Page 5 of Arakiba (Alien Legacy Brotherhood #3)

Chapter Four

M organ’s head spun as she followed the group of Ozevroc to their Sanctum of Reverence. There were so many questions rattling around in her head it was hard to concentrate on one thing.

Like, who took the sacred relic of the Ozevroc? She doubted it was any of them. It couldn’t be any of the slaves they usually had on board. They sold all those beings at their last stop, which left no one else around to steal it. She knew she didn’t. That left only one other person. The man walking next to her. Not only had he somehow taken his nutesh snare off, but it left him free to leave the engine room and disappear.

So, did he take the relic? If so, why? And what did he do with it? If he didn’t take it, then where did he go and what did he do?

She took a step back and studied his backside, at first looking for where he could carry the Ozevroc relic. Nope, nothing between this man and his tight jeans. Pursing her lips, she stole a precious moment to appreciate the flow and ebb of his thick thighs and glorious ass working as he walked.

When he turned to look at her over his shoulder, she tilted her chin up and resumed her place next to him.

No way was he carrying that thing on his person. Did that mean he took it somewhere and hid it? Hopefully not in the engine room. No way she’d convince Welozz of her innocence then. Her pulse sped up, bringing heat to her neck and cheeks. What kind of game was Ari playing? Did the man really have amnesia?

Her shoulders slumped. Yeah, she had every reason to think he did. When she’d first scanned her multicorder over him, it confirmed he suffered from memory loss. But that didn’t answer where he went after she fell asleep. Or what happened to his slave collar.

Well, the only way to get her answers was to talk to him. A private sit-down was on the agenda. She needed answers. But she’d have to do it away from the Ozevroc.

High Chieftain Welozz stopped before an obvious doorway, causing Morgan to jerk out of her musings. She glanced around, and her eyes widened when she noticed they were on a whole other level of the Nebula Viper than she’d been in before. Great. Instead of paying attention to where they were going, she’d moved around in a fog, worrying about Ari. She resolved to not let that happen again.

With a snarl and growl, Welozz prayed for the door to open with a flourish of his staff and open arms, all six of them.

The covering dissolved open with a reverent hiss.

“Humans. Come.” Welozz demanded, entering the darkened room. His troops stayed outside, their ever-ready weapons held in tight grips.

Morgan followed the Ozevroc and stepped into the dimly lit Sanctum of Reverence.

The air was thick with the scent of sacred herbs and carried an aura of solemnity. The room was small but ornately decorated, with tapestries on every wall that looked like a depiction of the rich history of the Ozevroc people. At the center, an empty pedestal stood, the Talon of Ancients conspicuously absent.

Her heart sank. Damn thing was really gone. Sucking in a fortifying breath, she refocused on the task at hand. “Okay, let’s see if we can find out what happened here.” She kept her voice steady despite the tension pinching between her shoulders. Pulling out the multicorder, she scanned up and down the pedestal.

Ari nodded and glanced around the room with narrow eyes. “I’ll take a quick look around. Just to make sure no one came in except through the main door.”

“Find now. Only I Chieftain! Must have.” Welozz claimed, smacking the staff on the pristine metallic floor. His six muscular arms twitched with barely contained energy, making his navy-blue fur glisten in the low light.

Morgan studied the readings as they coalesced on the screen. “Don’t worry, High Chief. We’ll do our best. I’ll find clues that will point us to the thief.”

She circled the empty pedestal again with her handheld, its soft hum filling the air. She swept it over and around the intricately embossed column. Her multicorder screen lit up with data. The readings showed traces of an unusual crystalline residue, faint but unmistakable.

“Well, this is weird,” Morgan murmured, flipping the screen around to show Ari and Welozz. “The only organic residue is from the Ozevroc. But there’s some kind of crystalline remnant all around the pedestal and the floor.” She aimed her handheld above her to the ceiling. “It’s faint, but there’s even some here.” She brought the screen down. “It has a strange conglomeration of amethyst, quartz, and some kind of alien compound I’ve never seen before.”

“Hey, Morgan. Point that thing over here.” Ari gestured to a section of the wall that seemed to glitter.

Turning around, she brought the multicorder to where he motioned. “You’re right, it looks like this wall is thick with the same combination the pedestal has.” She brushed her hand over the smooth surface. “It doesn’t feel any different from this section to the next.” She focused her scanner around the room, and the multicorder picked up more traces of the crystalline substance leading back and forth from the pedestal to the wall. “It looks like our thief somehow came through this wall. Where does it lead?” She addressed Welozz.

