "We can drop off the message to them without you having to be near them. Without having to go back to your hometown at all."
"Yes, but then they'll all think I'm acting too good for them," Reese says with a little whine as she rubs at her eyes.
Kolos gives me a confused expression before leaning forward, his elbows on his thighs. "Based on what you've told us about them, you are better than them."
Reese scoffs and looks like she's about to argue, but Kolos cuts in.