Page 16

His size caught her attention first.

The control in the way he carried it kept it.

A heavy tail moved behind him in a slow, deliberate sweep as his metallic silver eyes crossed the basin. He carried a curved blade in one hand and no firearm. Judging by the way the raiders shifted when they saw him, he did not need one.

Three others followed. Two were horned Kharovians, one broad through the shoulders with his left horn cut off near the base. The third was covered in dark fur, one eye replaced by a mechanical lens that clicked softly as it adjusted to the blue light. They spread out along the ridge without receiving a visible order.

The raider leader lifted his chin. “Ash commander.”

The newcomer looked first at the men holding weapons. Then his gaze moved to Lina’s splinted leg, Mira’s wrapped body, the tether hanging from Kesta’s wrist, and finally the blood at Kesta’s mouth.

His expression changed almost imperceptibly.

His jaw tightened. The tip of his tail stopped moving.

Kesta felt an unexpected flutter low in her abdomen and was immediately annoyed with herself. She had been legally murdered, dropped from orbit, chased by predators, abducted and struck in the face. Apparently her nervous system had decided this was an excellent time to notice that the alien commander was also an exceptionally attractive male.

His silver gaze remained on her for another heartbeat before shifting back to the raider leader.

“You took from my grid.”

His translator was better than theirs. The voice that reached Kesta was low and clear, with none of the harsh mechanical distortion she had grown accustomed to.

The raider spread his hands. “Drop fell outside marked stones. Unclaimed salvage.”

The commander’s expression cooled. “Humans are not salvage.”

“You changed your law?”

“No.”

“Then name the claimant.”

A faint smile spread among the raiders.

Kesta looked from one face to another and understood enough to dislike whatever came next. The commander might object to their language, but apparently objection meant very little under the laws governing this place unless someone had a recognized right to enforce it.

She pushed herself straighter. “I claim myself.”

For a moment no one spoke.

The furred alien behind the commander made a sound suspiciously like a cough used to conceal laughter. The commander did not join him. His eyes settled on Kesta again, and this time she saw something besides anger there. Interest, perhaps. Or recognition of a tactic he might have used himself.

“I heard you,” he said.

“Good.”

The raider leader jerked the loose tether. Kesta’s shoulder snapped forward.

“Self-claim has no witness standing.”

Before Kesta could respond, the Ash commander’s head turned. The look he gave the raider was so cold the man released the tether without being told.

Kesta noticed that too.

“Then witness it,” she said to the commander.

The scales along his temple shifted slightly as his jaw flexed. “You give instructions quickly for someone unfamiliar with our law.”