Mari awoke feeling terrific and refreshed. Memories of what happened flashed through her mind as she sat up. That’s when she noticed her shirt was torn at her shoulder.
She frowned, wondering how that had happened. Maybe when someone from the crew had dragged her out of the crawl space? It was a tight fit in there, over the center of the engines.
She slid out of bed and entered the bathroom, using it and taking the time to get clean. Once dressed in a fresh outfit, she left her cabin, hunting for another crew member to see what was going on.
She ran into Midgel when she entered the dining room. The alien was extremely shy but nice. “Are we safe from the pirates?”
Midgel nodded. “We’ve met up with others and the engines are still running. I heard they’ll have the part we need at the station we’re heading for. How are you?”
“I’m good. Hungry. Do you mind me having some leftovers? I didn’t feel like using the replicator in my room. Your cooking is much better than what those produce, even if it’s cold. I know it’s not yet mealtime.”
“You got the engines working, Mari. I’ll make you something.”
“You don’t have to go out of your way.”
“I want to. Sit.”
Mari smiled and took a seat. Midgel disappeared into her kitchen. No crew were allowed back there unless a repair was needed. Nara had told her Midgel guarded her cooking space as if it were a horde of treasure.
Ten minutes later, the shy woman returned, carrying a plate of cooked meats and vegetables. It smelled delicious.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Midgel rushed away after bringing her a drink, and didn’t return.
Mari ate and put her empty dishes in the cleaner near the kitchen, going to the engine room next. No one was down there. She climbed the ladder, entering the crawl space. The panel remained opened and she peered inside, memories of being shocked until she blacked out first and foremost in her mind. It had hurt badly.
The U coupling she’d rigged remained in place, blue energy flowing over it. She backed away, crawled out, and decided to leave the toolbox there, since she’d have to replace the part soon anyway.
Next she went to maintenance—staring in shock at her open locker and the new outfits that hung inside. They weren’t just for work, but also for off times.
Dovis had said he’d have a jacket and other things made for her. He hadn’t lied. Even the fire suit looked to be her size. It was shiny, and the nicest, most expensive garment she’d ever owned. It was work related but that didn’t matter. That suit could save her life one day.
She blinked back tears. The crew cared about her.
“Mari, this is Captain Cathian. We’re in the dining room waiting for you to join us. Report now.”
She started at hearing his voice going ship-wide through the speakers. She spun around, rushing toward the nearest lift. She wasn’t wearing a comm; had he been trying to contact her for long? He sounded rather angry.
She ran when she arrived on the dining-room level and rushed inside, slightly out of breath. Captain Cathian stood inside the door with his arms crossed over his broad chest, a stern expression on his face. Nara stood next to him with an equally unpleased frown.
“I’m so sorry.”
He suddenly grinned. “For what? Saving our asses?”
He stepped out of the way, and she realized the entire crew had gathered inside the dining room. Even the silent Raff, who never spoke to her or looked her way, had come. They were all staring at her, including the Pods.
Nara came forward. “You can’t miss your party.”
“My what?” She was stunned.
“We’re celebrating not being boarded by pirates because you saved the day!”
“It was technically still night,” Marrow called out. “My ass was sleeping until I was woken. She saved the night and then the day.”
Mari didn’t know what to say except the truth. “I was just doing my job.”
“You did more than that.” Nara kept hold of her, leading her toward the tables where the crew sat. “I asked Midgel to make you a cake.”
“I’ve never had a cake before.”
Nara froze, staring at her with wide eyes, and then her bottom lip trembled. “Never? What about your birthday parties?”
“There were no parties. Why would I get cake for my birthdays?”
Nara released her and pointed to a seat. “I’m getting you a drink. Me too. A strong one.” She stormed off, muttering something under her breath.
Marrow asked, “Why do you want to hunt down her parents and kill them?” Her gaze tracked Nara.
“You suck at girl talk, remember? Just seal your lips. I said that low so Mari wouldn’t hear me. Thanks for broadcasting it.”
Marrow frowned, looking at York. “What did I do?”
York snorted. “We all hate your parents, Mari. You should know that.”
She shrugged, not offended. “I don’t like them either.” It was no secret that her parents had sold her to the Teki.
“Sit,” Captain Cathian ordered.
She took a seat by York. He was friendly and always nice to her. “You did good, Mari.”
“Thank you.” She was slightly embarrassed by all the attention. Her gaze drifted to Dovis in the corner. He sat away from everyone, much like Raff did. More flashes of memory returned…of him leaning over her, telling her to stay in bed.
Had that really happened? She wasn’t sure. If not, it was odd that she’d dream about Dovis.
