Page 101 of Shielded in the Shadows

“Your equipment has confirmed there are no threats hidden on the chip,” he reported to Byx, who had his enormous back turned to give us privacy but was obviously waiting for an indication of what we’d found and confirmation of the danger level.

“It’s just…information,” Jarrix added.

I almost snorted. Just information indeed.

While Byx and Felina murmured to each other, Jarrix and I stared silently at the datapad, going over what it showed again and again.

Accounts. Dozens of accounts. All scattered throughout the Alliance and beyond its borders. All accessible only through this bio-locked datachip and bulging with untraceable credits.

It was a fortune almost beyond reckoning, and Leomer had given it to me.

My knees felt a bit wobbly. I really could have used someplace to sit.

Jarrix tightened his embrace. He wasn’t going to let me drop where I stood, which for a moment seemed like a distinct possibility. Things had gotten a bit hazy, in fact.

“Breathe, love,” he murmured into my ear. Thanks to our bond, his calm reassurance steadied me from the inside. “We don’t have to do anything about this right now. Just breathe.”

I sucked in an unsteady breath. “Thank you.”

With a shaking hand, I tapped the commands to shut down the access to the datachip. The screen blanked again, then showed a confirmation that the chip had been ejected and was waiting inside the inner room for us to reclaim it.

“We’re done,” Jarrix said to Byx.

Byx opened the doors. Moving almost on autopilot, I handed the datapad to Jarrix to dispose of, picked up the datachip, reset the bio-lock, and returned it to the little case before sliding it into one of the little hidden pockets inside the waistband of my pants.

Jarrix tucked my hand in the crook of his elbow as we rejoined Byx and Felina by the door leading to the corridor.

“Thank you very much for assisting us with this,” I told Byx, craning my neck to look up at him. “And for everything else you’ve done. We’re in your debt. If ever you need a favor…”

“There are never any debts between us,” Byx stated. He was a little more reserved than usual, maybe because my reaction to the contents of the chip had been so visceral. But if he was curious about what we’d found, he didn’t let on. “In the meantime, your ship has been prepared and cleared for departure,” he added. “I had my crew do one last sweep over her today looking for trackers, for my peace of mind and yours.”

“Thank you, friend,” Jarrix said, giving Byx a deep bow. I did the same.

The walk to docking bay 2406 was a long one, even taking the hidden interior corridors accessible only to Byx and his people. Jarrix walked with Byx, discussing engine calibrations and changes to the medbay he wanted to do on the Nivilus the next time we visited Trakhan.

Normally I would have been in the thick of that conversation, but I let Jarrix handle it and walked companionably with Felina instead.

“I have something for you,” Felina confided as we approached our destination. She withdrew a wrapped box from the bag she wore across her upper torso and handed it to me. “Open it later on your ship.”

“I don’t have a gift for you,” I protested.

“Meeting you was the gift,” she said, patting my hand. “And seeing your love for your mate has warmed my hearts. I am quite glad now he did not take to any of my sisters. He was clearly meant to be yours.”

My eyebrows shot up. “One of your sisters?”

In front of me, Jarrix’s wings vibrated, and though I couldn’t see his expression, I sensed the effervescence of barely suppressed laughter through our bond.

“Oh, yes!” Felina crowed. “I introduced him to all my sisters. Once I escaped our home planet, they all fled too, you see. And they are all still searching for their true loves.” She beamed at Byx, who beamed right back. “I alone have been blessed by the Goddess so far,” she said, clasping her hands. “But She will weave my sisters’ threads with those of their mates when the time is right, just as she brought you and Jarrix together.”

Who was I to argue with that?

“Of course She will,” I said, patting her arm reassuringly.

When the massive doors to docking bay 2406 groaned open, my gaze went immediately to my ship. I let out a breath.

The Nivilus was an island of calm in the midst of the ocean of chaos that was Byx’s main bay, and a very welcome sight. The past few days were the longest I’d ever been separated from my ship in the seven years I’d owned her.

As promised, the cargo ramp was open and Byx’s crew were loading our things aboard. There seemed to be quite a few extra antigrav sleds humming up the ramp too, loaded with crates marked with logos I didn’t recognize.