Replicant: The Kithran Regenesis, Book 2 Page 2

  His strength was even more of a turn-on. I’d gotten laid plenty of times over the past seven years, but my true libido had been set to just past numb for all of them, so I’d let that part of my life slip away lately. I stepped close again, suddenly curious about whether this human could inspire some of the old flames I’d felt before my world had gone dark. Stretching on my toes, I rubbed my cheek over his chin. He hadn’t shaved. I lightly ran my lips over whiskers, loving the masculine, spicy smell of him, feeling a stirring in my gut that had me trembling in anticipation. “Sure I can’t change your mind?” I glanced down to find a nice, thick ridge filling out his blue flight suit.

  He suddenly relaxed, and I looked up to find true concern shadowing those pretty eyes of his. Disconcerted, I hastily stepped back, curled my lip. Was he feeling sorry for me?

  “Lady, you obviously need something, and there are a few other men on this dump who will jump—possibly a few at the same time. I’m in a committed relationship, so it’s a no from me. I don’t cheat.”

  I stared at his crotch, which was most definitely saying yes.

  He looked down, and something fluttered in my belly at the suddenly dazzling white of his smile. It transformed his entire face, lit up the dingy loading dock. “Yeah, ignore that. You’re gorgeous despite the interesting haircut, and my imagination works well—especially with all those Gwinarian pheromones you’re putting out. I also haven’t seen my fiancée in over a month. I’m sure you’re offering a hell of a good time, so the response is only natural.”

  He wasn’t having just the normal male reaction to a female’s body. I could sense it, just as I could sense deep in my core that something about this man really pulled me in. Especially if he, as a human, could sense the pheromones. I had every intention of exploring the feelings more, but I’d have a few days on Kithra. There was time. “She’s a lucky woman. Gwinarian?”

  Someone tapped my shoulder. I flinched because I’d been so focused on the human, I hadn’t heard anyone approach.

  “No, Maska isn’t Gwinarian, Jarana, so you might as well give up on the idea of her sharing.” Lux, now dressed in Earth denim and a sweatshirt, walked up and hefted one of the crates. She had a red spot on her neck where Egan had obviously put his mouth. For a while. She winked at the blond. “Damn, Erik, you got a lot of these loaded. In a hurry to get home or something?”

  “Always.” He grinned back.

  “Hundreds of alien races out there, Lux, and you think Gwinarians are the only ones who like to share. But wait, you aren’t Gwinarian…” I shrugged and lifted a crate. “Might as well help. Got some restless energy to burn.”

  I was strapped into the second row of seats in the cockpit and grinning like a fool ten hours later. In the seat next to me, Erik paled, shut his eyes tight. “She’s a sadist.”

  The straps bit into my neck and across my chest, the force and speed of sharp navigation working to pull my body loose.

  Lux made a sexy, excited sound that even Erik couldn’t manage to resist, his eyes flying back open. I had to bite my lip to keep in laughter as the euphoric pilot whipped the ship through the debris fields with the kind of joy I understood all too well. A part of me burned to fly through the fields, but when I thought of what had caused the fields, nausea slammed into my gut.

  “Don’t worry,” Egan called out from the copilot’s seat. “That green feeling passes.”

  I swallowed heavily, searched my brain for a distraction. “I heard new gushers formed on planet during the explosions. How is that hampering the rebuild?”

  “We haven’t had an explosion near the surviving pod skeletons since the first week back on planet, but we shut down all sections over known gushers. The Company sent in a scientist and a volcanologist to map Kithra’s new landscape.”

  I wanted to ask if the scientists had figured out the true nature of the explosions yet and whether or not they predicted them happening again, but I was afraid of the answer.

  “Brace yourselves, this part is tricky,” Egan warned. “But fast.”

  “Tricky and fun as fuck.”

