Lovers of the Galaxy, Book Two: Bounty Hunters of the Heart (6 page)

Irritated with his mate’s continued hostility, he
kept his tongue in check and settled into the co-command chair. He
slid one finger over a bright blue sensor, activating all the
restraints. “Let us get this over with. The sooner we find Venus’s
assailant the sooner we can return.”

“Agreed,” Oshki snapped as he engaged the time
controller.

Once the ship lifted off and traveled through the
layers of Earth’s atmosphere, Miln ran a check for wormholes so
they could make their time jump.

“I found a portal currently two tellens from Earth’s
moon,” he said.

“I see it in the scanner.” Oshki touched a few
sensors. “It’s the same one Randle used to escape. His Sky Streamer
path is still discernable. We’ll reach it shortly.”

He relaxed as his partner readied the system for
their time jump. With the stars streaking past in white blurs, the
ship veered around the gray, pockmarked moon. As they neared the
wormhole, Miln detected the faint jar of the ship once it slipped
into the tunnel’s suction. A quick rainbow flash filled all the
scanners, followed by a dizzying sensation that struck him in the
center of the chest. They burst from the portal’s opposite end, and
another bright array of hues assailed their craft’s force-field
windows, and he blinked against the brilliance. Flying back through
the Earth’s atmosphere, the ship descended toward a dense bank of
cloud cover. Once they penetrated the thick haze, intense light
suddenly assaulted the scanners, and a boom shook the ship.

“What in the name of—” Bolting upright, Miln
grimaced, the seat’s restraints cutting into his chest.

“Schizma!” yelled Oshki. “We’ve entered the past
during a thunderstorm!”

Miln deactivated one of the ship’s vision shields so
he could gaze through a transparent spot. Once the craft descended
below the clouds, he scowled at the darkness. “Have we arrived on
the right date?”

“Yes. October 31, 1847. We’ve arrived ahead of
Randle.”

“By how long?” Miln asked.

“Approximately thirty minutes in Earth time.”

Thinking for a moment, Miln suddenly realized why the
date seemed familiar to him. “That date is what the people here
call Samhain, is it not?”

Nodding, his partner set the main computer to monitor
potential lightning bolts and guide the ship between them. “It has
been called many names, but in this territory in 1847 it is
referred to as Halloween.”

Dark blobs passed below the ship. Once, Miln thought
he saw the reflection of lightning on a body of water. Rain slashed
at the transparent panel. Brightness fractured the angry sky, but
no sooner did he glimpse trees and gently rolling fields, than
blackness cloaked everything again.

“I have found a place to land,” Oshki announced.
“There is a small opening in the forest canopy where the ship can
lower to the ground. The trees and undergrowth will shield the
craft from prying eyes.”

“What of Randle’s Sky Streamer path before he
arrives?”

“The location where he will arrive is nearby.” He
pointed ahead and slightly to his right. “Since there is a
structure in that direction and it is in the vicinity of Randle’s
future landing spot, I am guessing he would go toward it
first.”

Engaging the landing program, Oshki monitored the
scanners as the ship settled to the ground.

The gentle thud alerted Miln that they’d officially
landed. He punched the restraint sensor, and when each one
released, he leaped over to the clear panel and peered out at the
storm ripping through the woods. The ship’s lights illuminated only
a few bushes tossing this way and that and the wet, gleaming trunks
of tall trees. Rain poured down, soaking the earth and flowing over
the ship.

He sighed. “Looks like we will have to wait out the
storm.”

Silence.

He glanced over his shoulder. His mate stood at the
main scanner reading their coordinates, the temperatures, and
information about the weather and the terrain.

“Oshki?”

“I heard you,” he replied. “Since security is our
duty, I am gathering all the information I can to aid us in our
task.”

His mate’s thinly veiled sarcasm wasn’t lost on him.
“Good, I am glad to see you want this mission done so we can
return.”

Without a word, Oshki strode past him, his boots
echoing throughout the ship. “I am going to get some rest while it
is storming.”

