Page 11 of Redeeming Captivity (Human Pets of Talin #7)
Chapter 11
Tarquin
“As you can see, every piece of machinery has been properly maintained,” Jafinium said as they walked through another hangar full of military plague bots. These were meant to be loaded into a much larger traveler bot and launched at an enemy's ship. Once the traveler got close, the plague bots launched off it and attached to the ship. The plague bots would then spread out so it was hard to clean them off the ship’s hull and then start dismantling the ship from the outside.
“Everything looks as it should,” Tarquin said noncommittally. They’d been at this for the last three marks. Before this, they’d spent two marks going over every detail of the mutual aid plans Jafinium developed for the Talin-Ossiso pact.
“I take great pride in strictly abiding by every maintenance schedule,” Jafinium said. “I’m not a bot or traveler technician, but I make them open every access panel so I can see for myself the work they’ve done. I always find something they could improve and I know my men are thankful for my diligence.”
If he didn’t get away soon, he might need to snap Jafinium’s neck on principle. The male was much too fond of the sound of his own voice.
“We have the brand new shielding for the traveler bot,” Jafinium said, pointing to one of the immense ships. “I oversaw the installation myself. It’s the shielding that makes it harder for the target ship to see them. The Ossiso are eager for access to this technology. I’ve requested permission to share it with them but I’ve received no answer. They are an important ally and the waiting is making my job harder.”
“I’m sure the Committee for Interspecies Sharing will approve the request soon,” Tarquin said as he looked at the space around them. It was strange to have all these bots in a hanger on the ground. They should’ve been housed on one of the warships. Even during joint exercises, they shouldn’t be left behind.
“That’s one of the issues with our Apogee Assembly,” Jafinium said with an annoyed rattle. “We are bogged down by civilian committees instead of the pure rule of our ancestors. Back then we had a strong monarch that could be decisive. Now we must wait and wait for committees and inspectors.”
“Acting with haste is one of the reasons we lost the Ifamium War,” Tarquin pointed out, then wished he hadn't said anything. He needed to appear on the standing general’s side or at least sympathetic, but Jafinium had pushed him too far with that last comment.
Jafinium turned to face him and sounded a soothing rumble, as if suddenly remembering who he was talking to. “I apologize, Envoy Inspector Tarquin. I didn’t mean any insult to you or your career path. I simply meant there are many back on Talarian who like to make the process complex and unnecessarily bureaucratic.”
It was Tarquin’s experience that those who longed for the “simplicity of ancient times” saw the past in an unrealistic and romanticized way.
“You’re probably correct,” Tarquin said, relieved that Jafinium was giving him a diplomatic out.
“Yes, I am,” Jafinium agreed, motioning for a soldier trailing behind them to come forward. “This is Kilvicum, he will finish showing you the rest of the port. I have an important meeting to attend with my Ossiso counterpart. As we planned, I’ll summon you for a late evening meal. Please be at your barrack because the meal won’t be at my home and you’ll need an escort to find the spot.”
It sounded like Jafinium was planning an elaborate envoy dinner. It would take several marks, the food would all be served cold, and he’d be forced to sit there and pretend to be fascinated or amused by Jafinium and whoever he esteemed enough to merit a seat at the table.
It should have been a high honor, but all Tarquin longed for was a quiet evening with Lena.
Thoughts of Lena made him consider how best he could make her feel comfortable and safe while he was gone. He had a few ideas but he’d present them to Lena for approval.
“I’ll be prepared for the dinner,” he promised even as Jafinium turned to leave without the normal signs of respect.
As if to cover his general’s lack of decorum, Kilvicum stepped forward and gestured to the back door of the large building. “If you’ll follow me, I can show you our control room for the military port and how we’ve integrated with the civilian side of the port.”
Tarquin wasn’t interested. Over 90 percent of the traffic in and out of the port was military, so the civilian side would be easy to manage. Still, he had to play the part.
“I’m sure it will be engrossing,” he lied and let Kilvicum lead the way.
After viewing the control room, a storage building, and a practice field, Tarquin called a halt to the tour-inspection.
Kilvicum walked him back to his ground transport, talking non-stop about what an outstanding leader Jafinium was. One thing was clear, the men here were all very loyal to Jafinium. It was almost as if they revered him.
It was a relief to squeeze into the single person ground transport. As eager as he was to see Lena, he stopped by the food hall first. Instead of going to the counter for fresh food, he went to the vending machines and collected multiple packets of everything they had to offer that was human-safe. He didn’t want to worry about spilling food on his walk to Lena’s hiding spot and having the extra packets meant she had plenty of things to snack on tomorrow.
Unfortunately, he was due to take a ship out to see the comms array on Hul and observe a readiness drill from space. He’d be gone all day again.
None of the soldiers at the food hall even looked at him, let alone tried to engage him in conversation. Normally he’d think they were being respectful, but there was a definite feeling of animosity in the half-full food hall.
Hurrying out of the place, he squeezed back into the transport. He waited only long enough to know he was out of sight then he ordered the vehicle to stop. Getting out, he released it to attend to the next request in the queue and watched it trundle off.
