Mera

MERA

"You're late, Makar," Alkard said to the huge Vinduthi with green tracery who walked through the door.

"Not my fault," the newcomer grumbled, pulling out one of the plush leather seats from around the long wooden table. "Didn't realize the meeting was up here."

The table's dark surface had been carved with elegant swirls, each groove then filled with a sparkling silver substance, catching my eyes as I looked around the room.

Six men. Alkard, the leader of the Vinduthi syndicate, and his five most trusted lieutenants.

Three human women.

And one of those women was me.

"Mera just awakened," Tessi answered. "I didn't want her to have to go all the way to the basement."

"And the family is growing," Alkard explained further. "The old room by my office wouldn't have been comfortable."

Makar just shook his head. "Three new mates is enough, right?" He glared at Havok and Tazhr, both of whom I'd just met. They seemed nice enough, for members of an alien mafia.

Wait. Alkard had said the family was growing.

Did that mean I was part of the syndicate now?

Kovas's hand covered mine and I relaxed, just a bit.

Whatever happened, it would be fine. Because Kovas and I were here together.

We'd come too far for pesky details to throw me off.

"I don't think we're going to have much free time to be dating," Havok answered, tapping the sleek tablet that lay before him. Instantly, the silver swirls on the table shimmered, then a holo window sprung up in the center, text and images flowing past too quickly to read.

Except… "How can I read this fast?" I whispered to Kovas. "That's not possible."

Amy leaned over. "Part of the ‘upgrade package.'" She touched the marks on her cheek. "Like I said, we're faster and stronger now. We couldn't be faster without being able to process visual information at an increased speed as well." She grinned. "I might finally catch up on my to-be-read list."

That made sense.

When I woke up, Tessi and Amy had explained about the changes that had happened to my body after the injection of Kovas's DNA during the claiming bite.

The lights, the sounds, the difference in how I moved - I'd been prepared for all of that. This was something else.

"This is a trail of messages I found on that percomm you two brought back," Havok said with a nod in our direction.

"No wonder Conii sent her soldiers over here once she realized you two had escaped with this," Razov said.

Feeling slow to keep up, my shoulders hunched in a little bit. "I'm sorry, I can read it, but I don't know what I'm looking at."

Tessi snorted. "Don't worry. We only know because we've been trying to intercept communications between Conii and the Fanaith for months now."

That made me feel a little better. Not much, but a tiny bit. "But why? I mean, I'm glad this is useful, but what's so important?"

A seventh Vinduthi, tall and thin and elderly appeared, carrying a tray with a tall glass on it, filled almost to the brim with a dark orange liquid.

"Nayal, you're a wonder," Tessi said, rising up to assist him. "I take back every mean thing I thought about you when I moved in."

"Mistress Tessi," he said as he moved around the table. "It is possible that we both may have said things we now regret. Possible."

He put the glass in front of me, and I stared up at him, confused. "What's this?"

"Something to help your body recover faster," he answered, then went to the side of the room where a low cabinet stood. Waving his hand over the top it opened to reveal a fully stocked bar.

"Nayal helped heal me when I was injured," Tessi explained. "He's been experimenting with new ways to help our bodies adjust to the change more easily." She rolled her eyes. "Even if he's a stick-in-the-mud sometimes, you should trust him if he says this is good for you."

Kovas sniffed at the glass, then nodded. "It's safe, I promise."

A warm glow spread through me. He'd always protect me, even from his own people.

Carefully, I took a sip. It was thick, almost enough to make me wish for a spoon. Surprised, I looked up at Kovas. "It's sweet!"

Nayal brought glasses of thinly worked crystal, filled with a deep burgundy wine to each of the others. "If there is nothing else?" he asked, and at Alkard's shake of the head, left the room.

"Sorry." Tessi leaned over to rest her head on Alkard's shoulder. "I was just worried about Mera and wanted Nayal to take another look. I didn't mean to interrupt."

"I'll think of your punishment later," he growled. "But for now, this will do."

