Favored by Felix (9 page)

Felix moved on and halted several times to
scent the air. When he stopped by a dark bush, he grunted and set off at a fast
pace.

Casey trotted after him. The military had trained
her to run silently, but Felix was better than their best.

He slowed, halted, and Casey stopped too,
allowing her senses to stretch outward into the night. The silence seemed
complete, but there was an odd scent on the air. A musky smell. Felix grunted
and slid through the darkness. Casey couldn’t creep through the undergrowth
with the same ease. Instead she rounded obstacles, moving cautiously. The scent
grew stronger and stronger until she could no longer breathe through her nose with
comfort.

Her stomach roiled and she dry-heaved.
Casey bent from the waist and breathed through her mouth. Gods! That smell was
enough to turn anyone’s stomach.

Casey straightened and kept moving. The
musky scent grew even worse, if that was possible, and she had no idea where
Felix was now since she couldn’t make him out in the darkness. Black cat.
Night. It was a bad combination.

Casey made it to the fence and used the
barrier as a guide. That smell—whatever it was—was disgusting. She hadn’t
noticed anything like it around the resort.

Eventually her hand met air. She’d found
the breach in the perimeter.

Gods! She made a low gagging sound; even
breathing through her mouth wasn’t helping her get past the stench.

Footsteps.
Scurvy sky pirates!
Someone was nearby, and she instinctively knew they were the source of the
puke-wrenching stink.

Rough hands seized her as she gagged again,
this time losing her dinner.

She was hustled through the hole in the
fence. A familiar gruff bark, answered by another, told her Felix and his
brothers were near.

“Felix!” she screamed. “The hole in the
fence is here!”

She played dead, sagging in her captor’s
arms.

Surprised by her move, her abductor
staggered and almost dropped her. Casey surged into motion and darted away, but
her snatcher was quick. He grabbed her again.

“Stop fighting,” he growled. “I don’t want
to hurt you.” His accent was broad, difficult to make out the words. “Stop,” he
said, this time his tone sharp and determined.

Casey stilled and got her first good look
at one of the captors. They were tall and lean, their only clothing the pink
loincloth. Their hair was long and matted into lots of different strands. Their
green faces and features were almost humanoid—golden-brown round eyes and broad
noses with large lips. Their skin was a mottled green with faint gold swirls,
and it felt sticky. Their teeth were a strong and startling white contrast to
their drab green faces.

Then there was the smell—pungent and gamey—and
it seemed to come off their skin. When she took a closer look, she noticed it
seemed to be a type of grease or fat and they’d plastered it over their entire
bodies. Not so good for a surprise attack. The enemy would smell them from
miles away.

“What do you want?” she demanded, aware the
warrior was checking her out with the same intense scrutiny.

“That is for my chief to divulge.”

Casey sucked in a breath, prepared to
scream, and the stench hit her again. “What is that god-awful stink?”

Her captor chuckled. “A good defense mechanism,
eh? You get used to it after a while.”

A bird call sounded, and her captor
straightened, his fingers a band around her upper arm. “We leave now.”

“No.
No.
My man will be looking for
me. Leave me here and no one will get hurt.” Stupid creature. He hadn’t even
searched her for weapons. She had her laser-blaster tucked in the small of her
back.

“That is good.” Her abductor sounded
unperturbed. He propelled her along a narrow track into the trees. Now that she
was away from the resort lights, her eyesight adjusted. There were five other
men aside from her captor, and their collective stink was enough to make her
eyes water. At least Felix would manage to track easily, if she didn’t manage
to free herself.

Thoughts of Felix made a faint smile curl
her lips. He wasn’t going to be happy, and her backside tingled at the idea of
another spanking.

Fuck! They had Casey.

Felix let out a gruff bark and shifted
while he waited for his siblings to join him beside the hole in the fence.

Almost immediately, they slid through the
jungle and stopped beside him, shifting also when they saw he wanted to talk.

“This hole was made from the outside,” he
said. “We have intruders this time, rather than someone within the resort.”

“What is that stench?” Scarlett demanded. “It
makes my nose twitch.”

