Lovers of the Galaxy, Book Two: Bounty Hunters of the Heart (3 page)

He rose as she hurried out into the hall to her
mates. Using his Trans Shifter rod, he administered a new dose to
his neck. The feeling that up and down had switched places assailed
him as he trans-shifted to the rooftop. Just as he appeared just
outside the stairwell door, Volund, Jaxxon, and Venus materialized
next to him. He let his gaze wander over the vegetable garden,
where he found his significant other sitting in its center. During
the night before, blossoms had begun to open on two squash plants,
their bright orange blooms vivid in an otherwise dry, drab world.
It didn’t surprise him that his mate had felt drawn to the color as
well as the symbol of life.

“Oshki,” Venus called. “Get your Azutuan ass over
here. We have an idea.”

He jumped slightly and then glanced guiltily over one
shoulder.

Miln smiled to himself. Although Oskhi liked to
portray himself as a dominant male, he was actually a follower
instead of a leader.

“Now!” Venus’s tone turned to one of a stern mother.
“We don’t have all night, and I want to go to bed sometime.
Tomorrow is going to be a really long day.”

Oshki’s sigh reached him from all the way across the
rooftop. At times, his mate could be such a little boy. He
struggled to his feet, careful to step over and around any plants
or blooms. He ambled across the garden, his yellow hair floating
around his shoulders and his tilk fluttering about his thighs as
the night breeze tossed both about. The moonlight glistened on his
skin, the shadows honing the planes and cuts of his muscular body.
He stopped a few paces away, his expression sad, beaten.

Before Miln could even open his mouth, Venus launched
into an explanation of her plans for them when they traveled back
to the mid-1800s in search of Randle. “So you see,” she finished,
“the only things you will take back in time with you will be your
period clothing, equipment, and your personal tools such as your
Slicers and a few odds and ends that should be kerk-free.” She
placed her hands on her hips and looked over at her mates. “Hell,
if we want to be really careful, one of you two could take them
back in time and then return with the Sky Streamer, couldn’t you?
Then after a certain amount of time passes, you could go back for
them or at least check in with them, right?”

“Yes, that is an option.” Volund nodded. “I doubt
very much Tapio had kerks put in their ship, but one never knows
about that pink-eyed bastard. Tapio cannot be trusted, ever.”

“We will discuss the issue of the ship more
tomorrow,” Jaxxon stated and held his hand out to Venus. “Let us
retire for the night so these two can make up.”

As she started to walk away, Miln reached out and
touched her shoulder. She paused, looking quizzically at him.
“Yes?”

“Thank you.” Relief and gratitude filled him.

She smiled. “You’re very welcome. Until my mates
showed up I didn’t realize how awful it was to be alone. I was too
wrapped up in surviving to really notice. Now I know that if you
have no one to share your life with, it’s an empty existence.” She
glanced over at Oshki and winked. “Good night.”

“Good night, Venus,” Miln said, emotion forcing a
lump in his throat. “You are a very special female.”

“Woman,” she shot back. “Female is my sex. I am a
woman.”

He comprehended her meaning. “My brother-friends are
very lucky to have you as their mate.”

“Good sleeping,” the brothers called out. They
sandwiched Venus between them and vanished.

“I am so sorry for how I acted and what I said,”
Oshki began. He approached Miln with a pleading expression, his
arms out to his sides, palms exposed in a pose of surrender. “Will
you forgive me?”

He pressed the chip on his skull. “Of course.”
Holding out his hand to his comrade, he threaded their fingers
together. “And I apologize for making you wait so long for us to be
together as true life mates.”

“It is essential that we do wait. I realize that but
hate to accept it. I would rather be cautious than to spend our
time together talking through a prison shield.” Sincerity glimmered
in his partner’s eyes.

Touched, he nodded, once. Suddenly exhausted, he
said, “Let us retire, too.”

“I will take the padded bench tonight,” Oshki
offered, standing back to back with him as they prepared to
trans-shift to their quarters. “You have slept on it the past two
nights.”

“You will not get an argument from me.” He chuckled.
“My back is killing me.”

