Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Lila
Our wedding party was so much fun. All of us forgot about all the issues and problems plaguing us for a short period of time and let our hair down.
There was food, drinks, and dancing. Xylene, Cordy, Cally, and I were spun around the dance floor several times.
The girls were thrilled, and Jack pouted until he got to dance with all of his fathers.
Most of my mates are good dancers, even Maxsim who started off slightly self-conscious, but after a few glasses of bubbly wine and some encouragement from Echo and me, he was soon kicking up his heels and shouting with joy.
The little ones eventually grew tired, as did John, who is still recovering although he is much better than he was.
It was like it was a signal for the party to be over.
Cronus, Xavier, and Xylene snapped their fingers, and the mess disappeared, then we all retired to our rooms. Broderick hadn’t stayed at the party long.
He wanted to continue to monitor the space around us and keep us on time for our arrival at the space station.
He’s been pretty much working nonstop since we left Aquilia.
Brannock offered to switch with him to let him rest, so he left the party early so he could sleep before his shift at the helm.
The two of them seem to have become good friends over the last few weeks.
I’m happy for them, they both seem like they carry sadness with them, and hopefully this will ease some of whatever it is that causes that sadness.
I know Broderick misses my dad, but Brannock is still a mystery.
I still have those swimming lessons I promised to give him. My to-do list is never-ending.
The following morning, we reach Z68. We’re docked and waiting for permission to go aboard the station, but it’s taking its sweet-ass time.
“We’ll be off. We’re meeting our elite guard and taking care of a problem,” Cronus says as he gives me a kiss on each cheek. Xylene pushes him out of the way while he’s muttering about exterminating vermin.
“We will meet you back on Skarr once you have rescued Liliana, and we can have another big party. That will give us time to invite your friends, Susie and Mark, and everyone’s families.
It will be the celebration of the year,” she says.
“I will speak to all your mothers, and we will take care of everything,” she says, looking at all my mates.
“Not my mother,” Link replies quickly, looking slightly pale. “Please don’t invite her.”
Xylene purses her lips. “Your mother is rather annoying. Fine, we won’t include her, but your father is delightful, and I’m sure he would want to be there for you.”
Link sighs with relief and agrees to that.
There’s a flurry of goodbyes and kisses and hugs, and then more kisses and hugs for the babies, with Xylene making me promise that they can visit with them on the warlock home world when we have time.
I heave a sigh of relief when they teleport back to their ship, but I don’t get a moment to relax, because Bubby sends a message through our communicators saying we’ve been given permission to go aboard the station.
“How about we take the children back to your quarters while you argue over who is going to go and see Link’s contact,” John suggests, and my grandpas gather up my babies and take their leave.
As much as they want to be involved, they admitted that they aren’t in the right headspace to help out with their worry for my grandma.
That’s fine with me. At least I know my babies are being looked after.
“Echo and I won’t be going either. I don’t want to put him at risk while he is with child,” Maxsim announces, and he’s not going to hear any argument from me.
“I’m going to go and see how our can of tuna is doing today. I’ll make sure he is eating properly,” Echo says with a smile as he assures Link.
“Thanks, that would be helpful. Now we just have to decide who is going to accompany Lila,” Saxon says, but Link shakes his head, looking at his own communicator.
“My contact just sent a message saying that Lila must come alone,” he announces, sounding dismayed, and my remaining mates explode into an uproar as I just roll my eyes.
“It’s not that they don’t think you’re capable.” It’s Silac who says this as we watch the rest of them argue with one another.
“They are all control freaks who are used to getting their own way,” Tirrian says dryly from my other side, and I raise an eyebrow at him.
“Is that the pot calling the kettle black?” I ask him, and his eyebrows furrow in confusion.
“I didn’t call you black, and really, my color is not black, it’s more of an iridescent black.”
I laugh. Sometimes aliens are so literal. I guess they don’t have that saying here in space.
“Settle down. Of course we aren’t going to allow her to go on her own.” Brannock, for some reason, takes charge, and my mouth drops open in surprise as all of my mates turn to hear what he has to say.