He watched him go. The door to the next chamber
vanished as he reached it and then reappeared once he’d passed
through. He knew what Oshki was doing. Although it angered him, he
wasn’t about to let his partner know how much. His childish
behavior chipped away at Miln’s patience. Once they found Randle
and either brought him back to Venus’s time or disposed of him,
they could focus on their relationship.

Or could they?

The thought troubled him. No matter what the case,
there would always be important and even severe security issues to
deal with on a regular basis. Their lives in Venus’s time would be
volatile at best, especially with the epidemic of Bone Eaters.
Volund’s worry settled in Miln’s gut, too. Protecting the base and
its people was his duty as well as Oshki’s. Perhaps Volund was
right when he said his partner might have to be removed from his
station. Was it possible Oshki demanded more attention than he
could ever give him?

With a sinking heart, he settled in the chair and
slid it back into a sleeping position.

***

The storm battered the woods throughout the night and
for most of the next day. Late in the afternoon, Miln hiked through
the trees with his mate. Upon reaching some dense undergrowth, he
ducked into it behind Oshki. He squatted alongside him and grimaced
at the mud oozing up over the metal horns on his boot tips. The
difference between the hot, dry Earth of Venus’s time and the
moisture and lushness of now was appalling. He wasn’t so certain
the Ruling Body of Planets knew what they were doing by
recolonizing Earth of the future. What if they couldn’t increase
the rainfall to make things grow?

He shook aside the disturbing thoughts and glanced
over at Oshki. “Do you see anything on the scanner?”

“No,” his comrade replied.

Miln nodded toward a small structure on a knoll. The
fading sun illuminated its grassy roof as if it were a bright
emerald.

“That structure is about half a meikic from the point
where Randle’s Sky Streamer trail vanishes in the future. My best
guess is that he may have gone there for information or possibly
supplies suitable for this time period. If we’re right, we should
be able to apprehend him there”

“I agree,” his consort replied. “Evening is only a
couple hours away, so we might as well go back to the ship until it
is dark. We can change our clothes so we do not startle anyone with
our appearance.”

Miln led the way back to their craft. Except for the
squish of their feet in the soft forest earth, the drip of water,
and the wind sighing through the treetops, quiet ruled during their
return walk. Unless it dealt with their agenda, Oshki still refused
to speak to him. Miln’s irritation had shifted into pure
annoyance.

At the ship, he turned and said, “Oshki, how long are
you going to refuse to discuss our relationship?”

Silver eyes met his gaze. His mate studied him for a
moment, face stoic, and shrugged. “You rejected me. That is not
something I take lightly.”

He struggled not to yell. Enunciating to get his
point across, he replied, “I did not reject you.”

“We were finally alone together and about to make
love—truly consummating our union as mates—and you left me all
because you got the feeling something was wrong at the base.” He
trans-shifted, leaving Miln standing there.

Swearing under his breath, he struggled to calm his
raging emotions. He balled his hands into fists. To ease his anger,
he focused on the inebriating aroma of saturated soil and damp
evergreens permeating the atmosphere. Had Oshki always been like
this? Had he been so wrapped up in the beauty of the warrior’s
physique and clever wit that he’d been blind to his flaws and
immaturity until now? He loved his partner, but by the Twelve
Planets, Oshki certainly tested his patience.

One of the ship’s panels grew translucent, and Miln
heard his mate’s voice through it. “Are you coming inside to change
or not? By the time we swap our clothes and head back, darkness
will have settled.”

He trans-shifted into the ship only to find himself
catching a bundle of clothing tossed at him. Angered, he bit his
tongue until he tasted blood. If his mate kept behaving like this,
their first true fight would be of epic proportions.

Quickly, he pulled off his clothes. However, he
couldn’t help glancing over at his partner, who jerked a pair of
coarse breeches up over his thighs and tight ass. Regret flowed
through him, followed by his sapin hardening. How could the young
bounty hunter not see how he felt for him?

Oshki turned. His gaze settled on Miln’s erection. He
smirked, his eyes deepening to gray. “We may need to secure some
transportation.”

