18. Ryklin

Denya.

The certainty settled over me as the humans got into formation, their spears pointed straight for me. They"d run me through in an instant, but I could take out at least one of them, maybe two. I could make them pay for what they wanted to do to us.

Denya.

I heard it with every beat of my heart, the realization sinking deep into the soul that should have been dead and long gone. Anger. That was a feeling. Fear was there as well.

Regret.

And the driving need to claim my mate. It pounded within me, and if we hadn"t been surrounded by ten armed humans with grim expressions on their faces, Noelle would have been in my arms right that moment.

Astrid held up a fist, and the humans retracted their spears. "Fine, we"ll talk to you together. Does that satisfy you, Mr. Ryklin?" Her voice was calm, as if that might steady my own emotions.

"My clan name is NaHavoc." I didn"t move from where I stood, but I let my claws retract.

My mate put her hand over my arm and stepped out from behind me. "There"s no need for violence," she said. She was speaking to me as much as them. But she was touching me.

It hurt, still, but the hurt was nothing compared to the need even that slight press of her fingers brought forward. I breathed deep, both to calm myself and trying to pull in her scent.

All I could smell was the fire and some sort of roasting meat.

Astrid and Davis led us toward that fire and sat us down at a crudely constructed table. Two men left and came back after a moment with plates laden with food and cups full of water. Noelle didn"t hesitate to eat or drink, and though I was wary, I followed her lead. If these people wanted to kill us, they"d use their spears. There was no need for poison.

Once we"d finished, the same men took our plates and cups away.

We weren"t tied up. We were out in the open. It still felt a bit like we were prisoners.

I took my mate"s hand in my own and didn"t miss the way Astrid"s eyebrows rose at the gesture. Our hands rested on the table, a clear sign we had no weapons. I didn"t want them to think I was a threat.

"What is this place?" Noelle asked. "How are you here? Nebula is supposed to be abandoned."

Davis snorted at that. Astrid gave us a wry look. "Yeah, that"s what the bosses said." She pointed to the scar on her face. "I got this in the explosion. It was right at the shift change, but I"d slept through my alarm and was running late. I was sure they"d dock my pay or have me on shit duty for a month for it. I was just about to enter one of the outbuildings when I heard the first explosion. Everyone inside died. And then no one came to rescue us."

Noelle"s fingers squeezed mine. "They just left you here?" Her voice was horrified.

"They did," said Davis. He and Astrid were both circumspect. They'd had a decade to process the horror. "No matter how many times we called for help, no one came. We stopped calling, eventually. How do you know about Nebula?"

My mate pointed towards the sky. "We live on Nebula Outpost." Then she sucked in a shuddering breath. "Do you know the Vales? My friend Pippa"s parents were miners. Did they?—"

Astrid shook her head before Noelle could finish her question. "No one named Vale lives in the village. I"m sorry."

"Oh."

Hope could be cruel, even when it was so short lived.

"So, there"s still a whole space station hovering above this planet, and no one could bother to send help for, what"s it been, nine years?" Davis was scowling.

"Ten," said Noelle. "It"s been just under ten years."

Astrid closed her eyes for a moment, taking that in. Then her expression was all business once more. "Why are you here? How?"

"We were in escape pods that crashed. We ejected by accident."

There was no need to go into the whole story, but Noelle launched into it anyway, and Astrid and Davis listened with steely expressions.

"Then we heard those two guys," she said. "We were camping on the side of the river and heard them. We followed, but they made it to their craft before we could catch up. Any idea what that"s about?"

"Smugglers," Davis spat. "They"ve got an illegal mining operation going on in the wreckage of the old mine. They dig around our old friends" corpses to extract whatever they can. They bring in slaves from wherever you get them in this part of the galaxy. A few have escaped, and we"ve taken them in. Most die within a few months. It"s toxic down there, and they don"t provide safety equipment. We"re far enough away that they haven"t found our village yet, though I don"t like how close they were today."

"They were probably stealing a bit for themselves," Astrid suggested. "No reason to hide a ship this far out otherwise."

"So, they don"t know you"re here?" I asked.

Astrid laughed mirthlessly. "Oh, they know. They"ve stolen just as many from us as we"ve saved. But they don"t know where we live. Something about the natural formation of this area makes it hard to scan from the air, and we"ve got sentries all around to make sure no one gets too close. It"s not safe, exactly, but it"s as safe as we can make it."

"And you"ve never been able to get a message out?" Noelle asked.

"We haven"t tried in years, not since the smugglers moved in," said Astrid. "Too risky. After the first few months, we started to think something might have been interfering with the signal."

"Yeah, the assholes who blew us up for insurance money," muttered Davis.

"You think it was on purpose?" Noelle leaned forward, eyes wide.

"On purpose or not, someone made a choice not to look for survivors," said Astrid, shooting Davis a warning look. "It"s getting late, and you must be tired, given all you"ve been through. Let us provide you with a place to stay. We can speak more in the morning."

"And if we wish to go?" I didn"t trust these survivors, even if they"d fed us. They were doubtlessly hiding things, and I wasn"t sure their story added up.

"Ryklin …," Noelle said in warning.

But Astrid kept her eyes on me. "Stay the night," she said, the slightest hint of a threat under her words. "We wouldn"t want you getting lost in the woods."