Page 7 of Trove’s Purpose

But he couldn’t force his hand to come back up again. He didn’t know if he was just too weak, too stunned to do so, or if some instinctual part of his brain absolutely refused to aim at his-

His…

No, he couldn’t have a mate. This couldn’t be happening.

She was maintaining eye contact with Tanin, watching him calmly as Trove’s mind and body were broken down and remade in an image he couldn’t recognize.

Had there ever been a more enticing face?

Besides the red, her cheeks were also high. Leading down into a cute little chin. She had a red mark as well, deep and rough. It spread over her right forehead, temple, and down her cheek. It kind of clawed a little around her eyes, and he didn’t quite understand it. Was it makeup? Some kind of human mottling? It was lovely, either way. Really bringing out the red in her hair and highlighting the gray in her eyes while also-

A scar.

It was a scar, he realized stupidly, far too late. He was fawning over the beauty of a large scar across her face. The clawing around her eye must be from where she had clenched it tightly shut when whatever hurt her had burned her skin. For that was surely a burn scar. Wide and warped, similar to the burn scars that covered the right arm of Tebros, one of Trove’s other brothers. Scars that once adorned his own skin before they had been healed away.

Someone had burned her face, and quite badly to leave behind such a violent mark on her skin. It was old, very well healed, but it was still obvious. Why had she not gotten rid of it?

Right. Humans didn’t have that technology.

But she wasn’t on her human planet anymore. She was in Coalition space. She worked for someone. Surely, she could afford to have that scar removed.

Not that she wasn’t still beautiful, but it must itch. It must bother her. Even if just for her vanity, she could restore her face to its former state.

All those thoughts ran rampant and wild through his head in the short time it took for her to slowly set the helmet aside and focus back on Tanin. Either time had slowed or his thoughts were rushing so quickly they were moving that fast in his brain.

But none of that mattered, because he had a mate and someone had burned her beautiful face and he had a mate and she had somehow managed to track him down in the middle of nowhere on a lifeless planet and he had a mate!

“You are human,” Tanin said, his voice echoing in Trove’s scrambled brain.

“I am,” Chee nodded, and her voice sounded even more lovely now that it was no longer muffled and filtered through her helmet. “Hyde said that was important for this mission.”

“And why is that?”

“Because your crew has already mated humans.”

Finally, Tanin showed a reaction. His eyes narrowed and his quills began to lift. Not obviously. It was a subtle change, but meaningful. The fact that Tanin and two others in their crew had mated humans was not really a secret, but the choice of sending Chee to talk to them was enough to make him more suspicious. And probably angry. Like this Hyde person must assume they’d have a weakness for human females and so had sent one deliberately.

There was no way he could know that the weakness was much worse than he thought. Because Trove still couldn’t bring his arm up again. He couldn’t aim a weapon at her. Worse, he was now angry at the captain for that subtle shift in his quills. That tiny hint of a threat made him want to defend this unknown female against a male that he held to the highest respect and regard.

No, Hyde could not possibly have known exactly how badly Chee would affect him, but it was a masterful stroke against them.

The subtle changes in Tanin’s expression, luckily, did not go unnoticed by Chee. She once again raised her hands, though not very far, attempting to show her harmlessness.

“Hyde and I don’t mean your crew any harm. Like I said, he has a mission for you. He’s willing to pay you very well to complete it.”

“And what is it that he wants delivered that’s so important he was willing to track us all the way out here and send you to offer us this job?” Tanin asked, voice sharp and cutting.

Chee remained unphased as she said simply, “A cup.”

Tanin blinked once, a wealth of emotion in that one movement. “A cup?”

She nodded. “Yes. A cup. It’s a very old and fancy cup. It’s currently owned by a private collector. He wants you to obtain the cup from her and bring it to him.”

“That rather seems like a job any delivery service could do. What is so different about this cup that he can’t hire a regular delivery company?”

“Well, first, he wants complete discretion. He wants you to obtain the cup and bring it to him without anyone knowing. Not about the cup or about him. He’s a very private person. He is willing to meet you upon completion of this job, but he wants no one else to know he’s hired you, that you know his name, or that you know what you brought him. Your company is known very well for its discretion. That’s what he wants from you.”

Tanin didn’t even flinch, just nodded once. “That’s one reason. What’s the next?”