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  Collecting the tools needed for survival is her talent, but a male of the Water Folk is something she is dying to add to her collection.

  Emharo has spent her time collecting biological samples from the world around her and giving them to her family for analysis. She can find anything you need—you just have to ask.

  Rivvin is a member of the Water Folk, and from the first time he saw this woman in his element, he knew that she was far more than she appeared to be and far more vulnerable than she pretended to be. She will be a challenging mate and a feisty partner if he can only convince her that she needs to add him to her collection.

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  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Collecting

  Copyright © 2012 Viola Grace

  ISBN: 978-1-77111-399-1

  Cover art by Martine Jardin

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

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  Collecting

  Return of the Nine Book 5

  By

  Viola Grace

  Chapter One

  With the seaweed gathered into her sample bag, Emharo looked at the tempting waves and debated continuing her search for vegetation with antiseptic properties versus taking a nice dip in the waves.

  Emharo looked up at the bright ball of the sun and smiled. It made her mind up for her. She carefully put her sample bag up where the shifting surf could not reach it and was slipping out of her shirt when a transport skimmed around the headland and came toward her.

  It must be the specialists from the mother ship of the Nine.

  The transport flew past her and up the beach. Its air cushion spewed sand left and right until it moved up to the ridge and approached the lab.

  “Well, if everyone is over there, I think it is time for me to cool down.” Her parents wouldn’t begrudge her a short swim, and she might find another sample to take back to them.

  She wore undergarments made of cured fish skin, and the leather made supportive and waterproof underwear. Em removed her outerwear and folded it neatly, tucking it up where it would remain dry. With a knife strapped to her thigh and a fishing spear in one hand, she went into the water to do some collecting.

  * * * *

  “Doctor Harold Baker, Doctor Emaline Baker, please allow me to introduce Morro Nefurik, biologist and Weelar Tish, chef. They have been invited by our government to run their own tests on native species in an effort to replenish some stores on their ship.” Daphne Leoraki smiled as she made the introductions.

  Morro cleared his throat. “Rivvin Sequelar is also with us, but he required some time in the sea before joining us here. We dropped him just past the headland, and he is swimming in.”

  “Swimming?” Emaline Baker blinked and frowned toward the headland with a worried expression.

  “Yes, Dr. Baker. He is of the Water Folk, and he has been craving open water for years. The temptation was too much to resist.”

  Emaline Baker looked to her husband. “Call her. See if she answers.”

  Harold Baker went to a primitive com unit and tried to make a connection. “Em. Em, are you there?”

  Dr. Emaline Baker covered her eyes. “Something tells me that your associate is about to get an eyeful.”

  Morro looked interested, Weelar was busy nibbling on a piece of seaweed and Daphne was left to figure out what was going on. “What does she wear when she swims?”

  Emaline sighed, “As little as possible.”

  With the penchant of the other races of the Nine to recognize their mates on sight, this would give Rivvin the ideal option to see if the Gaian Emharo Baker was the one for him. Daphne groaned and hoped that her friend was not as heavily armed as she normally was when she went into the sea.

  It was Daphne’s first time escorting men of the Nine around on her own, and she wanted to bring them all back alive.

  * * * *

  Em was on her ninth dive, looking for shellfish, large fish that got close enough to spear and anything that qualified as the object she had been sent out to collect.

  A pale silhouette approaching her got her attention.

  Em kept neutral buoyancy and moved carefully as she kept the incoming predator in her sights.

  It swam slowly toward her and paused, facing her.

  The tension in her chest reminded her that she needed to breathe, so she kicked up and away from the pale man with huge black eyes who was staring at her from a few meters away.

  She broke the surface and exchanged her air before looking down once again. The man was remarkably close, and he showed no signs of needing to breathe.

  He swam underneath her and up behind her as he examined her from all angles.

  She watched him as long as she could before she needed to breathe again. She slowly began to move toward the shoreline. He didn’t impede her in any way. Em staggered up the pebbled beach and whirled to look behind her.

  The man walked calmly out of the surf, and a small spray of water jetted from his neck. He was wearing a short hip wrap, pale skin, dark blue hair and nothing else.

  “Hello.” Em walked over to her clothing and put her spear down.

  “Greetings, miss. Am I near the research lab?”

  She nodded and turned to see that he was within inches of her and she hadn’t heard him move. “Oh. And here you are. Um, yes. It is right on top of that ridge over there. I am on my way back if you would like to come with me.” She mentally kicked herself the moment that the invitation came out of her mouth.

  He extended his hand to her. “Rivvin Sequelar, pleased to meet you. You work at the lab?”

  Em took his hand and felt a peculiar slickness leave his palm and wrap around hers. “Emharo Baker. My parents run the research lab. Is there something on your hand?”

