With a startled cry, she sprang to her feet. He jumped up almost as quickly, stepping away from her, and she could have sworn that a look of embarrassment crossed that hard face.
“Not gonna fucking apologize,” he growled. “Not gonna fucking hurt you, either.” He flicked a hand in the direction of the bed. “Get some rest. No one will bother you.”
A second later the door slid closed behind him. Faith was still staring after him with her mouth open when she saw the light on the access panel flash red. He thought he was going to lock her in? Pushing aside the memory of just how good he had felt and the unexpected spark of arousal that still had her nipples hard, she turned to search for her glasses. No one locked Faith in a cabin.
Chapter Four
Athtar stood outside his cabin door and tried to force his arousal under control. What the fuck was wrong with him? He’d never let a woman lead him around by the balls and he wasn’t about to start now. A fucking scholar at that. Not that that had mattered when she had been crying in his arms. All he’d wanted to do was smash the fuck out of anyone who had ever caused her pain. Then when she had nestled against him, all warm, soft woman, his body had reacted with an intensity that he hadn’t experienced since those early days when he’d just won a fight and adrenaline and lust had turned him into an animal.
He took a deep breath, but that only brought her lingering sweetness closer. With a muffled curse, he set the lock on his door. She was still a fucking scholar and while every part of him insisted her distress had been genuine, he wanted some more answers before letting her have free rein on his ship. He stomped off to find Studoc.
As expected, he found Studoc in the engine room, checking to make sure that his assistant, Thynmirr, hadn’t done anything to damage his precious engines while he was gone.
“What the fuck happened on Hothrest?” Athtar demanded.
Studoc slanted an eye at him but kept checking the controls while he talked. “Started off smooth enough. I showed back up, full of praise for how they’d changed my luck. Started hauling out the Foldaran liquor before they wondered why I’d bothered to come back. I started drinking with them and losing credits. Most of them were half unconscious when I snuck out.”
He frowned and turned to face Athtar fully. “Weirdest thing, though. Once I left the dining hall, the lights flickered a few times and went out. I was thanking the stars that the storm was helping out. The generators kicked back on but when I got to the scientist’s quarters, the lock wasn’t working. Just slipped right in and waited for one of them to come out.”
“What about the woman?” Athtar demanded impatiently.
“I found her on the ship once I was on autopilot. Went to wash the stink of booze off of me and caught her scent as soon as I did. Damn, have you noticed how good she smells? Like warm pussy on a cold—”
Athtar had Studoc up against the wall before he finished his sentence. “You don’t fucking smell her. You don’t even fucking think about how she smells. And you sure as fuck never mention her pussy again. Are we clear?”
“Yes, sir.” Studoc said quietly. “You know I didn’t mean any harm.”
Fuck. The woman had him tied in fucking knots. He dropped Studoc and stepped back. He should probably apologize but he’d meant every fucking word.
“You all right, captain?” Studoc was frowning at him.
“Yeah.” He forced himself to return to the subject. “You believe her? That she didn’t know what they were doing?”
“Yes, I do.” Studoc was still watching him cautiously. “You don’t?”
“You know how I feel about fucking scholars.”
“I do. But they’re not all ruthless bastards. Don’t throw me up against the wall again, but would your mother ever have gone along with a project like that?” Studoc and Grabon were the only two members of his crew who knew that Athtar’s mother was a highly respected Elginar scholar.
“No, you’re right. Of course she wouldn’t.” He tugged on one of his braids. “But let’s go talk to that other fucking scientist and make sure.”
The Elginar scientist was fastened to the bunk in their small brig but he was awake and glaring. Even from his restrained position, he managed to look down his nose at Athtar. “Release me at once, verka.”
Athtar was used to the derogatory term but it didn’t stop him from casually backhanding the man and sending his head flying back against the wall. Fortunately for his plans to question him, it didn’t knock the scientist out. Blood trickled from his mouth as he glared at Athtar.
“What do you think you’re doing? The Elginar Council—”
“Can suck my big blue balls. Now shut the fuck up and listen. You’re on your way to the emperor. He wants to have a little talk with you.”
That penetrated. The man paled and stopped trying to speak.
“We know all about your fucking project. However, I didn’t realize that you weren’t fucking intelligent enough to accomplish your mission without help from some backwater planet.”
The insult to his intelligence made the scientist’s eyes flash. “That’s not true. I told Skevyk that we didn’t need her. I told him he just needed to be patient.”
“Her? You mean the human you kidnapped?”
“How do you know about the human anyway?” He directed his glare at Studoc. “I suppose your little traitor heard the guards talking. She got lucky, that’s all. I can’t believe that Skevyk thought that a human, a mongrel from some primitive planet would succeed where we had failed.”
“But she did succeed,” Athtar pointed out, enjoying both the man’s anger and a completely unexpected feeling of pride in his little human.
“Worthless bitch. She thought she was so smart, but she was too stupid to even know what we were really doing. I told Skevyk all she was really good for was fucking—”
This time his backhand wasn’t so casual, and the man’s head hit the wall with a crack. He collapsed silently.
