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Oliver had never believed it. He’d never trusted Garin all the way up to when he’d given Garin the slip and betrayed his family. Dom didn’t believe Garin really cared for him, either. The difference was that Dom clearly wanted to.
Garin growled a sigh, but restrained his accusing tone when he caught up to Dom’s long stride. “If you’ve been paying attention to my family, then you know Beaty’s already got a lot on her plate. And the boys are at that age where they can either end up as brilliant young men that walk the straight and narrow or go completely off the deep-end without strong guidance.”
“I don’t—” Dom eyed Garin, then snapped his mouth shut.
Garin raised an eyebrow. “Don’t what?”
Dom seemed to weigh his words, then took the gamble. “I don’t know that that’s all true. Beaty’s busy, sure, but she’s not drowning. And the boys already seem like hard-working, law-abiding young men.”
Garin started shaking his head before Dom finished his sentence. “That doesn’t mean they don’t still need me.”
Dom’s eye glinted with skepticism, but then they reached the gate and Garin’s focus shifted entirely to the qesh standing with his team.
Damn, he was still pretty.
Knowing what a spitting rage demon he turned into when saved from oncoming traffic didn’t diminish Garin’s appreciation for his narrow hips and long, braided, pale hair. He’d redone the braid, every hair that had come loose in their scuffle the day before folded back into place. Maybe Garin would offer to help him redo it out in the field. He’d braided Beaty’s hair enough growing up to learn the technique, and it might help put their unpleasant encounter behind them.
Then again, maybe Sazahk was already over the way they’d met. He didn’t look upset about their situation. He bounced lightly on the balls of his feet, and his long fingers played with the strap of his stuffed pack. He looked excited. Like a child off to camp.
At a gesture from the smallest klah’eel, Sazahk turned toward Garin and Dom’s approach. Garin smiled his best friendly smile, but Sazahk returned a pursed lip pout and a tendril of purple crawled over his upper lip. Every qesh’s colors were unique. Knowing that one qesh turned purple when they were happy didn’t tell someone what purple meant on another qesh. But Garin didn’t need any special insights to know Sazahk’s purple wasn’t good.
“You’re heavily armed for an excursion into a land famously devoid of life.” Sazahk met them, tablet in hand, and eyed the pistol and knife hanging at Garin’s hips. “I know you’ve been chosen for this position because of your martial skill rather than your scientific acumen, but I hope you know steel won’t save your cells from the lingering effects of the ancient qeshs’ weapons.”
Garin’s jaw ticked. “Actually, my knowledge of wilderness environments and the biological limits of human and qeshian bodies is one reason I was chosen for this position.” He might not have this scientist’s brilliance, but he’d been educated on a full scholarship at the Human’s finest military academy. “And I thought we were going looking for life.”
“We are going looking for the possibility of life.” Sazahk drummed his long fingers along the edge of his tablet, the purple curling up the straight line of his nose. “Whether or not the essential building blocks remain in the soil and landscape. Whether or not the poison and defoliants used on the area continue to pose a problem. Finding vertebrate life of the kind that can be stopped by a gun and additionally proves to be a hostile threat is a remote possibility.”
Garin tapped the butt of his gun. “And in the case of that possibility, we’ll be prepared.”
Sazahk’s dark eyes glinted as the purple skirted around them. After a beat, he whirled away to face Dom and Garin fought back a smirk.
Point to him.
Sazahk shoved his tablet into Dom’s hands. “I compiled the data from one last research experiment on Tar’s anosmia. Based on these findings, I’d say your suggestion from two days ago is our best shot at restoring maximum olfactory sensitivity.”
Safely ignored, Garin took the opportunity to sweep his eyes from Sazahk’s head to his feet. Neatly braided hair, but a wrinkled shirt and crumpled pants. There was no one to impress where they were going, but Garin had never started a mission looking disheveled. Still, he had to give the man points for being the sort of scientist that didn’t mind getting his hands dirty. Or his boots. Or his pants. Or his shirt.
Sazahk took the tablet back after Dom had glanced at it and swiped the files to Dom’s tablet. “I wish I could be present for the attempt, but I’m glad you’ll be here to do it in my place. I would greatly appreciate if you’d record everything from pre- to post-op.”
“If we go ahead with the procedure while you’re gone, I’ll make sure we capture it from every angle,” Dom promised with a hand over his heart.
“Thank you.” Sazahk’s high cheekbones bloomed with a yellow as bright as the daffodils at the Turner’s Earth estate. Then he turned on his heel and marched back to the gate without another look in Garin’s direction.
Garin rubbed the spot between his eyebrows. Safe to say the qesh was not over their meeting. Great.
He caught Smith’s eye and Smith gave him a sympathetic grimace that worsened Garin’s oncoming migraine. It was that bad, huh?
Garin straightened up and recovered his friendly smile. He and Sazahk would be glued to each other’s sweaty sides as they ripened in the sun for the next month. It was time to be friends.
He joined the group at the gate and offered his hand to Sazahk. “Hey, we never got a chance to exchange real introductions. I’m Garin and I’m looking forward to working with you.”
Sazahk eyed Garin’s hand, then flicked that disinterested gaze up to Garin’s face. “No, you’re not. Bar’in heard you arguing with Dom about your unwillingness to be here.”
Garin clenched his jaw and stuck his hand back in his pocket while he waited for Sazahk to finish.
“And while more evidence to the contrary isn’t necessary, the fact that you don’t want to be here is also evident in the deception Dom had to practice in order to get you here.” Sazahk tilted his chin. “You were only told about the mission yesterday.”
“I didn’t say I approved of this mission or wanted to be here. I said I was looking forward to working with you,” Garin gritted out as soon as he got the opportunity.
