Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

W ith one day before the party, Tav felt guilty leaving his mate to fend for herself. They’d spent that first night in bed for hours, trading kisses and caresses, stories of their pasts, and fears for their futures. At some point, Molly had escaped the warmth of the covers and scurried away to prepare them a meal in her food processor, but otherwise they’d been ensconced with each other until day break. If it hadn’t been for her responsibilities, they would have surely spent the next day wrapped up around each other too. Instead, they worked as well as they could and retreated to her room at the first opportunity.

But today Tav had responsibilities of his own to see to. Juuno had done her best to repair the ship, and once the Honora Station head mechanic declared it safe for passengers, they’d be cleared to leave when they were ready. Tav already planned to stay until after the winter party, but he could tell that his passengers and crew were ready to continue on their journey. Honora Station didn’t hold much in the way of entertainment to those used to the spectacle that richer planets had to offer.

Juuno hadn’t even understood why he wanted to delay an extra day, but when Tav couldn’t stop smiling, she caught that something had changed.

“Have you met someone?” she asked.

They were sitting in a spare alcove near the mechanic station. Juuno had appointed herself supervisor of the Honora crew and didn’t feel comfortable leaving their ship in the hands of strangers. She’d scoffed when he asked if she wanted to help set up Molly’s party, but he’d never expected her help anyway.

“My denya.” Even saying it made him giddy. Molly’s image rose in his mind, her head thrown back in pleasure as she made a keening cry before yelling out his name and clinging to him.

Juuno just looked at him. “I don’t know what that means.”

“My mate. She’s… everything.” Tav wanted to run through the corridors and shout for joy. He’d found the other half of his soul in a place he’d never expected she’d be. She’d saved him in every way, and shown him pleasures he’d never felt before.

“Oh.” The word came out with a breath of air, but she said nothing else.

Tav’s mind screeched to a halt as something occurred to him. “You didn’t… you and me… um?—”

His engineer sputtered out a laugh and waved her hands as if to ward him off. “Not in a sun’s age! You’re like family, captain. But you are so not my type.”

“I’m not?” Not that he’d wanted her either, but he still had an ego and found it could be gently bruised.

Juuno was still laughing. “For one, you’re a man, which doesn’t work for me. And two, mating among my people isn’t quite so—well, let’s just say it’s a bit different than you’d expect. But, no, we’re good.”

“I thought you were Oscavian?” She had the purple skin common in the empire, and Tav only now realized that he’d never asked.

“Nope.” But Juuno didn’t enlighten him to her origin and he wasn’t about to push. To some people, it was the height of insult to inquire, and he wasn’t about to risk their friendship over something that didn’t matter. “So this woman, what’s her story?”

Tav could talk for hours about her, even if they’d only known each other for a few days. But he spared Juuno the gushing and gave her the condensed version of Molly’s history: she was a party planner from Earth who was trying to make a name for herself. And she wanted to bring winter to Honora Station to capture the magic of it all.

“Is she coming with us when we lift off?” Juuno asked.

“She’s thinking about it. I just wish there was something I could do to convince her.” The barbarian that lived inside of him told him to tie her up and drag her aboard if she decided to stay, but Tav was a civilized man and he’d never force his mate into something like that. “She says that people give gifts during winter. Have you heard of that?”

Juuno shrugged. “People give gifts all the time. Why? Are you trying to get her something?”

That… that was an idea. Tav rolled it around in his mind until he had it, the thing that just might prove to her how much he wanted her, how much he cared. “Yes,” he replied. “I want to give her something. And I need your help.”

Everything was ready. The party would go on throughout the day tomorrow with live music, food, and presents, capped off with a light show as darkness fell on the ship. Molly had outdone herself and she was ready to collapse from exhaustion. The mix of working at all hours and long nights of sex with Tav was getting to her, and she’d be more than happy to let one of those things go. Not Tav, no, she had no desire to leave his bed anytime soon.

Though she still wasn’t sure if she should climb aboard his ship and sail off for destinations unknown.

She’d missed him on the last day of preparations, even if they wouldn’t have had any time to talk to one another anyway. He’d pinged her communicator earlier to tell her he was working on a project and couldn’t see her until late, and she had to understand that. They’d been so dedicated to her party over the last week that she almost forgot that he had concerns of his own to deal with.

Everyone was gone for the night and even Molly had snuck out for a few minutes to grab a bite to eat. She was just doing a final walkthrough before she was ready to call it done when she spotted the problem.

The presents were gone.

She rushed to the tree and saw that half of the boxes had been taken, had disappeared like all of the rest of the things had disappeared.