  Lux’s muttering would have been funny if my first glimpse of the ruined planet hadn’t stolen my breath and made the nausea worse. But then something wonderful happened as Lux maneuvered the ship toward the docking pod. The numb returned, washing a layer of gray mist over me. I was able to look at the completely obliterated sections of my home city with near disinterest, able to step off the ship and feel the loading dock I’d been on countless times before under my feet without crying. I met Kei, the Gwinarian medic who agreed to show me around while the others unloaded, and I didn’t even feel a spark toward him.

  He talked as we walked through dome tunnels, and I barely heard a word. I stopped and put my palms on the clear dome, staring at the blue Kithran leaves, a wondrous explosion of color that picked at the gray fog of my brain. Instead of letting it through, I thought of the history lessons I learned as a child.

  No one knew the exact details of the Kithran genesis, but we believed that we came from the same origins as humans. Somehow, we ended up on a planet that was stunning in its beauty and offered drinkable water through filtration, but the early records were vague because so few Gwinarians had lived past thirty. Gases on the surface of the planet permeated everything, turning every edible plant into a slow-working poison. But each generation adapted. Our coloring changed, as did our tolerance for the gases. When my ancestors began building the city of pods and tubes, they adapted the native fruits and vegetables to grow inside greenhouses, making food free of toxins. And though we could tolerate higher levels of gas than the humans, we now lived long and healthy lives inside tubes, domes and pods built high among the massive trees and above the heavy surface gases.

  Or…we had.

  The pain that slashed through me was fast and razor sharp, but I revealed none of it to this other Gwinarian survivor. I just shoved it deep and turned to find him still talking.

  “We have a lot of life pods to repair, but we’ve managed to set up enough for the families that signed on to have their own spaces. You’ll have one to yourself until the next crew comes in—which is about two months. There are three small greenhouses now in working order where we’ve managed to salvage the original, edible adaptations of our native foods. We’re working hard to get one of the big ones ready because a family of Gwinarians who were vacationing on Earth 4 have three botanists.”

  I touched a hand to my throat. “An entire family survived?”

  He nodded, his smile full of true joy. “Isn’t it wonderful? Three parents—though one has passed since—and three sons and two daughters. All full-blooded Gwinarians. The two daughters are making plans to come in early—one of them is a botanist. They should be here in six months.”

  I wouldn’t be on planet that long, but I nodded and followed along like I really did plan to stay and work. I thought of that family—an entire family still together. My heart started to pound, my hands grew sweaty and I blinked and focused on the Gwinarian walking beside me. He would have been my type hands down at one point and, from his expression, would have been interested in scratching that itch I’d had back at the supply station. Which was gone now. Completely.

  Kei stopped before we reached the next door panel, tilted his head to the side. His eyes were a dark, dark shade of amber. They looked like polished tiger’s eye stones from Earth. He’d twisted his long hair into a braid—it was a Gwinarian shade of red, but one of the lighter ones, nearing blond. I should have been attracted to the man, and it was plain he was a little offended that I wasn’t.

  “Why did you cut your hair?”

  I curled my lip, giving him my full attention, which was what he was after, asking such a rude question. “We aren’t friends, so what’s with the personal question?”

  “You’re a stunning woman, even with that bit of fuzz on your head, so I know I haven’t hurt your confidence in the least. I’m merely curious because I’ve never met a Gwinarian who would do
that to his or her hair.”

  “It got in my way.” I narrowed my eyes. “I tend to get rid of things that do that.”

  He chuckled and placed his palm on the panel. “I can see you’ll liven the place up a bit.”

  Ignoring him, I swept past and eyed the social eating space they’d set up. There were three huge, low tables with cushions surrounding them and piled against two walls. Bench tables with wooden seats lined a third wall. The dome above opened to a stunning mix of blue, variegated leaves and red tawnlet flowers. My stomach growled when I smelled real Kithran food. For a few seconds, I closed my eyes and took in the scents of native fruits and vegetables. Sharp spices, buttery blues and sweet gorvo.

  “No one pays for the food here. The Company provides this area and the food to keep us happy—as much as we can be in the small spaces still available, but crews are making fast progress on tunnel repairs.”

