13. Nox

13

NOX

H is woman was trying to kill him, he was sure of it. Why else would she torment him like that when he had no recourse but to follow her into the clinic? As much as he wanted to, he couldn't snatch her and run for the nearest bed or dark corner now. They were here. He stealthily adjusted his pants to accommodate the growing ache of his cock.

"Took you long enough. I've been waiting here forever," Navi said, popping up off the bright blue couch in the clinic's waiting room. He raised his eyebrows at the pair's proximity to one another.

"Lis, this is Navi, my XO on Antana's Luck ," Nox said. "Navi, Lis."

Navi ran a hand through his dark curls and gave Lis a toothy grin. "Nice to meet you officially."

"We've met before?" she asked, shooting a questioning glance at Nox.

"Yeah, well, you were unconscious when I met up with you all, but I helped the Cap here rescue you from those trolls." He hooked a thumb at Nox.

Lis returned his smile. "Nice to meet you, then. And thanks for the hand with those assholes, by the way. I was a little stuck."

Navi huffed out a laugh, leaning towards Nox as he gave her an admiring look. "This one's spicy. I like her. Is she available?"

"Hands off, playboy. That's my mate you're talking about," Nox growled, his hands clenching into fists.

"And I'm not a piece of meat to fight over." Lis rolled her eyes. "Men." She spun on a heel and disappeared deeper into the clinic.

"Oh-ho. Nice job, Cap." Navi snickered. "She's good for you. Don't drive her away."

"You're such a dick, Navi," Nox said, punching him affectionately in the arm. "No wonder your brother sent you to me rather than put up with you any longer."

"Ooh, burn." Navi flicked a curl out of his eyes.

"You get the crash site cleaned up?"

"Yeah, yeah. Working on it. Those trolls were more determined to find your woman than expected. They didn't break camp until the early hours." Navi stifled a yawn. "I left Anders and Bodhi to scoop up everything and sanitize the area. No one will know there ever was a crash there. And Channing's digging through any recordings or sat images that might have captured the ship's path."

Some of the worry lifted. Navi might act like a flighty dingbat at times, but he'd proven himself to be a capable executive officer. Nox was lucky to have him. "Thanks for that."

Navi gave a grunt of acknowledgement. "Better go find your mate before she decides she's better off without you."

Throwing up a rude gesture that made Navi splutter with fake indignation, Nox followed his mate through the clinic's double doors.

"I still say we need to track this group back to their home base," Tanl'n Maher, leader of the Kalin Territory, said to the group of people gathered around an oval conference table. "Bring down the entire gang at once, rather than with little nibbles around the edges."

He was a formidable man, dressed in black leather armor similar to Nox's, with broad shoulders, warm brown skin, and long black hair he kept tied back in a queue. Before he took over as leader, he ran one of the most successful mercenary groups on Cinzia. These days, he worked with his crew to make his territory one of the safest and most profitable on the planet.

Lis's lips pressed together. She caught Nox's eye and gave him a barely noticeable head shake. Other than that, she let him take the lead.

"They have captives," Nox said, reiterating their original argument. "If we allow them to regroup with the rest of their gang, our chances of rescuing those people drop to nil."

Lis and Navi were on the same page as him, but as head of the territory, Tan had the final say as to how this mission would go. Unless they planned to go rogue. Seeing Lis's determined expression, Nox knew that was exactly what would happen if Tan chose to wait the trolls out.

"If they're taking captives, they're selling them somewhere. Slavery is absolutely unacceptable, and I want it out of my territory." Tan rapped his knuckles on the table, making the water glasses rattle. "I want to know where they are, who's buying, and I want to put a stop to it, once and for all."

Sona placed a calming hand on her mate's arm. "Tan, I understand your reasoning and agree that we need to eradicate these slavers. But right now, the captives should be our priority. I don't want to be responsible for their deaths."

"You are too soft-hearted, my mate," he said, lifting her fingers to his lips. "What of the long-term damage these slavers are doing?"

"Might I suggest we capture these trolls and turn them over to the matriarchs?" Sona said with a tip of her head.

Navi hooted. "Soft-hearted, my left butt cheek," he said, giving the doctor an admiring look. "Your mate is even more viscous than you, Maher."

"Why?" Lis asked, her brows drawn together in confusion.

"Because the troll matriarchs rule their clans with titanium fists," Nox said, eyeing Sona. When she and Tan first mated, he'd thought the pairing of the hardened mercenary and gentle doctor an unbalanced match. Obviously, he was wrong. "For the most part, these gangs are juvenile males who run wild for a few years, causing problems and being general pains in the ass. Eventually, most return to their clans and settle down to become productive members of their society."

"But something changed," Tan said. He wrapped an arm around Sona and pulled her close, her chair scraping over the flooring. "Many of the small, disparate gangs have united, become more organized. Their troublemaking evolved into planned attacks with clear objectives."

"To what end?" Lis asked, unconsciously shifting towards Nox as she watched the way Sona and Tan interacted with interest.

She may not have noticed that she was leaning in his direction, but he certainly did. He shifted in his seat, silently telling his nether bits to settle down.

"Of that, we're not sure," Tan said with a dissatisfied grunt. "What we do know is that they've leveled up, which is bad for everyone. Which is why I wanted to track them."

Sona poked him in the side. "But?"

A muscled jumped in his jaw. "But your idea has merit."

Lis huffed out a near-silent laugh as she watched Sona, an admiring glint in her eye.

Catching Nox's attention, Navi tipped his head from Lis to Sona and mouthed, "Better watch out."

But Nox wasn't worried. He appreciated their teamwork and how they listened to one another. Under the table, he squeezed Lis's hand.

She gave him a lopsided smile.

Unaware of the interest her semi-tender encouragement garnered, Sona poked her mate again. "Of course it does, foolish man. And it'll give us a chance to test out that new formula Saadat developed with the Haruet. According to my sister, a dart loaded with the stuff should drop them where they stand."

"Without killing them?" Lis asked.

Sona nodded. "Or so my sister says."

"As long as they go down and stay down, we're in," Nox said.

"Fine," Tan said, giving into the inevitable. "We will do as you say, Sona love."

"I never had any doubt," Sona said, settling deeper into Tan's embrace, satisfied.

Tan kissed the top of her head. "Everyone, gear up. I'll alert my team, and we'll meet behind the clinic in five."

Shifting in his chair, Nox lifted a finger. "Make that ten. I need to speak with Lis before we go."