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His friend narrowed his gaze and frowned, jamming his knife into a chunk of meat and pointing it across the room. “The new female on board. Who else?” Then he leaned closer. “She is quite attractive, isn’t she?”
Zaandr hated that his much suaver friend had noticed Tegan—how could he not?—and that he had expressed interest. Again, no surprise there. There was hardly a female who did not interest his best friend. Even on the sand planet where females were limited, Rixx had managed to seduce more than his fair share.
He avoided answering, glad that the chatter in the room made his silence less noticeable. Not that his friend was focused on him. Not with a new female to draw his attention.
Zaandr inhaled the savory scents permeating the room as the crew ate the evening meal together, and felt a pang of homesickness for the Dothvek village. If they were on their homeward, they would be sitting around a crackling fire with the smell of burning wood and sizzling meat making their stomachs growl. As much as he had wanted to journey off his planet, a part of him would never feel that the steel beast of a ship was home.
“We are lucky, don’t you think?”
Zaandr looked at his friend, jerked away from his thoughts of the sand planet. “Why are we lucky?”
“We are the only two unattached Dothveks, and this is a spaceship.” He swiveled his gaze around the steel walls of the low-ceilinged room. “There is little chance for her to meet any other males.”
“You assume she wants a mate.”
Rixx grinned confidently. “Who would not want a strong warrior like us?”
Zaandr should be grateful that his friend included him when they both knew that his success rate with females was dismal. He allowed himself to glance at Tegan, as she swirled a lock of her brown hair around one finger and talked intently with Danica while the ship’s captain bounced her baby on her knee.
It made sense that the ship had procured a midwife to tend to the pregnant females, but Zaandr sensed that Tegan truly had no other motivation to join the crew than to do her job. Despite Rixx’s hopes, it seemed to him that the human had no interest in any of the single Dothveks.
“Don’t even think about it,” Tori said as she stepped in front of Rixx and blocked his line of sight to Tegan. She braced her hands on her hips and jutted out one hip, making it even more difficult for them to see the new crew member.
“Think about what?” Rixx managed to look both innocent and guilty at the same time.
Tori rolled her eyes and then grinned, baring her spiked back teeth. “We brought the midwife on board to assist with all the pregnant women. We did not bring her on board for some horny Dothveks to distract or get knocked up.”
“Knocked up?” Rixx frowned. “We would never hurt a—”
“It means pregnant. Don’t even think of getting our midwife pregnant, got it?”
Rixx’s smug smile faded as Tori gave him an intensely menacing look. “Got it.”
The Zevrian’s stance relaxed. “She isn’t interested in a mate, anyway. It was one of her selling points.”
Zaandr could sense that Rixx didn’t believe that. Rixx didn’t believe that any female was immune from his charms, but he wisely remained silent.
“If you two can promise to behave, I have a job for you.” Tori slid her gaze between them. “A job off the ship.”
This piqued both Dothveks’ interest, and Rixx straightened.
“We need to make a stop on Kurril for supplies. Tegan needs to stock up on her herbs and medicines, and you two will be her bodyguards.”
“Kurril?” Since Zaandr had never ventured off his home world, any planet sounded exotic to him.
Vrax strode up and curled an arm around Tori’s waist. “I have many good memories on Kurril.”
She elbowed him hard in the ribs, but her lips quirked at the corners. “You would only remember the good parts.”
“You should consider it a testament to how much I enjoyed your—”
Tori jabbed her elbow so hard into his stomach that he coughed out a breath and put his hands to his side.
“Ignore Vrax.” Tori cut a severe look to her mate. “Kurril is not a place most enjoy.”
Zaandr and Rixx exchanged a glance.
“Is this because of the fuel leak?” his friend asked.
