Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Ines
The walk out of the mine feels different today.
I spent my final morning on Timbur shadowing Leah and the mine techs, watching some of them map new caves and others maintain the massive equipment that keeps this operation running.
Good material for my article. Leah was patient with my endless questions, showing me control panels, data feeds and the engineering marvels that most visitors never get to see.
But my mind wasn’t fully on the work.
Tomorrow morning I take the transporter back to my apartment, my editor and regular life back on New Earth. My visit to this fantastical planet, Timbur, is over.
Texon walks beside me through the familiar tunnels toward the lift. We’ve made this walk together so many times now. I’ve memorized the way the crystals glow in certain sections, the spots where the tunnel widens, the distant echo of drilling from other levels.
Neither of us talks about tomorrow.
The lift arrives and we step inside. The doors clang shut. I watch the numbers climb as we rise toward the surface, hyperaware of his massive frame beside me, the warmth radiating from his body, the fresh mineral scent that I’ve come to associate with him.
I’m going to miss this all of it.
Not compatible, I remind myself. He scented me and the answer was clear. There’s no reason for me to ever return to Timbur. I’ll write my articles, maybe we’ll exchange a few messages, and eventually we’ll become strangers again.
I was hoping to learn something new during my “investigation” but I haven’t moved any further in breaking this case than they have, which makes me sad.
I really thought I’d be able to do more here, like I was able to with my other cases back home, but no such luck.
Maybe I was able to do so well in those instances because they were all on New Earth, amongst humans.
Here on Timbur I’m wearing a universal translator chip in my brain to be able to understand and speak the Xylan language, and their customs are so new to me, as well as the climate and topography of this planet.
Investigating off planet is turning out much hard than I’d first assumed.
We exit the lift and walk through the busy admin level.
Miners and techs bustle past us, finishing shifts, starting shifts, the organized chaos of a working mine.
A few of them glance at us. I’m certain they’ve chuckled at the sight of the massive Fever Brother and the small human journalist who’s been trailing him for days.
Outside, the jungle air hits me, warm, humid and fragrant with those strange purple flowers I’ve grown to love. We walk to the public transport station in silence.
“Your article,” Texon finally says. “When will it be published?”
“A few weeks, probably. My editor will want revisions. There’s always revisions.”
He nods.
I want to say something about how much this trip has meant to me, how much his family has come to matter, how much he has come to matter. And how sorry I am that I haven’t been able to help in any way in their investigation. But the words stick in my throat.
What’s the point? I’m leaving tomorrow.
The compound is quiet when we arrive.
Late afternoon light slants through the windows. The other brothers are still at the mine because their shift runs later than ours did today. From somewhere in the back, I hear children’s laughter. Lila must have them in the backyard play area.
“I should pack,” I say. “Get organized for tomorrow.”
Texon nods. He looks like he wants to say something, but he doesn’t.
I walk down the hallway toward my room, my bag over my shoulder, already mentally cataloging what needs to go where. Clothes. Toiletries. The small gifts the brides gave me, a sketch from Naomi, a recipe card from Jana, a tiny crystal shard from Roxy that she promised was safe to take off-planet.
My door is ajar.
I stop walking. What the heck? I didn’t leave it that way. I’m certain I didn’t. I always close doors behind me. It’s habit, drilled into me from years of living in a crowded Singapore apartment with roommates, where privacy was precious.
I push the door open slowly and freeze. My room is destroyed.
Drawers are yanked out, the contents scattered across the floor.
My clothes are thrown everywhere, shirts and pants and underwear strewn like someone went through everything in a hurry.
My bag has been upended, everything inside dumped onto the bed.
The mattress is half off the frame, like someone checked beneath it.
Even the small potted plant that Lila gave me when I arrived has been knocked over, dirt spilled across the desk in a dark streak.
Someone searched my room. And they didn’t care if I knew.
My heart slams against my ribs. I back out of the doorway, my mind racing, and nearly collide with something solid.
Texon.
He must have followed me down the hall. His hands catch my shoulders, steadying me, and then he looks past me into the room. He goes absolutely still.
I’ve seen Texon irritated and seen him guarded, suspicious, almost-smiling.
I’ve never seen this.
