Page 3 of Guardian’s Heart (Space Guardian’s Mate #1)

ZAAREK

I had never encountered a galactic scourge like her before. Her attack on me had been as unexpected as her battle techniques. She broke my frygging finger! Nobody had ever hurt me before and lived to tell the tale, but I could hardly hurt the very person I was sent to rescue. I didn't understand what by all the moons was wrong with her. Maybe she's crazy in the head , I surmised. There was no telling what captivity might have done to her. I had seen weak species break down in captivity. And she was of a weaker species. Aside from her crazed attack, it wouldn't take any effort on my part to twist her little neck. I could lift her with one arm and throw her against the wall, breaking every single one of her fragile little bones. As tempting as that sounded, I would never hurt a female.

"So these are humans?" an obnoxious voice that I had hoped I had heard the last of announced.

"You're still here, Nock?"

"Wouldn't miss this for any supernova party." His head turned in all angles, lingering on the group of huddled humans, behaving like any good rescued group of individuals should—and not like this mini vorathrax. When Nock’s head turned to her, I stiffened. For an inexplicable reason, heat rose inside me. She was still naked, like the others, but her nakedness bothered me. I didn't want anybody to see it.

With a snarl, I ripped my cape off, shouldered Nock out of the way, and draped it over the tiny human female. When I realized what I had done, I demanded from Monrag, "Get the others something to cover up as well."

He yelled orders to his subordinates and watched impatiently as they handed similar capes to them.

"You will come with me," I told them. Never once did it occur to me to assure them that they were safe, that I would take them to their new home. Why would I? I was a frygging Space Guardian; everybody knew who I was and what I did. Not killing them should have been indication enough that I was saving them.

Not her though, oh no, not the crazy one. I should have known better.

I stared at Monrag for a long moment. The urge to take the bastard out was strong, even more so when I heard a high-pitched scream from one of the Faysars. There was no way I could leave with that galaxy scum still alive.

"Get back in line with the others," Monrag snarled, oblivious to my inner struggle not to terminate him. He grabbed the female's arm through my cape, about to pull her away.

That's when I snapped.

"Do not touch her!" I roared, pulling my blaster and terminating the scourge's life. There would be repercussions from my minder, but right then, I didn't give a frygg. The moment the bastard laid his dirty fingers on the human female, he forfeited his life.

"What the frygg, Zaarek," Nock sputtered.

"Got to uphold my reputation," I grunted, "let's go!" I waved at the humans.

The female wearing my cape gave me a thoughtful glance before she fell in line with the others, who looked, contrary to her, resigned to their fate.

"You're gonna be in one flaming inferno with the Pandraxians," Nock prophesied. He, for whatever reason, had attached himself to my side.

I shrugged. "Free the humans and punish the ones who took them," I repeated my orders, more to myself, internally preparing myself for a debate with Possedion than to justify my actions to Nock.

"You do know that this was a coldhearted kill, right?"

"You do know what Monrag has been doing, right?" I threw right back at him, expecting my freed prisoners to follow us like a good little flock, like every single sentient being in the universe would have done.

"Doesn't mean you can just kill him," Nock argued.

"Would you have rather me taken him to the GTU? So that they could have imprisoned him? The powers he served would have either silenced him or set him free," I predicted.

"That might be the case." Nock didn't give up. "Still, who gave you the right to kill him?"

The Ohrurs—my employers, the ones profiting from my efforts to save the humans. More irritation rose inside me. The ones who didn't give a shit about this new species. They were just in for the credits. Credits I never saw as much as a shadow of.

"And who gives the Ohrurs the power to decide who gets terminated?" Nock continued. "As far as I know, the Ohrurs are merchants. Why would they be interested in saving humans?"

"They're not. The Pandraxians are."

"So the Pandraxians hired the Ohrurs to have you save humans?"

That little cunning asteroid had just managed to land a hit on me. Frygg. It probably wasn't a secret that Emperor Daryus had hired the Ohrurs; still, I had never before divulged who did the hiring.

He pretended like he didn't catch my slip of the tongue and was probably filing the info away. "So if I paid the Ohrurs to have my competitor killed, they would send you?"

I stopped midstride, pretending I took him seriously. "Depends. Has your competitor done anything criminal that the GTU can't get him for?" I had no idea why I was even arguing with the little frygg. Instead of sending him on his way, I indulged him. But, here we were, standing outside the auction house, where shady eyes watched us, waiting for an opportunity to either steal a human or take me on.

"Don't give me that righteous starfog talk," Nock flared. "Your employers are nothing but minders of killers who set a bunch of sociopaths loose on the universe."

I raised an eyebrow. "I'm a sociopath now?" Not liking that idea at all. It was true; I never hesitated to kill and did so without remorse, but only criminals. I could never hurt an innocent. I had long learned that a moral compass was buried deep inside me. One that sought justice wherever it could.

"Don't be dense, you know what I mean."

"No, I don't. If you approached the Ohrurs, they would carefully vet you and your competitor to determine if the GTU will handle him if he has done something criminal. Space Guardians are only deployed when a hardcore criminal is unreachable by the GTU."

"Maybe the GTU should expand their agents to serve the citizens' needs better then," Nock suggested.

I shrugged and started walking toward the hangars again. "Suit yourself. It won't be any sweat off my chest."

"It will be once you're out of a job. What will you do then, Zaarek? How will you satisfy your bloodlust?" Nock provoked me. He had no idea, but he had hit a vulnerable spot. What or who was I if I wasn't a Space Guardian? I had never heard of a Space Guardian being fired. That simply didn't happen. So what would happen if one of us stepped out of line? And what line was that?

I stopped again and bent low to look into Nock's face in anger, not directed at him, but born from confusion. "Do you not have any self-preserving sense in your body? If I'm such a killer, why haven't I terminated you yet?"

"Because you like me?"

I shook my head. "I like you as little as that trouble-making human fe—"

I stopped right there to stare over the heads of the human group. Counting eight.

"There were nine of them, right?"

Nock nodded. "Yes, you saved nine humans. Praised be the great Space Guardian Za—"

"Frygg," I cursed, feeling the need to stomp my foot. "That insufferable human agitator is gone."

"What? The one who attacked you?" Nock’s eyes searched our surroundings.

The plan had been to return to my ship, take care of my finger, and fly the human cargo to Astrionis where they would be safe. For a moment, temptation to do just that rose inside me. Forget about her. So you lost one ...

That was just the problem, though. I never simply lost one. Not ever!

With a resigned sigh, I pulled my broken finger back in alignment. The pain served as punishment for my stupidity. I grabbed for Nock's shirt and ripped a strip off.

"Hey," he protested.

I wrapped it around my finger. It wouldn't do much in lieu of a splint, but at least the fabric's presence would remind me not to strain it too much. Healing would have to wait until I was back on my ship.

Now, I had to find that troublesome female who was as slippery as a Nogartian eel.