Page 72 of Xel: Broken Bond
My master shook his head. “Fuck, I don’t… It’s complicated, okay? It can be a good thing, or it can be a very, very seriously bad thing, and I don’t want Xel to be sent to jail because of some scumbag with a vendetta!” Ah! Now it was making more sense.He wasn’t upset that Dorral was dead. Rather, he was concerned about the consequences for me. And that brought a warmer sensation to my chest.
Borl swished his tail, looking from me, to Cole, to the dead body. “Xel could be in trouble because he killed this man?”
“Possibly, yes. Like I said, it’s complicated.”
“Hm. Then I apologise, Xel,” Borl said to me, as he stepped closer. “Under any other circumstances, I would not do this.” He reached out and took the gun out of my hand with unexpected gentleness, for such a large and powerful creature. Then he turned to my master, shooting a token glare at the rest of the onlookers. Two other Ranzors had arrived, along with Leesha, who I suspected had been in the barn with Vonnie.
“I do not see what you are concerned about,” Borl stated, puffing himself up indignantly. “Xel did not shoot anyone. See, there is not even a gun in his hand,” he said, gesturing to my now empty hands. “How can he shoot anyone without a weapon? I am the head of security for the colony. And I saw a man threatening one of our new staff members. So I shot him. That is exactly the job my team was hired to do.”
There was a moment of heavy silence. Then Kathy blurted out, “Yes! This… large gentleman saved my life. He shot Dorral. I saw it with my own eyes.”
“His name is Borl,” I told her. “He’s a Ranzor.” She’d likely never see one before, and wouldn’t be able to identify his species by sight.
Kathy’s eyes opened wide for a moment, the fearsome species’ reputation no doubt preceding them. But then she made an effort to calm herself. “And a very diligent one at that,” she said, forcing a smile for Borl’s benefit. “He arrived just in time to save me.”
“Of course it was Borl,” Vonnie agreed. “That’s what we hired them for.”
My master glanced at Leesha, who shook her head. “I can say with one hundred per cent honesty that I arrived too late to see who shot whom,” she said, and perhaps that was a good thing. Not that she wouldn’t have been willing to lie for us, but it was better all around if she didn’t have to.
Finally, my master managed to relax a little, though he still looked rather frazzled. “Okay, okay, fine. Borl shot Dorral. All good. Kathy, are you okay?”
She shrugged. “A little shaken, but not injured. I wouldn’t turn down a stiff drink, if you happen to have one handy.”
My master gave a slight chuckle. “Come over to the cottage. I’m sure we can find something. Xel, are you okay?” He came over to me and put his hands on my shoulders, checking me over. “Did he hurt you?”
“No, I’m fine,” I assured him.
“Is what Kathy said true? Did he murder my uncle?”
“He didn’t say that outright. But he strongly implied it. He wanted to inherit me and the hotel, and he said he had some lawyers in his pocket who would help him do that.”
“Fucking hell.”
“We’ll check the perimeter,” Gatik, one of the other Ranzors, said. “Make sure he was alone.” He and the other Ranzor headed off towards the entrance to the sanctuary, and I sent a quick message to Bo. ‘Security issue. Under control, but Ranzors heading your way.’ I didn’t want her to be startled by them.
My master wandered off a little way to call Torv, since he’d have to be informed about what had happened. And we’d need someone to come and collect the body, though I wasn’t sure whether that would be paramedics or someone from the military. Torv might want to keep this well away from civilian ears.
“Don’t worry, Xel,” Borl said to me, sidling up beside me while my master was busy. “We Ranzors will not forget this.Weknow that you are worthy.Weknow that you are willing to defend your family. We will pay tribute to this day, in the Great Council at the end of time.”
“Thank you,” I said. I didn’t understand quite what he’d said, or why it was so important, but it seemed that Borl felt he was paying me a compliment, so I decided to respond as such. “That’s very kind of you.” He seemed pleased by that, so I figured I’d said the right thing.
“Are you really okay?” Kathy asked me next. “I mean, about Dorral killing your master. That must be quite a shock.”
I glanced over at my master – myrealmaster – and felt a crooked smile settle onto my face. “I would never wish for anyone to be murdered,” I said. “Mr Ronson treated a lot of people badly, but that doesn’t mean he deserved to die for it. But all things considered, I think Dorral ended up doing me a favour. If he hadn’t broken my bond with my old master, I would never have found my new one. And this one is so much better than the first.”
“Xel, take Kathy over to the cottage and get her a drink,” my master called, briefly interrupting his conversation with Torv. “I’ll be there in a couple of minutes. And Vonnie and Leesha, you’re welcome to come as well, if you want to.”
“Yes, sir,” I said, feeling the familiar buzz of compulsion in my veins. But I also felt a comforting warmth in my chest, knowing that I was owned by a man who cared so deeply about me that he was willing to lie to the Alliance Parliament. It was a strange new world that we were going to be involved in, with this colony of Vangravian babies. But I wouldn’t have exchanged a single moment of it for anything else in the world.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
COLE
Six Weeks Later
“Iswear, if I have to pay for the repairs to my ship, I’m blowing a heavens-cursed hole in your wormhole stabiliser,” Yona screeched, as his ship – his decidedly damaged and smoking ship – belched a pocket of gas out of the starboard engine. It had landed in our back paddock just moments ago, with considerably less grace than a ship of this calibre should have had.
“Oh, fuck, did the Vangravians attack you?” I asked, feeling my heart skip a beat. If they’d caught onto the fact that Yona wasn’t legit, we were going to have a hell of a time finding a way to collect the rest of the babies we needed.