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Commander Sylvan nodded.
“Yes, just be careful. And if he is being held at the milking farm, don’t try to rescue him yourselves. As soon as we confirm his location, we can begin a negotiation for his safe return. What we don’t want is some kind of intergalactic incident that pits the Salacions against the Mother Ship. The Salacious System—or ‘Kink Cluster’—has some very valuable resources we’d like to trade for. So we don’t wish to start a war with them.”
“So this is just a fact-finding mission.” Thrax already felt better about the mission—or so he told himself.
“Exactly. Just locate Commander Kier and come back. Of course, if you can safely bargain for his release, please do so—I’ll give you an unlimited line of credit,” Sylvan said. “But if there’s even a whiff of danger or political intrigue, please just report back to the Mother Ship and allow the Kindred High Council to do the negotiating. Am I clear?”
“Crystal, Commander,” Andi said, nodding. “Thrax?” she asked, since he hadn’t answered.
“Oh, uh, yeah—absolutely clear, Commander,” he said quickly.
“Good. Kat is getting your Salacious Delta clothing ready—you’ll be posing as diplomats from Thrax’s home world,” Sylvan told them.
This threw Thrax off for a moment.
“My home world? Why?” he demanded.
“Because Dae’mon Kindred are known to be mostly dominant,” Commander Sylvan explained. “Your cover story will be that you and Agent Peterson are interested in pursuing the Female Led Lifestyle and you came to Salacious Delta because your submissive tendencies made you unwelcome on your own world.”
Thrax felt as though his stomach had dropped to the floor, but he only nodded coolly.
“Yeah—being a submissive male on most of my home world would make you pretty fucking unwelcome,” he growled. His insides fisted as he spoke but he willed his face to stay calm.
“Well, you don’t have to worry about that, do you, big guy?” Andi shot him a grin that flashed her dimples. “You’re about as submissive as an angry bull that just got a good look at a red cape!”
“Ha-fucking-ha,” Thrax said flatly, even as his midsection tied itself in knots. “When do we go, Commander?” he asked Sylvan, hoping to change the subject.
“Tomorrow morning—that will give us time to get your clothing ready and your paperwork for entry to the Salacious System completed,” Sylvan said. “I wish you very good luck, Agents. May the Goddess go with you and help you find Commander Kier. He’s a good warrior and we need to bring him home.”
“We will, Commander,” Andi promised and Thrax nodded as well.
But inside, he was wondering how far they were going to have to take their new roles and what the outcome might be. For the first time in years, memories he had suppressed were coming to the surface, like drowned corpses floating up from the deep.
Thrax just hoped that after this mission was over, he would be able to bury them and find peace again.
3
ANDI
“Hey, you okay, big guy?” Andi looked up at her enormous partner with concern as they walked down one of the many long metal corridors inside the Mother Ship.
They were on their way to get their costumes for the Salacious Delta mission but Thrax had seemed off somehow ever since they’d been given the assignment yesterday. Her partner was jumpy and twitchy and even more dark and brooding than usual. It was clear something was bothering him—the question was, would he tell her what it was? The big Hybrid was closed-mouth about his emotions at the best of times, though he was surprisingly willing to listen when Andi wanted to talk about her own feelings.
“Huh?” He looked down at her from his great height and tugged absently at his left horn—a habit he had when he was feeling anxious or uncertain about something. Andi didn’t even think he knew he was doing it. “Why wouldn’t I be okay?”
“Because you’re just not,” Andi said flatly. “You haven’t been yourself since Commander Sylvan gave us this assignment yesterday. What’s going on?”
“That’s not true—I’m fine,” he denied—a little too quickly, Andi thought.
“Hmm, okay. So that’s why you’re pulling on that left horn?” She nodded at his hand, still curled around the left horn protruding from the side of his forehead. When she’d first met her partner, it had struck her how much he looked like the devil—a very handsome devil to be sure, in a rough and rugged kind of way. But she was used to him now.
Thrax jerked his hand away from his horn almost reflexively and stuffed it into the pocket of his tight black flight leathers. They molded to his long, muscular legs lovingly, as did the tall black boots he wore. A black leather vest which bared his arms completed his outfit. It wasn’t a typical Kindred uniform, but Thrax liked to keep his arms bare—he said it was easier to fight that way.
Andi wasn’t complaining—the bare arms in question were extremely muscular and covered in curving black tattoos—as was much of the rest of his body. Her partner looked like a total badass, which was what he was. Andi had never once seen him back down from a fight—he was as Alpha as they came. Only now she was worried about him because he wasn’t acting like himself at all.
“Is it something to do with the mission we’re going on?” she prodded gently. “You don’t want to be my ‘male-wife’—is that it?”
“What? No—it’s nothing like that.” Again the denial came too quickly and he wouldn’t meet her eyes as he spoke.
