Darkside Blues: SciFi Alien Romance (Dark Planet Warriors Book 4.5) by Anna Carven

away?”
    “No.” He said it without thinking, the swiftness of his response surprising him. “Let her stay. I’ll be back shortly. Besides, I don’t want to antagonize the Kordolians. We don’t really know what they’re capable of, and I can’t afford any more trouble right now.”
    He didn’t mention his desire to see Zyara again, even if it was just for a moment.
    While everything fell apart around him, he could still savor being in the presence of a woman who made him wish he was a different person. If only they were in a different time and place.
    She didn’t know it, but back then when Kai had offered her a favor, he’d been willing to do anything.
    If she so wished, he would give her the world.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

    Kainan’s compound, or fortress, or whatever it was, was something else. It reminded her of the lavish enclaves preferred by the Noble Houses of Kythia, except that this place was filled with greenery where Kordolian dwellings were stark, cold, and barren.
    “Master Kainan is on his way. Please, follow me.” Banri stood with his hands behind his back, his dark suit straining at the shoulders. His black hair was slicked back from his forehead, and it glistened in the harsh sunlight. Like Kai, he was dressed impeccably, with not a hair or thread out of place.
    But Zyara caught a trace of something snaking up the side of his neck. It was a dark mark, hinting at an elaborate pattern underneath.
    Were Humans also into the habit of permanently staining their skin?
    She’d come across some alien races who were into the practice, but she’d never seen a Human with tattoos.
    Absently, she wondered if Kai had any tattoos. For some reason, she wanted him to have tattoos.
    She was becoming rather attached to her exotic, beautiful Human, and he hadn’t even arrived yet.
    Zyara shook her head, surprised at the direction of her thoughts.
    Beside her, Rykal raised his eyebrows, watching the large Human with barely concealed curiosity. Banri returned his stare with a challenging look of his own, as if sizing him up. If the Human was intimidated by the three warriors accompanying Zyara, he didn’t show it.
    They followed him silently down a long walkway lined with strange trees. The swaying trees had thin, golden trunks and small blade-like leaves that fluttered in the breeze.
    Rykal, Kalan, and Nythian flanked her as if she were Kythian royalty, observing everything around them from behind their dark lenses as they walked silently alongside her.
    They passed a serene waterway where cool, clear water trickled over flat grey stones.
    Zyara had to hand it to the Humans. They knew how to appreciate beauty, and on Earth, beauty could be found in the most unexpected of places.
    It could even be found here, in a stronghold disguised as a palace.
    They crossed a small bridge, passing over a pond stocked with brilliantly colored fish. Banri led them into another wing of the complex, where silent watchers observed them from the shadows.
    Not that Zyara or her entourage were in any way fazed.
    “So, this guy you’re waiting for, he’s some sort of big-shot in the Human world?” Rykal’s question was directed at Zyara, but it was Banri who answered.
    “Master Kainan is the Sandama of our organization, and the Boss of the North Ward. So in our world, he is indeed what one might call a ‘big-shot’. If you wish to do business in Darkside, Kordolian, he is a good person to have on your side.” Banri shot the warriors a sidelong glance, carefully concealing his thoughts behind an inscrutable expression.
    Zyara thought she heard Kalan mutter something like ‘crazy Humans’ under his breath.
    Perhaps she was the crazy one, coming all the way out here to search for an almost unobtainable medicine.
    But when she’d seen the feral, luminous eyes of the twins, their precious Humanity slipping away with every waking moment as the virus consumed them, she’d had to try something, anything.
    Zyara told herself that was