A quick glance around assured him he was alone. Making sure he had a good hold on the food packets, he jogged down the familiar foot path until he got to the spot he’d marked with a cairn. Jumping onto one of the boulders, he hopped from rock to rock until he got to Lena’s spot.
Moving slowly so he wouldn’t startle her, he sounded a soft, comforting rumble as he crouched down at one end of the sheltered spot. Lena’s head popped up from the nest with a wide smile for him. Her unbidden happiness at the sight of him made his heartbeat quicken.
No one had ever been so joyful simply because he was present.
“Greetings,” he said, stepping under the leaning stone and kneeling next to her nest. He noticed she’d stacled stones at one end of her sheltered spot, making it so there was a single entrance now. Judging by the path of the sun, she’d done it to keep the rays from hitting her directly during part of the day. It made him feel horribly guilty. He should’ve thought of that.
“I’m sorry I was gone longer than expected,” he said, setting the meal packs on the edge of the nest. Lena sat up and patted the spot next to her on the nest.
He unlatched the boots everyone on Wulnum wore and moved into the nest, matching her cross-legged sitting position. She had the bigger information square in her hands open to a program filled with writing. She was quick to close that program and open another that displayed a section of the standard Talin unibase.
The entry was about scent glands, bonding oil, and scent-bonding.
There was no law or taboo against rubbing bonding oil on the mane of a human pet. Some owners even advocated for it because it was believed that bonding oil was soothing for humans and most Talins didn’t think they could scent-bond to someone who wasn’t a Talin. Some owners never did it, but only because their scent glands refused to produce oil.
“You didn’t know about bonding oil and scent-bonding, did you?” he asked.
She opened her mouth to speak, then shut it with a frustrated look. He was about to comfort her when she tried again and this time managed to get a word out.
“No.” She looked thrilled and tried again. “Never knew.”
For Lena that was equivalent to a monologue!
“You’re doing so much better,” he praised. She rolled her eyes, a typical human expression that could mean many things, but in this context he thought it might be self-deprecation.
“We’re bonded?” she asked, touching her cheek and then pointing to his.
“I’m in the process of scent-bonding to you,” he agreed. “I should’ve asked. I was selfish.”
She regarded him for a full submark without speaking or gesturing. Her face was back to the mask she’d been wearing when they first met. He hated it, but he realized this was her thinking face.
“I can stop rubbing my bonding oil on you,” he said. He hated that he couldn’t tell what she was thinking. “If I stop now, I think it’s early enough that I’ll only get a little sick.”
She held up her hand to stop his words, then focused on speaking her own.
“I love you,” she finally said. “You love me.”
The way she voiced those words was as if she’d come to some kind of decision.
He debated about being honest with her then decided he needed to continue as he started. “Talin’s don’t love. That’s a human thing. I’m sorry.”
He expected annoyance but he got amusement instead.
“You do,” she answered with a chuckle so quiet it was almost nothing but a puff of air.
Lifting a hand, she pressed her palm against his cheek. His aching scent gland released bonding oil and she swept it up. She held her hand up with a triumphant smile. “Love.”
Seeing her hand glistening with his bonding oil made his mind go blank for a moment. It didn’t help when she brought that hand to her face and rubbed his oil across her lush lips then trailed it down her neck.
His comforting rumbling dropped into sexual thrumming without conscious thought. He could smell his bonding oil soaking into her skin and changing the scent. This was how Talins and humans could scent-bond. Talin bonding oil changed when introduced to human skin, allowing the humans to have a “bonding” scent the Talin could become addicted to.
Even without that Tarquin was sure he’d be addicted to Lena anyway.
“If you want to call a biological bonding by the human term love, then I won’t disagree,” Tarquin said.
Lena set the square aside and launched herself at him. He let her push him back into the fluffy nest with a rumble of amusement.
“Never letting go,” she whispered.
“Never,” he agreed. He wrapped his arms around her and held her as tightly as he dared. All the tension he’d built up that day from having to be on guard with his every word eased away.
“Talk,” she demanded, her voice muffled against his chest.
“What would you like me to talk about?” he asked. At some point they needed to make their way back to the barrack, but not just yet. This was much too nice. This little rock shelter was a special place that was safe for both of them.
“Anything,” she said, wiggling a little to make herself more comfortable. “Everything.”
“Everything is a lot,” he said with an amused rumble before he went back to a soothing one. “I could tell you about a couple I know named Lakin and Dalt. Lakin is human and Dalt was one of the retired soldiers living on Kalor. The interesting thing is that Lakin has a knack for escaping. It got to the point that they were so worried she’d get hurt, she was healing at the time and new to our people, that Dalt started bedding down across her enclosure door so if she tried to go wandering around in the night, she would step on him first.”
Lena giggled. “More,” she demanded.
She fell asleep about the time he was describing Lakin’s ability to mess with ship’s sensors. He fell asleep to the soft, rhythmic sound of her breathing.