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“But cap—”
“No,” I replied, firmly silencing his ridiculous claims. “She is not even Vyessan.”
“It’s not unheard of to mate outside our species. My brother has claimed a Vygot.”
I grimaced as he spoke the word.Mate.No. I would not speak it into existence. Denial and I were very well acquainted. “Do not speak of this again.”
Lyv chuckled in disbelief. “Suit yourself but it is wrong to give them false hope. The Loyobv will sooner auction them off then return them to their home planet.”
My stomach churned at the thought but as I said, I was very much entrenched in my denial. “If they knew the truth they’d panic and become more a nuisance on my ship.”
“That you plan to sell them to the highest bidder?” Lyv growled, fists at his side. But he would not dare raise them to me. Lyv was a larger male, wider and carried more muscle mass, but I was more skilled when we sparred, tall and fast. It never took long to have him flat on his back.
“I’m not so greedy,” I murmured absently, settling at my desk and pulling up the star charts. Now that I’d decided we would not be anchoring in Jufv tomorrow eve, I would need to update the crew. A little detour to Lyessa ought to settle their disgruntlement over a delayed payment. For most of them, they had not experienced the comfort of a female touch in many moons. “I’d settle if we could unload them quickly.”
Lyv leaned tight fists against the surface of my desk. “If you want them gone so badly, why the change in itinerary?” He glared as I finished charting our new course.
Swallowing thickly, I found I could not meet his eyes. “I’ve decided the crew has earned a reprieve before we hit the auctions. One would think you would be happy with this change.”
Lyv scoffed. “Of course I want to visit Lyessa.” He stood tall, glowering. “The female is your mate. The sooner you accept it, the less damage you will do before she will be willing to acceptyou.”
And with that, my old friend stomped out of my cabin, slamming the door behind him.
I grimaced, scrubbing the stress away from face. “And yet, I am so very accustomed to making my life difficult…” I was too world weary to change my ways now.
Chapter10
LAYLA
Life on a ship was not all it was cracked up to be. Seasickness, for one, was a real thing and though it didn’t affect me all that much, Albert was getting his asskicked. For the first solid day onboard, he couldn’t even get out of the bed he was so messed up, puking his guts up all day long. He couldn’t even keep fresh water down.
Esther, to her credit, was the quintessential nursemaid. All she needed was a sexy outfit and Albert would be set. When it was time for a sponge bath, I hightailed it out of there so fast I barreled right into a male outside our door.
At first, I thought it had been Lyv. He hadn’t really left our side since the night before. Not afterArysdisappeared. It might have been because of how freaked out I was about the creepy way he’d been watching me and truthfully, yeah, I was still creeped out. Not in aI think you’re going to skin me alive and grind up my boneskind of way. More of a—why does he have to be so hot for a stalker alien? —way. But also, yeah, don’t creep on me while I’m sleeping.
Anyway…all this to say, I was a little surprised when it wasn’t Lyv outside our door. And I hadn’t run into the captain either. It was a male that seemed vaguely familiar. He wore a scowl on his face and instantly gave me the heebie-jeebies. Now ifthis guyhad been the one standing over my bedside while I slept, I would be totally creeped the fuck out in ait puts the lotion on its skinkind of way. Totally.
I instantly took a giant leap back and out of his personal space. The fucker invaded it now and every alert system I had as a female shouted a bright red warning signal. DANGER.
“What are you doing outside of your room?” He demanded in a very heavily accented voice. Arys could speak English pretty good. Lyv struggled a bit but only in that he’d said it had been a while since he had spoken it. This guy really,reallystruggled. So much so I stared at him for a prolonged and awkward moment while my brain dissected his question.
“Uh, what?” I asked, sort of understanding but also not. “Why can’t I leave my room?”
The male just glared at me. This one clearly had an anger problem. “Return to it.”
I scoffed, a little surprised by the balls on this guy. “No, thank you.”
I tried to walk past him, but he moved like he was going to grab for me and well, I hadn’t quite had enough time to adjust to the fact that we were stranded on an alien planet with actualaliens. So, when said alien tried to touch me in a way that wasnot welcome, I reacted.
Screaming like a banshee, I karate chopped the air, warning him away. At that moment, the door behind me swung open and just like a knight in shining armor, a sickly-looking Albert jumped in front of me, weak fists raised in my defense.
The alien scowled at the two of us, puffing his chest up. “Return to your room, immediately.”
“What’s he saying?” Esther asked from the room. “Red your roor imeeesisilly?”
I did not want to laugh. It was outright inappropriate when this guy actually seemed quite threatening, but Esther was not wrong. The guy sucked at annunciation. He should probably stick to his own language.
“My man knows Tai Kwon Dodo!” Esther shouted from the room. “He’ll kick your big blue ass!”