“No, no, no!” She looked around frantically, hoping they’d just been misplaced, but they were nowhere to be found. Someone had stolen Christmas! Well, okay, not Christmas exactly, but they’d taken gifts meant for children in winter and she couldn’t stand that.

No, she was going to settle this once and for all.

Tav had left the tracking tablet on the table she used as her base of operations and she was able to uncover it with a little shifting around of papers and other items. She powered it up and saw that the tracker they’d placed the first night hadn’t moved from where it had been when they followed it, behind the wall with no door. Well, that had been a few days ago. Tonight she had a purpose. Tonight she’d break through that wall with her bare hands if she had to.

Molly took off, following the path by memory, the hallways seared into her mind as she jogged and turned. Unlike the first time, today a few people were there, but no one paid her any attention. And the further she got away from the party, the fewer and fewer people there were. When she made it to the hallway where she and Tav had been forced to stop last time, she almost thought she’d made a wrong turn somewhere. Now there wasn’t a wall blocking off her path, today the hallway continued on.

Molly looked down at the tablet again and saw that she wasn’t far from the tracker.

As she continued on, a niggling part of her wondered if she should have called Tav or station security before she left. After all, she didn’t know if she was running towards a single thief or some kind of organized crime lord who stole things all over the station and sold them for a profit. It seemed farfetched, but there was no way to be certain. She slowed from a run to a walk and seriously considered turning around to find someone to accompany her, but she was so close now that she could practically see everything that had been taken from her.

She had to get those gifts back for the kids. She was going to make this the best damn winter party Honora Station had ever seen, and that couldn’t happen if the kids didn’t get their presents.

The tracker told her she was almost there. When Molly came to a door, she pocketed the device and tried the handle, surprised when it opened with a slight push. She stepped into a dimly lit room and her mouth fell open. Right there, in a tidy pile, were the wrapped gifts she’d been planning to give to the children. Beyond them were the wires that had been stolen and the piping that kept disappearing. But there was even more—piles of clothing separated by color, enough food packs to feed an army, even some tablets and more expensive items. It looked like a bazaar, ready to sell anything that a person was looking for.

But all Molly wanted was the gifts. She could tell security about this later. Now that she’d seen it with her own two eyes, they’d have to believe her, right?

Well, even if they didn’t, at least the kids would get their gifts.

She looked around for a bag or something to gather the presents in, as there were too many of them for her to carry them by herself. She was so absorbed in the task that she didn’t hear the door open, but when the hard muzzle of a blaster dug into her side she froze where she stood.

“Now, now,” said a harsh voice, “What do we have here?”

It was perfect. Tav had his gift set up and ready to surprise Molly the next time she came in to check on the party setup. Everything looked perfect and she had to be pleased with herself. It was going to be a hit, he was sure of it. And if she liked what he brought her, he hoped this helped her bring that last bit of winter that she’d been looking for to Honora Station.

But where was she?

They hadn’t been able to make solid plans for the day, but Tav had promised that he’d be with her by nighttime. Every night in her arms only made him hungry for more, and Tav wouldn’t deny either of them that closeness, not even as he was desperate for her to make a decision about whether or not she’d come with him off of Honora Station.

No, they could talk about that after the party. There was no way Molly was in the mood to deal with that decision yet. Her mind had been so occupied with getting things ready, he was sure she hadn’t been able to focus on anything as simple as the rest of her life and the potential love he gave her.

Potential. Ha. No, it was full blown. His heart beat for hers and Tav wouldn’t have it any other way. But he didn’t want to scare her away, so he’d kept that to himself for now. Once she chose to stay with him, once they were away from Honora Station and had plenty of time to themselves, then he’d reveal his feelings. But not until then. Not until she could be sure of him.

Seriously, where was she?

Tav searched the room, as if he’d find her hiding under one of the tables, but there was no sign of his denya. He wondered if she’d gone back to her quarters, but surely she would have sent a message if she wanted him to go there instead of to the party hall. On his second walkthrough he noticed that the presents around the tree had been disturbed, and there seemed to be far fewer of them than there should have been.

Had Molly offered some of them to her workers? No, that didn’t make sense. She’d been so excited to give them to the children of the station that surely she wouldn’t be willing to give even one away before it was time.

Thieves.

They’d stolen other things from her, but had they done the unspeakable and taken items meant for children? How could they? Perhaps Molly had gone to station security to report the theft, but even as Tav had the thought he knew it wasn’t true. His mate didn’t trust station security; they’d let her down with all the previous thefts and she had no confidence that they’d recover the items in time.