Midgel came out of the kitchen with a large, white round thing. The scent of fruit filled the room as she set it down on the table, smiling at her. “Berry cake. It’s a favorite of the crew. I hope you enjoy it.”
Mari stared at it, unsure what to do.
Nara returned with two glasses, placing them down, and took a long knife from Midgel. The shy cook fled, returning with more silverware and small plates. Mari watched as Nara cut the round food into slices and put them on plates, shoving one her way. Mari picked up a fork and took a tiny bite.
Sweetness and the bright taste of berries flooded her mouth.
“This is good!”
“Cake always is. When is your birthday? You should get one every year.”
Mari shrugged. “I don’t know. My parents never told me or mentioned a date I was born.”
Nara opened her mouth but then closed it, looking angry again.
“We can assign her a date,” Captain Cathian said gently, taking a seat next to Nara. “Calm, Nara. Your face is doing that red thing that makes me worry.”
“Fine.” Nara forced a smile. “The day you were freed can be your official birthdate now. Every year, we’ll celebrate it with a cake. Lots of it, to make up for all the years you missed. Do you know how old you are?”
She shook her head. “No. Maybe twenty-five? I’m not sure.”
Nara growled.
It surprised Mari. “I didn’t know humans made that sound.”
“I’m life-locked to a Tryleskian. I learned it.”
Captain Cathian chuckled. “She even lifts her upper lip to flash smooth teeth at me if she’s really irritated. It’s adorable. Do you know how many years you were with the Teki?”
“No. I think about fifteen years, though. I just know for certain how old I was when I was sold. They haggled a lot over the price, and my age was a part of it. I was too young to be a sex slave for the station’s brothel because it would offend some customers. Most humans the Teki buy are sent there. That’s when they decided to put me in engine repairs. I was small enough to fit inside thruster shafts and they could drop me into intake pits to clean them out. I was supposed to transfer to the brothel when I turned sixteen, but K’pa, the Teki who purchased me, had noticed how much work I could do. He kept me in repairs instead. He said I was more valuable doing that work.”
A snarl came from across the room. She turned her head, seeing it was Dovis. Again. He didn’t look up but he seemed furious as usual.
She glanced at the rest of the crew. Their angry expressions mirrored Dovis’s. She thought about how dangerous engine work was, and figured they didn’t like the idea of a kid being at risk.
“I survived. I was smart and learned fast. It’s only risky if you stay too long inside one of the shafts, because you run out of oxygen in your mask. It was an honor to get to stay in repairs. I didn’t want to be a brothel worker.” She felt no shame admitting that. “I worked twice as hard as everyone else to avoid being sent there.”
Nara reached out and gripped her hand. “No wonder you were willing to give your life for ours. You poor thing. You don’t realize how important you are. Well, that shit has changed. You’re part of The Vorge crew now. You matter, Mari. No more crazy stunts like what you did this morning.” She shot a glare in Dovis’s direction. “Someone will stop you next time.”
“I arrived too late,” he protested. “I would have stopped her if I hadn’t. She was already down when I reached her and hauled her out of the shaft.”
“You refused to take her to the android,” Nara pointed out. “Instead, you carried her to her room.”
York cleared his throat. “No fighting, crew. It turned out fine. Worst case, those pirates would have boarded us and died. We’re mean sons of bitches. Between me, Cathian, Raff, and Dovis, they all would have been killed. Don’t risk your life again, Mari.”
“What am I? Invisible? I can fight, you blue idiot,” Marrow snapped. “Add me to that list.”
“And Marrow,” York grumbled. “Although she gets upset when blood gets splattered on her. I’m referring to Angus Twelve.”
She growled at him. “It wasn’t splatter that bothered me when you had to kill those two slavers who tried to grab me on that supply run. I had no problem with their blood. It was the head you threw at my chest! That was gross.”
“I didn’t mean for it to hit you. It just flew that way when I killed the slaver.” York grinned.
Marrow rolled her eyes. “Fair.”
“No more bickering. Mari must think we’re savages.” Captain Cathian chuckled. “Nobody share Raff stories.” He winked at her. “Watch out for the silent ones,” he whispered loudly.
Raff snorted from across the room but didn’t say or respond in any other way.
Mari liked her new crewmates.
The Pods drew her attention when they turned her way, smiling.
One spoke. “They like you, too.”
She relaxed and smiled, believing the Pod. She didn’t think he’d lie to her.
Her gaze went to Dovis again. He’d taken her to her room? That memory of waking to find him hovering over her must be true. She needed to thank him.
Dovis dug into his food, ignoring the rest of the crew now that they’d given Mari her cake and were having dinner. He relaxed in his chair. She hadn’t acted strange at all, or even paid him much attention. The myths Taznia told him must have been bullshit. He’d been afraid Mari would show him greater interest. His fears were laid to rest.