Welozz’s snout tightened. “Outside ship.”

Morgan translated what the Ozevroc said for Ari.

“Bummer,” Ari muttered under his breath.

Morgan glanced at Ari with a frown. She turned to Welozz. “Has this been here before?” She gestured to the shimmering glow left behind on the wall.

Welozz snarled, which didn’t need a translation.

“If you’ll allow, great High Chieftain, Ari and I will go through the ship and…”

Bugurr raced into the room. “High Chieftain! Quick, come!”

Morgan never imagined she’d ever see that look of panic cross the Sub-Chieftain’s snout. His four eyes were wide enough that a hint of white surrounded their onyx color.

“No obstruct!” the High Chieftain demanded, pounding his staff on the floor.

“Lurvath killed!” Bugurr rumbled as he fell to his knees with his head on the ground. Just informing the High Chieftain that one of them was dead without him being involved was a cause for severe disciplinary action to the messenger.

“What’s going on?” Ari leaned down and whispered to her.

“Looks like someone murdered another one of them.” Morgan glanced up at him. “And this time, they found him.”

Ari’s lips twisted into a grimace. “Well, at least we won’t have to fire up the incinerator this time.”

Ari sucked in a deep breath when they stepped out of the small sanctum room. The confined space made his skin crawl, and the cloying scent of the incense the Ozevroc used made his nose burn. Saying his mood was darkening would be putting it mildly. And the narrow-eyed looks Morgan gave him didn’t help. Not that he blamed her. No telling how he ended up on another part of the ship. The black nutesh snare should’ve zapped him awake before he left the room.

Ari fingered the thick scarf around his neck. What happened to that snare? He glanced around to make sure the Ozevroc didn’t notice he wasn’t wearing their slave collar. An image shot across his mind. One of him with three other men as each ripped the offending thing off their necks with loud whoops of celebration. Had he been a slave on another ship? That might explain why he’d never noticed the collar until Morgan pointed it out to him.

A sharp shove to the middle of his back made him stumble. He glared over his shoulder at the short Ozevroc poking him with the cylinder pole he carried.

The alien hissed and growled.

Ari didn’t need a translator to let him know the guy wanted him to pick up the pace. “Hey, take it easy, fur-ball four-eyes.” He shrugged his arm away from the pushy guy. “No need to damage the goods.”

“Keep up,” Morgan hissed a whisper as she stepped closer to him. “We’re walking on thin ice as it is.”

She pursed her luscious, lickable lips and glanced at the Ozevroc around them. Her statement confused him at first. The floor was metal, not ice. Oh, wait. She was making a metaphor. He fingered his earlobe. Now why would he know what a metaphor was? Gah. This amnesia shit was getting on his last damn nerve. Especially since he didn’t know why he woke up walking the hallways of a hostile alien ship.

He had to be mental.

One of the Ozevroc, something that looked like the offspring between a howler monkey that did the nasty with a beaver, growled at Morgan.

She held out her hand to stop Ari from following the self-important chieftain into a room. “We’ll wait here until they say we can go in.”

Ari peered into the room.

A scattering of tables and benches were built close to the ground, small enough to fit the short Ozevroc. Lumpy, worn padded material covered the benches that had to give their stumpy tails stability. The tables had round, built-in trays. Probably to keep the food in place when the ship jerked around for whatever reason.

But it was the strange smell that came out of the room that told him this had to be their communal eating place. The air had a thick scent of cooking meat mixed with a faint, sweet order of something pickled and fermented. Not to mention that underlying musk of wet dog the aliens carried. At least he hoped this was their version of a cafeteria. If they used this disgusting room for anything else, he might bolt for the hills. Well, if there were hills to bolt to.

The four-eyed member of the snout squad poked him again with more growls and grunts. This time on his side. He scowled at the beastie. He reached to grab the idiot’s pole when Morgan gripped his wrist.

“No, it’s okay. They want us to go in.” Morgan led him inside. “I’m going to activate my multicorder around the body. Please just stay behind me and don’t say or do anything.” She turned her imploring gold-green eyes his way. “Please?”

Ari huffed with a frown. “Okay, I’ll do my best.” He glanced down at the stubby little shit with his weapon still aimed at Ari’s midsection. “But warn mini-ugly here no touchy, or I won’t be responsible for what shape his weapon will look like after I shove it up his ass.”

