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I guesstimated Maxx to be in his late thirties or forties, since his mother had been abducted fifty years ago. I wished he’d given me her surname so I could look her up on the census report, see if she was still listed. If trafficking had been occurring for at least five decades, how many people had vanished during that half century?
The census was not correct. There was no telling how many people had been lost. And Araset was in danger, too, about to be invaded. What would happen to Holly, Millie, Kat, Prince Aeon, Prince Lomax, Nadir, Queen Citrine, and King Saar? Imana would target the palace first. Giselle and Joule were LOP agents without a home base and wouldn’t be directly impacted by an invasion, but since they were on the anti-trafficking task force, they’d get drawn into the battle—if it occurred.
According to Maxx, this next large-scale abduction would enable the LOP to crush the cartel. The LOP had raided slave ships before. What was different about this time? It was so frustrating to get only part of the story.
I feared the traffickers would elude the galactic authorities, and the captives would vanish, never to be seen again. If the league hadn’t been able to quash the slave trade in five decades, why would they be successful now when the problem had mushroomed? It wasn’t that I didn’t trust the organization, more like I lacked confidence in their abilities.
It had been King Saar who’d rescued the Star Cross passengers. The LOP had swooped in shortly thereafter, but the king’s men had gotten there first.
But some indefinable quality made me think I might be able to trust Maxx. Maybe because he was half human and his mother had been abducted, he would be more apt to have empathy for our situation. This wasn’t just a job to him. He had a personal stake. He’d been willing to share information, albeit less than fully. He’d rescued me from the thugs. He could have let them keep me.
Trust was as much a decision as it was a feeling. What I knew for sure was this problem was far bigger than what I could handle. What if it was bigger than what President Stadler could handle? Disappearances had occurred under her watch for seven years, and under her predecessor’s watch for eight. And before that… Nobody on my planet had had a clue what was going on right under their noses.
Maxx returned. With the light on, I could see the short, fine silky fur covering his chest. I remembered how soft it had felt against my cheek. My gaze traveled downward to the form-fitting leggings outlining an impressive package. He’s not hard on the eyes. My stomach fluttered with a kick of arousal, and I averted my gaze. The mix of genetic material had produced a fine specimen of a man. Human DNA had softened the heavy, blunt features just enough to make him ruggedly masculine without being forbidding.
Wide awake, I doubted I’d get back to sleep now. “What time is it?”
“Almost dawn.”
“That’s not a time.”
“I didn’t look. Maybe six o’clock. We should still try to get some sleep. We didn’t go to bed until late.” He switched off the lamp, plunging the room into darkness, except for two glowing green dots high on the wall. Like old Earth, New Terra had a single lunar satellite, which could be very bright during a full moon. But no moonlight spilled in through the frosted window, signifying two things. First, New Terra must be in a new moon phase, and second…
“We’re not anywhere close to the capital, are we?” I asked.
The bed compressed. Starting to slide into him, I clung to the edge of the bed.
“Why do you think that?” His growly voice, disembodied by the darkness, sent tingles through me. I’d always been a sucker for men with deep voices. His body heat and enticing musk drifted over me.
“It’s never fully dark in the city. There’s no light coming in through the window.”
“Good deduction,” he said.
“The green lights,” I said, gesturing at the dots although he couldn’t see my hands. “Those are some kind of sensors, right?”
“The green lights indicate the doors are secure.”
A reminder I couldn’t leave.
The details he’d shared about Princess Imana’s plans for galactic domination made crazy sense because it explained so much. Furthermore, my gut kept insisting he was one of the good guys. I considered myself to be a calm, rational, logical person, not prone to impulse or rebellion just because. Based on the assumed facts and a leap of faith, I’d decided to trust him.
“I won’t try to escape,” I said. “I’m going to stay out of it and let you and the LOP handle this.”
He chuckled. Damn, he had a sexy laugh. “You’ll forgive me if I don’t accept your assurance at face value.”
“I wouldn’t expect any different.” I closed my eyes and listened to his quiet breathing, absorbing his warmth, inhaling his masculine, alien, clean scent, smelling of the same bath gel I’d used.
The people of Nomoru were hydrophobic. They avoided water with a vengeance. They drank it, but bathe in it? Never. To get clean, they stepped into ionizers, which whisked away dirt, sweat, dead skin, and fur cells. New Terra didn’t have ionizers. “Do you dislike water as much as other Copans?” I asked. I breathed in his scent again.
“Why do you ask?”
“Just wondering.”
“I don’t like it, but I don’t hate it as much as other Copans. My mother’s influence, I think.”
“Do you think it’s biological or behavioral?”
“Never thought about it. Could be either.”
