Page 10 of Klora (Mates of the Mylos #6)
CHAPTER 10
ADRIAN
I couldn’t believe it. It was over and we were free. Apparently, Louise had tried to make a run for it, and a customer mistaking the alarm and her sudden dash for freedom took her for a shoplifter and tackled her to the ground. I bet she sure hadn’t expected her day to end with a yoga pants wearing Mom stopping for gas, a cup of Starbucks coffee machine brew, and a lottery ticket on her way home from dropping her kid off at Brownies capturing her.
“Nothing more than bumps and bruises,” the EMT announced after looking over Tyrone. “Temp is a bit high but according to your doc up there, that’s normal for you.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe I was talking to a doc in outer space on my phone! I’m gonna be eating free wings for a month off this story.”
Tyrone giggled. “My mom loves hot wings! My brother says they are too much effort for very little reward.”
The EMT chuckled. “Yeah, but so good!”
The EMT shining a light in my eyes after rinsing them out said, “I prefer ribs. Those ones with the Chinese barbecue sauce? Oh man.” He flicked the light off.
My stomach growled and I blushed. The sandwiches, potato salad, and cupcakes we’d had for lunch at the picnic felt so very long ago now. I was a stress eater anyway, so now I was ravenous.
My EMT laughed. “I bet after this you’ll want to stuff yourself silly with some comfort food and beer yourself. Well, other than a few barely noticeable bits of missing hair, some minor bumps from bouncing around on the floor of a van, and a bit of a rash from the tape, you’re okay. If your eyes swell, get any redder, or you notice changes to your vision, go get checked out right away.”
“Thanks,” I murmured. “I have no idea what was on that dirty shop towel.”
“Yeah, no telling. But if it didn’t have a strong smell, it was probably just water. Any remnants of the dirt should be gone now.”
Two Mylos approached us. Unlike the ones at the picnic providing some of the security, these two had scales. And their eyes!
“Cool!” Ty gasped out. “Partial battle shift!”
What? I’d heard they got a little scaly and their eyes changed as part of a mating display. I’d had no idea about any battle form, though. I didn’t have time to ask Ty to dish, though, as the one with black hair and scales which were bluish with maybe a hint of green under the yellow parking lot lights spoke. “I’m Lieutenant Commander Sachuu, Chief of Fleet Security and Intelligence. First, on behalf of all Mylos, I thank you for doing your best to look after our young during the field trip.”
“But we managed to get kidnapped!” I gestured between myself and Ty.
“Yes, despite several members of both human security and Mylos being present. This was not your fault. We are not even certain how your group in particular came to be targeted, except to say that it was well planned and quite deliberate.”
“Yeah, we hadn’t told anyone that Mylos children would be joining us,” I said. “We were told not to, in case it got out and it became a whole out of control thing.”
He nodded. “It was my office, under my direction, which made the request for that to remain secret until arrival. It appears there was a leak.”
I frowned, perplexed as to who could have done such a thing. Definitely not my class aide or Shirley Templeton, my parent volunteer. I highly doubted it could have been the principal or anyone in the office, either. So how had it gotten out, especially far enough in advance that an elaborate plan had been hatched, right down to ‘saving’ and ‘rehoming’ one of the Fleet children. And why only one? Why not wait until we were closer to the class’s shuttle and force them all into the bus? I shivered, thankful they hadn’t managed to do that. Saving just Ty had turned out to be harder than I’d have liked, though in the end, they’d made it almost ridiculously easy.
“They mentioned something about a family waiting to take me and make me live with them,” Ty said.
I nodded. “Yep. They said they were far away from here and that no one would find him easily, though I have no idea why they thought that because I’m pretty sure our faces were all over social media asking people to look for us.”
Sachuu gave me a faint smile, showing a hint of fang. I swallowed. Had their ancestors fought using those? Did they have a venomous bite or something no one told us all about? Shit, his fingertips had dark blue claws on the tips! Catching me staring at his hand, he held it up, then closed his eyes. I watched in amazement as the claws receded, leaving normal looking fingernails that had been hidden behind them which I thought was pretty damned wild. How did evolution even come up with that? His eyes opened, revealing his pupils had rounded, looking less like a lizard’s and more like a human’s. His scales were fading as well.
“Apologies. I see my partial battle shift has alarmed you.”
“I didn’t even know you guys had one,” I admitted.
