Page 37 of Chased by the Alien Mercenary (Monster Mercenary Mates #6)

“That sounds amazing, mate,” I found myself saying.

“Don’t give her ideas for her series of mercenary interviews.

She’s gonna insist on pictures for those now…

” Talk about giving her ideas. I knew I’d planted it in her mind now, and I could sense her excitement as she leaped to share this with Harper and the other females.

She loved taking pictures, so I wasn’t going to regret the idea.

If it made her happy, I’d sit for as many pictures as she wanted.

And it also made her happy to know that I was okay, so I forced my shoulders away from the wall and walked into Tass’s domain.

Tass’s domain also meant Nelly, and that had been bothering me of late, but she was hiding between plants when I first entered, so I did not see her.

Tass was jovial as always when he greeted me, but he did not try to have a conversation, and his Iridese did not flare along his temples, indicating he felt threatened like he once always used to.

I tried to see that as a sign that he liked my company, even if all I could manage was to squat at his side and watch in fascination as he grew plants with the special powers he had.

It was soothing to see, and all the green made me feel like I was outside, free to go wherever I wanted.

This was a good place, and Tass was a good male.

When he nudged a small shovel in my direction, he didn’t need to explain out loud what he wanted.

I began digging evenly spaced holes for the plants he was replanting from the nursery he kept in his quarters with his mate.

This was a task I’d done before, and it was surprisingly nice to do.

Then Nelly crawled out from beneath a flowering bush nearby, and I froze, fighting the instinctive desire to growl and scare her off.

I owed it to my friend not to do that. She was tiny—no threat—but it was hard all the same.

Tass had watched these interactions before but had never said anything.

This time, however, he cocked his head and sighed.

“Nelly, staring is rude. Don’t you know that by now?

If you want to give him something, show it.

” Give me something? What? My thighs ached from how tightly my muscles had clenched.

Was I really worried about interacting with a mute plant girl the size of my boot?

Breathing deeply, I managed to reel back the growl that wanted to build in my chest, and it helped ease me even more when I felt a soft brush of Lyra’s mind against mine, querying if I was okay.

Yeah, I could do this. Aramon also tried to butt in, like usual, but I didn’t want to lean on either of them. I needed to do this on my own.

Sinking to my knees made me less threatening, and Nelly danced across the dirt, coming a little closer.

She was so pink and fragile that I couldn’t believe Tass felt comfortable picking her up.

I was certain I’d crush her by accident if I tried.

Luckily, I didn’t have to try. All I needed to do was look at her tiny hand as she held out an orange and red flower to me, curled in a delicate circlet no bigger than the tip of my little finger.

I opened my hand slowly, forcing my claws to retract, and held it out to her.

She smiled at me then, and the soft brush of her tiny hands against my fingertips felt.

..well, it felt nice. She was soft, sweet, unthreatening.

“Nelly has been wanting to be your friend—like you are mine—for a while now,” Tass commented with a laugh.

“But she thought you wouldn’t want that.

I told her she was wrong.” There was a hint of steel in his voice then, warning me that I’d better agree to be the tiny plant girl’s friend—or else.

And that… that made me feel so good inside, it was almost as good as thinking of Lyra’s sweet smile.

Nelly’s gift was so tiny it made very little sense to me, but I’d treasure it anyway.

I didn’t know how to communicate that, so I tried to smile at her, certain I’d look threatening and scare her off.

But she beamed back at me, and then her fingers brushed against the small ring with its pretty little flower.

“I think she’s suggesting you give that to Lyra.

She picked up on the concept of marriage from Harper and Mitnick.

Humans exchange rings to mark a mating,” Tass said, pointing with the tip of a vine at the tiny flower ring in my hand.

“That’s probably the right size for your mate.

” The concept was so foreign, but the idea that little Nelly wanted to help me court my mate was pleasing.

Giving that tiny flower ring to Lyra was pleasing too; she deserved soft things.

Now I just needed to figure out how to present it to her.

I could ask Aramon, but I was certain he’d have wild ideas—none of them entirely right—until Evie reeled him in.

But if Evie knew, then she’d let it slip to the other women, and then…

No, this had to be a surprise. I turned to look imploringly at Tass and tried hard to ask him the question I needed to ask: “How?” He smiled, and I felt myself relax a little more. Okay, he’d help me; he was happy to.

Then, like a splash of cold water, the Sineater’s voice intruded on the moment.

“Solear,” he drawled from the door to Tass’s domain.

He stood framed against the darker hallway behind him, and any semblance of the calm I’d achieved went right out the window.

I quivered with tension, fighting to hold back the defensive warnings that wanted to rumble from my throat.

He needed to stay away from me; I didn’t want to scare Nelly after she’d just offered me her friendship.

I didn’t want to fall back into old patterns and attacks just because he rubbed me the wrong way with his darkness and his… menace.

Aramon popped up behind the Sineater’s shoulder then, and his mind pressing against mine did help.

“Sorry I’m late,” he said breathlessly, then added with a wink and a wide grin, “I was making Evie a surprise in our quarters.” His mind flashed with images of sexy lingerie, but he managed to swipe those away and focus on what he was apparently here to do.

I helped him by pulling on those thoughts so they became front and center in his mind.

“You never did say if you managed to get that navigational data or not. I know the captain has a debriefing scheduled for this afternoon, but we wanted to know now!”

Not we, Aramon was the one happy working on his surprise for Evie, but the Sineater.

He was the one who wanted answers now, and from the darkness that clung to his expression, he wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

I wanted to growl again, snap at them to leave us alone.

Especially when I realized Nelly had crawled beneath my still-outstretched hand and was cowering there.

She was clinging to me for protection, because she feared the Sineater like everyone else.

He seemed especially dark today, and I wondered why that was, even as it teased my instincts to send him packing.

But if the Sineater wanted information from me, it made sense that he’d ordered Aramon to show up.

Aramon was the only way to access what I knew—well, Lyra too now—but I was certain that even the Sineater was not enough of a bastard to pull my female out of a happy gathering.

Well... no. He might, if that was the only option.

But it wasn’t; there was Aramon. So I told Aramon what I knew: that I’d failed to get it because Lyra had needed me.

That I’d seen a solar system with three suns and a small, watery planet.

Distinct, but it could still match so many locations.

Something sparked deep in the depths of those dark eyes, though, when Aramon explained what I knew.

He stared at me a little longer, and it felt like he was pulling on me, though he hadn’t moved.

Like he was drawing things out of me. But that wasn’t right.

He was not telepathic, and he wasn’t an empath like the Aderians were, either.

This felt darker. But oddly enough, when he spun away and marched off without a backward glance, I felt lighter because of it.

We did call him the Sineater for a reason, after all.

And as he walked away and Aramon began to merrily chat with Tass, including me, though I wasn’t listening, I wondered something: What if…

what if the Sineater was as lonely as I had once been?

He didn’t have any friends on the ship. He didn’t have anyone to share his table over food, and though he was always dark and cool—collected—but also closed off.

What if, being what he was—the eater of sins, of darkness—made everyone keep their distance? What if that wasn’t his choice?

I shoved those thoughts away. I could not solve them, and if I told anyone, I was certain they would just laugh at the concept.

But I understood loneliness better than anyone, and I knew no one deserved it.

I was very blessed to have a twin and a mate who would never let me feel that way again.

I even had friends, like one tiny plant girl who gave me relationship advice, and her big plantist protector.

I even had my captain, who had always looked out for Aramon and me. And now I had Lyra.

Life had never been this good.

THE END