“That’s the trail,” Felix said drily. “Did
anyone see them?”

“Yeah. They looked like tribesman,” Joe
said. “Wore loincloths.”

“I thought they looked like two-legged
frogs,” Scarlett said.

Sly sniggered, and Scarlett elbowed him.

“Cut it out,” Felix snapped. “Casey said
she saw someone when we were checking the fence earlier today. I didn’t see
them.”

“You would have smelled them,” Scarlett
said.

Felix shook his head. “Not this afternoon.”

“What do you want to do?” Leo asked.

“Follow them and get my mate back,” Felix
said. “Now that I’ve found her, there’s no way in hell I intend to lose her.
Scarlett, you stay.”

“No way. I can defend myself.”

“That’s what Casey said,” Felix muttered. “She’s
gonna have a sore backside when I retrieve her.”

“Huh,” Scarlett said. “And Ma wonders why I
don’t show any interest in males. You’re all bossy. Why should I give up my
freedom?”

“I can think of a suitable punishment for
you too,” Felix promised.

“I’m not going home,” Scarlett snapped.

“Fine. Let’s go,” Felix said. “I don’t want
Casey with them for any longer than necessary.”

The siblings shifted and slipped through
the fence, silently following the trail.

After ten minutes of fast tracking, Felix
slowed when he heard voices.

“I can’t go any faster,” Casey said in a
tone he hadn’t heard from her before. “I’ve hurt my foot.”

“I carry you.”

“I’m not getting closer to that stink.”

Felix smirked.

A sharp scream sounded. Casey’s scream—and
Felix snarled in fury.

“I told you my man will come!” Casey said, her
voice pitched loud.

Clever girl.

“No. No! Carrying me upside down will make
me sick.”

Felix gave a gruff bark and he and his
siblings burst through the forest to surround the men.

The men in loincloths—
pink
loincloths—bunched and kept Casey in the middle of their group.

Felix gave another gruff bark and shifted. “You
all right, Casey?”

“I’m fine.”

Felix watched her elbow her way through the
men. They didn’t object. Instead they jabbered excitedly amongst themselves.
Felix didn’t understand a word.

“Or I will be when I can breathe again.”

Felix couldn’t blame her for that. Their
collective stench was making his eyes water.

“What?” she demanded, turning back to the
men. “
Scurvy sky pirates!
”

One of the men jabbered at her, and Casey
jabbered back.

“What’s going on?” Felix asked.

“They have more warriors back at their
camp, and they intend to attack the resort unless they get a black cat.”

“But we’re
shifters
,” Felix said.

“They didn’t realize that.” Casey jabbered
some more and groaned. “They have a chief, and the chief has a daughter who
heard about the black cats. She wants one for her age-anniversary gift. You’d
better show them the others are shifters too. They’re not convinced.”

“Shift,” Felix ordered, and his siblings
transformed, which set the natives jabbering again.

“Why can’t we understand them? We all have
the universal implants,” Scarlett said.

“My military implant has more languages,”
Casey replied.

Felix curled his hands into fists. “How
many warriors?”

“Two score,” Casey said after another quick
conversation.

“What are we going to do?” Joe asked.

Felix frowned and tried to think what Saber
would do. No way in hell could they withstand an attack of two hundred
warriors. They had their guests to think about, as well as their employees.

“Would they consider a smaller cat?” he
asked Casey. “In a different color?”

“Jacey’s cat has a litter,” Scarlett said. “Good
idea, bro.”

Casey asked the warriors, and Felix waited
anxiously for their reply. It was the only solution he could think of because
he sure as hell wasn’t sending any of the shifters to act as pet for the chief’s
daughter.

“They’ll ask the chief,” Casey said. “But
they’re saying I must go with them to explain and to serve as hostage.”

“No!” Felix exploded.

“Felix, that might be the only solution.”

He looked at the tribesmen. “If she stays
with you, I want one of your warriors with us.”

Casey gave an approving nod, but it didn’t
ease Felix in the slightest. She translated for the warriors, and they held a
heated discussion.

