by Tamsin Ley
Of course it was the kid. They’d all sworn to protect Joy, but Tovik thought that meant informing her mate of anything that went awry, regardless of the consequences to the larger mission. “I’ll have a talk with him.”
Qaiyaan nodded and moved to the circle of cargo containers they’d pulled over as seats for the meeting. At least no one appeared to be bothering Marlis, possibly because of the pistol at her hip. He had no doubt she’d use it if anyone got too bold.
As if sensing his scrutiny, she turned her head to look over her shoulder at him and their gazes connected like lightning. A slight twitch of her head was all the invitation he needed to stride forward. But a bob of her head indicated he should take a seat on Emmy’s other side.
Uminaq. He wanted to sit next to Marlis, find excuses to brush his shoulder against hers or touch her knee. But he also understood her need to protect her friend from these over-eager louts. Ellam Cua, she had him wrapped around her finger and she didn’t even know it. With one arm, he shoved both men aside and sat next to Emmy.
Chignik and Ekwok ceased arguing and gaped at him.
“What the hell, iluq?” Chignik asked.
Qaiyaan cut short any argument. “Just take a damned seat. Now’s not the time for fraternizing.”
Tovik crossed his arms and glared at Noatak. “Exactly when is a good time, then?”
Noatak glared back.
Chignik took a spot on Marlis’s other side. Jealousy flared inside Noatak’s gut and he narrowed his eyes at the big gunner. Shooting Noatak a grin as wide as a rakwiji bounty hunter’s, Chignik turned his attention toward Marlis. “Hey.”
Marlis barely glanced at him, her focus on Qaiyaan in the center of the ring of containers. “Hey.”
Noatak smirked and turned toward the captain as well.
Emmy leaned close to him. “Are all Denaidan men this… big?”
Glancing down at her, he realized her petite frame was barely half the size of the nearby men. Maybe he should make size a consideration during the next round of interviews. “Yes,” he answered.
Qaiyaan nodded toward Marlis and Emmy. “We’re happy to have you on board. My name’s Qaiyaan. I’m captain of the Hardship. Everyone, take a quick moment to introduce yourself.”
As everyone spoke, Noatak could tell by Marlis’s face she was panicking. He pulled out his polycom. “There’ll be information about the mission. I need to take notes.”
Marlis cast him a grateful glance and pulled out her polycom.
Chignik leaned closer to her. “Chignik, with a C. In case you wondered.”
She shook her head and edged away to enter something into her polycom. Noatak hoped it said ‘asshole’.
Once the introductions were concluded, Qaiyaan asked, “Do I need to catch our newcomers up about the nanites or are they already informed?”
Noatak’s stomach roiled. Once the men knew Marlis was first in line to take the nanites, they’d be all over her. He opened his mouth to speak but Mek beat him to it. “They do. I inoculated Marlis a few hours ago.”
Every Denaidan crew member in the bay focused on Marlis. Noatak sucked in a breath. When had she taken them? And why hadn’t Mek informed him? Because you’re not in the running, terpak.
Ekwok pointed toward Mek while looking at Kashatok. “I told you their crew would take unfair advantage!”
Chignik jumped to his feet, menace rolling off him in waves. “You should’ve waited until we returned.”
Tovik gaped, rising and glaring at Noatak. “How long has she had them?”
Noatak forced himself to remain sitting, although every cell in his body wanted to get up and stake his claim, now. A claim he could never make. His attraction to Marlis was making him want to act like a beast in rut.
“Get your men under control, captain,” Qaiyaan growled at Kashatok.
Kashatok thrust a finger toward Tovik. “Soon as you get control of yours.”
From the corner of his eye, Noatak saw Marlis’s hand slide toward her holster.
Mek had moved into the circle. “Calm down. I just administered the nanites a few hours ago. I had no idea how soon the Kinship would return, and the sample was deteriorating rapidly. I had to act.”
“Why? So you could have her all to yourself?” Chignik stepped within swinging distance of the doctor.
“I’m her doctor.” Mek seemed to swell. “I have no intentions toward Marlis.”
