Page 65 of Shielded in the Shadows

Mercs, privateers, and bounty hunters were a cutthroat lot with very few scruples, but betraying one’s own crew was perhaps the only act universally recognized as a violation of the unspoken code among those who operated consistently outside the law. Even mercs who wouldn’t blink at shooting a family member in the back if it meant a bigger share of a prize would now consider me vermin in need of eradication simply on principle. The bounty was merely a gratuity.

For those hunting us, Keela’s bounty was just business. Mine was personal.

I’d known that would be the case when I made my decision to fight alongside Keela and get her off Ghira Station. I’d had no real loyalty to Sjer or my crewmates, after all—I was a spy in their midst, not a true corsair with mercenary hearts. I had sworn an oath, but as I’d spoken the words before Sjer and the crew I’d known I was speaking false and if need be I would turn against them because I served the GAIS. Of course, I’d had no inkling I would turn my weapons against the Fancy’s crew because I’d found my true mate.

As for the GAIS…that allegiance and my path to freedom was a bit more complicated.

Other than the image of Keela in the bar with the unknown Kurutan, there’d been no surprises in anything Byx had shown us so far.

The information on the next screen, though, hit Keela like the stunner end of the Havelian battle staff I preferred to use for sparring. Maybe Byx didn’t notice her flinch because she hid it so well, but I shared Keela’s shock and horror so clearly I would have sworn something kicked me right in the chest.

Given every Fortusian’s genetics were unique and the effects of human-Fortusian pairings were so difficult to predict, I had no idea how much our mate bond would allow us to sense each other’s emotions or physical sensations, or even if it would be possible. But at the moment, I didn’t have the luxury of ruminating on our nascent bond.

According to information Byx had uncovered, the Kurutan Keela had met on Ghira Station had been identified and detained after our departure by an agent working for the party who’d posted the bounty on her. A security informant later revealed the agent had been overheard interrogating the Kurutan, whose name was N’vera, in an attempt to discover their connection to Keela and the content of their discussion, but N’vera had refused to disclose anything.

The agent had left Ghira Station soon after the failed interrogation. According to station security logs, N’vera’s body had been found at the bottom of a disused maintenance shaft two days later.

All I knew from Keela of this Kurutan was they’d contacted her to sell information, but her reaction indicated there was far, far more to the story than she’d revealed to me. I’d already surmised the cost of that information had left her credit account drained almost completely.

And in the midst of her agitation at the news of N’vera’s death, I’d sensed a spike of fear and then relief, followed by shame. Fear that N’vera hadn’t told the agent what they’d discussed? Relief that they hadn’t, and then shame for feeling relieved?

What information had N’vera sold Keela, and why was she so reluctant to share it with me?

The need to wrap my arms, wings, and tail around her was all-consuming. Holding in my coo caused a stab of pain in my chest. I was designed at the cellular level to comfort my mate and ease her pain. Not being able to do so because I knew she wouldn’t want me to show that level of intimacy publicly was as physically painful as it was emotionally difficult. Understanding her reasoning didn’t make the discomfort any easier to bear.

With fingers that trembled, Keela closed that file and opened the next. She took one look at the screen and made a ragged sound that would likely haunt me for a very long time.

The datapad slipped from her hand. I caught it before it could hit the deck.

“Your adversary,” Byx said, his normally booming voice suddenly quiet in the wake of my mate’s reaction. “According to my informant, this is who posted the bounty on Keela.”

The image that had so affected my mate was of a hulking Ganaian with gray fur and two thick horns. The tip of one horn was broken and capped with metal.

I did not know this male, but Keela clearly did. The mere sight of him had kindled a visceral response in her. Hatred for this male swelled within me.

That loathing built as I read the information below the image, combined with a growing sense of dread.

The file stated the male’s name was Orqiel unha’Feste and he was affiliated with the vicious Liktarr crime syndicate. Given his age and physique, I expected him to be a head enforcer, or perhaps one of the syndicate’s generals, overseeing its many soldiers who served the organization’s interests on various worlds.

Instead, he held the title of High Beastmaster at a notorious gladiator arena on Saistea, a planet well outside the reach of Alliance laws. In fact, it was located in the disputed zone between the Alliance and the Xeox Empire.

The next bit of intel caused my hearts to nearly freeze solid in my chest.

Before swearing his oath to the Liktarr syndicate, where he’d worked his way up from fighter acquisition to his current role, Orqiel had been a procurer for the arenas on Ganai. That was likely how Keela knew him. My tail lashed the air.

Like most affiliated with the arenas—those who’d survived the riots, anyway—Orqiel had apparently fled Ganai and found another way to use his skill set while working for one of the galaxy’s most despicable crime syndicates.

This High Beastmaster was hunting my Keela and he wanted her alive. I didn’t know why, and I didn’t know why now, but I’d find out. And then I’d crush his throat with my boot while she put her blade through his vile heart. Or hearts. However many Ganaians possessed.

The vision was so clear in my head that when Byx exploded out of his tank and landed on the deck beside us with a bellow that shook the entire docking bay, I was very uncharacteristically taken off-guard.

A familiar mocking voice came from the entrance to the bay behind us. “Hello, Tal.”

Guns drawn, Keela and I spun to face the intruder.

Flanked by a squad of Alliance soldiers, Gitto, my GAIS handler, met my furious gaze and smiled.

CHAPTER 16