What a woman! Keiron kept thinking while he scanned the street, waiting for Linni to come out of the bar.

He’d never met anyone like her.

To say he was intrigued would be an understatement. To say he had no idea how far he’d go for another kiss would be the truth. Would he follow her again? Would he knock on the door to her cabin tonight when they returned to the spaceship? Would he break the law or hurt people to rescue Linni if her jerriya stunt got her in trouble?

There was a distinct and shocking possibility that he—Colonel Keiron Yaggar, head of the LOR Enforcers—just might. Almost more shocking was how much he trusted her, a virtual stranger. He’d refused to look at her ID. Right now, he was choosing not to ping Unie or any of the other enforcers to have them run a background check on all the investigators working for the Ittroise government, to see if there was a Linni among them. And to check if that Linni matched the woman he was falling—no, scratch that, plummeting—for.

Forty minutes and three pings from Linni later, she emerged from the bar, looking unscathed and awfully pleased with herself.

“So?” he asked as they headed to the restaurant.

“I made friends”—she grinned, her jerriya teeth glittering in the dusk—“and got the intel I wanted.”

“What happens next?”

“I’ll inform the Anti-Trafficking Department, and they’ll tip off Tastassi’s new governor, Polit Horbell, so his wildlife and police agencies can prepare a strike.” She glanced at him. “Who knows, they might even ask for your help via LOR.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised,” Keiron said. “Tastassi’s ambassador to LOR has been complaining a lot lately about the damage foreign traffickers are doing to his planet’s wildlife.”

Linni rolled her eyes. “Foreign and local. The poachers are all local.”

“Well, now they’ll have a chance to clean house.”

Keiron slowed his pace, realizing they were almost at the restaurant. Once they went in, Linni might choose to mingle with others in the group as she’d done since the beginning of the tour.

“When exactly is the auction happening?” he asked.

“In a month.”

“What’s the venue?”

“An abandoned textile factory in Muls, a northern suburb of Palm City.”

“Palm City, huh?” He halted and stared at her tattooed face. “That’s Tastassi’s capital, and we’re scheduled to visit it tomorrow after the wildlife reserve.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Please don’t tell me you plan to sneak out again to check out the auction venue in Muls.”

She scratched her head. “Checking out the factory at this point might not be very useful, but…”

“But what?”

“I’m not on vacation, except the night on Upere 2.” She shrugged. “My ticket was paid for by my employer, so I must work on Tastassi.”

“Doing what?”

“Investigating, Colonel.” She gave him a duh look. “Do you mind blocking me from the street for a second?”

He started at her sudden request.

She batted her triple eyelashes. “I wouldn’t want a passerby to chance upon me shifting. It can be a harrowing sight.”

He turned his back to her and folded his arms across his chest.

A moment later, she touched his shoulder. “Done.”

When he turned back, she was Linni again. And he was dying to kiss her again.

“The dinner must be almost over by now,” he said. “How about we wait for them outside?”

She touched her belly. “I’m hungry.”

He pointed his chin to the street vendor selling rolls and drinks.

She peered at the vendor’s booth, then at Keiron, and then at the restaurant.

He braced himself for a no.

“We don’t know if street food is safe here,” she said.

“No, but we will.” He touched the tip of his nose. “I have a nanosensor that analyzes smell molecules and sends a signal to my brain if the food is bad.”

“Another bionic gadget?”

“Yes.”

With a nod, she headed toward the vendor.

Thank you. Keiron touched the ouroboros around his neck and glanced skyward before catching up with her.

“What other implants do you have, Colonel?” Linni asked after they bit into the rolls his sensor had deemed safe. “There are hardly any bionics on Ittroise, since most people have at least one gift, and no one wants to lose it to become a cyborg.”

“It’s the other way around on Drecer—hardly any gifts, lots of cyborgs.” He smirked. “The Ra-human settlers who terraformed my planet must’ve been a lot more human than Ra.”

She held her roll up. “Surprisingly good.”

“Everything tastes good when you’re famished.”

“True.” She took another bite. “So, your powers.”

“We call them enhancements.”

“Right.”

“The wings, obviously.” He began counting on his fingers. “Larger size, stronger bones and muscles, including the heart; better vision, hearing, and smell.” He smiled. “Including the food safety sensor.”

“What else?”

“Faster reflexes and a translator chip so I can understand dialects on remote planets that have diverged too much from the standard Ra language.”

She frowned. “Wait a second—I thought only hive cyborgs interfered with their brains. Xereill law prohibits neural enhancements to the brain.”

“That’s correct. My translator is a noninvasive BMI device. It’s implanted outside of my brain.”

“BMI…” She held her hand up. “Wait, don’t tell me! I know what it stands for… brain–machine interface!”

He nodded.

“Do you self-heal?” she asked.

“Only superficial wounds.”

“Still, it’s very cool.” She swallowed the last morsel of her dinner and gave him a sly look. “Then there’s the OPS.”

Feeling more playful than he’d done in years, he responded with a sly look of his own. “And the tickler. Not all cyborgs have it.”

Her eyes widened with glee. He could almost hear her mind churning as she pictured the purpose of that particular enhancement.

“What does it do?” she asked, her voice throaty. Blushing, she turned away and cleared her throat.

“I can’t tell you.”

Disappointment flickered in her eyes.

His lips twitched as he tried not to smile. “But I can show you.”

She blinked.

“Later,” he added. “On the ship. Would you like me to?”

Familiar voices came from the direction of the restaurant as their group filed out.

Darvesu waved to them. “There you are!”

Linni spun around and rushed toward the group with Keiron on her heels.

She hadn’t answered his question.