“Is he dead?” Athtar asked, not particularly concerned, when Studoc stepped forward to check on the man.
“No. And he should stay not dead. I’m not making a third trip back to that hell-hole.”
“You will if I fucking tell you to go.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Studoc’s grin reappeared for the first time since their encounter in the engine room. “So what are you going to do about your woman now?”
“Fuck if I know.” He sighed. “Take her to Rast and Deb on Sherae, I reckon.” His friend Rast had recently mated a human and they lived on a beautiful, peaceful planet where she would be quite safe. The idea of taking Faith there did not sit well with him for reasons that he preferred not to think about, but where else could he take a helpless little female.
“You are not going to take me anywhere, Captain Athtar, except back to the lab,” a low furious voice hissed. He turned to find Faith standing behind them, a blaster held precariously in one hand.
“What the fuck are you doing here? Who let you out?”
“I let myself out.” She waved the blaster, and both he and Studoc flinched.
“You do know what will happen if that goes off and penetrates the fucking hull, don’t you?”
Faith looked at the weapon in her hand and paled. “Yes, of course. I was too mad to think clearly.” She glared at him and damn if his dick didn’t respond to her defiance.
“Hand it over,” he ordered. She hesitated, and he saw her hand tremble. Gods dammit, she was afraid. “Please,” he added softly. He felt rather than saw Studoc’s astonishment.
“Oh, very well,” she muttered, and started to hand it to him, barrel first.
“Woman, never point a weapon at someone unless you intend to shoot him,” he said, quickly taking the gun away.
“Maybe I meant to shoot,” she said defiantly.
“Did you?”
She couldn’t hold his eyes and her chin dropped. “No.”
“How did you get out of my fucking cabin?”
“Oh, please.” Som
e of her defiance came back. “I could hack an electronic lock before I was five years old.”
He had the uncomfortable feeling she wasn’t exaggerating, but before he could respond, she looked past him to the unconscious man on the bed.
“What happened to Zartan? He’s bleeding.”
He remembered the man’s implication. “Did he ever fucking touch you?”
“Touch me? All the time,” she said bitterly, and rage roared through him so quickly his vision paled. Fuck the emperor, the man was going to die.
“I’ll kill the scum-sucking son-of-a-whore,” he promised.
“Um, thank you?” A fascinating wave of pink covered her face before she shook her head. “But Studoc said you were taking him to the emperor. Which I guess makes sense now that I know what was really happening at the lab.”
“He fucking hurt you. He’s not going to live long enough for that.”
“Hurt me? Oh, I see. You think he… raped me?” She stepped forward and put her hand on his arm. His anger started to die down at the feel of those long, pale fingers. She looked up at him, eyes earnest behind her glasses. “He tried a few times, but he never succeeded. You don’t need to kill him because of that. He’ll get what’s coming to him.”
“All this talk of killing is making me hungry,” Studoc interrupted.
“You’re always hungry,” she said, and grinned at Studoc. “How many times did you eat in one shift? Five?”
“Are you hungry, Faith?” Athtar interrupted. He didn’t like the easy banter between Studoc and his woman. Deliberately placing himself between them, he took her arm to lead her out of the brig. She looked down at his hand on her arm, but she didn’t protest and she didn’t pull away.
Chapter Five
They were halfway to the crew lounge, Faith still tucked under his arm, when Precious came bouncing up. His pup had watched the first half of his training session with Grabon, her eyes following every move, before she got bored and made herself a nest in a pile of towels. Now, she’d recovered from her nap and was ready to play. She stopped short at the sight of Faith and her feet slid out from under her. When the pup yelped, Faith immediately abandoned him and raced forward.
“Oh, you poor little thing. Are you all right?”
Damn if his pet didn’t seem to be a magnet for women. He felt an unexpected pang of jealousy at the way Faith was stroking Precious’s head and a not so unexpected pang of lust as the sight of her ass straining the fabric of her jumpsuit as she bent over the pup. For a woman with her straight build, she had an unexpectedly lush and delicious ass. His cock quivered and he forced it back down.
“She’s heavier than she looks,” he warned, as Faith picked up Precious.
“I’ve got her,” she assured him, and immediately slipped when she went to turn around. He swore and jumped forward in time to keep her from going down. She gasped and gave him a rueful smile, her eyes sparkling behind her glasses.
“Fuck, woman. You’re more dangerous to yourself than you are to the rest of the galaxy.”
The light that had brightened her face disappeared and he could have kicked himself for being a thoughtless bastard.
“Fuck, I…”
“You’re right. I am dangerous,” she said sadly, her pretty mouth curving down. He had a sudden urge to kiss the sorrow away. Fuck, he was losing his mind. Usually his only interest in a woman’s mouth was seeing it wrapped around his cock.
“Get the fuck over it,” he growled, unable to think of anything comforting to say. To his relief, her damn chin came up, sorrow replaced by defiance. He still wanted to kiss her, but now he wanted to do it while he was fucking the resistance out of her.
Precious bleated, the odd little noise her way of letting him know she was hungry, and Faith jumped. “What was that?”
“She’s fucking hungry. Can we go now?”