“Put her on our ship, then,” Chignik said. The room churned with testosterone and raw power.
Marlis’s palm reached her weapon. The women were safe, but she wouldn’t understand that; the rest of the crew might go back to their bunks with bruises, but the women would never be harmed.
Leaning across Emmy’s lap, Noatak put a hand on Marlis’s knee, surprised by the tiny shock that raced up his arm. Once more, his ionic senses flared without his volition. Now that he knew she had the nanites, he could detect the subtle change within her, like the scent of freshly fallen rain. Down, boy. His powers were no longer only dangerous to himself; a ping could cause the nanites to react badly. Both Lisa and Joy had experienced blackouts when they’d had them.
“It’s okay,” he said. “Mek’s got this.”
After a moment, she nodded and moved her hand back to her lap, fingers curling and uncurling as if fighting a leash.
A sharp whistle brought everyone to silence. Qaiyaan stood on top of one of the containers, his hands on his hips. “I’m about to throw you three in the brig.” Tovik opened his mouth to argue, but Qaiyaan silenced him with a look. “Yes, you too. Now, let the doctor finish his report.”
It took every ounce of Noatak’s will to turn his attention back to Mek.
The doctor put his hands on his hips. “I’ll be monitoring Marlis closely with the aid of her AI, Twerp.” He turned to Marlis. “Twerp, please say hello.”
“G-greetings.” The chirpy voice on Marlis’s wrist spoke a strange hiccup. “I’m pleased to make your acquaintance.” Marlis had said the thing was sentient, but it was funny to think the AI might be nervous.
Mek continued, “The nanites will be performing some ancillary tasks while replicating. It’s too early to tell how quickly we might be able to collect a new supply.”
Qaiyaan moved to the center of the circle. “Hopefully soon. Marlis may be our only source of nanites for a good long while.”
Tovik groaned. “The lab wasn’t under the mine on Zyrinic Eight?”
“It was until they moved it,” Kashatok said. “The corp’ installed a huge Faraday cage on one of their flagships and appear to be operating from there.”
Lisa added, “They’ve probably moved out of stage two testing. The corp’ always planned to use cyber-sensitive technology in their espionage activities, and a mobile lab opens up territory.”
“We’re better at boarding ships than ground assaults.” Tovik said, glancing at the assembled men. “Shouldn’t this be good news?”
“Only if we can find the ship,” Qaiyaan answered. “The Icarus is equipped with the very latest cloaking technology. The running joke is that not even the corp’ knows where it’s at.”
“I’m working on the Intel, but it’s going to take some time,” Kashatok said. “And it isn’t cheap. We’re going to need to take on some jobs in the meantime. I have a lead on a payload of corp’ computer hardware moving to one of the new manufacturing colonies. The ship’ll be ripe for the picking if we can get our asses in gear in time to intercept.”
Tovik let out a whoop. “New hardware!”
“To sell, Tovik. We’ve got to pay for Intel, remember?” Noatak reminded him. The kid was always disassembling perfectly good equipment to fashion what he called “prototype” technology. Most of it never worked the way he anticipated.
“We can keep a few things, though, right?” Tovik looked hopefully toward Qaiyaan.
Qaiyaan sighed. “We’ll see.” He panned his gaze over the assembled crew. “Now that we’re bringing on new crew members, I expec
t all of you to be on your best behavior. This isn’t some gladiator ring where the winner gets the girl. Understood?”
The men mumbled, and Chignik looked at Qaiyaan from beneath his brows. “It’s not fair to our crew if the girls are both over here. Since Mek needs to keep an eye on the nanites, at least send the other girl to the Kinship.”
“Her name’s Emmy,” Marlis rose, her hand once more on the butt of her pistol. This time, Noatak didn’t stop her. She’d need to prove herself to these men, eventually. Might as well start now.
She shoved a finger in Chignik’s face. “And if all you’re looking for is mates, I suggest you take out an ad with one of the dating agencies. Both Emmy and I are here to join the revolution, not be passed around like blow-up dolls.”
Chignik had the courtesy to flush and lowered his gaze. “I meant no disrespect.”