“What’s going on?” Felix demanded. They
were all getting upgrades to their implants. He’d get Scarlett on the job as
soon as Casey was safely back at the resort.

The jabbering stopped and Casey turned to
him. “They refuse to release me until they talk to their chief, but they
understand you’re upset at them for taking your woman.” Her nose wrinkled.
“They’ll send their most influential warrior with you to see the cat, so that
he may report back to the chief as to the suitability of the gift.”

“Where are they from?” Felix demanded.

She asked and the color fled her cheeks. “A
two-day march from here.”

Damn, she was still intending to leave. As
long as her safety was guaranteed, maybe this would aid his cause. “Fine. Tell
the warrior who’s coming with us that if he makes the slightest wrong move, we
will kill him. We will show him the cats and he will choose the one he thinks
is most suitable for the chief’s daughter. Is this agreeable?”

More jabbering ensued while Felix signaled
his siblings to come closer.

“What do you think?” he murmured in a low
voice, just in case they understood them.

“We don’t have any option,” Sly said. “If
they have that many warriors available, we’re in trouble. We need to be at
peace with them.”

Felix nodded. His thinking exactly.

Scarlett squeezed his arm. “Don’t worry.
Casey is handling herself well. She’s not a nincompoop like Lori. She’s keeping
her head, showing her military training.”

Felix nodded, agreeing with his sister’s
assessment but not liking it any better. He didn’t want to leave her alone with
the natives. There was no telling what they might do.

“They’ve agreed with your suggestion,
Felix.” She closed the distance between them, speaking sharply when one of the
warriors attempted to stop her. She pressed her palm against his chest, right
over his heart. “I truly don’t think they’ll hurt me.”

“Yet they had to sneak into the resort.
They didn’t think of approaching us in a civilized manner.”

“I’ll suggest it to them, should they feel
the need to contact you again.” Casey smiled at him, and he saw it was only a
little forced. “This is what I trained to do, at least part of it is. I’ll be
fine.”

Before he could offer an argument or give
instructions, she kissed him. Despite their audience, she made the kiss slow
and tender and emotion-filled.

Felix gripped her shoulders, pulled her
flush with his body and kissed her back.

“Bro,” Scarlett said. “It’s time to go.”

Felix’s hands opened then closed on Casey’s
shoulders again. “Anything happens to you, and it’s war. You tell them I’ll be
coming after the chief and then his daughter. You tell them I won’t stop until
I have you back.”

Casey tramped after the warriors in front
of her, their path taking them through the jungle. Late afternoon, and the air
was close. Luckily, she’d long ago stopped smelling the stench that came with
the warriors. Her shirt stuck to her chest and she craved a cool dip in the
ocean.

The heat didn’t seem to bother the warriors
in their loincloths. Nor did the bright-red biting insects that dive-bombed her
arms every few minutes.

The warrior who’d taken over the leadership
after the head one went with Felix, called a halt and barked out a series of
orders. Casey didn’t bother listening too closely. Instead, she sank onto a
fallen log and tugged her shirt away from her clammy torso.

One of the warriors handed her a flask.
Water, he explained, and after a suspicious sniff, she took several swallows.
She handed it back and slapped at an insect.

“The stench repels them,” the warrior said,
showing a flash of white teeth.

“So you wear that grease stuff all the
time?”

“Comes through skin.” He gestured at his
green-and-gold-swirled chest. “Keeps bugs away and body cool. Wash off when
swim in river.”

“Glory be.” She had visions of the men
making love with their women, the females wearing pegs on their noses. Heck,
for all she knew, the worse the scent, the greater the attraction. Some tribes
had peculiar customs.

Two of the warriors returned with fruit and
they handed some to her. She watched the others bite into the bright-pink flesh
and decided it was safe for her to do the same. After walking all day, her
stomach was protesting the lack of fuel.

Then they were off again. Casey fell into
line and resumed walking, eating her fruit at the same time. It was only when
darkness started to fall, and they’d exited the jungle and come to a stop by a
river, that the leader signaled it was time to camp for the night.

