Chapter Four: Ronan
He couldn’t deny that the human had a powerful effect on him.
Ronan shook his head as Erica sprawled on the bed, her feet up on the headrest, the red dress falling mid-thigh. The bruises were fading rapidly, and Erica seemed to be getting more relaxed in his presence. There were even times when he could have sworn that she was trying to seduce him.
His assumptions that she was a timid, submissive woman had been proven wrong. If at first he had been surprised at this, now he relished their verbal sparring and enjoyed the thrill of wondering who was going to give into physical desire first. She had spirit and character. That may have been the opposite of what he wanted, but he found himself enjoying it.
He enjoyed it a lot.
Too much. He had looked to the bridal service for a woman he didn't have to care about. In his line of work, attachments were dangerous. If he allowed her to have any power over him, she could easily use his affection for her to her own end. He had already done more than he should have by promising to save her cousin. Why he had allowed her brown eyes and sweet face to sway him, he didn't know.
No, he needed to keep his distance by any means necessary. Even if that meant making her hate him. "Are you going to shower? You stink."
Erica's cheeks stained pink. She sat, smoothing her skirt over her knees. "Well, I was expecting that."
"What?"
"You get like this every day, right before you give yourself an injection. What are you on? It's gotta be a pretty tough drug to give you such obvious withdrawals."
"None of your concern."
"We live together and apparently I'm your wife. It is my concern."
Ronan growled. So she was already observing him, finding his weak points. Well, she wasn't going to get the satisfaction of learning about his disease.
He needed to stay in control.
"Ronan, whatever it is, I can help you break the habit. I've seen a lot of people on drugs during my medical training, I don't want to see that happen to you."
His shoulders relaxed slightly. Could he really trust her? He wanted to… maybe after this mission was done. They were getting closer to the Ruizers research vessel that he needed to steal information from, which put him on edge already. Add to it that it was almost time to take his perijan, and he wasn't in the best state to make decisions.
He would wait until he was sounder of mind to decide.
Ronan marched over to the comm console and gestured to the chair before it. "Come here and make a distress call. We are on our honeymoon, and we were attacked by pirates. Our oxygen filters have been damaged, and we need assistance repairing them."
Erica sighed, but she came over to the console. She didn't sit, instead leaning over the controls with an arch in her back. Her posture made the front of her dress drop low, revealing her ample pink cleavage.
With a growl, Ronan looked away. If he recorded the distress call, the Ruizers Corporation ship probably wouldn’t come. But Erica was human. They'd come for her. Whether because there was some religious fanatic onboard who worshiped humans as the first ancestors, or because they thought they could make a quick profit by abducting and selling her, they would come.
Erica recorded the distress call and set the controls to broadcast it in a loop. She turned to Ronan and folded her arms. If he didn't know better, he'd say she looked annoyed. "That good?"
He nodded.
"I don't know why I'm doing this. There must be hundreds of laws we're breaking by doing this."
"You're doing it because you want me to take back what I said and take you to bed without you having to beg."
The human turned a red that was almost as deep as his skin and spluttered. "You wish!"
"Then you're doing it because the sooner I get the information that the Planchet Corporation wants, the sooner we can save Bethy."
Erica scowled but didn't reply.
Ronan checked the thumb-sized hacking device he always used on these sorts of missions. It was made from a self-dissolving material. All he needed to do was put it on a ship's computer and it would upload all the information that was on it to his own ship. If he didn't enter the acceptance code within a few minutes of starting the program, though, it would destroy everything on both computers. It was a backup in case he got killed. If they took him down, he wanted to take them down with him.
Just as he predicted, it wasn't long before they got a communication from the Ruizers, telling them that they were coming to pick them up. Ronan smiled, chewing on a protein stick. Now that he had a way to get into the ship, his tense shoulders relaxed. Chances were, they would be able to get out of this without fighting. That was always a good thing, although it could be quite boring.
"So what exactly are you taking from them?" Erica asked.
