Tolan Lark was more than a little tickled by the situation they found themselves in. Part of it was just relief that they were safe for the time being and he did not have to worry about Cor Warrung swooping in and stealing his mech. Jax defending him as only a mate would had his beast side preening beneath his skin, which should have made him wary, not arrogantly pleased.  But he was fast concluding that his Shakien nature had the right idea this time.  She smelled phenomenal, and she was a fierce little thing.  A worthy mate, if he was looking for a mate. 

Best of all, the relief that Barnos and the Lady Lara were hale and hearty and none the worse for wear because of his action was like a weight had been taken off his chest.  Actually, he thought, his humor restored, the brash pirate and the lady looked down right cozy, which made him want to mess with the man, or it would if he was not having so much fun already, messing with his mech.

They made it into the conference room Warrung favored for his meetings and interrogations, and Tolan Lark was surprised to see a few unexpected faces already there:    Captain Tyber Relian and his first mate Lore Trugarian.  He knew The Jezebel was using Port Sea as their safe harbor, but he had not expected the crew to be here for this meeting.

Jax saw the two men almost as soon as he did.  And they saw her.  There was a slight hitch in her step before she smiled at the two men as if they were long-lost family.

"Tyber, Lore, what are you two doing here?"

Clearly, they were not strangers.  Tolan tried and failed to hold back the growl crawling up the back of his throat.

Tyber and Lore looked from Jax to the Shakien moving in close behind her and then both men reacted in their own way.  Lore went carefully blank-faced and merely raised a brow, giving away nothing but fascination at the proceedings.  Tyber Relian gave her a half-smile and then cast an appraising eye behind her, withholding judgment but clearly not liking what he was seeing.

"We could ask you the same," Tyber said mildly enough.  "What finally dragged you off Rindel?"

She shrugged, trying for a nonchalance that no one believed.  "Wasn't my idea. Cor Warrung made a fly-by."

Tyber and Lore both sat the tiniest bit straighter, eyes narrowing in on Jax at her words.

"He came looking for you?"  Tyber asked, his voice turning grim, his brown eyes icing over with some cold emotion Tolan would have approved of, if it did not suggest a relationship between his mech and this man, something beyond casual friends or colleagues.

She shrugged.  "He came looking for a mech and heard about me."

"You weren't hurt?" Lore asked, his cool voice coated with the first hint of emotion Tolan Lark remembered hearing from the man.  Frankly he had not thought the man was capable of it.  He didn't like hearing it now, when it was Jax that was bringing it out of him.

"He never found my hiding place, but the hangar and most of the space port of Rindel was destroyed."

"I’m sorry Jax, I know how much that shit hole meant to you."  The tone was conciliatory, even if the words were not.  Instead of taking offense, Jax chuckled briefly and flashed Tyber a smile of old humor, which had the man smiling back at her. 

Tolan ground his teeth together and stepped close enough to Jax's back that she could not miss the feel of his heat pressing there.  He did not touch her otherwise, but glared over her at the other men.  All of them ignored the group that had come in with them and had taken seats, or stood against the wall, watching the proceedings. 

Even Lady Lara and Barnos were observing quietly, totally unlike themselves. 

Tolan ignored them all, his eyes only for the men so well known to his mech.  A mech he did not want to share with anyone, especially these two.

"You never did like having to come so far for a tune-up," she said shaking her head and sharing that smile.

"Jax?"  Her name came from Lore, who had his black eyes on Jax, some unnamed intense emotion coloring the one word. 

Jax met those eyes and her smile died. She shook her head.  "I can't think about it now, Lore. I had to leave it behind."

The first mate of the Jezebel, nodded his understanding and said no more, but Tolan had felt the little hitch in her breath that denoted strong feeling and wanted Cor Warrung dead with a passion the likes of which he had never known.  At the same time, he wanted Jax away from the two men, men who she clearly felt she could be vulnerable with, whereas with him she had guarded her feelings.  He did not like that they knew Jax better than he did, or had a relationship with her he did not yet know the limits of. 

Had she been lover with one or both? If he ripped off their heads and studied their exposed brains would the answer be written there?  Was that maybe too strong a reaction to his mech having had lovers?

