Shared Mercy Book 5 of the Guardians Saga

CH. 7.1 Old Friends

"I've been wanting to meet you, Guardian." The largest Agama male Alex had ever seen stood over her as she sat at the campfire cleaning her leather scabbard.

The title earned him a small smile, but Alex stepped out of his reach when she stood up. He blocked out the sun and filled her peripheral vision with his broad shoulders and long, lean legs. His odor was a pleasant combination of leather and metal and grease, and his voice deep. He was so tall she had to tilt her head back to look at his face.

"I'm sorry you've learned to be so wary of my kind." He looked genuinely regretful.

"It's okay. Your kind treats me better than my kind does," Alex said.

"So, you deflect apologies as well as compliments."

Alex regarded him a long moment before speaking. "You've been talking to Cale."

"Guilty as charged." The big male's laugh was a wonderful, rumbling bass, perfect for his giant frame with his broad shoulders like a linebacker and his bulging forearms. "My name is Tone. I'm an old friend of Rile's." He face sobered at Alex's reaction. "I'm no Drake."

Alex looked away, biting her lip.

"Cale didn't tell me exactly what happened; only that Drake hurt you all. He found me and asked me to speak with you, to show that not all of Rile's old friends are degenerates," Tone said.

"That sounds like Cale," Alex agreed.

"He's always been a peacemaker. Had to be, to survive Gabe and Rile's elder teen dry seasons. Anyway, I wanted to invite you and Rile to dinner." At Alex's suspicion, he added quickly, "To meet my wife and children."

"How old are your children?" Alex's countenance brightened.

"Young. Less than a lunar cycle." Tone smiled.

"Do you think they'll be afraid of me?"

"Oh no, they want to be held and stroked and fed. You do that and you've got a friend," Tone assured her.

"Great. Does Rile know where your tent is pitched?"

"Cale does. He'll tell him. See you at sunset." Tone walked off.

Soon Cale was giving Alex another lesson in tanning leather. Cale's tanning oil scent and the pleasant aroma of the animal hides filled the air. As he worked, he sipped from a mug of cinnamon-spiced wine and talked about his childhood with an easy smile that didn't match the tension in his shoulders. Alex smiled back with a polite, distracted look, but she was listening closely.

Rile watched them for a moment before sending out a gentle probe. "Hey."

"Hey yourself. Another of your old friends came by." Alex didn't look up from the leather.

"Perfect. Do I need to kill him?" Rile asked.

"Would you?"

"I'd kill Drake if you'd let me."

"Absolutely not. If I'm denied the satisfaction of killing Morgan, then you can't kill Drake. Although you could let me castrate him—"

"Alex!" Cale scolded. "It was Tone," he told Rile in an obvious attempt to divert Alex's line of conversation.

"He invited us to dinner," Alex added.

"Do we need to go armed?" Rile asked.

"He's your friend. You tell me."