“What the fuck?” I mutter under my breath, and Tirrian leans in.
“Brannock has had some valuable information to share with us. His experience during the war has been invaluable.”
I keep forgetting Brannock is that old. Shit, he’s as old as Oshan, and he said he was over seven hundred. I have a crush on an old man, but fuck, he looks good for an old man.
“Okay, I think the plan should be to make it look like Lila is on her own, but she really isn’t.
Xavier and I can both glamour ourselves to look like other beings.
I’m sure Xavier can make you all have different faces as well.
We know where this meeting is supposed to take place, so why don’t you teleport us so we’ll already be in the bar when Lila arrives? ”
“I can totally do that. I think Tirrian, Silac, and Caspian can be at one table as a group of shifters celebrating something.” Xavier quickly jumps on board with the plan.
“And I’ll glamour Saxon and Link to look like another vamp feeding off his cyborg toy boy.
” Xavier rubs his hands together with excitement, enthused with the plan.
“That just leaves us, and I don’t think we should act like we’re together. We should be lone people at the bar.”
“It’s a solid plan,” Tirrian agrees, “but we need to look dirty and less kempt than we do now. Z68 is a favorite station for space pirates and criminals. To be honest, no reputable woman would be seen alone. She really should take a bodyguard with her. Is your contact open to negotiation?” He looks at Link, who has been typing furiously on his communicator.
“No, either Lila comes alone, or he won’t meet with her.”
“Does anyone else not like the sound of that?” Cas says, biting his lip with worry.
“Look, I’m not stupid, I don’t even like the sound of it, but I have some pretty badass forms I can use if I need it, and we need this contact, even if it’s just for me to mimic them so we can use whatever it is they do to stay alive on Husadavia.
I promise if I feel uncomfortable or unsafe, I will let you know.
” I try to reassure my kraken, but I can see he’s still doubtful.
Shit, my heart is racing with nerves too.
This is the first time I’ll be venturing out on my own.
I’m sure I’ll fuck it up by insulting someone or not knowing the right etiquette.
“How? Do we need a hand signal or a safe word?” Cas sounds so serious, I have to bite my lip to stop myself from grinning.
“I’ll tell you telepathically,” I promise him.
“Don’t you need to be in one of your alternative forms to do that though?” Saxon asks, and I shake my head.
“Nope. I can access it in this form. I guess it must be one of my Skarrian abilities, or maybe it’s a whisperer power.
Lightning cats can communicate with one another telepathically,” I point out, and the males look a little skeptical, but I’m doing that thing where I don’t acknowledge I’m a special snowflake who can access my alternate powers in any form.
“Only with images and feelings, not actual words,” Maxsim adds helpfully, but I ignore him.
“Right then, shall we get going? I don’t want to keep the contact waiting.”
“Yes, just let us all get into place,” Xavier says and waves a hand, and suddenly, I’m surrounded by unrecognizable men.
They all look like they could use a shower and a fresh set of clothes, but I guess that’s what’s needed to blend in.
The only ones who stay the same are me and my two cats.
I study what they all look like, trying to fix it in my mind so I’ll know who is who when I get to the bar.
Thankfully, my mimic powers behave themselves and stay buried deep.
“Can you change their scent?” I ask Xavier, who now has a patch over one eye, a wicked scar across his shirtless non-purple chest, and a robotic arm.
“Why?” He sounds confused.
“Because you all smell too good to be the dregs of the galaxy,” Bubby answers, entering the teleportation room.
He nods at me with approval. “If you want to get it right, we need you to be authentic. That space station is going to reek of unwashed bodies, blood, and sex, and you will stand out like a sore thumb even in those outfits. Don’t be polite, and maybe when you see Lila, catcall and proposition her.
She isn’t the kind of clientele they will be used to.
You have to make this performance authentic, or the person waiting for her will know it’s a setup. ”
Instantly, the room is filled with a gag worthy stench. I wave my hand in front of my nose, and my eyes water, but Bubby just nods with approval.