"As fascinating as this is," Lucan said mildly enough from behind them.  His deep drawl was warning enough to have attention shift to him. "I have a few questions myself."

The Lady Danika was watching all of them with rapt attention from his side.  Tolan had the impression, not for the first time, that the lady heard far more than what was said out loud.

"Please be seated," Warrung motioned to the seats and it was enough of a command, however he coated it with a request, that Tolan Lark was tempted to stay standing just to be contrary.  But Jax moved toward the long table and the other men, and he moved in time to take the seat between her and them, stopping her in her tracks and making her choose one seat over from where she was originally heading.  She gave him a narrow-eyed look but took the other seat without argument.  When Lara smiled at her and took the seat on the other side of her, with Barnos at her back, Tolan relaxed, enough to flash a smile of mischief at the lady that had her pirate shadow growling at him.

Tolan ignored Barnos in favor of the lady.  "I am thrilled to see you have survived your latest adventures intact, Lady Lara."

He likewise ignored the loud belligerent snort that answered his words and let his smile widen further.   "Does your sister know where you are? And with whom?"

Lara laughed, the sound loosening tension throughout the room.  The Heti had that effect on people, and the Lady Lara's soothing vibes were better than most.  "Nori knows where I am; in fact, she and Menelaus will be stopping here after they finish helping my father deliver death game survivors to their homes, and before they return to Kenosha."

Tolan felt the smile slip from his face and could not stop the grimace in his thoughts from curling his lip. 

Seeing it, Lara laughed again, mischief dancing in her eyes.  "Yes, I can see you aren't looking forward to seeing her again.  I don't blame you.  The last time your name came up, I think she said she was going to remove your spleen and beat you with it." Lara smiled sweetly over at him, her eyes dancing in innocent merriment, a strong contradiction to her words.  "She could not seem to decide whether it would be better to remove your head first and then retrieve your spine through your lying throat, or pull it out through your ass.  Of course, Menelaus just shook his head and told her if she wanted you dead he could do it with a lot less mess, but you know Nori."

Yes, he did.  A Shakien like himself, she was the last person he would have wanted for an enemy.  Unfortunately, after she had asked him to retrieve Lara from the flesh peddlers of Montrouge, a feat which should have ended the hostility between them, he had then turned around and sold Lara and Barnos to the death games.  He winced again, thinking of Nori's promise of mayhem the last time they spoke over the vid.  If she could have reached through the com and eviscerated him he would be a dead man already.  The fact that he had not wanted to sell Lara but was given no choice had not soothed that savage beast one iota. He doubted a face-to-face meeting would be any less hostile.

"Such a lovely, easygoing little kitty she is, too," Barnos said in his usual boom, his humor fully restored.  His green eyes twinkled with their usual mischief and mayhem.  "I got the chance to spend a memorable few days in the wee queen’s company after we rendezvoused with the ambassador and I have to say," his big grin widened further,  "you're one dead kitty."

Tolan grunted noncommittally and Barnos went on. 

"Even if I decide to let matters lie between us, which I haven't by the way, she will never let the danger you put Lara in go without some serious retribution.  And the Ambassador’s space marines--well, kitty cat, you better hope they don't decide to come along for the ride, because those crazy bastards want you dead in a bad way."

Tolan Lark was still coming up with an answer to the taunt behind the big pirate’s words when Jax turned to look at him in question, her words dry.  "Does anyone like you?  Anywhere?"

Granted, he had made a few enemies along the way doing what had to be done to bring down the death games and Warrung, but the many no's that answered his mech's question from multiple sources around the room seemed excessive to him.

***

Jax did her best to bite back the laugh at the consternation on Tolan Lark's face.  If she thought he cared about what people thought of him it would be one thing.  But she knew, seeing the hidden spark in his eyes, that although he might react to the vehement dislike coming at him, he couldn’t have cared less.  Since she knew firsthand that his nature was more about getting a rise out of someone than making friends, she figured anything they could say would roll right off his back.  Then he raised a brow and smiled, catching the laugh she was trying to hide at his expense, and she just knew he was going to say something inflammatory.

"You like me," he said, smiling right into her face.  He held up his hand to stop her before she could blast him.  "And remember before you answer that the Lady Danika will know if you lie."

