Chapter 28

Sloan was relieved as she stepped into her shower. It had been a long and brutal week. Intercepting the transport had been easy, but negotiating the release of the slaves had taken more time than Sloan would have liked. Dev had had to practically hold her back to keep her from going for the throat of the flesh trader in charge of the vessel.

Once they had negotiated the price, they loaded the released prisoners into their shuttle. That’s when things went sideways.

“You can’t take the young ones,” the flesh captain had growled at Sloan and Dev while he attempted to grab some of the children from their parents.

“That was not part of our original deal. I negotiated for twenty. There are twenty total, so we take everyone,” Sloan said and ushered the families onto the shuttle. Sloan also signaled to Dev that there might be an issue. Even though she knew he hated it when she did this, he went into the pilot’s compartment and powered up the shuttle.

“The males are worth two since they are so large. So, the young ones will cost extra.”

As Sloan had unbuckled her blaster from her side under the cover of moving people, she felt the buzz of a fight radiating through her.

“This is not a fight you want to have with me,” Sloan said, her gaze steely and her jaw tight. “I paid for everyone. I will be taking everyone, or you will not like what happens to you.”

He had picked up one of the small children and held her up in front of him.

“These young ones will fetch a pretty sum of credits without the parents. I’ve changed my mind. They stay.” He signaled to his companion to grab the children.

“You pathetic piece of scum. Do not touch them.” Sloan had whipped back her arm and cracked it across the companion’s face. He fell to the ground, and Sloan gave him a stun blast as he crumpled.

“Give me the child.” She gave him fair warning, then pointed her blaster directly at his face. He raised the girl, who couldn’t have been more than three, and used her to hide behind. Her parents shrieked behind Sloan.

“Please! Please don’t hurt her,” the mother screamed as the dad held her back.

“Dev, get them in the transport,” Sloan had called out to Dev, and she heard him run down the shuttle ramp. He pushed everyone inside, including the children.

The captain held the girl up over his face.

“We will not let you leave with them.”

“I’m not asking your permission anymore.” Sloan had given him a withering look before training her blaster on his groin. The little girl was so small; although his head was covered, the rest of his body was vulnerable. “Release her now, and we can end this without any more trouble or anyone getting his nuts blasted.”

“Over my dead body,” he had said, eventually peeking out from behind the little girl to see what Sloan was doing.

“Suit yourself,” Sloan said, shooting him directly in the groin. He had immediately dropped the little girl on the floor, and Sloan had blasted him in the head as he leaned over to grab himself.

Sloan had scooped up the little girl from the floor and run with her into the shuttle. She smacked her hand against the shuttle door close control, and the little girl’s parents embraced her as they sank to the floor. Another family reunited. Sloan had thought of her family and how they would never have that kind of reunion. A blast to the back of the shuttle had snapped Sloan out of her thoughts.

“Dev, hit it. We need to get out of here now,” Sloan had shouted, then held on as the shuttle pitched and rocked while they beat a hasty retreat. Sloan settled the humans and headed up to the copilot’s chair next to Dev.

“You know I hate it when you take these males on all by yourself.” Dev said.

“Ah, quit complaining, Dev. I wanted to keep your beautiful face protected from damage.” She smirked.

“Do you have a death wish?” Dev said. Sloan had never seen him so angry before.

“Dev, what’s gotten into you? It was fine. We’re all fine.”

“It’s not fine Sloan. You could have died back there.”

“But I didn’t. We’ve gotten out of tighter scrapes than that before.”

“Sloan,” Dev had said and spun in his chair to her. Sloan had been taken aback; she’d heard Dev use her name only a handful of times. “You can’t keep doing this.” He sighed. Setting the shuttle to auto-land, he gazed into her eyes.

“What would we do if you got hurt? What would Xan do if you got hurt?”

Sloan had immediately sat back. “This doesn’t have anything to do with him. I’m fine.”

“You keep taking these risks. When it was only us, the crew, who would lose you, that was acceptable. We all know the risks that come with this type of work. We’ve all made that deal with our families if we have them. You’re the captain. You make the decisions, inform us, and we follow. But when it comes to Xan, that’s beyond crew, isn’t it?”

Sloan had ducked her head and averted her eyes.

“He loves you. He wants you to be his queen. What would happen to him? What would it do to him to lose you because you want to go it alone trying to free these people?”

“You think I should have left them there? Abandoned them?” she had spat back. Dev glared at her, and Sloan stood her ground. Dev might be big and scary to other people, but she knew he would never hurt her.

“Of course, I’m not saying that, but you don’t have to take the risks you always like to take. You have to think about more than yourself now. You have to think about him.”

“I can’t spend every moment of my life thinking about Xan. I have to make sure I am still me, because I need to know who I am once he’s gone. People leave, Dev. That’s what happens. They don’t stick around. I love Xan, but how long until he figures out that we’re not going to work in the long run? I’m not queen material,” she said, leaning against the headrest.

“If you think his judgment and his feelings are so fickle, then why are you even with him? And as far as people leaving, what does that say about any of us? You’d drop any member of the crew in a second if things became too hard?”

“It’s not that, Dev, and I would never do that. You’re all my family, but even family leaves sometimes. And I’m not the one who leaves. I’m the one who gets left,” she said somberly. “Look at my parents. Look at Neven. I’m always preparing for the other shoe to drop. To be left alone.” Sloan squeezed her eyes shut to keep tears from falling. She felt Dev reach across and touch one of the hands fisted on her lap.

“Sloan, look at me,” Dev said softly. She squeezed her eyes tighter, not wanting him to see her cry. “Sloan, look at me, please.” He squeezed her hand harder.

It was the “please” that broke her. Sloan met Dev’s gaze. She saw a blurry Dev through the tears in her eyes.

“It would be his honor to have you as his queen. You will make a wonderful queen and can do so much good at his side. Don’t let your past stop you from having a future few of us could dream of. And I’m not talking about the palace life. I’m talking about being able to be with a person you truly love and who truly loves you back.”

Sloan wanted to believe. She wanted to stop being so afraid of the unknown with Xan, just as she was unafraid of the unknown when captaining her crew through the uncertainty of space. Could I do it? Could I be strong enough to stand beside Xan as his queen?