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scent permeating his friend’s thick fur. “You have someone asking after
you, someone dressed in black, with a pale face and red eyes.”
    Fuck. Vegas placed one hand on the phaser attached to
his belt. “Does he know what I look like?”
    “No, but he knows what you want to do. He’s looking for an
individual of your species accompanying a shipment.”
    Vegas released his breath. She’d be safe. He stared
into the green ale, watching the bubbles rise, contemplating this new
development. “The mission will be more complicated, but it is still viable.”
    He glanced across the room. The sequins on the hooker’s
bright-red top reflected the light, drawing attention to her generous chest.
His mate had smaller, firmer breasts, tipped with pink, pert nipples aching to
be plucked. Vegas flexed his fingers, his breathing deepening and his body hardening. Soon .
    “I can’t accompany the shipment,” he decided. Too risky. “Change the orders to cargo only, no passengers.”
    “I never punched it into the system in the first place.” Ug
twisted his chin hair around a thick finger. “She refuses to take passengers.”
    “She says they’re too much trouble.” Vegas sipped the ale,
wincing at the burn.
    “Yeah, that’s what she says.” Ug frowned, his burly brows
meeting to form one continuous ridge over his eyes. “I thought you two had
never met, so how do you know that? Oh, right.” He shook his hairy head.
“That’s what you’re trained to do. So how will you rejoin the shipment?”
    “I’ll find a way.” Vegas watched the hooker walk away, her
hand curled around the big mercenary’s arm, their relationship established in
minutes. Daybreak. He sucked back his envy. Mere hours left.
    “Are they true, the rumors?” Ug glanced over his shoulder
and dropped his voice. “About the dead planets, the warships, the breeding
farms?”
    “Yeah.” Vegas took another swig of the harsh liquid designed
for the digestive system of the colorful wolfman in front of him.
    “ Grrap ,” the Ungarian cursed. “I wish there was more
I could do.” His brown-and-yellow eyes gleamed with a zeal for battle Vegas
recognized and sympathized with.
    “We are more valuable in our roles,” he recited the
Federation line, his voice flat.
    “Yeah, that’s what they tell me.” Ug’s thick-lipped mouth
twisted. “The sacrifices we make, huh, friend?” He raised his beverage.
    “The sacrifices we’ve made.” Vegas clinked his tankard
against Ug’s. “The rewards we have earned.” Daybreak.

Chapter Two
     
    “Since I docked earlier than scheduled, I thought we could
hit that bar you’re always asking me to join you at.” Raylee followed the big
bear of a man down the wide depot aisles. “The one with the green beer.” Her
body vibrated with a recklessness, a wild untamable energy she needed to
siphoned off in a safe, controlled way.
    “Not this time, Ray. The client wants his package there
yesterday.” Ug waved his electronic clipboard, a feminine pink backdrop
plastered across it. “He’s in such a rush that if you’d gotten lost again, I
would have shipped it with someone else.”
    Raylee made a face, scuffing the soles of her sturdy boots
on the concrete floor. “That happened once. When are you going to let it go?”
    “When it stops being funny.” He grinned, displaying sharp
canine teeth. “Which means never.” He stopped in front of a large wooden crate,
scanning the tag attached to it into his clipboard. “This is it.” He patted the
wood, the deep sound indicating it was solid. “To be delivered to planet Celia,
Spectra Quadrant.” He read off the screen. “Do you know where that is?”
    Raylee’s face heated. “It was one time, Ug.”
    “That I officially know of,” Ug mumbled loudly enough for
her to hear, but too quietly to warrant a response. He scratched the thick blue
fur matted on his right shoulder, his uniform consisting of purple cargo pants
and green boots with no