The rest of the crew laughed at his discomfort, and Qaiyaan nodded, his gaze sliding to Noatak with unspoken approval in his eyes. Ekwok slapped Chignik on the shoulder. “Don’t be an ucuk.”
Marlis went back to her seat, and Qaiyaan spoke once more. “New crew members need to remain here until Mek clears them. Once the Kinship has its own doctor that might change. For now, Kashatok’s crew is welcome to serve rotations over here so everyone can get to know each other. Noatak will set up a work schedule for shift rotation.”
Much as Noatak wanted to refuse the task, he nodded. A rotation was only fair, and he couldn’t have Marlis, anyway. Perhaps the sooner she moved her attention to another male, the better.
Chapter Eleven
Sitting in the confines of the laser turret, Marlis went over the targeting layout for what felt like the hundredth time. Part of her was concerned about stealing a ship full of computer parts, but she kept reminding herself it was a Syndicorp ship, and Syndicorp was the bad guy. At least her memory was clear about that. Acknowledging the truth had rocked her to the core at first, but with her suspicions confirmed, every jumbled memory had clicked into place—if only her short-term memories had followed. But the nanites were going to fix that.
She zeroed in on a cargo container Noatak’d ejected for her to use as target practice and fired. The shot barely nicked the corner, setting the box spinning. Dammit, she was better than this. She’d studied ship-mounted weapons on Syndicorp carriers, freighters, and even practiced for a gunner seat on a small fighter ship. But the Hardship’s systems were antiquated and less automated than she was used to. She couldn’t seem to hold the range ignition order in her head.
“I thought these nanites were supposed to be improving my memory,” she grumbled to herself. For three days they’d been waiting for signs the nanites had become active. She’d hoped to have at least a little memory improvement by now.
Twerp buzzed soothingly against her wrist. “The doctor said the process could take some time, Marlis. I am not yet d-detecting significant neural changes in your biometric data.”
Twerp had developed a strange hiccup since Tovik had recalibrated her. Marlis paused her task and tapped the AI. “Twerp, put a reminder on my calendar to take you back to Tovik for a check.”
“Of course.”
A set of broad shoulders pushed up through the hatch, topped by a head of braided hair. For some reason she kept wanting to call this guy Jake-with-a-J, but knew that wasn’t right. He grinned at her. “Need any help in here?”
Shaking her head, she said, “I got this, thanks.”
“You might appreciate a hand from an expert.” He winked and pulled himself higher into the small turret.
She’d met his kind before, men who thought women couldn’t possibly handle the big guns. Before he could step off the ladder, she swiveled the chair, her knees forcing him to lean backward against the starboard view screen. He laid his hands on her thighs, ostensibly to steady himself, but she didn’t like the way his fingers squeezed, as if he was just itching to cop a feel. Keeping her legs closed so there’d be no mistake, Marlis rammed her knees hard into his abdomen. “I don’t need you in here man-splaining. When I need a hand, I’ll ask, okay?”
“Okay, okay, I get it.” He raised his hands in surrender. She eased up the pressure and his grin returned. “But you need anything, I’m here for you. I like a woman who knows her way around a turret.”
Turning back to the controls, she let out a short breath, keeping a tight hold on her anger as he retreated. Fuck, these guys were hard up. If it wasn’t Tovik, it was this guy, or the other dude with sandy hair. Even the old-timer in the other ship’s engineering bay had winked at her,. She was growing tired of always needing to fend someone off. Everyone but Noatak.
The First Mate seemed to be the one man keeping his distance. It was as if he wanted to give the other men room to move in, which baffled her, especially since she kept catching his eyes on her. Thinking about him now ignited heat low in her pelvis as if his touch there had started a fire that refused to go out. She didn’t even want to think about anyone else’s hands on her.
Twerp let out a long buzz. “You have an appointment with the doctor in half an hour, Marlis.”
Sighing, she shut down the targeting system and climbed out of the turret. Hopefully today there was good news. On the way to find the doc, she spotted Noatak ducking into the weapons locker. She paused and poked her head inside. “Can I talk to you a minute?”
He turned stiffly away from the weapons bench. “What is it?”