  “I thought we were mining already. It’s why I signed on to help build another ship. Doesn’t that mean all the mining pods are operative? To get that much kithronite, they’d have to be.”

  “Not with Egan’s robotics. Wait until you see.” Excitement lit his eyes. “Four mining pods are up and running and we have enough living pods repaired, but it can still get tight, which is why you’ll have a roommate or two in a couple of months.”

  Voices sounded behind me, and I turned as Lux and Kol walked arm in arm into the room, followed by Erik and the woman I assumed was his fiancée. She was a real raven-haired beauty, taller than Erik and full figured. She laughed at something Lux muttered, her head tilting back, her long hair loose, falling in thick ropes to brush over the hand Erik had on her back. When she lowered her head, her gaze zeroed in on me, and in that instant, her humor was gone.

  It was replaced by a fear so stark, adrenaline flooded my body.

  She turned and ran.

  Chapter Three

  I jumped a bench and slammed past Erik and the others, catching their stunned expressions out of the corner of my eye before I hit the first path tunnel. Damn, she is fast. I only saw one of her legs as she turned a corner into the next tunnel. Unzipping my jacket as I ran, I slipped the NED over my fingers and tightened my hand around it. I picked up speed, muscles in my thighs screaming, and all the while, I knew she was caught. She knew it too. Where could she go? There was only one damned way off this planet, and the pilot of that ship was running somewhere behind me with the others. Bootfalls were loud despite the padded floor covering.

  When I turned the next corner, I realized she’d clued in. She stood, back to the clear dome wall, her breasts rising and falling with the force of her overworked lungs. The blue and green splashes of color in the tree leaves outside the tunnel were cheerful, a stark contrast to the very real terror making her brown eyes wide. She shook her head, black hair spilling around her face in thick disarray. “You won’t give me a chance to explain, will you, Tracker?”

  The others arrived behind me and Erik shoved past me, putting himself between me and the Replicant. “What the fuck is your problem, Jarana?”

  “Oh no, not Maska,” I heard Lux say softly behind me.

  I barely focused on the growling man in front of me. All I had to do was touch her and there would be no need for explanations. Someone grabbed my arm and I yanked free. Before anyone else had time to react, I lunged around Erik, opened my hand and put my palm on her throat.

  Her eyes rolled back in her head, and the scream that tore out of her mouth echoed through the dome tunnel, ripping into me and, I’m sure, everyone standing there. The Replicant’s knees buckled and she hit the floor hard, her entire body drawing tight in obvious pain. I dropped to my own knees, shock freezing my system.

  No one had told me that forcing the change with this new device would hurt them.

  Erik shoved me away from her and crawled to pull her writhing body into his lap. “What did you do to her?” he yelled, voice a near roar as he tried to cradle her close when all she could do was twist and scream. A seam along the shoulder of her black shirt ripped.

  The bone-cracking noises that followed made me wince, and I scrambled back to her, thinking I could touch her with the NED again and make it stop, but someone grabbed me. “Oh no, you don’t,” Egan bit out through gritted teeth, holding on to me tight. I struggled, but another pair of hands joined his and I turned to find a dark, murderously glaring Kol.

  Lux ran to the pair on the floor and knelt. “Kei! She’s going into a seizure.”

  The Gwinarian medic joined them, blocking my view.

  “She’s changing,” I yelled. “She’s going back to her original form.”

  I didn’t have to say more. Kei moved enough so I could see what was happening. The feminine line of her jaw squared out and dark whiskers sprang up, covering the rapidly changing chin and mouth. Her dark eyes began to pale until they were the opaque, nearly milky eyes of a true Replicant. The intricate pattern of black swirls and lines around her left eye came into view, and her body rippled and shifted until she was no longer a she.

  The obviously male Replicant never once took his gaze off Erik’s face, and the raw terror in that expression so clouded with agony ripped into me even worse than hearing the creature’s pain had. I didn’t like Replicants, but I didn’t want to cause one that kind of pain—pain I could still see tearing through the very fabric of strong, masculine muscles.

  Erik, face pale with shock, let go of the Replicant and shuffled back until his spine hit the dome. “Maska?”