He was glad he’d bitten and healed her, though. No regrets.
The crew laughed and chatted. He glanced over at Raff, the other crew member who didn’t like to socialize much. Raff had his own issues. Dovis didn’t know all of them but he’d learned enough. Being the bastard son of Cathian’s uncle had to be tough.
Raff looked full Tryleskian, but he wasn’t. His mother had been some other alien race, a woman his father had spent his heat with while stranded on a planet for five months after a shuttle crash. Once his father had been rescued, he hadn’t wanted to lay claim to her or the son she carried inside her body. The medical scans had shown only one infant. To a Tryleskian, that would come as a shock, since their females always carried between two to five infants while pregnant.
Raff had been raised on his mother’s dangerous planet. When Cathian learned of him, The Vorge made a stop on Gluttren Four to find the now grown child. It was a total hellhole of a colony. Raff had stuck out big time, with his height and muscular body. They’d approached the male, offering him a job on the crew, and Raff had agreed, eager to escape the life of an assassin.
Dovis stood and got a second helping of dinner. He kept his attention focused on his food when he retook his seat, digging in.
It surprised him when a small hand suddenly gripped his shoulder.
He whipped his head around, staring at Mari. She frowned, her little nose flared as she sniffed—and then she shocked the hell out of him by leaning down to bury her face against his throat.
She inhaled loudly. “You smell really good.”
“What the hell?” He jerked away and almost fell out of his seat, tearing away from her hold. He glared at Cathian, expecting the captain to laugh. His friend would put her up to something like that as a joke.
Instead of a smile, Cathian’s mouth hung open and his eyes were wide. He appeared concerned instead of amused.
Mari stalked Dovis until his back hit the wall. Her head just came up to the top of his chest. She put her hands on him there and leaned in, sniffing again. She actually rubbed her cheek against him!
Her scent hit him when he sucked in a sharp breath. She was strongly aroused.
He grabbed her upper arms, careful of his claws, and held her back. “Cathian!”
The captain leapt out of his seat and came up behind Mari, grabbing ahold of her around the waist and hauling her away from him. “Shit.”
“Shit is right.” Dovis felt panicked as he looked down at Mari. She was staring up at him with a confused look but still reached out for him, trying to touch him again. He dodged her fingers.
“Why do you smell so good?” She frowned.
“You deal with this,” he told his friend, then Dovis fled.
He ran out of the dining room and went straight to his cabin.
Pacing didn’t help, so he eventually went to the computer, pulling up life signs. Cathian, Nara, and Mari were visiting the medical android.
A new worry hit. What if the android took blood tests and there was proof of what he’d done? The Amarai might hear and put a death bounty out on him. Just because they weren’t known to like traveling in space didn’t mean they didn’t have allies from other planets.
Cathian was an ambassador for his planet. Would he feel obligated to hand Dovis over to them? No. Cathian would refuse and fight if his planet leaders demanded he do so. It would cause problems for the entire crew, though.
He snarled, shutting down the readings, and began to pace again.
It seemed like an hour had passed before his door chimed. He rushed over and opened it. Cathian waited in the hallway.
“Get in here. Why did you go see the android? Tell me you didn’t have it run blood tests.”
“Calm down. I had it run tests but not record anything. I’m aware why that would be a bad idea. I also had it erase the entire visit and everything it discovered. The information for the entire day has been purged, to avoid being uploaded to our database.”
Dovis sighed in relief. “What did you discover?”
“You know about my race and our second hearts…”
Dovis nodded.
“A blood sample from Nara will show my DNA in her system. The same showed in Mari with yours.”
He gawked at Cathian. “I’m mated to her? Is that what you’re saying? That’s impossible.”
“Remain calm. We never ran any tests on Raff after you bit him, to hide what you had done to save his life. He might have had traces of your DNA too for a while. The android believes there are two possibilities.”
He felt sick. “What?”
“Your DNA traces will eventually fade from her, or it will become permanent, the way some races do when they mate or life-lock.”
Dovis snarled, turned, and walked to the wall. He punched it—hard.
“Don’t destroy your cabin. I sent Raff to get his blood drawn. The android will test to see if your DNA remains in his body or not. Not would be good. It would mean it’s faded.”
He spun, staring at Cathian.
His friend had the nerve to smile. “Don’t worry. If your DNA is still in Raff, I doubt he’ll want to claim first mating rights to you. He prefers females, judging by the brothel choices he’s made the few times he’s visited them. I saw his charges to The Vorge account. Females only.”
“That’s not funny. The Amarai can only form matings with our sperm, when we’re in heat. Never with a bite.”