“I guess I expected her to bark, but she’s really nothing like an Earth dog. What is she?” To his relief, she started walking again as she talked. He kept his hand on her arm—just to make sure she didn’t fall down, he told himself.
“Precious is a Pardorian war beast.”
“A war beast?” she asked doubtfully, looking down at the pup flopped over her arm.
“She’s just a fucking baby. What do you expect?”
“I’m not trying to insult her. She’s just so sweet.”
He thought about telling her about the violent history of Pardorian war beasts but decided against it. It wasn’t like Faith was going to be around long enough to see that side of his pet. He was still frowning at that thought when they reached the crew lounge and he bit back a groan. His entire crew was there. Apparently, Studoc had slipped away behind him and told everyone where they were headed. He glared at the bastard but Studoc just shrugged and grinned.
“Faith, this degenerate lot is my fucking crew.”
Faith looked around at the room full of aliens and tried not to panic. During her time at the lab, she had only encountered three types of aliens. In addition to the Elginar, there were some red-skinned aliens with small black horns that bore a startling resemblance to traditional images of the devil. A few of them were scientists, but the majority of them were assigned as supervisors for the guards. The guards were the third kind—huge aliens covered with long white fur and equipped with massive black claws and fangs, they had intimidated her at first. Over the years she had discovered that they were nowhere near as vicious as the Elginar. Squad Leader Njkall in particular had been very kind to her, escorting her back to her quarters when he discovered her snooping around, but never reporting her or trying to get her in trouble.
This group was a lot more varied. There was an enormous grey-skinned male with… wings? who resembled a statue of a gargoyle. He was the most intimidating, but there was also a tall and very alien looking woman with a wedge-shaped head crowned by an odd looking crest, her skin comprised of fine black scales. Compared to those two, a green-skinned woman who resembled a wood elf and a blue-furred man who bore a startling resemblance to a muppet, seemed quite common.
“Um. Hello? I’m Faith. I’m a human from a planet called Earth and I was kidnapped eight years ago by those bastard Elginar, pardon my French, and I promise I didn’t know what they were doing.” Oh God, she was babbling. Social interaction was so not her thing.
“We know what humans are,” the green-skinned woman said calmly.
“Oh, yes, that’s right. Studoc told me. I’m sorry.” She could feel the color heating her cheeks.
“There is no need to apologize. My name is Ultana.”
“Of course, she doesn’t need to fucking apologize. Why the hell are you all here anyway?” Athtar snapped.
“Are we no longer allowed to eat?” Ultana asked, raising an eyebrow.
“That’s not what I fucking meant and you know it.”
“I told everyone I would cook,” Studoc announced. “Can I help it if everyone loves my cooking?” There was a collective groan, but he grinned. “You know it’s true. Athtar and I are the only ones who can manage anything other than replicator meals.”
“You cook?” She looked up at Athtar in astonishment. He was just so big and masculine that she would never have expected him to do anything domestic.
“I like to eat,” he said, grinning down at her. The smile transformed his face from hard and intimidating to something so attractive that her nipples actually tingled in response. His eyes heated as if he could sense her arousal, the pale blue turning almost white. She was still staring up at him, caught in the moment, when a new voice spoke up.
“I am quite capable of cooking.” It was the black-scaled woman, her voice low and pleasant. Everyone else in the room groaned.
“You may be able to cook, Kanithe,” Studoc said frankly. “But no one is going near those weird little messes of yours.”
Kanithe shrugged, and Faith noticed for the first time that she had a sharp looking spur extending from the back of each elbow. That was… different.
>
“I liked the Bargan blood worms,” the gargoyle said.
“I don’t consider you much better, Grabon,” Studoc said grimacing. “Blood worms.” He shuddered.
Conversation in the room resumed, everyone competing to tell horror stories about what Kanithe considered edible. Faith relaxed as the attention moved away from her and looked up to find Athtar watching her. The lingering arousal was still there but she only raised her chin at him. He focused on it, then caught it between his thumb and finger.
“If you knew what it did to me every time you raise your fucking chin, you wouldn’t be so quick to challenge me,” he growled in a low, husky voice. Her mouth dropped open, but before she could respond, he was leading her over to the table that ran down the center of the room. To one side of the table was the kitchen area where Studoc was working. On the other side was a collection of worn but comfortable looking furniture.
Athtar ushered her gently into a seat, then reached down to take Precious. As he did, the back of his fingers brushed against her breast and they both froze. His fingers flexed, and for a minute she had the sudden, crazy desire for him to turn them over and cup her breast with that enormous hand. Instead, he only picked up Precious, although his fingers seemed to linger as he slowly drew the puppy away.
“Precious doesn’t sit at the fucking table,” he growled.
There was another collective groan from the crew.
“You had her up on your lap this morning, Captain,” Ultana pointed out.
Athtar scowled at her. “She wasn’t feeling well.”
“You had her up there last night as well,” Grabon said.
“Fuck all of you.” Athtar glared at them. “I decide where she fucking eats.”
“Maybe you should stop deciding and just feed her.” Faith couldn’t resist pointing out as Precious made that odd little sound again.
Faith and the Fighter Page 3