She should have already been back on Dalcon.
Tomorrow she was supposed catch a shuttle and report into the army base, and then
catch another to the medical center—a secret one on the other side of the
planet.

That wasn’t going to happen.

Instead the decision had been taken out of
her hands.

Casey recognized a feeling of
excitement—and realized she didn’t care about the stigma of going AWOL.

She didn’t want to chase the general’s
approval any longer. Spending time with Felix, with his family, had shown her
an alternative choice, how her life could be if she was brave enough to take
the steps to make it happen.

Anna Mitchell had offered her a job at the
resort. She could help start the boutique, and once it was up and running, she
could focus on designing. Anna had also offered Aunt Elsa an outlet for her
shoes with a commission.

Casey helped collect the leafy plants the
warrior showed her and followed suit when they turned them into beds. Dinner
was more fruit and water—more than she’d had on a lot of past missions. They
took turns swimming in the river and allowed Casey to bathe too. The warriors
swam well and she discovered—when they removed their footwear, their feet were
webbed—allowing them to swim with great speed.

The warriors settled down for the night and,
refreshed, Casey lay on her leafy bed. Aunt Elsa had hinted if Casey settled on
Tiraq, then she’d relocate and run her business from the resort. She wanted to
be close to Casey. Proof her aunt loved her unconditionally.

The sting at the back of her eyes didn’t
take her by surprise this time. Felix wanted her to stay with him, and Aunt
Elsa approved. She’d liked all the members of the Mitchell family. In truth, it
was difficult not to enjoy the rambunctious bunch.

For the first time since her last meeting
with the general, she fell asleep with something other than fear. She fell
asleep with hope in her heart.

* * * * *

Felix’s gut twisted as he showed the
warrior through the resort to the employee accommodations. Now fully clothed, he
indicated the warrior should wait and knocked on a door.

Jacey Patel opened the door, her smile
widening when she spotted Felix. Her nose wrinkled next, and she let out a
sneeze. “Pardon me. Ma, Felix is here to visit.”

“Jacey, it’s
you
I’ve come to visit.
Are you still looking for homes for your kittens?”

“Yes. I have two left.”

“Could we see them?” Felix asked.

“We?” Jacey sneezed again.

Felix gestured the warrior forward. “Maybe
we could come around the back to the garden?”

“The kittens are out there with their
mother,” Jacey said.

Felix led the warrior around the back and
waited for Jacey. Her mother appeared beside her and sent a querying glance at
Felix.

“My friend here lives on the island. His
chief is looking for a birthday gift for his daughter, and they’re interested
in a kitten.”

“For a pet or for food?” Jacey asked.

“A pet,” Felix said, hoping he was telling
the truth. “Can we see them?”

“Jacey, show them the kittens,” her mother
said.

The teenager called and the kittens plus
their mother came running.

The warrior gasped and said something in
his quick jabber.

Felix crouched and clicked his finger. One
cat, a curious ginger, trotted over and Felix picked it up. He ran his hand
over the kitten’s body and it started purring.

The warrior made a soft sound, not far from
a chuckle, and Felix handed the kitten to him. The warrior held it carefully
and copied the stroking motion Felix had used. Thankfully, the stench didn’t
seem to bother the kitten, and it licked the warrior on the arm.

The other kitten, both brave and curious,
rubbed against the warrior’s legs and gave a plaintive meow. The warrior
chuckled again and stooped to scoop up the other kitten.

Enough of the polite stuff.

“Which one?” Felix asked, pointing to the
ginger cat then its black-and-white friend.

The warrior seemed to understand. He looked
at both and nodded, turning away and leaving with the pair.

Okay, both it was. He could deal with that.

“Jacey, do you have a cage we can borrow?
And food for two days?” Felix asked before running after the warrior. He held
up his hand in a stop signal before miming eating and pointing to the kittens.
Thank goodness, the man seemed to understand.

Felix touched his arm and indicated they
should return to Jacey.

With the kittens in a carry cage, food for
several days plus some food for himself, Felix and the warrior were leaving for
the village when Elsa found him.