She glanced over her shoulder toward the cargo bay where Tovik and the guy from the turret were working on something. Although they weren’t outright looking at her, she could feel their attention, nonetheless. Perhaps it was the nanites. She didn’t care. All she wanted was to clear the air with Noatak, and this was the closest to alone she’d been with him in three days.
She stepped inside the narrow cage and shut the door, knowing it wouldn’t give her any real privacy, but needing to at least pretend they weren’t being watched. “Are you avoiding me?”
He stared at her for several heartbeats before answering. “I’m giving you space.”
“I don’t remember asking for space. At least not from you.”
His posture shifted a fraction. “Is someone treating you badly?”
“Not exactly.” She shrugged. “But the men are driving me crazy trying to get my attention. I know you guys are looking for mates, but I’m not interested. At least…” she licked her lips, suddenly nervous, “not in them. Can you just claim me or something and make them leave me alone?”
He rubbed the back of his neck, eyes filled with what she could only interpret as pain. “I can’t.”
Her breath caught. She hadn’t expected him to say no. “I don’t understand. The other night in the practice ring—”
“That was a mistake. I shouldn’t have taken things that far.” Shoulders stiff, he took one step sideways as if to move around her toward the door. “Give these other men a chance.”
“A mistake?” She intercepted him, one hand against his chest. “Hell, no. I don’t know what’s going on with this ‘fairness’ bullshit, but I’m interested in you. Only you. What do I have to do to make you want me?”
She was close enough to feel the warmth coming off of his body. He let out a shaky breath. “Ellam Cua, Marlis. It’s not that I don’t want you.”
Lifting up on her toes, she brought her face closer to his and looked determinedly into his eyes. “So what’s the problem?”
His breath fanned her cheek, and she could see desire in his gunmetal blue gaze. “If we bond, I’ll most likely leave you a widow.”
She scowled. “You think I’m just going to sit around and let you do all the fighting on your own? Who’s to say I wouldn’t take a bullet first?”
A smirk lifted one side of his mouth. “Feisty little tunrak.” He reached up to brush a strand of loose hair from her cheek, sending sparks of heat straight through her middle. The moment ended too soon as he dropped his hand and cleared his throat. “But I’m not talking about a gunfight. My
ionic heart is on the edge of failure. It’s only a matter of time before it gives out completely. Mating would probably kill me.” His voice grew gravelly over the words, as if admitting the weakness had sapped him of strength. He gave her a weak, half-hearted smile. “And while dying in your arms might be a nice way to go, you deserve more.”
She dropped back to her heels, pulse hammering through her ears. “But you seem perfectly healthy!” More than healthy. He exuded maleness that made her knees wobbly. Twerp had begun buzzing in response to her increased blood pressure. “There has to be a way to fix you!”
“Not that Mek’s aware of.” Sighing, Noatak moved backward, putting space between them. “Give the other terpaks a chance. They’re not too bad once you get to know them.”
“My memory isn’t the greatest, but I’m pretty sure terpak means asshole.” She crossed her arms. “Not a very high recommendation if you ask me.”
A half-smile lifted a corner of his mouth and he shrugged. “You’re right, but I count myself among them.”
The back of her eyes pricked with girly tears and she gritted her teeth to fight them back. She’d been through hell to get this job, started what could be a dangerous procedure to fix her memory, and found a guy who actually appreciated her love of guns. Just when she thought everything was looking up, it all fell apart. Not all of it. She was still getting her brain fixed. Noatak had simply been a cherry on top, making the whole thing complete.
“I’m not willing to give up yet.” She stepped forward until her breasts nearly brushed his chest, all but pinning him against the weapons bench behind him. “My mom always said ‘it ain’t over until the fat lady sings’, and I don’t even hear music yet. The nanites haven’t started replicating, which means Mek has time to find a remedy for your ionic heart.”
His eyes grew dark. “You are one tenacious woman.”
She lifted her chin, her mouth within an inch of his. “I know what I want.”
“Irresistible,” he murmured. His hands met her waist, drawing her in as he leaned down to brush his lips against hers.