“It’s a little amusing.” Cathian took a seat on the top of the desk. “You knew you were different from most of your race. Maybe that’s why they kill ones like you for biting. Maybe it’s about more than forcing a female to feel desire towards you—you can mate by bite. Hell, you could be capable of mating to a bunch of people by bite, instead of just one. We know it makes females, at least, sexually drawn to you. Mari was highly aroused by your scent. Did Raff ever hit on you?”
“No!”
“Had you been around her at any point before you bit her? Maybe she just likes you.”
“I was around her, but she only felt fear for me.”
“Not any longer.”
“Stop smiling. It’s not funny!” He wanted to punch Cathian.
His friend grew somber. “Raff will report here when he knows the results. The android won’t keep a record of his visit or test results.”
Dovis paced. “What did you tell Nara? I know she was with you and Mari when you visited the android.”
“I told her what you did saved Mari’s life, but it meant your life could be in danger, that it could cause you to have a death bounty on your head. That was enough for her to agree to keep quiet about your DNA being found inside Mari’s bloodstream. She asked questions of course, but I told her your secrets were your own and not my place to share.”
The door chimed. Cathian got up and opened it, letting Raff in. The male entered and held Dovis’s gaze. He shook his head.
Dovis sighed. “No traces at all?”
“None,” Raff confirmed.
“There we go.” Cathian smiled again. “Your DNA traces will fade out of Mari’s system. It’s just because you recently bit her.” He chuckled and bumped his shoulder to Raff’s. The family resemblance was obvious, with them standing close together. “I was taunting him about how you might want to claim him as a mate if you were carrying his DNA.”
Raff growled low as he glared at Cathian.
“He felt just as thrilled by the concept.” Cathian shook his head as he moved away from Raff. “Neither of you has a sense of humor. This will all be fine. Just avoid Mari until this reaction she has to you fades, Dovis. That shouldn’t be a problem, since you hate people.” He glanced back at Raff and chuckled again. “Good thing you’re not carrying his DNA. She might have thought you smelled good enough to fuck, too.”
At that, Raff turned and left his cabin.
Dovis reached up and rubbed his left ear. “Your cousin would probably have killed her. He’s not a friendly man.”
“Who can blame him after the life he’s had? I’m glad he likes us.”
“Are you sure he does? He rarely speaks. I never know what’s on his mind.”
Cathian hesitated. “He’s never tried to kill any of us. I know he feels grateful to me for taking him off the hellish planet he was born and raised on. You saved his life once. York amuses him sometimes, because I’ve seen him smile once or twice over his antics. And Raff seems downright mellow around females.
“My uncle may have abandoned him, but his mother remained until death took her away. I went through his bags when he boarded The Vorge, to make sure he didn’t have any drugs. Told him a medical scan for new crew was required. You know what Gluttren Four is like. I searched his bags while he was in the medical bay. I feared he might be addicted to something, but his bloodstream was clean, as were his bags. There were pictures and a few personal belongings of his mother inside. She mattered a lot to him.”
“What about your uncle?”
“You know that death look Raff gets?”
Dovis knew it well, and nodded.
“I’m never letting the two of them meet. Backi deserves to die for abandoning a pregnant female. He showed zero honor by doing so. He’s of my father’s same litter, though. My father and the family covered it up. Gluttren Four is known for its high population of interbred races no one else wants to claim. Raff’s mother is at least five different species. My father only told me of Raff’s exitance in case his mother or her family ever contacted the ambassador,” he pointed at his own chest, “to file a complaint that the child had been abandoned by a Vellar. It infuriated me when I learned what Backi had done.”
“Did they ever file a grievance with anyone who held your position before you took it?”
“Unknown. There is no record of it. That doesn’t mean anything. I told you, my family covered it up. Backi would have been embarrassed if anyone knew he’d had a son with what they consider a mutant female. Remember how my father reacted to Nara? She’s only human, and not a mixed breed of various species.”
“Your people are assholes…but so are mine.”
“That’s why The Vorge is our home and we’re a family.” Cathian smiled. “Too bad Raff’s not your mate. We’d actually be related.”
“Fuck you. That’s still not funny.”
“Just avoid Mari. I’m sure her reaction to you will fade.” He walked to the door but paused, turning back to hold his gaze. “You know…you could do a lot worse than to be mated to a human. Nara makes me happy as my life-lock. Perhaps you should take advantage of her current attraction to you and keep the bond active, until you go into heat and can bond to her for good. She’s a damn good maintenance engineer.”
“Get out.”
Cathian laughed as he left. “I’ll have a chat with her about dodging you, too.”
Dovis paced once more after the doors sealed, leaving him alone. He could avoid the little human. He just hoped she stopped feeling attracted to him soon.