“Okay, how did one little human get away from us so easily?” Fin demanded. It was a fair question. They were Warborne, the biggest bad on the mercenary circuit. They should be able to track one human woman easily.
“Keep your fucking voice down,” T’Raal ordered, “unless you’d like the cities on the other side of the planet to know we’re not human as well.”
Sparky chuckled, his thumbs looped in his weapons belt. “Sorry T, I think Skinny’s father-in-law let that particular cat out of the bag.”
“He’s not my father-in-law,” Skinny growled. He didn’t want to claim any sort of kinship with Anton Ingrassia. In fact, all he wanted to claim was the asshole’s life… when he choked it out of him with his bare hands.
“Well, no,” Sparky agreed. “Not sure you can consider yourself married since you a) used a false name and b) the lady in question fucked off and left yo—”
Red filtered over Skinny’s vision, and he launched himself at the irritating human before he finished his sentence. Frustration, rage and panic guided his fists as they slammed into Sparky’s face.
“You fucker!” Surprise filtered over Sparky’s face for a second, and then anger replaced it as he pulled his fist back.
Skinny didn’t feel the blow land, concentrating on throwing more punches of his own. He hurt. His heart felt as though it had been ripped out of his chest while still beating. All he wanted to do was tear things up. Destroy them. Starting with Sparky.
“Hey!”
“Stop it, now!”
Fin hit him from the side before he could land more than two punches, wrapping him up in a tight hold with a strong arm around his throat. As he struggled, trying to get at Sparky again, he saw Red block the human and drag him backward. He fought, his face twisted up into a snarl as he glared at Skinny.
“Okay, if we’re done here?” T’Raal asked, standing in the middle of them both.
“Yeah. I’m good.” Skinny relaxed with a sigh and then looked over at the human Red still had in a half lock. “Sorry, Sparks, I’m not mad at you.”
The lean human grumbled under his breath but then nodded. He wriggled his jaw. “Helluva punch on you, lad. Might’ve broken me jaw.”
T’Raal snorted.
“Chance would be a fine thing, but you can still talk. Now,” he looked at Skinny again. “What happened? Why did she run?”
He didn’t want to answer that. He really didn’t, but with the weight of expectation and everyone’s eyes on him, he sighed and gave in.
“She found out we’re not human… well, that we’re not Edanian. Then she figured the rest out.”
No one moved. Red raised an eyebrow, her arm still absently around Sparky’s chest.
“You didn’t tell her?”
“No.”
“You. Didn’t. Fucking. Tell. Her?”
He didn’t ask if Red had suddenly become hard of hearing.
“No.”
She tilted her head curiously. “Did your mother drop you on your head as a baby, or are you making a special effort to be fucking stupid recently?”
Guilt and shame hit him hard and fast. He’d lied back then, and his family had died. He’d lied now, a little white lie he hadn’t thought would be a problem, and now he’d lost Marika. Worse, if her father got to her, he’d cost her her life as well.
But Red didn’t let up.
“Would you like to explain why you thought that was a good idea?”
“I don’t know.”
He did. He just didn’t want to admit it.
Sparky chimed in with a low whistle. “I mean, I know I’m an utter bastard—”
“I thought you were a dickhead?” Red turned her head to ask.
“No, dickheads are nicer.” He patted her arm, obviously in no hurry to move it and stop her touching him. “Back to my point. I’m an utter bastard… but that takes the fucking cake, mate.”
T’Raal shook his head, an incredulous look on his face. “All the drama around here with every new mating, and you still didn’t tell her? What level of stupid are you?”
“Why the fuck did you lie?” Red pressed.
“Because I love her, okay?” he raged, shoving Fin off of him. “I love her and I’m a goddess-damned monster. I didn’t want her finding out. Happy now?”
His legs gave out and he sat down on the curb heavily, his elbows on his knees.
As he closed his eyes, a shudder ripped through his big frame. He loved her. He loved Marika, his little mouse. But she was gone… he’d lost her.
“I’m a monster. I got my family killed, and she’ll never want anything to do with me.”
He heard the rustle of fabric and found Beauty sitting down next to him, pale eyes kind.
“You’re not a monster, Skinny. Believe me,” he said in that odd low voice of his. Under his beard was a vicious scar across his neck. He usually hid it, but they all knew he’d gained it in the hell that was the Tarviisan fight pits.
“I’ve seen monsters,” he said, “and you’re not it. You’re a good man. Believe in yourself. I do. We do.”
His lips parted but he couldn’t say anything, the normally laconic Beauty’s speech having left him speechless.
“What he said,” Sparky thumped down next to him, the bruise already spreading over his face making Skinny wince. He could seriously have hurt the human. “You’re good people, Skin. Don’t beat yourself up. We just gotta find your girl and make her see the truth. That’s all.”
“Why bother?” he asked in despair. “She thinks I’m a monster.”
“Actually, no…” Tank crouched down in front of him, holding out a human personal comms device. The little screen was showing a news report. He paused, recognizing Imperial Warriors on the screen, and then his brows snapped together as he took the device off her. Report after report scrolled over the screen, each worse than the last. Kidnap, human women being forced into breeding farms, interviews from “rescued” women about the abuse they’d suffered. How the human president had sold women to the Lathar under the guise of the new mating program.
He looked up. “Fuck… is this what humans think of us?”
Was this what Marika thought of them? Of the Lathar?
Tank shrugged. “Most of it is crackpot conspiracy theories and fake news. But… yeah, some people believe it. It’s hard to tell what’s real and what’s fake sometimes.”
“No wonder you all hate us.”
“They’re just uneducated. That’s all,” she smiled and patted his knee. “Humans are also smart. Mostly. Sparky’s a special case.”
“Hey!” he spluttered. “I resemble that remark!”
Skinny chuckled and sighed. “Yeah… thanks, guys. I needed that.”
“Okay, now we’ve done the deep and meaningfuls,” T’Raal leaned in and offered a hand to help him up, “how about we go find your little human?”
He nodded, grasping T’Raal’s hand and letting his boss pull him to his feet. He wasn’t sure Marika would want to see him, but after all they’d been through, the least he could do was rescue her from her father.