He nodded. “It is not something we discuss openly. The scales help armor our bodies, our eyes change to help us track better, and the claws and fangs are ancestral traits from long ago, though we hope not to have to use them to win a fight.” He smiled again, this time sans any big sharp teeth. “But to answer your original query, yes. An amber alert was issued for Tyrone and your photo was attached as another victim. We also put out photos of the original kidnappers who were captured on bystanders’ cameras as persons of interest.”
“Those were disguises!” I blurted out.
“As we discovered.”
I glanced uneasily at the Mylos warrior beside him. Why was he staring at me like that? His icy blue eyes were looking at me intently, his body stiff. His scales were still on display, a reddish hue that stood out starkly against his silvery blue hair whose length rested against them on his neck. Unlike Sachuu or Ty, the tips of his ears seemed to be pointed. I wondered if his mother was a Mylos bride of a different species than theirs. I’d never given it much thought, but humans were not their first Bride treaty deal and they’d made no secret of that.
“How did you say you got away?” he asked abruptly.
“Oh! He told me to say I needed to pee and vomit and that I only wanted him with me,” Ty replied.
“It will all be in the report once we get their statements,” Sachuu told him, sounding annoyed.
“And the kidnappers just let him go with you?”
“Sort of. Louise came in to make sure we didn’t try to run,” I said. From the way he was looking at me and his insistent tone, I had the feeling he thought I had helped stage this in some way and it was all a big hoax. I did not need that shit. I opened my mouth to tell him so, but his boss pulled him away to have a word. I couldn’t hear what was being said, but it looked as if I was right and he suspected me of something as he half turned and jabbed a finger in my direction.
The Lieutenant Commander looked surprised at his words, then a look came across his face that reminded me all too well of my cousin Andrew when we were kids and he came up with a plan to play a trick on the rest of our cousins or talk one of our moms into giving us extra cookies while unaware we’d already had some.
Sachuu stepped closer to us and addressed us and the police officers in charge of the scene. “Three shuttles will be arriving shortly, one with two pilots who will take our drop ships back to the Fleet for us as well as Tyrone’s family and one of my senior security officers. The shuttle will fly them home, with my officer taking young Tyrone’s initial statement on the flight up.”
“I get an official debriefing!” Tyrone shouted, bouncing up and down, making the gurney shudder. Thank goodness they had the wheels locked or we’d have rolled for sure.
Sachuu smiled down at him, holding out a hand to help him hop down. “Indeed you do.” Then, looking at the officers, continued, “One of the other shuttles will be a secure prisoner transport. As this involved the Mylos, we claim jurisdiction. If there’s any quibble about us taking them straight away, complainants may accompany the transport to the Fleet and go from there.”
The NYSP officer held out his hands as if to push away that suggestion.“Nope. All yours. The feds might complain, but this is way above my paygrade.”
“No complaints from us either,” the NYPD’s on-site supervisor agreed. “And the third shuttle?”
“It will be taking myself, Klora here, and Mr. McDuffie.”
“Me?” I squeaked. I had not expected that.
“Yes, you. We feel there is more to you than meets the eye, and with that in mind, you are being placed in the custody of Klora until further notice.”
So that was the other Mylos’s name, Klora. I liked it. It was as pretty as he was. Shame he was here to investigate a crime I was involved in and seemed to think I was a kidnapping asshole. Ha! That stunned look he was giving his boss told me that he hadn’t expected this news either. No doubt he thought I'd be going on that prisoner transport. That I wasn’t and the look his boss had given Klora before coming back to talk to us about the arrangements made me think that his boss wanted me close for reasons different than Klora, who was clearly an idiot. Though, if I wasn’t going home tonight, there were people I needed to inform and make arrangements with.
“Could someone please call my mother and let her know I’m okay? And my boss? I was supposed to work tomorrow, after all. It’s not a school break period.”
“Xeranos will take care of that,” Sachuu reassured me.
“Okay. Please ask him to ask my mom to water my plants if I’m not back in a couple of days. She has a key.” Ugh. She was going to be frantic about this and I’d never hear the end of it from her, as if I could have predicted any part of what happened. Then a light bulb went off in my head - the reason Sachuu was putting me in protective custody. Had I been wrong and Klora actually had been worried that we’d been released on purpose but we were still in danger? “This is because some of those Humans First are still out there, isn’t it? It’s a protective custody thing.”
“Something like that, yes,” Sachuu replied, his tone and expression grave.
“How long do you think I might need to be away?” I asked, my anxiety spiking once more.
“Oh, probably indefinitely.”
I closed my eyes, my stomach clenching, begging me to fill it with lots of greasy comfort as I got the answer I’d not wanted to hear.