“Has Casey left?” Elsa demanded. “I was
sure she’d stay rather than go through with that damn fool idea of the general’s.”

“No, she hasn’t gone,” Felix said. “She’s
still on the island, and I’m going to meet her.”

Elsa clutched his arm in an almost-painful
grip. “Please don’t let her leave. Promise me you won’t.”

Felix frowned, desperate to ask what she
was talking about, but aware of the warrior’s impatience, he quickly told Elsa
the blunt truth. “I have no intention of letting her leave the island. She
stays with me.”

Elsa let out a hard breath. “Good. That’s
good.”

“Casey and I will be back soon,” Felix
promised. “A couple of days. I have my com-circle. The family can contact us if
necessary.”

Felix and the warrior—Gus, he’d discovered,
after listening to the man speak and point to his chest—traveled quickly,
despite having the kittens as an encumbrance.

The sooner he got to Casey, the happier he’d
feel.

* * * * *

Two days later, Military Medical Headquarters, Dalcon

“General Seonaid on the com, Doctor.”

Dr. Phillips winced, searched his office
for some means of escape, an excuse to avoid speaking with the man, and failed.
“Very well, Soosan. Put him through. Ah, General. How are you today? What can I
do for you?”

“How is the nanotechnology progressing with
Captain Seonaid?” the general demanded. On the monitor, a large man leaned back
in his chair and tapped his fingers on his desk, the very image of an impatient
man who thought everyone should jump at his orders.

“Captain Seonaid didn’t arrive for her
initial assessment. I assumed she’d had second thoughts about the process.
After all, they’re very radical changes, and final once they’re done.”

The general straightened in his seat and
leaned forward. “Didn’t turn up for her appointment?”

“No.” And he could hardly blame her. This
case was most irregular. Her file contained no psychiatric evaluation, and he’d
had no meeting with the patient to explain the procedure and the possible
consequences. Instead he’d been ordered to prepare a brochure for the captain
to peruse at her leisure while she was on vacation.

“Why wasn’t I informed?” the general
demanded.

“As I said, I assumed Captain Seonaid had
second thoughts. It’s not unusual.”

“I ordered Captain Seonaid to report to you
as soon as she returned from her vacation,” the general thundered. “Prepare to travel
to the facility. You will
personally
complete the process by the end of
the solar week. Captain Seonaid will be there.”

The general broke the communication,
leaving the doctor staring at a plain white screen. He hadn’t liked this
situation from the beginning, and he liked it even less now. There was more
than a whiff of coercion.

He refused to start the process without hearing
from the woman’s lips that this was what she wanted.

* * * * *

General Seonaid cursed low and viciously
under his breath. The bitch. The conniving
bitch
. She’d been a thorn in
his side since the day she was born, emerging squalling from her mother’s
loins.

She had talent, was an exemplary soldier,
yet she balked at this final step that would make her the perfect specimen.

A perfect
male
soldier.

His two oldest sons were doing well, but
they didn’t possess the same natural talent
she
displayed.

He snarled another pithy curse and rose to
get a drink. Damn bitch. She was driving him to drink. She dared to make him appear
stupid to his subordinates! He swallowed the liquor in one gulp, savoring the
burn as it rushed down this throat.

General Seonaid returned to his desk and
buzzed for his aide. He settled his bulk back onto his chair and checked his
schedule. Nothing this morning. He’d make a surprise visit home and prize his
daughter away from her aunt. And he’d make it very clear she
would
go to
the medical center.

If she didn’t, he’d force her to obey, no
matter what her objections.

He intended to become General of the Army
ahead of his friend and competition, General Gallagher. They might’ve gone to
academy together and entered into a friendly contest of one-upmanship, which
had continued for most of their lives, but this was an instance in which he
intended to gain the advantage.

Three successful sons would trump two,
especially since he had two captains and a first lieutenant in
his
family, and a wife who supported him to the hilt. The perfect hostess when he
needed to arrange a party for visiting dignitaries.

No, he’d beat Gallagher this time with his
skill, his natural talent and his offspring. The top brass would like what he
could bring to the position.

The title of General of the Army was his
for the taking.