  He looked down and a hot lavender colour ran under his cheeks and across the muscular expanse of his chest. “I apologize. My body is attempting to chemically analyze yours.”

  “You are a member of the Nine?”

  He inclined his head. “I am. I am of the Water Folk.”

  She smiled at the obviousness and gradually eased her hand from his. The slickness absorbed into her skin without a trace. “I gathered as much. Well, I suppose I should get dressed and escort you to the lab.”

  “If you insist. I have no problem with your current attire. Is it fish leather?”

  She nodded. “It seemed the most practical swimwear. It dries quickly and identifies me to other predators.”

  She slipped on her shirt and shimmied into her trousers before sitting, dusting her feet off and tugging on her boots. “Just a moment while I grab my line and my samples and we will be on our way.”

  Em kept her gaze on Rivvin as she flipped her collection bag over her shoulder and hauled her line of fish in and flipped it over her other shoulder.

  Rivvin was watching her with surprise. “You eat
from the sea?”

  She paused. “Oh, are you vegetarian?”

  He shook his head. “No. We eat whatever swims past. I am simply surprised that you hunt in the sea.”

  “It’s a thing I do. My parents send me out with a list, and I bring it home. Doesn’t matter if it is fish or topical anaesthetic, I will bring it home.” She chuckled. “Shall we?”

  He blinked, and she noticed the secondary membrane that flicked over his eyes. “You are walking?”

  She shrugged. “Yes. I walk everywhere. You are welcome to swim up to the lab. There is a set of stone stairs that leads out of the water so you will know it when you see it.”

  Rivvin looked down at her, and his hands flexed.

  She noted the webbing between his fingers and quickly looked up when she saw that his wrap was slightly distorted.

  Em cleared her throat. “Well, I will get moving, and you can make up your mind.”

  She turned and made her escape, shifting the thirty pounds of fish on her shoulder. The fish was taken from her as Rivvin came up on her left. He inclined his head, and she let him carry it. It was only fifteen minutes of walking anyway, so why did she feel like he had given her an armload of flowers with that small gesture of taking her burden?

  Chapter Two

  The lab was full of people, so Em walked straight in. Her parents were speaking with the representatives of the Nine, and it was too hard to resist. “Mom, it followed me home, can I keep it?”

  The shock on the faces of the representatives was hilarious, but Daphne’s bark of laughter broke the tension.

  “Em, I don’t think they get the joke.” Daphne came up and gave her a hug.

  “That’s okay. They will get the hang of my sense of humour if they are here for more than a few hours.” Em muttered it in Daphne’s ear.

  Rivvin spoke from behind her. “Weelar, see what you can do with the lady’s catch.”

  The other pale man rushed forward and took the fish with the reverence of someone taking a holy object. “Where can I prepare them?”

  Emaline Baker stepped forward. “I will show you to the kitchen and make sure you get settled. We laid in plenty of supplies for this week. Em will make sure that the fresh fish keep coming.”

  The male almost passed out with joy at the mention of more fresh fish.

  Rivvin smiled, “Emharo, that is Weelar Tish. He is a chef for the Water Folk. We ran out of living food a few months ago, and this is our first opportunity to scope out fresh supplies.”

  Em looked up at him. “Oh, so that is the nature of this visit?”

  The Wilder was on the other side of the room, “That and we are looking for biological samples to restock our genetic banks for replication.”

  Harold Baker blinked rapidly. “Oh, I am sorry. Morro Nefurik of the Wilder, this is my daughter, Emharo Baker, our collector. If you need something, she can find it.”

  Emharo nodded. “Pleased to meet you. Oh, Dad, I got you that topical anaesthetic you were after.” She opened her bag and hauled out the seaweed. “It emits a gel that is highly effective.”

  Morro inclined his head and turned to Rivvin. “They have arranged the guest quarters for us, your bag is there.”

  Daphne was standing by. “Well, if you are all situated comfortably, I will be off. Call for anything you need and I will have it brought out, otherwise I will see you in a week.”

  She nodded to Rivvin and Morro, gave Em another hug and was out the door before Em could do more than raise her hand in goodbye.

  Rivvin blinked both lids again. “She was certainly in a hurry.”

  “Daphne worked here one summer and one of the biological samples bit her. She isn’t fond of this place.” Em shrugged. “Dad, do you have a list of what you need for their visit?”

  Harold grinned, “Here. Weelar filled me in on how much protein and vegetation they consume, so we will need a little more than initially anticipated.”

  She lifted her spear. “Done. That’s it?”

  Harold nodded. “Unless any of our esteemed guests have any specific requests?”

  Rivvin blinked, “Are you going back in the water?”

  “I am.”

  “May I accompany you? It has been a long time since I hunted in open waters.”