His expression transforms into something cold and lethal. The gentle Xylan who sat beside me on the transport, whose gloved hand brushed mine, is gone. This is a male who would kill without hesitation.
He moves past me into the room, checking corners, looking into the small closet and bathroom, checking under the destroyed bed, everywhere someone could hide. His claws are extended. The scraping sound they make against the doorframe raises the hair on my arms.
“They’re gone,” he growls. “But they were here. Recently.”
“How do you know?”
“I can smell them.” His nostrils flare. “Three males. Xylan. They left maybe two hours ago.”
Two hours ago I was watching Leah explain crystal resonance frequencies.
“Ines? Trunk?” Lila’s voice comes from the hallway. Footsteps approach. “I thought I heard you come in, I was just in the back with the kids and—”
She appears in the doorway. Baby Rux is on her hip, his chubby fingers tangled in her dark hair.
Her jaw drops open. “Oh gods.” She stares at the ransacked room. “Oh gods, I was... I was in the backyard the whole time. The children were playing, I was watching them, I didn’t hear anything, I didn’t—”
Her gaze cuts to the hallway. Toward the back of the compound. Toward where the other children are still playing, oblivious.
I see the terror hit her.
Someone was in the compound. While she was alone with four small children. While the brothers were all at the mine. Whoever did this could have done anything. Could have hurt anyone.
“The children,” she whispers. “I have to—”
“Go,” Texon says. “Check on them. I’ll handle this.”
She’s gone in an instant, Rux bouncing on her hip, her footsteps rapid down the hallway.
Texon is already on his comm device, voice low and urgent. I catch fragments: compromised... breach... come home now.
I stand in the doorway of the destroyed room and try to slow my breathing.
Someone knew I was investigating the cold case, not just writing a puff piece about human brides. And they want me gone.
Within the hour, all the brothers are home.
I don’t know how they got here so fast. Someone must have pulled them from the mine early, arranged emergency transport. They file in one by one, still in their work gear, mining equipment clanking against their massive thighs. Naomi, Roxy and Jana are with them.
Hook leaves immediately with Argyl to meet back up with Leah at their home.
Heavy pulls Jana close the moment he walks through the door, his huge hand spanning her back, holding her against him like he’s afraid to let go.
Claws wraps an arm around Lila, who’s still shaking despite having confirmed that all four children were fine, completely unaware that anything was wrong.
Chief surveys my room with cold calculation, his sharp eyes cataloging every detail. Cannibal’s hands curl into fists at his sides. Rook is in the hallway, frowning.
Scar crouches in the doorway, examining the lock, the frame, the floor. Looking for evidence.
“Common room,” Chief says finally. “Everyone. Now.”
We gather in the common room, arranged in a loose circle. The couples sit next to each other and all the chairs are taken.
The baby is napping and the two toddlers play quietly on the floor, possibly understanding the mood of the adults.
“Report,” Chief says, looking at me.
I straighten. “Nothing was taken,” I tell everyone. “I had my tablet with me at the mine. All my notes and everything important was on my person.”
“They weren’t looking for something,” Scar says flatly. “They were sending a message.”
“What message?” Rook asks.
“Stop digging.” Scar meets my eyes. “Someone knows you aren’t here to just interview the humans; they all assume you’re here investigating the cold case. And they want you gone.”
“But why would they bother,” Texon says. “She was already leaving tomorrow.”
“Maybe that’s not soon enough for them,” Chief says quietly. “Or maybe they wanted to make sure she doesn’t come back.”
Heavy speaks up, his deep voice rumbling through the room. “How did they get in? Someone walked right into our home while Lila and the children were here. Even though she was in the backyard, the front door and windows were locked. They were able to bypass our security?”
“Minecorp security could access the compound,” Scar says. “Everyone on Timbur has emergency codes and If they had authorization from someone high enough, they could get those.”
“Grytel,” Cannibal growls.
“Or Kryzon. Using Grytel’s authority.” Scar’s jaw tightens. “This is an escalation. They’ve never come at us here. They’ve never come to where we live, not since...”
He doesn’t finish the sentence.
Everyone is thinking about their parents. Murdered in their beds.
The silence stretches, heavy with old grief and fresh fear.
“She’s not sleeping alone tonight,” Texon announces.