Jax snapped her teeth together without thinking for a second time, and he had the gall to laugh.

It was a bad idea to like him. She was surrounded by a host of reasons telling her he was untrustworthy.   He had a code, she knew that, it was just not one too many others would understand or recognize, and it guaranteed only that he would do what it took to accomplish his mission, no matter who he had to involve or endanger.  He had been relieved to find out that Barnos and the Lady Lara had escaped damage, but he still saw the danger they had all faced as a means to an end.  And he liked them; she could see that he did.  They had traveled together and had a past.  How much faster would he turn on her if that was what it took to bring down Warrung? 

Like him?  She growled a little in her head, berating herself more than him.  She could not afford to like the sexy, deceitful bastard.  So why did she?

Ignoring him and her inner monologue she growled again and narrowed her eyes at him.  "Are we going to get to the point of this meeting anytime soon?  Or do you intend to keep pretending you know anything about me or my feelings?"

Barnos snorted again, but the Shakien mercenary only smiled again. This time there was a sharp edge to it that told her without words that he did not care for her words or the meaning behind them.

"How about we begin with the reasons you are here?" Lucan Warrung said, his voice drawing every eye his way.  It seemed she was not the only one through with the playing.

Tolan Lark sat back in his chair and turned his gaze to the other man, giving Jax a moment to breathe easier, before she turned her own eyes that way. 

Jax was hard-pressed to determine which of them saw more, Warrung with those frigid blue eyes, or the overly perceptive moss green eyes of his lady.  Meeting both sets of eyes in her turn, she was surprised to admit that as daunting as the ice blue was, the gentle green pierced until Jax was convinced she had no secrets left.  But Jax was Dainaree, and she recognized something of what her mind was telling her and built a wall around her thoughts and had the satisfaction of watching those green eyes widen in surprise.

A reader, Danika thought.  And a truthsayer, if Tolan was to be believed.  What the frill have I got myself into?

Even worse was Warrung’s reaction.  The lady made no sound, but he instantly turned to look at her, a question in his eyes, before a look of understanding flashed across his features, there and gone before he turned to study Jax with that icy calm back on his face.  Only it felt as if the temperature had dropped significantly in the last few seconds.  It was a cold she could practically feel reaching for her. 

"What's your hurry?"  Tolan asked, mildly enough, cutting into Jax' thoughts.  "You aren't usually so impatient."

He shifted minutely closer, until his hard, nanite-covered thigh was brushing hers, his eyes on Lucan Warrung seeing as much as she did, but maybe not knowing the cause of the sudden tension.  When she heard him growl low under his breath, she knew the predatory Shakien part of his nature was peeking through and expected to see his skin shift and flow with fur.  Before that could happen, and significantly raise the hostility levels in the room, she placed her hand on his arm and said quietly.  "I shielded my thoughts from Lady Danika.  Warrung is taking it as proof I have bad intentions to hide and is reacting to protect his lady."

She whispered the words as low as she could but somehow Warrung heard them across the room and raised a brow, so she raised her voice and answered the unasked question in his brutally cold face.  "The Dainaree people have many gifts.  A reader is rare but not unheard of among my kind.  We are trained from an early age to guard our thoughts, though it is considered beyond rude to read people without invitation..." she let the words trail off a moment before she finished.  "If you have questions ask.  Your truthsayer will know if I lie without reading more than I would share."

Lady Danika, she saw, had blushed at her words, so she trusted her point was made.

"Forgive me again," the Lady said, her green eyes filling with something close to regret and embarrassment.  "I did not mean to intrude, or I did..." she said and then shook her head. "You are not like anyone I have yet met, and I am not sure what to make of what I am sensing from you, so I look deeper."  She looked at the man at her side, her eyes and hand on his arm asking for a detente. Her next words were for him.  "The closest I have ever felt to her energy is the Furgarians but she is entirely different from them as well.  I do not think she means us any harm, and she has not spoken false since I have been in her presence."

Before he could say anything, or anyone else could speak for that matter, there was a loud roar that shook the walls around them.  A roar that Jax would swear was made by something like the great cats back home.  But what was a feline jungle beast doing inside the compound?  If they told her they kept them as pets she was leaving, dinner "invitation" or no.