  She looked from Rivvin’s intense features to Morro’s shocked face and shrugged. “Sure. Do you hunt with a weapon?”

  He frowned. “I think I might use a spear similar to yours. Do you have a spare?”

  She grinned. “Of course. Come with me, and you can choose your weapon. I will show you the guest quarters while we are on our way.”

  He smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder.

  She heard Morro gasp but ignored him for the feeling of warmth that spread from that slight contact.

  “Thank you, Emharo.”

  She shook her head and walked out of the lab, down the hall and out into the warm afternoon air. Em used her fishing spear to point down the yard. “There is the guesthouse. My mom had me clear all my stuff this morning. You will be nicely segregated from the Gaians.”

  “That is not necessarily something we require.” He was close to her again, very close.

  “We were told that the Nine didn’t like contact with Gaians, well not casual contact anyway.” She shrugged. “The doors don’t lock anyway, so you can come and go as you please. Will you be here all week?”

  Rivvin made a rumbling noise of assent. “That is the plan. I need to put a locator tag in a few shoals of fish and our mother ship can send a transporter down to bring them up to replenish our stocks.”

  “So, you exclusively eat fish?”

  “It is our preferred food, though we can and do eat other proteins while on the mother ship.” He shrugged. “It has been a rather unappealing few months since we consumed the last of the live stores. They tend not to breed in space, so we only have what we can bring with us from likely planets.”

  “And since Gaia is the planet you evolved on, you can tolerate the foods here.”

  She walked to the shed near the dock. “Here is the weapons shed, it also contains fins, masks and other equipment for diving. Take what you need.”

  She grabbed a mask, snorkel and set of fins before setting out down the smooth wood of the dock. Her holding line was coiled neatly on the last support. She tied it to the edge of the support, removed her outer clothing again and walked down the steps to affix the fins on her feet.

  She prepped the mask, and Rivvin sat next to her. “What are you doing?”

  “The mask helps me when I am actively fishing. It increases my ability to see what the heck I am aiming at, and since you are going to be in the water with me, you really want me to see what I am doing.” Em slid the mask on her head and grinned in the peculiar way that folks in masks always grinned. “Ready when you are.”

  He blinked at her, and with a smile that showed sharply pointed teeth, he dove into the water, leaving no trace of him on the surface.

  Shrugging, she tested her snorkel before she followed him into the waves, her spear at the ready.

  Emharo used her fins to slowly make her way into deeper water. Her breathing was loud in her ears as she used the tube to keep her head aware of the predators around her.

  Rivvin was slipping through the water at the edge of her vision. Her senses told her that he was fishing successfully, the talent that drove her out into the wild to collect samples told her when there was something nearby that she wanted.

  Despite the fact that Rivvin was not on her shopping list, Rivvin lit up with a hot blue pulse. It was not the colour that her mind associated with prey. Edible fish were bright gold, toxic fish were red-black and vegetation that could be eaten by Gaians was an electric purple to her senses. Medicinal items were a variety of colours across the rainbow.

  Hot blue was not a colour that she had ever run into before.

  A fish darted past her, but it was too small to pursue. She continued her slow exploration while keeping an eye out
for both Rivvin and other predators.

  A sudden rush of gold caught her attention. Huge, fat fish swam toward her, and she struck out with her spear, catching two of the fish before quickly backpedalling to get away from the large predator that had driven the fish toward her.

  Stubby legs, a huge jaw and flat black eyes, the beast came toward her, following the flapping of the fish on her spear. It was three times her length, and its jaws could snap her in two.

  She sighed, preparing to give up her catch.

  A flash of light skin moved between her and the beast, and Rivvin took a defensive posture between her and the animal that wanted her kills.

  He stabbed at it a few times, and the beast turned on its tail with blood streaming from small punctures around its head.

  Rivvin turned, grabbed her around the waist and swam back to the steps. He took her spear from her and chucked the fish onto the dock, striding out onto the steps with her tucked under his arm.

  Irritated, she blasted water out her snorkel. She spit it out and said, “Put me down.”

  “Not until you are safe.”

  He set her down on the dock, and she took her flippers off with disgusted movements. “You didn’t need to do that. I would have lost my spear but that would have been it.”

  She ripped her mask off and scowled up at him. His hair curled on his cheeks and clung to his chest.

  He growled. “You are not fast enough to hunt in the water.”

  “I have done it so far, and I will continue to do it long after you are gone, so get used to the idea.”

  Rivvin’s mouth opened and closed with a snap reminiscent of the predator she had just faced. “We have enough for today. Come on, back to the lab so I can discuss a few things with your parents.”

  She got to her feet, gathered her clothing and grumped, “Since you are so keen to do the heavy lifting, bring in the fish.”