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“You will never be chattel again,” he assured her, puzzled by her defiance when she ought to have been grateful. He hissed loudly to his team in a language the translator implanted in her brain could not translate. He knew word would spread throughout the warship’s crew and all would respect it. He had claimed this female and would kill any male who didn’t respect that claim.
However the human female hadn’t finished challenging him yet, as though she was certain she was safe with him. “Then I can leave whenever I want?”
His intelligent gaze swept over the filthy rags she wore, her dirty, matted hair, and gaunt, equally filthy body. He held out his hand. “Let’s restore your health first. Images from visual records show you as much diminished.”
“Yeah, no shit,” Lou muttered, thinking she wouldn’t wish on anyone what little food she’d been able to find and eat. “I’ve survived on what I could scavenge from kitchen waste and, let me tell you, what these bugs eat is absolute shit.”
“You are resourceful, pretty spark.”
“Did you just call me sparky?”
The huge Ahn’hudi warrior tilted his head in confusion. “What is ‘sparky?’”
Lou sighed and capitulated. Settling her palm in his, she said, “Never mind.”
The big Ahn’hudi warrior drew her to her feet and toward him. His other arm swept out and scooped her up so she was cradled against his broad chest. He stepped from the shuttle and began barking orders at his crew. They snapped into formation around him, protecting him and his precious burden as they marched to the Ahn’hudi warship.
“Where are you taking me?” Lou asked, catching a glimpse of what looked to be another cluster of traumatized slaves being led down a metal-framed corridor.
“My quarters,” he replied. “Medical bay will be overrun treating refugees and removing the mind control chips implanted into their brains. You do not need such a procedure.”
Lou sighed and shook her head. “Thank God. I managed to escape before they could dothatto me.” She paused, then said, “Yourquarters?”
“You will be safe there. You may use the facilities to sanitize your flesh. I will provide you with a clean garment to wear and bring you nourishing food to eat.”
She squirmed within his hold. “If you have guest quarters—”
“This is a warship. We do not have guest quarters.”
“Oh.”
“There is no safer place for you on board this ship,” Yas’kihn said. He refrained from saying that not a single warrior under his command would dare touch what he had claimed.
Lou prided herself on being practical when circumstances allowed no better options. She’d lived in such circumstances for too long. She sighed her capitulation and said, “All right.”
Besides, a hot shower, a hot meal, and clean clothes sounded like heaven.
Chapter2
Yas’kihn could not understand why the woman lingered so long in the sanitizer, but he waited with all the patience he could muster. When he had just about reached the point of barging into the sanitizing chamber to assure himself the woman had not collapsed or succumbed to injury, she emerged from the unit with her skin gleaming and fresh and her hair shorn down to a thin layer of soft stubble hugging her skull. She ran a hand over her scalp and looked bashful.
“It was just too matted,” she explained. “There was no way I could untangle it, so I cut it off.”
Yas’kihn held out a shirt and said nothing, struck by the bold bone structure of her face. Her full lips and large eyes were made all the more striking when not overpowered by a thick, matted mop of black hair. “Here, you may wear this until we return to Ahn’hudin.”
She took the shirt from his hand, her other hand clasping the drying cloth wrapped around her body. “Thank you.”
“Our supplies will be stretched thin,” he explained, “due to the many refugees on board the ship.”
She nodded. “That makes sense. I’m just grateful to have been liberated.” She glanced around his quarters, generous compared to those occupied by the rank and file, but still small for a massive beast like the general superior. “Do you have a loveseat or small sofa I can sleep on?”
He gestured toward the bed. “You may sleep there.”
She shook her head. “I couldn’t take your bed from you.”
“You won’t.”
I should have knownthatwould be the price of liberation.Louella pursed her lips and frowned. “I’m not sleeping with you.”