“Yes, that’s perfect.”
Both of my cats look a little green and start backing toward the door. “Good luck. We’ll see you when you get back,” Maxsim calls while Echo dry heaves, holding his belly. As soon as the door opens, they hurry through it and down the hall.
I want to go with them, but I’m sure the station is going to smell even worse, so I have to tough it out.
“I’ll give you all twenty minutes to get organized.
We don’t know if the contact is already waiting for us, so be careful,” I warn them, and with a wave of his hand, Xavier transports them all to the station, taking the smell with them.
I breathe a sigh of relief, and Bubby and I walk back down the hall to the bridge. I take a seat to give them the time they need to get situated.
“Now that we’re alone, I wanted to talk to you about a few things,” Bubby says, going over to the replicator and programming something into the machine. When he returns, he has two steaming cups of coffee—his is black and mine is white—and when he hands it over, it’s perfectly sweet.
“Yes, this is just what I needed.” I take a large sip and sigh. “Actually, I need like a whole fucking month with no drama, but that isn’t going to happen anytime soon, so I will take this. What did you want to talk about?”
“Brannock mostly. I’ve gotten to know him rather well over the last few weeks, and he is adamant about returning to Earth. I can’t say for sure, but I have a feeling there is something there that’s important to him.”
“Are you sure he doesn’t just want revenge on Agent Smith? If I were in his shoes, I’d want to go postal on the asshole, especially after he stuck a dog collar around his neck and controlled him like a slave.”
He nods thoughtfully. “That may be it, but I can’t help thinking there’s something more.
You know I have access to all the ship’s security, and one of the programs shows movement of the performers and crew around the ship.
Now, I haven’t really looked at it since everyone else is still on holiday, but I accidentally pulled it up yesterday.
That ship that shadowed us all the way to the station made me nervous, and I wanted to make sure there were no unauthorized people on the vessel. ”
“I’m assuming there aren’t because you haven’t said anything.”
“No, but it shows the movements of people who are over the last few days. Most of the movement has been between this floor and the next and everyone’s suites.
It shows you and the warlocks in Xavier’s old suite, Link’s clinic, and movement in the Aquilian pool, which is expected.
It also shows Silac returning Nikos’s pod to the equipment room, but what surprised me the most was Brannock’s movement.
He has been all over the ship at weird times, mostly in the middle of the night when I thought he was taking his turn at the helm while I was asleep. ”
I purse my lips and frown, my stomach rolling with nerves, and Bubby continues. “The ship was on autopilot, so it was just a matter of watching the screens for any anomalies, but he seems to be making a systematic search of the ship, like he’s looking for something specific.”
“Fuck. Is Brannock looking for the orb? Has he lulled us into a sense of trust, and he’s really going to fuck us over?
But how would he know it’s on the ship?” My grandpas decided Bubby was trustworthy enough to be brought in on the secret, and we were just going to need more help if the Syndicate was after it.
It helped that Xavier has spelled him to never be able to talk about it.
I still haven’t told the cats about it, and Silac, Tirrian, and Brannock also don’t know about it either—or I didn’t think they did.
“I don’t know. It could be that he’s restless and just wanted to explore the ship and get to know it.
He has been super grateful to you and your grandpas for offering him somewhere to live and giving him something to do until he can get back to Earth.
If he settled anywhere else, he would have had to continue to wear his glamour, but everyone here just accepts him despite the Aaz’axian’s fearsome reputation. ”
I shrug. “I judge people individually, not as a race. If I did, I certainly wouldn’t have a warlock husband.
They are kind of assholes. Okay, let’s keep an eye on him.
Silac just increased the security on the ship, specifically my grandpas’ new room and the safe inside it.
I’m assuming that’s where they hide the orb.
They’ve actually never even told me. If he seems to be showing too much interest in that room, we will confront him. ”
“It will be disappointing if he’s been scamming us this whole time. I like him,” Bubby says over the top of his coffee before taking another sip.
I sigh. “Yeah, I do too.”