Grumpy Alien Hero: A SciFi Romance by Athena Storm

Author:Athena Storm [Storm, Athena]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Athenaverse Press
Published: 2024-02-28T00:00:00+00:00

17

RYKER

The walk seems even longer on the way home. Wren’s words are burning in my ears, calling me out for lying to her. As if I had a choice.

All I was trying to do was save her from herself. She doesn’t know what Don Vindrik is like. She’s playing with fire if she thinks she can go up against him.

As soon as I exit the tunnel system, my comm starts to ping at me. Shit, it’s the Don. There are several messages. That’s never good. In every one of them, he is getting more irate. By the last one, he tells me that I’d better already be dead.

The two guys at the door smirk when they see me. “The boss is gonna love you sitting all over his furniture with that pink shit all over you,” one of them comments.

“I don’t think he’ll be asked to sit, Halley,” his partner says in the best humor a guard has to offer.

I ignore them both. When Don Vindrik says ‘jump,’ you don’t stop for banter. Besides, I don’t really think the Don will be interested in what I look like. I’ve stood in his office decked from head to toe in blood before. He knows I’m always willing to get my hands dirty.

As I wait in the lobby, I gaze out at the city spread out below me. Walkways cross between the tower blocks so that people don’t need to go all the way down to street level to traverse from one building to the next. It gives the city an organic look, like it is the web of some strange fungi growing across the land.

There must be as many levels beneath the ground as there are above it, I muse. Like the city’s roots beneath the earth.

“Ryker!” Don Vindrik’s bellow pulls me from my reverie. Time to face the music.

“Sir,” I say with a bow as I enter his chamber.

“You’ve been holding out on me, Ryker,” he yells without preamble.

“I’m sorry, sir,” I say. “What do you mean?” Inside, my mind's in turmoil. What has he found out? And from whom?

“Les has been telling me all about your activities. Carrying on with the leader of the rebels.”

Shit, fucking Les again. I swear I’ll destroy the guy. What the fuck is he playing at? “Sir, I assure you –”

Vindrik doesn’t give me a chance to finish my sentence. “Did you think I wouldn’t want to know that a new power was rising literally beneath my feet?” Spittle flies from his mouth as he speaks, he is so furious.

“Sir, they are not rivals,” I begin in protest, but Don Vindrik has got the bit between his teeth and there is no reasoning with him when he’s like this.

“I’m sick of your lies, Ryker,” he shouts, echoing Wren's words from earlier. “I expect more of you, do you hear? You need to sort this problem out.”

“Yes, sir,” I reply. I have to let him have his say, and then maybe he’ll listen to reason. But maybe not.

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