Chasing Secrets

By Mychael Black

Dressed as a Dark Elf with midnight blue body paint and a set of chainmail-and-leather armor, Josh Ingram feels more at home among his fellow gamers at the local gaming convention than he ever has anywhere else.

Faron Krius is an Ichthian detective on the hunt for a murder suspect. He tracks the fugitive to Earth and follows the man right into a local gathering of video game enthusiasts. Now Faron has to wade through throngs of people, including one young -- and very human -- man who greatly resembles Ichthia’s most wanted murderer.

Is it a case of mistaken identity? Or is there a damn good reason why Josh has always felt out of place?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Changeling Press
• Release date: Mar 18, 2023
• ISBN: 9780729902359

Mychael Black

Alter ego of Katherine Cook, Mychael focuses on gay erotic romance stories in many genres. She lives in the eastern US with her family.

Book preview

Chapter One

We’ve had reports of a stolen ship leaving orbit. A remote scan of the navigation system gave us the impression that Melek’s headed for Earth.

Faron Krius groaned. Lovely.

His boss, Chief Eron, nodded in agreement. Believe me, I know. Get out there, Detective. Catch him.

I will. Do we know where he’s going?

Eron slid a paper across the desk. There’s a convention happening in the United States. Here are the coordinates. If my intel is correct, then this is the perfect place for someone like us to hide. The majority of my Earth sources tell me a gathering like this includes humans dressed in costumes of all kinds. To them, an Ichthian is just another human in costume.

Leave it to Melek to give us a run for our money, Faron muttered. He took the paper. I’m heading out.

The chief nodded once. Be careful, Detective. Melek’s killed three officers already. Try not to be number four.

Faron left the precinct and headed straight for the shuttle port. He hated Earth. Hell, most of his kind did. It was too crowded, too smelly in most of the cities, and, as a general rule, he’d found most humans to be nothing but total assholes. It figured Ichthia’s most wanted murderer would flee there.

The guard at the above-water shuttle port checked Faron’s ID and waved him on. Faron dug his key from his pocket and slipped the microchipped band around his arm, the chip resting on his pulse point. When he reached his department shuttle, he flicked his wrist. The hatch opened, and the engines started. Faron climbed in and was buckled before the hatch even closed. He guided the shuttle out of the port and hit the stratosphere.

Ichthia was a small planet -- very small compared to Earth. There were no major cities, but the planet had its share of crime. The inhabited areas of the planet were divided into zones, with submersible shuttles providing transportation from one zone to another. Humans rarely came here due to the lack of land. Ninety-eight percent of Ichthia was aquatic, and many of the dwellings were situated below sea level. For Ichthians, it didn’t pose a problem. For humans… Well, once here, very few ever stayed more than a few days. The enclosed walkways and buildings had air pumping through them from the surface, but not many humans enjoyed being underwater for long.

The trip to Earth didn’t take long, at least as far as shuttles were concerned. Time flew by, and before he knew it, Faron entered Earth’s atmosphere. Shuttles passed him on occasion, carrying various species to other planets in and out of the solar system.