Owned by Luna Voss

27

Melyta

I’m numb. Dead. Like nothing fucking matters. Everything I had, everything I cared about, gone. In one simple phone call.

The memory of Barion yelling at me to get out of his car is something I’ll never forget. I know what he was doing. I know he was trying to sound angry, to make things easier for both of us. Like setting free a wild animal after nursing it back to health.

I’m the wild animal, apparently. And he did nurse me back to health. Or at least, he saved my life.

He’s saving my life now.

Tears well up in my eyes again as I think about the sacrifice he’s making. Not just to lose me, but to stand up to whatever the Dultaz family has prepared for him. What are they going to do to him? Are they going to hurt him? Kill him? I can’t. I can’t even think about it. I love Barion. I’ll always love him.

As I wait for my flight in the spaceport terminal, fighting angry, futile tears, I’m horrified to feel a change come over me. It’s subtle, but it’s there.

My heat is coming soon. Sooner than expected. Much sooner.

I feel my heart rate increase as the situation I’m in dawns on me. It’s hard to predict how long I have. Probably not more than a couple hours. Worrying, but technically, I should be okay. My flight leaves in 45 minutes. They’ve already started boarding. I just need to board the ship and get to my private cabin before my heat starts, and then I can spend the next miserable week hiding as I fly to some godforsaken planet I didn’t even bother to look up the name of.

“Boarding Group 2,”comes an announcement over the loudspeaker.

I look down at my ticket. That’s me. I’m Group 2.

As much as I try, I just can’t hold back my tears. I don’t want to get on this spaceship. I want to stay with Barion, on Tarsheb 8, for the rest of my life. I already lost him once, and doing it again is almost more painful than I can take.

But I have to. The only road is forward, and if I don’t get on that ship, I risk going into heat in the middle of a crowded spaceport. Not to mention whatever danger might befall me if I stay on the planet. The only thing I’m sure of right now is that Barion would want me to keep myself safe.

And so, with puffy eyes, a broken heart, and little else but the will to keep living, I pick up my bag and prepare myself to leave Tarsheb 8 forever.

* * *

Barion

“I was already in the neighborhood,” says Nullion, stepping confidently into my home as I open the door for him. “But I’ll admit, I didn’t expect a call. To what do I owe this pleasure?”

There’s a sneer in his voice, like he already knows. Which, I suppose, he probably does.

I hate giving him this power over me. I hate that he’s enjoying this. He probably wants my job as underboss, and thinks that taking me out is going to give it to him.

He’s probably right.

For Melyta,I remind myself. All of this for her.

I’d give my life for her.

I think I’m about to.

“I killed Gurt,” I tell him without preamble. I don’t see the point in dragging this out. As long as the focus is on me, Melyta is safe.

Nullion’s expression doesn’t change. “I know that,” he says as though it’s the most normal, obvious thing in the world. “What I’ve been trying to figure out is your partner’s involvement.”

My partner? Does he mean Korva? I keep my face impassive, not wanting to show him a single sign. The last thing I’m going to do is get my best friend involved in this in any way.

“My partner?”

“I always thought it was funny that she had the same name as the waitress Gurtion had his issue with. But surely it was just a coincidence, right? It’s not like Melyta is an uncommon name.”

I do my best to keep calm, but I’m sure the horror is showing on my face. He knows. He knows about Melyta.

“And then I saw her talking to one of the busboys at that party,” he continues. “Human bloke. And I thought, it sure seems like she knows him pretty well. And it sure seems like she doesn’t want anyone to realize that. Now, why would that be?” Nullion watches my face, like he’s lording it over me, enjoying every moment of this. “And so I talked to him! It wasn’t much of a conversation, really. He sang like a human chorus girl. Apparently, Gurtion shot him in the shoulder. On the same night he got hit by that car. And do you know who helped him, despite Gurtion’s disfavor?”

I glare at him, wanting to kill him. Planning to kill him. If he’s already uncovered this much about Melyta, everything has changed. I thought I would be able to get in the middle of things. Protect her from further scrutiny by sacrificing myself. But it seems like I’m too late.

If I have to do something drastic, it will probably be the end of me. It might also be my only chance to prevent Nullion telling Sarizor what he knows.

“It seems like you do know who helped the busboy,” says Nullion, smiling cruelly. “But I’ll give credit to him. He didn’t sell her out. Didn’t tell me that the Melyta from his story was your Melyta. I had to figure that part out myself.”

He pulls a gun from his waistband and points it at me, the action more casual than threatening. I say nothing, my brain racing, trying to figure out how I’m going to fix this situation.

“You know,” Nullion remarks, “this might be the longest conversation you and I have ever had. We never really got along, did we?”

“No,” I growl, “I’ve always been fairly selective about the company I keep.”

He grins. “That’s a good choice. It matters, the people we keep around us, doesn’t it? The people we live with, for instance. Like Melyta’s old roommate, Jenyta. Nice girl. Little bit argumentative, but sweet nonetheless. When I went to look her up, the first thing I thought was, she’s living in a really nice apartment! Could she really be paying for all that by herself? On a waitress’s earnings?” Nullion shakes his head and sighs. “I think you know where this is going, so I won’t bore you with the details. You got sloppy, is the point. Try to help too many people, sometimes it turns out you can’t help any of them.”

“You’re connecting a lot of pretty random dots,” I spit back, trying to sound confident, unperturbed. “You really think Sarizor is going to go for this?”

“Considering you just admitted that you killed his son, I do think he’s going to go for it, yes.”

“I admitted that to you. We leave this room, it’s your word against mine.”

“Well, I’d probably better not let you leave this room, then.”

Nullion raises his pistol just as I dive for his legs. A plasma bolt whizzes dangerously close to my head, singeing the wall behind me. Then the gun clatters to the ground and we fall to the floor together, punching and clawing.