"Information. That's all you need to know."
The human wrapped her arms around herself and didn't press the issue. Within a few minutes, the Ruizers ship had pulled up next to them. A portube, a large tubing that allowed for travel between ships in deep space, extended from the larger Ruizers ship and sealed itself around the cargo bay doors of Ronan’s ship. As soon as Ronan and Erica were across, he planted his little hacking device on the nearest computer.
The Trioeil who greeted them eyed Erica. She shrank back against Ronan, which surprised him. He didn't expect she would trust him to protect her from these beings. Although he understood why she wouldn’t want a Trioeil looking at her. They were disgusting little creatures that had worse reputations than T'shav. Ronan's people were considered mercenaries that would nonetheless defend their families. Trioeil were known to sell their closest relatives without hesitation.
"Thank you for rescuing us," Erica said. "Although my distress call may have been premature. I believe my… husband fixed the oxygen recyclers just before you picked us up. It's good to have some fresh air, though."
"It is my pleasure," the Trioeil said. "Come. I'm afraid this is a research vessel and doesn't have much in the way of refreshments, but I'm sure we can find something."
"We'd love to," Erica said before Ronan could say they were fine and wanted to be on their way. He scowled as they followed the Trioeil to a nearby kitchenette. Now that they were here, it was imperative to keep up the ruse. Getting blown out of the sky as soon as they were in his vessel again was not an option.
"Human and T'shav newlyweds, eh?" the Trioeil said, squinting her three watery eyes. "I didn't think T'shav did the whole marriage thing."
"I did," Ronan said. "It's what Erica wanted."
"Seems like that's what all you humans like. How you can cuddle up with something as hard as a rock and twice as dumb I don't know."
Ronan growled softly. He wished he had the traditional broadsword his people used. It was a great weapon for intimidation, and would probably silence these inane remarks. But he had given up all T'shav traditions long ago, when his father died, and these days he relied solely on blasters. A poor substitute, but there was no going back after the things he had done.
The Trioeil was openly appraising Erica now. "You have a pretty human here, T'shav. Are you willing to sell her?"
Ronan looked down at the human pressed against him. Her gaze met his, her eyes wide, her hands trembling. There were plenty of reasons why he should. He cared too much about her already. He spent most of this mission’s commission on buying her and was going to use up quite a few resources rescuing her cousin.
But the thought of Erica in the Trioeil's hands made him want to kill somebody. He shook his head. "I'd sooner kill you than sell her."
Erica's eyes widened. Her lips parted slightly, and Ronan was tempted to kiss her, Trioeil or no Trioeil.
The three-eyed alien sighed, bringing his attention back to her. "I was afraid that you'd actually love her. Oh, well. As my mother always says, the only good T'shav is—"
Ronan drew his blaster before the Trioeil could finish. The bolt hit her right in her center eye. She was dead before her corpse even hit the ground. Erica screamed, but Ronan whirled, firing on the three aliens that had just come through the door with their weapons drawn. He ignored his human's cries of shock as he gunned them down.
With one arm he grabbed Erica and slung her over his shoulder. There was no way that these people were taking Erica away from him. He raced back to the portube, keeping an ear out for enemies.
"In," Ronan ordered, gesturing towards the portube.
He followed Erica in, going backward to ward off any attackers. They were just reaching the other side when a couple of Dibats appeared at the Ruizers' end. They fired rapidly. Ronan fired back, roaring with bloodlust.
Erica screamed.
Ronan turned, his heart in his throat. A bolt shot by Erica's ear and he leaped forward, enfolding her in his arms. He spun her around so that he was between the blaster fire and her. Sudden pain lanced through his back. It radiated up his arms and down his legs. He couldn’t breathe. The smell of burning flesh–his burning flesh–filled the room. His gaze focused on Erica's eyes, wide and frightened. Somehow he found the strength to turn once more and put two bolts in the approaching Dibats.
And then darkness overwhelmed him and he collapsed to the floor.