She and Cade both rose to their feet as, instead of joining the group that was training, Josh and Phillip headed directly for them. There was no question they knew who and what Cade was. Both men’s body language was aggressive, their strides forceful and their shoulders squared as they glared at the tall alien warrior while he unfolded himself to his full height. She slid him a sideways glance under her lashes. It might be her being fanciful, but for some reason he seemed taller all of a sudden.
The wind blew Josh’s blond curls into his eyes as the two humans stopped in front of them. Her ex looked Cade up and down, a sneer creasing the face she’d once thought handsome.
“So you’re the alien asshole who thinks he can steal my wife. Are you?”
Cade didn’t so much as blink.
“Elise is not a possession to be stolen,” he replied. “No female is. She makes her own choices.”
As level and polite as his voice was, only an idiot or an incompetent would miss the danger and threat that shrouded him like the cape of an old-fashioned warrior king. He met the glares of the two humans head on, his whole demeanor indicating he would be more than happy to take them on here and now. It didn’t seem to worry him that he was surrounded by humans, no backup from his own kind to be seen.
Elise had had enough. She wasn’t about to let Cade fight her battles for her, so she pushed her way between the men.
“One, I am not your wife,” she hissed as she jabbed Josh in the chest. “I made that quite clear when I left you and served you with divorce papers. Papers, which you have yet to return. I suggest you do so, and soon.”
“Why? So you can get yourself a bit of alien cock?” Josh sneered, transferring his gaze to hers. “Is that what does it for you? Freaky alien double dicks? Shall I book you a ticket for the frontier?”
The temptation to wind her fist back and spread his pretty nose all over his face overwhelmed her. Between one second and the next Josh went from standing to lying at her feet, blood coursing down his face as he held his nose, howling in pain. He looked up at her in shock.
“You perverted fucker,” she hissed. “Don’t you ever talk to me like that again.”
14
“Tell me again,” President Murphy said with a sigh, rubbing the bridge of his nose between his forefinger and his thumb. “Why you decided to physically assault Captain Landon?”
Cade stood beside Elise in the human president’s office, trying hard not to let his grin spread wide on his face. Only the presence of the emperor, Daaynal, and his champion, General M’rln, kept him standing to attention, his gaze fixed carefully on a point somewhere above and to the left of President Murphy’s shoulder.
No one could begrudge him the smallest of grins, though. Elise, his tiny beautiful little female, had defended their relationship. With her fists. He had to admit that before seeing his brother's mate, Gracie, he hadn’t ever considered a female might be a fighter as well.
All his childhood tales, all the myths about the lost females of the Latharian race had painted them as graceful and delicate creatures that required protection. Neither Gracie nor Elise required protection… If anything, some people required protection from them. And that fact was made all the sweeter by the fact she'd dropped her ex-mate to the floor.
That concept—ex-mate—was even weirder to him than the concept of a female who was just as good on the battlefield as a male. At least a female fighter was something he’d heard of… There were female mercenaries of course. The most famous was Red from the Warborne. The half-Krynassis female was supposed to be one of the most lethal mercenaries out there, and she was a living legend in her own lifetime. So much so, he’d once begged his cousin to try and get him her autograph. Covak had laughed his socks off and told him to draanth off, of course. It hadn’t stopped him mooning over a poster of her he’d pinned to his bedroom wall.
“He was a dick,” Elise said shortly, glaring at Murphy with the same iron gaze he leveled on her.
Murphy let out a sigh. “I’m going to need a little bit more than that.”
For a moment Cade didn’t think she was going to say anything, but then she sighed.
“He asked if he should book me a ticket for the frontier,” she said, her voice terse and clipped. It was still professional, just, but everyone in the room could hear the anger behind it. He had no doubt that if her ex was here he’d be getting a flaying from her tongue at the very least. Why had no one ever told him how lethal a woman’s tongue could be?
“Ticket to the frontier?” Daaynal broke in, a frown across his brow. “What does that mean?”
President Murphy’s face did a strange thing. It was like a holo-vid stuck in a static loop while at the same time being utterly motionless—a visual representation of a mental dichotomy as the president tried to work out how to answer that one without offending anybody. Eventually, he took a deep breath, visibly prepared himself, and turned toward the emperor.
“There’s a growing trade in what they’re calling ‘abduction cruises.’ Women are paying huge amounts for passage on the ships that will go near the border in the hopes that they will be abducted by Latharian warriors.”
“Why would they want to be abducted?” The big emperor frowned, tilting his head. The beads of his honor braids brushed against the shoulders of his leather jacket.
Like all of his clan, his leathers were worked with diamond patterned shoulders and triple-piped sleeves. The unique configuration stood out among the rest. Nothing like the humans' garish and highly decorated uniforms, but obvious at a glance to any Lathar.
“The prevailing rumor on Earth,” the human explained, looking very much like he wanted a stiff drink, possibly several, “is that the Lathar are equipped with what we would consider double male genitalia.”
“Double dicks,” Cade added helpfully. “That’s the phrase the male used. Before El… Ms. Beaufort hit him. It was a good blow. Well-timed and delivered. He was a much larger opponent and she knocked him to the ground.”
“Not helping,” Elise hissed
He shut up. Quickly.
“That’s… not true.” Daaynal shook his head, a frown playing over his heavy brow. “I have been assured that we have the same genitalia as human males, just larger.”
“You do.” Elise nodded.
Cade preened until he realized she could have been answering the first point rather than the second. He stopped and caught what he thought might have been the ghost of a smile on the general’s lips. It was gone before he could get a look at it, though, so he wasn’t sure. Come to think of it, he wasn’t entirely sure the general actually knew how to smile.
“Too much information, Ms. Beaufort.” Murphy sighed. “Way too much information, but I can understand your motivations. Captain Landon will be disciplined for his inappropriate behavior, but I’m afraid I will also have to put a mark on your employment record here. The office of the president does not condone physical assault as a method of dispute resolution.”
Cade slid a glance sideways at Elise, expecting some kind of reaction, but instead she just nodded. “Understandable. Are we free to go?”