Morgan rolled those expressive eyes at him, but leaned down to the Ozevroc and grumbled and hissed at him.

The creature’s burned-orange fur bristled, but he stepped back and brought the tip up, narrowing his two sets of black eyes in Ari’s direction.

That settled, Ari followed Morgan into the room. The place was a mess. Plates, along with eating utensils covered in congealing food, littered the floor. Every messy table overflowed with the same discarded, smelly crap untouched for goddess only knew for how long. He sniffed. If he wasn’t mistaken, some of the Ozevroc had to have relieved themselves around the place. By the everlasting gods, these are some disgusting beaver-tailed barf-dogs.

Taking shallow breaths, he stood behind a crouched Morgan, who ran her multicorder over the still form of an unmoving Ozevroc.

The alien’s mouth was slightly ajar, the thin lips tinged in blue. A thin trickle of dried blood crested at the corner, and his black tongue hung out the side. The creature’s four eyes were wide-eyed, the orbs protruding. All six sets of his clawed hands were unnaturally bent and stiff. His beaver-like tail was curled in a way that spoke of agony and resistance. A clear bite mark from blocky, wide teeth stood out on one of his upper arms. As Ari looked it over, he found no similar wounds on it.

“Did someone strangle him or try to eat him?” Ari crouched next to Morgan, studying the body closer, trying to grasp every detail the corpse offered. The creature’s coarse hairs might have been a dark brown, but the color was covered in a dried, caking goo and lay matted against his stubby chest. “Is it okay if I touch him?” he asked Morgan.

She took a quick glance at her multicorder and at the High Chieftain behind her. She hissed, and he growled back.

“Okay, just be respectful.”

Ari grinned. “Hey, you bet. Respect is my middle name.”

Not waiting for a response, he took extra care when he lifted the Ozevroc’s head. There, around his neck, were deep, crescent-shaped bruises like powerful fingers had dug into the flesh. The skin beneath the fur bore the unmistakable imprints of a struggle, the force of the attacker’s grip clear in the dark, mottled marks.

Ari laid the head down and studied the Ozevroc’s long, coarse fingers, most bent unnaturally. Looked like the guy tried to pry away the hands that had stolen his life. “Morgan, aim your multicorder at his hands, especially his claws, and see if you can get any DNA from them.” He sighed, rising to his feet. He stood with his hands on his hips, taking in the cluttered surroundings. While the place was an overall mess, it was easy to tell the Ozevroc died trying to save his life. Overturned crates and scattered cooking tools bore silent witness to his final, frantic moments.

“What do you see?” he asked her.

“Well—“ Morgan rose, still reading her device. ”—this here is, er, was Lurvath, the head cook.”

“Wow, hard to believe anyone would object to something this guy cooked.” Ari pointed to the rest of the room. “If this room is an example of his master chef capabilities, no wonder the High Chieftain wanted you to fix their food-thingy.”

“Yeah, well. Now you know why I was desperate to make one for myself,” Morgan responded in a quiet voice. She looked up at him. “I’m going to tell his highness over there that I’ve found the same crystalline traces here that were in the sanctum room.” She pursed her lips. “Not sure how he’s going to take that.”

“I dunno—“ Ari crossed his arms with a grin. ”—we’ve lived a whole hour without getting a death threat. I was beginning to feel left out.”

Morgan grimaced. “Yeah, well, let’s hope that’s the least he’ll do.”

Luckily, the High Chieftain let Morgan scan the rest of the room.

Sure enough, the crystalline trail was in there, but nowhere outside it. The corridor was clear.

“Maybe it popped in and out like a magician.” Ari offered an unhelpful analysis. “Did you ask them if anything was missing from here?” He gestured around the chaos of the Ozevroc cafeteria. “Now that’d definitely be some kind of magic trick.”

Morgan frowned, tucking a strand of her golden curls behind her ear. Most of them sprang back. The man might’ve hit on something. It was general practice for the psychics at Aethralis to teleport around the city all the time. Could this be something similar?

Shaking herself out of her musings, she faced Ari. “Nothing is missing as far as they know. But look here.”

She led him to a mound of glass that sparkled in the dim light. Crouching, she aimed the multicorder over a deep impression on the side of the pile. Running her handheld over it, she studied the readings. “If I didn’t know better, I’d swear it was a footprint.”