As they reappeared in the hall outside their
quarters, the pleasured cries of the threesome flowed down the
hall. Surprised the mated trio was already at it again, he reached
for the door just as Oshki groaned in frustration. Miln burst out
laughing.

Entering the lab, Miln touched the sensor on his
armor. His shields and greaves vanished with a faint whisper. He
picked up a tablet by the main computer and updated the information
for his midday security sweep. Still out in the field, Oshki would
return in two hours, but if he didn’t, Miln would go back out in
case he was in trouble.

He set the tablet aside and stood watching Venus for
a few minutes. She ran samples through one of the special machines
her father had designed to examine blood. He didn’t know whether to
think she was crazy or brilliant. Maybe she was a combination of
both, but he had to admire her determination to replicate Dr.
Zeon’s antidote for the Bone Eater mutation.

She noticed him standing across the room and snorted
in amusement. “I hope this serum works, but there are no
guarantees.”

“I have much confidence in you,” he replied. “You are
a very intelligent and a determined fem—woman.” Grinning, he hoped
she didn’t catch his slipup.

“Nice save,” she retorted.

“Let us finish up here,” he crossed the lab, “and
then discuss the plans for our mission. Randle has been gone too
long, and it disturbs me what changes he might have caused in
Earth’s history.”

“It frightens me even thinking about it.” She
shivered. “I do have an idea, however. If Randle has not tampered
with your ship’s central brain, can you use the one in my mate’s
ship to locate the precise time and date he traveled back in
Earth’s history?”

“Yes, as long as the atmosphere of the time period is
not charged,” Jaxxon replied as he and Volund strode into the
lab.

“Charged?” said Venus. “Do you mean like a lightning
storm?”

Jaxxon nodded. “It takes a couple hours for the
system to locate and track a ship’s Sky Streamer path, but it can
be done.” He glanced at Miln. “We will show you and Oshki how to do
it, too. That way, should you have the need to do it again while
tracking Randle down, you will be able to locate him.”

“What is your plan?” Volund asked Miln.

“To travel back and appear a few minutes ahead of
when Randle did—or does.” Glancing over at Ino and Ka, who had just
trotted into the room, he motioned the animals over to him. He
patted each pet’s head as they nuzzled him. “If we can go back in
time before Randle arrives, then maybe we can surprise him.”

“So what will you do with him once we have him?”
Volund shot him a curious look. “Bring him back and imprison him
or…?” He quirked an eyebrow.

“I think that decision depends on what we encounter
while dealing with him,” answered Miln.

“If he is brought back here,” Jaxxon said, “there is
always the chance he may figure out a way to break free and hurt
Venus and the unbor—the others.”

“Huh?” She offered him a perplexed expression.

Quickly, Jaxxon replied, “Those who may be brought
back here or converted, should the serum work.”

A smile tweaked his mouth. He turned, hiding it so
Venus wouldn’t see. Jaxxon was going to have to watch what he said
and how he acted if he wanted to keep the pregnancy quiet for a
while longer.

She wrinkled her nose. “Too bad you can’t send him
into the Jurassic period.”

Miln looked at her quizzically as did her mates.

She sighed. “You definitely need to brush up on
Earth’s prehistoric history. Jurassic dinosaurs? You know, big
reptiles with teeth and claws that hunt for meat? Ones who might
have the bad guy for dinner?”

“I will have to research the era,” said Miln as he
tried to recall if he’d studied the dinosaurs during their trip to
Earth. “Oshki and I had so much filtered into our brains while in
suspended animation it takes time to decipher everything.”

“Sometimes I wonder how the four of you can be so
advanced and yet so clueless.” She paused and shot a guilty look at
everyone. “Sorry, guys. I don’t know why I’m so temperamental.”

He kept his gaze averted as he helped her straighten
and disinfect everything. Venus was very perceptive, so if she
looked into his eyes, she’d know something was up.

Volund and Jaxxon went over his last few security
entries in the tablet. Once the surfaces where clean and shiny and
all syringes and vials put away or disposed of, Venus checked on
one Bone Eater she’d been testing for the past two days.

“I thought she would be transformed by now,” she
mused worriedly.

“Perhaps the ones your doctor friend experimented on
were younger?” Miln offered.