He rushed over to her desk to look for the tracking tablet he’d left for her. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, to let her watch the tracker and see if it moved. After all, she was the one who had to report the crime. But the desk was a mess and he couldn’t find the tablet. A suspicion was growing inside of him, one that Tav hoped wasn’t true. He knew what kind of crime could brew on a station like Honora, and if the worst sort was out there stealing everything they could get their hands on, they wouldn’t hesitate to hurt his denya if she got in their way.

His first thought was station security. They might not have cared about Molly’s missing items, but surely they’d care about a missing person. But as he turned to head towards the security kiosk, something deep inside tugged him in the other direction just as a spike of fear nearly sent him to his knees.

Molly!

He’d heard that the denya bond connected mates, but he’d never realized how literal that could be. That fear wasn’t his own; it was too panicky, too tinged with terror to be the mild worry that had been slowly growing within him for the past few minutes. The panic pulled him away from the guard station and down the hall he’d taken with his denya a few days before when they’d followed the trail of her thieves. After a moment, Tav started running, the fear in his chest blooming and mixing with the panic he felt from his mate. He couldn’t lose her now, not when he’d only just found her.

The station seemed to blur around him as he sprinted and Tav barely noticed that the wall was open where they’d run into a roadblock the first night. He heard voices and almost barged in through the door that was cracked open, but some sixth sense made him stop. If Molly was in danger, going in with no plan might only make it worse.

“Why did you take the presents?” he heard his mate ask. Despite the terror he could feel in his own veins, her voice didn’t shake.

“Get her tied up. We’ve got a transaction to finish. We’ll deal with her later.” Whoever that man was ignored Molly completely and there was a sound of scuffling.

So there was Molly, the speaker, and someone the speaker was commanding. Maybe more than one someone. Still, Tav waited. “Why can’t we just take care of her now?” the third person asked, voice whiny.

“Cause I said so.” They didn’t sound smart, but they were dangerous. Tav reached for his communicator to send a message to security, only to find his pocket empty. He must have left it back on Molly’s desk. He bit back the curse. He couldn’t let these men overhear him. He tried to send calming thoughts towards his mate, to reassure her that help was on the way. Whether it worked or not, he had no idea, but Tav didn’t have many options. He didn’t even have a weapon.

Well, that wasn’t quite true. He didn’t have a blaster , but Detyens came equipped with their own weapons. He’d never been much of a fighter before, but for his mate, he’d dig deep within himself and find that fierceness, that protectiveness, and do whatever he had to do to make sure she remained safe.

His claws slid out of his knuckles, long and wickedly sharp, ready to slice into his enemies and separate flesh from blood.

Footsteps came his way and Tav slunk into the deepest shadow of the hallway, trying to stay out of sight. He didn’t want any of the people who’d wronged Molly to get away, but he had to put her safety first, and it would be much easier to fight one man than two. He was sure at any second that the man would see him and fight, but he turned the other way and paid no attention to the heavy shadows collecting in one of the halls.

There was no time to waste. Tav burst into the room to find Molly midfight with one man while a second had her arm wrenched back, ready to tie her up. This time he couldn’t bite back his curse. He hadn’t accounted for the second man, but it didn’t matter. He launched himself toward the man with the rope, trusting Molly to deal with the other guy as best as she could.

He raked his claws against the man’s arm and the man let out a cry, dropping to one knee. Tav kicked him over, sending him completely to the ground, and the man’s head thumped against the floor with a sickening thud. His chest rose and fell with a rattle, but he remained down.

When he turned around, Molly and her attacker were still going at it. She hadn’t had the element of surprise, and the blaster lying on the ground a few meters away from them told the story of why she’d been so subdued before.

But two on one, the man didn’t stand a chance. Molly kicked him back into Tav, and Tav reached around the man to choke him until he hung limp in Tav’s arms. Once he was down, Molly grabbed the rope and tied the two guys up, pocketing their blaster and breathing heavily, her hands shaking.

“Are you alright?” Tav asked quietly. Not that she could be, not with how this evening had gone.

But Molly closed the distance between them and fell against him, clutching her arms around him. “I am now that you’re here.”

“Let’s go get security and get this mess cleaned up.”

She took a deep breath and pushed back from him, shaking her head. “We have to get these gifts for the kids. I’m not risking them disappearing again.”

Tav smiled, despite the fear that he’d been running on for the last several minutes. “You are a fierce woman, denya.”

Molly just shrugged.

While the two attackers moaned on the ground, Molly and Tav gathered up the gifts and left. Either their boss would be back in no time or security would be there to collect them once the incident was reported. But the gifts for the children were safe, and Tav had one more thing to give his denya to make the party perfect.