Ari settled next to her and focused on where she indicated.

His warm, masculine scent drew her in, making her take a deep, appreciative breath. She sure loved the masculine scent he carried. Musky goodness mixed with an unfamiliar spice that made her pulse thrum. Images of them in an intimate, naked embrace made her bite her tongue. What was it about this guy that made her react like that? She’d never behaved like this with anyone so quickly before.

Ari whistled low. “Damn, if that’s someone’s foot, this here is one heavy sucker. Look how deep it is.” He fingered around the side. “And what’s sticking out the sides? It looks like spikes.”

Morgan peered closer to the real thing before adjusting the multicorder. “Those spikes are part of the footprint itself. They’re appendages just like the toes are. How odd.” She tried to get her handheld to create an image of what could have made that print, but the ‘corder stated it needed further information.

With a reluctant sigh, she stood and looked around. “I don’t think there’s anything else we can do here.” She clipped her multicorder to her belt. “We’d better get back to the engine room before they begin their funeral ritual.” She shuddered. “I vowed I’d never watch them do that again if I could help it.”

Not waiting for his answer, she approached the High Chieftain, keeping her eyes focused low and to the side. “Oh, great and mighty Chieftain. May we lowly humans return to the engine room? Lots to fix.”

Welozz thumped his staff with a snarl. “Find Talon of Ancients!”

She nodded, keeping her head bowed. “Yes, yes. With your permission, I wish to study the layout of the Nebula Viper to discover where the sacred artifact might be. I need to plan where to search further.”

Morgan kept her head down as the silence stretched. She tensed when Ari took a step beside her, but at least he kept his smart-aleck self quiet.

“Done.” Welozz announced. “Or humans die.”

She pursed her lips to keep from groaning in relief. Welozz wasn’t stupid. He had to realize she was his best chance at finding the artifact.

“Grozzik take back. You find,” the High Chieftain announced, turning away to announce the festivities of cooking Lurvath for the funeral feast.

Morgan shuddered. “That’s our cue.” She announced to Ari. “Let’s get out of here.” She nodded to the khaki-brownish-yellow Ozevroc glaring at them. “Just follow Grozzik as he leads us back to the engine room.”

“Okey dokey pokey.” Ari watched the short Ozevroc with a mischievous gleam in his steel-gray eyes.

She nudged Ari with her shoulder. “Whatever you’re planning, don’t. Let’s not give Grozzik any reason to stay with us once we get there. We’ve got too much to do.” Between fixing the small spider-bot to help with Elemi’s repairs, to cleaning up whatever mess the Ozevroc left after they searched the place. Not to mention she had to come up with a plan to find the missing artifact. To top it off, she was starving and couldn’t wait to activate the replicron to whip up some breakfast. Along with a much-needed cup of coffee.

“Fine.” Ari huffed. “He’s safe.” He grinned. “For now.”

Morgan stifled the threatening grin. Damn clown. She wouldn’t put it past him to trip the Ozevroc into the nearest airlock.

“Good.” She nodded. “Let’s get some breakfast and figure out what to do next.”

“Yeah.” Ari nodded. “Gotta admit finding a murdering thief is way easier on a full stomach.”

When Ari, with Morgan beside him, followed Grozzik into the engine room, he hooked his thumbs into the loops of his jeans and glanced around. If he thought the place was a mess before, boy howdy, was he ever wrong. The mountain of discarded metal and tools he’d worked on yesterday might have been in a neat pile, but any sense of order was completely gone. All of it was every which way, making it impossible to move without stepping on something.

“Wow, good thing having nothing to do today isn’t on the agenda,” he quipped.

Morgan snorted, plucking up some of the clutter covering her workstation and tossing most of it into the trash bin he’d used before. “This is ridiculous,” she muttered, wiping her hands together. “I’m hungry. Let’s eat. Replicron display!”

It didn’t take her long to pull her food replicator out of the larger machine where she’d stored it. Since he couldn’t remember anything that resembled what she called breakfast, he told her to surprise him with something.

Soon, he joined her sitting on an upturned crate, devouring what she called an omelet. Best thing ever. The cheesy goodness smothered the veggies, as well as sausage, ham, bacon, and potatoes. She’d also brought him a container with a bright orange liquid. After his first tentative sip, he gulped it all in one swallow. When he finished everything, he asked her to show him how to make more.