With a quick swoop, he scooped her into his arms, settling back into his own chair with her held easily in his lap. "Now, back to why this is important."

Alkard scowled. "The Fanaith stole a weapons shipment from us that was meant for the Zequinids. Only Amy's friendship with their princess bought us time to figure out what's going on."

"Princess?" I gasped. "When did that happen?

"You were there," she laughed. "Remember the bug, back in the Ewani laboratory? Apparently that's what baby Zeqs look like."

There was more to that story, I was sure. I'd have to get all the details later.

"But we never really had a problem with the Fanaith before. And when we interrogated their soldiers, it was clear they stole the shipment on someone else's orders."

"Conii," I murmured, replaying the string of comms I'd just read in my head. They'd been vague, nothing overtly about weapons or the Zequinids or Vinduthi.

‘Old friends.' ‘Hide and seek.' ‘The package.' ‘The owners.'

The messages could have been about anything. But knowing the back story, it was clear that Garlku had ordered his men to steal the weapons on Conii's behalf.

And that he'd been treated like a valuable ally ever since.

"Was that why she was so willing to give me to him?" I asked, hating my voice for shaking. "Because she owed him for those weapons?"

Kovas slid out of his chair to kneel in front of me. "You don't have to be here. You don't have to hear any of this."

"Actually," Alkard started, then fell silent at Kovas's grim expression.

"She does not have to be here."

"It's all right," I said, swallowing hard. There was no reason to fear. "I want to help."

"That might have been part of the reason," Havok said before tapping open another window where a new stream of comms flashed past us. "But it's obvious they've worked together as partners in the slaving ring for some time now."

"Those women…" I thought back to the video I'd filmed all those months ago. "Is there any way to save them?" Biting my lip, I looked around the table again. "That's the plan, right?"

"We're working on it," Kovas promised. "Unfortunately, there's a few other problems that we're up against that Garlku doesn't seem to be a part of. But you still might be able to help."

I took another long sip of the drink, really, really wishing it was wine.

"I can try, but it's not like I had free run of the prison. I didn't meet a lot of people."

Alkard nodded. "We'll take any information you have. The shipment for the Zequinids wasn't the only one that ran into trouble. Too many of our other shipments have been flagged. This shouldn't be happening."

"It sounds like," I squeaked, then stopped, trying again. "It sounds like someone on your side is telling secrets."

Thankfully, Alkard smiled. "We'd guessed that. Unfortunately, it's a long process of elimination to discover who the mole is. We're sending out false information about incoming shipments, watching to see which of the inspectors bite, so we can track the intel back to the source. But maybe you heard something about our shipments?"

"No, nothing," I admitted. "The guards did talk while they were on duty, but I never heard anything about Vinduthi shipments. They talked about a guy called Goran that had something to do with customs, but it sounded like he'd retired."

"Goran." Alkard's slow smile spread across his face and even though I knew I was perfectly safe, I couldn't help the quiver of fear that ran up my spine. "That's very, very interesting."

"Who's that?" Amy asked Razov.

"He's a retired Inspector General," her mate answered. "But he still pulls a lot of strings on the docks. Probably still knows all of the customs inspectors on Thodos."

"Which is a good thing," Tazhr continued. "Since we pay him well to keep our shipments on the quiet."

"Do you think Conii flipped him?" Tessi's fingers drummed into the table, her gaze hard.

"We checked him out before, but it's possible we missed something," Havok said. "I'm good, but no one is perfect.

Kovas looked at the ceiling and closed his eyes. "If the Inspector General is in Conii's pocket, we have to take care of him. This could be a problem"

"And…?" Tessi pushed.

"He's not exactly a nobody," Alkard explained. "High-profile targets are harder because people notice when they're gone, and they usually have security on them at all times. There's almost no way without incurring collateral damage, and that's not really our thing."

"It's not?" I asked. Having seen the way Kovas took out an entire platoon of Ewani, I doubted that.

"Not if they're just bystanders. It's not that we care; they just leave a lot of loose ends. It gets messy and complicated pretty fast. Bad for business."