“You might be right.” Gesturing at the creature, she
shook her head. “This one has been a Bone Eater for quite some
time. You can tell by how long her spine spikes are, how thick, and
their dark color.” She drew in a deep breath and then let it out in
one big gust. “What troubles me is that the ones who first
transformed might need bigger or more doses of the serum—if I’ve
followed Dr. Zeon’s notes properly.”

“We may have to experiment a while longer, little
warrior,” said Jaxxon. “It seems cruel in a way, but if doing so
will save many lives by returning these monsters to human form, it
is worth it.”

“I agree,” Volund stated, his tone grave.

Miln hated to see Venus distressed, but she couldn’t
expect instant results. The serum might work, but it seemed
reasonable its effect would be different for various Bone
Eaters.

“Well, for the time being,” she looked at him, “I
think you and Oshki should gather some of the things you’ll need
for your trip. Did you both learn about the Old West during your
journey here?”

“Yes,” he replied. “It is more recent Earth
history.”

A shimmer in the air drew his attention, and his
partner appeared.

“Good,” Venus continued, “use the information to help
you. Also, in my chambers, there is a reference book on the little
table by the padded bench—the sofa. Take it with you.”

“You are back early.” He addressed his mate.
“Why?”

“It is terribly hot out there.” Touching the armor’s
sensor, Oshki breathed a sigh of relief as his protective coverings
disappeared. Sweat gleamed on his exposed flesh. “I felt as though
I would go unconscious from the heat.”

Looking over at his brother-friends, Miln groaned
inwardly at their disapproving expressions. Although it was clear
they were upset with Oshki and not him, he was still the head of
security and responsible for his mate’s actions.

Angered, he snapped under his breath, “You are to
protect and secure this area.”

“What good am I if the Bone Eaters find me
unresponsive on the ground somewhere?” his mate snapped back
without lowering his voice.

“Guys?” Venus interrupted. “Can we get back to the
matter at hand?”

Shooting him a smug smile, Oshki asked, “Where are we
going?”

Furious at his mate’s lack of concern for the base’s
welfare, Miln ground his teeth together, his fangs digging into his
lower lip.

“To a museum,” she replied. “I’ll give you the
directions. You’ll find weapons, ammunition, clothing, money, and
other things you’ll need to travel back in time.”

“If we surprise Randle,” Oshki stated, “why do we
need to take all those things back in time with us?”

“Randle is a wicked bastard,” she replied with
vehemence. “If he gets away, you’ll be forced to come back here for
the supplies or—”

“Or forced to track Randle down only during the night
while you’re there,” Volund said. “Oshki’s coloring won’t startle
people as quickly as yours will, Miln. Your physical appearance may
frighten any locals you may encounter, and the last thing you need
to deal with is a mob of superstitious humans.”

He nodded. “I see your point.”

“Let us go now,” Oshki urged, shooting him a pleading
look.

He knew it wasn’t to complete their mission and
return to base camp. He saw the unbridled yearning in his eyes.
Even worse, his lover had dismissed the matter of shirking the rest
of his guard duty.

“Fine.” Miln turned toward the door, but not before
catching Volund’s concerned expression. “We will collect the items
now.”

“Take the packs stored in my closet, too,” said
Venus.

That made him pause. He chuckled, as did his mate and
brother-friends. “We have a way to gather supplies,” he said. “Do
not worry.”

“You two should take Ino and Ka with you to the
museum,” Jaxxon suggested. “In the short time we have been here,
our pets have grown adept at sensing the Bone Eaters before the
rest of us do.”

“And while you are gone,” Volund added, “we will
access your ship’s central brain and pinpoint Randle’s Sky Streamer
path.”

With Ino and Ka trotting along ahead of them, Miln
surveyed the dry, crumbling landscape. He hoped the scenery of the
mid-1800s proved more pleasing to the eyes. The sun beat down on
his head, and sweat trickled over his ribs beneath his body
armor.

“Schizma!” He paused and took a foil-like sheet from
his tool pack, stripped several of the tiny bumps from it, and
popped them into his mouth. “The intensity of the sun is
indescribable. You should take some of the protection seeds,
too.”