“Later,” she replied. “For now, I’ll do it. We don’t have a lot of time to get this place cleaned up. Patience isn’t Welozz’s strong point, so we’ve got to concentrate on finding that artifact as soon as we can.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe anyone took something that important to the Ozevroc without them noticing.”

Morgan brought him another glass of the orange drink. His fingers brushed over hers, surprising him when a bolt of lust tightened his cock. The need to lay her back and lick every inch of her as part of his breakfast feast made his mouth water. Dammit. Had he always behaved like that with a female? With a tentative grasp, he put his other hand over his lap to cover his hardened member. No need to advertise how attracted to her he was. No telling how she’d react to that.

Too late. Her lips twitched.

Those sweet, pouty lips. Mesmerized by the sight, he imagined those plump mounds sliding against his naked chest… and lower. Much lower. His dick twitched in agreement.

Sliding his eyes to look anywhere but her, Ari drank the now-tasteless juice as fast as he could. Putting the glass on the counter, he sat back and turned his attention back to Morgan when it was safe to do so. He watched her every move. Even though she wore baggy overalls, the fabric cupped and held her breasts like a lover as it draped over her succulent form and accentuated her round, firm ass. She’d rolled the pant legs up to expose her trim, shapely ankles and calves, along with her dainty feet encased in some kind of slip-on shoes made of a canvas material. Every movement she made was as smooth as a burning flame, smoldering and hot.

“So…” Ari cleared his throat. Back to business. “What’s first on the agenda for today, irnini ?”

Morgan’s eyebrows rose. “ Irnini ? Sweet-smelling lady? That’s a weird name to call me.“ Her eyes narrowed. “Why would you use an ancient Babylonian name like that?”

All he could do was shrug. “Who knows?” He let his lips curl suggestively. “But you’ve got to admit I’m not lying.”

Her only response was to roll her eyes. She went back to her workstation after discarding her plate and cup.

Ari’s jaw tightened. He meant every word he said. “Why does it bother you when I say something nice to you?” He went over to her, bending so he could catch her eye. “I may not know a lot about myself, but I know I’m not a liar.” Leaning close, he caught a whiff of her sensual scent, an exquisite blend of sandalwood with a hint of earthy balsamic. Honesty, he was sure, had to the best policy. Why not admit it?

“I want you to know how attracted to you I am.” He grasped her hand and exposed her palm. With deliberate slowness, he traced his finger from her inner elbow across to the middle of her hand. Just this simple touch made his heart thunder. “Is it normal for me to feel like this when we touch?” His voice came out low as he searched her expression for an answer.

Morgan jerked her hand away. “I don’t know what you mean.” She scowled.

Ari flattened his lips, ready to make a retort when he looked closer at her. Her face and neck were rosy, her cheeks darkened. And the pulse at the base of her throat throbbed. When she licked her lips, his tense shoulders eased. She was either fooling him… or herself. An unexpected sensation of burgeoning desire slammed into him.

And that feeling didn’t come from him. Where did this… this passionate sensation come from? Well, it didn’t take an emotional genius to figure it out. Without a doubt it came from her. Interesting. She was as attracted to him as much as he was to her. But why did she deny how she felt? He ignored the question as to why he was sure he knew that.

“Do you have someone back home waiting for you?” Ari held his breath. That would explain her reluctance.

“What?” Morgan exclaimed before clearing her throat. “No. Why would you ask that?” She turned away from him and went back to the replicron. “Just drop it. We’ve got a lot of other things to worry about besides… that.” Waving a dismissive hand, she took out the small spider-bot from its hiding place in the wide machine. “Refraction replicron,” she said over her shoulder. Her attention was wholly on the small droid as the machine fizzled into invisibility.

Ari took a moment to study the now-busy Morgan. Crossing his arms, he brought his hand up and tapped a finger on his chin. It appears patience wasn’t one of his virtues. The urge to pull her into his arms to make her face what was happening between them was hard to resist. Especially when he envisioned doing so with his mouth, hands, and body instead of words.

He frowned. That wasn’t right. He was the last person who’d force someone to do anything against their will. It had to be voluntary. A challenge then. Get Morgan to admit how she felt about him… with a little nudge. Time to craft a carefully planned seduction.

Yeah, that’s right. He eyed Morgan nibbling on the corner of her mouth as she worked on the bot, seemingly oblivious to him.

The enticing woman didn’t stand a chance.