  Another seizure slashed through the Replicant, and this time the cry that tore from his throat was deeper, raw and full of anguish.

  I sagged, surprised when Kol gently lowered me to the floor. I crawled to the now still Replicant, sure I’d killed him. But his lungs moved, his pulse beat; only, he was deeply unconscious.

  Lux grabbed my hand and forced the NED off my fingers. She stared at the device before looking at me.

  “You need to tell us what the fuck is going on. Now.”

  I pointed. “Isn’t it obvious? I’m a Tracker and that’s an escaped prisoner. A Replicant.”

  Egan bent over to sneer into my face. “And that gave you the right to force a change like that on him? I saw your shock—you never used that thing before. Do you even know what kind of damage it might have caused?”

  Surprised at the level of disgust he aimed at me, I pushed him away. “Did you hear me? Prisoner. Bad person.”

  “What’s a Replicant?”

  We all looked at Erik when he quietly asked the question. He hadn’t moved, his face still unnaturally pale, his gaze still locked on the comatose being two feet away from him. Golden hair stood in tufts on his head.

  “You didn’t know?” I asked. “How could you not know?”

  “I met Maska two years ago. She was always as you saw her before. Female. What did you change her into? I don’t understand.”

  Lux sighed, closed her eyes. “Not everyone has been exposed to the race, Jarana.” She turned to Erik. “They normally keep to themselves and don’t leave their planet. See the beautiful design around his eye? That’s the symbol of his planet—the name escapes me. I’ve seen the tattoo before but never on one’s face.”

  “That’s because this one is an escaped prisoner. They’re all forced to get tattoos of home world symbols on their faces so the guards know what to expect. Every race has its quirks, but the forces in charge on Bastilleen worked harder to keep the Replicants segregated—especially from the guards, because the shifter aliens could change into one, given enough DNA. That’s why the tattoo is so dark and so large. And his real name is Amunet Hunner.” I held out my hand. “Give me the NED. It’s mine.”

  Lux shook her head. “No, not until I know what it is and why it did that to Maska or Amunet or whatever his real name is. That…that Replicant, as you so snidely call him, is a very good friend of mine—”

  “Who lied to us all.” Anger sizzled from Erik’s big frame. He moved away from the dome wall, loo
ked down at me. “She…he…it…what the hell is it?”

  Keeping one eye on Kei as he crawled back to the Replicant, I explained. “Once Replicants have the DNA of a particular species, they can change into its form as long as it’s humanoid. I’ve never heard of one staying in a different form for so long, though.” I watched Kei check Amunet’s pulse, lift his eyelids. “This is his real form. He must have taken on the other soon after the prison break. Maybe that’s why the transformation hurt so much. You’ve never seen him like this before? Maybe you met him like this before he came to you as Maska?”

  “I would remember that face, that tattoo. A prisoner?”

  “From Bastilleen.”

  Egan let out a long sigh. “That’s where the worst prisoners are sent. It’s not a Replicant prison.”

  Erik scowled. “I know exactly what Bastilleen is. A planet colonized for one reason—a place to send the worst of the worst. Murders, slavers and rapists.”

  “What did he do?” Kol asked. “As Lux said, Maska is our friend and has been for a long time. The person we’ve come to care for isn’t capable of harming anyone.”

  “I don’t know what he did, but it had to be something bad. That’s all I know and all I care about.”

  Egan knelt beside Amunet and slid his arms under the man before lifting him. He groaned with the weight. Amunet’s form change kept him the same height, but all those lovely, full curves had turned to muscle that was bound to be heavier in this form.

  Kol cupped Egan’s shoulder. “You carry him halfway, I’ll take the second half.”

  Egan shifted the man in his arms and leaned over to kiss Kol. “Bossy.”

  Kol, concern darkening his features, offered his lover a quick smile before his worried gaze went back to the unconscious Replicant.

  I stepped in front of all of them, shook my head. “No, this is my prisoner and I’ll be taking him back to where he belongs.”