“Agreed.” Turning away, he reached for the plain
shirt. “We can walk to the building on the hill, but once there, I
figure we will need some sort of conveyance of the times.”

“Perhaps we can buy horses.”

“We do not know how to ride such creatures.” He
struggled to pull the rough, woolen socks over his feet and then
tugged on the strange leather boots.

“We have used both four-legged and six-legged war
beasts in battle,” Oshki countered, also donning his socks and
cowboy boots, “so how hard could it be to ride a horse?”

As Miln fumbled with the tiny buttons on his shirt,
he wondered how they would slip in and about the people and towns
of this time without alerting them to their presence. Even with the
right clothing, weapons, and money, it would be painfully obvious
they didn’t belong.

“Ready?”

He nodded and trans-shifted outside. His partner
appeared next to him, and without a word forged ahead.

The walk through the woods and across the field in
the mud proved grueling. Although Miln wasn’t worried about anyone
hearing them yet, the squishing, plopping, and sucking sounds of
their footsteps seemed deafening among the gentle noise of crickets
and frogs. The weather had cleared, and stars twinkled brightly as
darkness finished settling over the landscape. In the west, the
colors of the sunset blended from gold to orange to red before
bleeding into the indigo of night. Thankfully the half moon
provided some illumination, but not before Oshki missed the
drop-off to a small stream and pitched headfirst into it.

The splash and string of hissed Azutuan curses urged
a smile to his lips. “Are you all right?”

“I am fine,” came the snarled reply. Another batch of
profanity rose from the streambed.

He fought not to laugh. It would only make his
partner twice as cross with him.

Oshki’s ascended the opposite bank and paused, his
black silhouette stark against the slightly lighter sky. Miln made
out the shallow indentation running through the meadow and climbed
down into the streambed. He splashed through the water and leaped
up the bank.

“I will be glad when we can return to base,” he
mumbled once Miln stood next to him. “I feel more out of place in
this time period than I have ever felt.”

“Perhaps it is our quarrel that has made you feel
this way instead.” The instant the words left his mouth, he sensed
his partner’s ire, but no words were hurled at him. Oshki spun on
his heel and strode across the last flat field before reaching the
knoll.

With a sigh, Miln followed him. Since his consort
didn’t want to talk things out, maybe a good thrashing was what he
needed. Then again, he’d probably like it and try to take advantage
of it.

The moonlight revealed a faint trail cutting across
the meadows from the right. It grew more pronounced as it twined up
the hillock until it became a definite road halfway up. Miln walked
next to his mate as they stayed in the tall hay, which had been
mashed from the hard rains and fierce gales. At the top, he
surveyed the sod house and its neighboring farm buildings. Beside
him, Oshki withdrew a scanner from the leather shoulder case he’d
procured from the museum. Its glow illuminated his face.

The deep, gruff sound of an animal shattered the
night.

“That sounds similar to the noise Tonto makes,” Miln
stated. “How many life forms are here?”

“Two human females and dozens of animals.”

“No signs of Randle?”

“No.”

“We should silence the dog before it alerts the
females someone is here,” Miln suggested, his nerves jangling with
each loud bark.

A strange noise, like two heavy metal plates grinding
quickly against each other, startled him and he dropped on all
fours, peering through the tall grass.

Oshki stuffed the scanner into his pack and flung the
flap over it. Now in sudden darkness, Miln battled to discern the
origin of the sound. The moist ground dampened the knees of his
pants, and moisture dripped onto his face.

A roar shattered the landscape. Ka-boom!

“I know you’re out there,” a woman hollered. “I saw
your light.”

“Brody!” a different female shouted. “Hush now,
boy.”

“Stay still,” Miln cautioned. “We do not want to hurt
them.”

The same odd sound occurred again, this time a few
yards directly behind them. Shick-shock!

“Stand up with your hands in the air,” the first
woman said a few yards to their right on the hillside. “Make any
move, and I’ll blow another hole in each of your asses.”

“Do as they say,” he whispered, skin prickling.

“They are only females,” Oshki shot back, voice low.
“What can they do?”