by Viola Grace
Nitska frowned. “I don’t understand.”
While she ate, Sil explained why she was dressed up like a high-class space hooker. Nitska looked appalled.
“So, when he goes into rut, he is looking for someone like you.”
“More or less. Yes. What he is really looking for is a woman like me who is receptive at the time.” She finished her meal and blinked when someone took her tray away. “Um, what is going on?”
Nitska sniggered. “The reports from the dinner last night have spread through the ship. Everyone is delighted to see the captain in such a good mood.”
“Most men are when they get laid.”
“It isn’t that. There is a relief in his bearing that wasn’t there before. He also looks stronger and more powerful, all at the same time. Morale is up. Now, as for that question I had...”
“What would you like to know?”
Nitska leaned in to whisper, “How does it feel to have the hydenak response?”
Sil blinked. “You heard about that?”
“The whole ship has. So, what is it like?”
“Um, it is different every time. Sometimes, it is like being lifted by a wave; other times, it is like falling while you are on fire. Other times, you are in it together, and sometimes, someone is controlling the other.”
Nitska blinked. “Do you like it?”
“Most of the time. So, wait. The whole ship?”
Nitska finished her tea. “Yes. Gossip is fast around here. There is also the rumour that Kalek could trigger it with the touch of his hand, which makes the ladies who wanted to be in his bed even more desperate.”
Sil chuckled. “From what I have been told, that is a very bad idea. You know that he passively feeds from the people around him, right?”
“Of course.”
“Well, at close and intimate quarters, he draws a lot into him from his lover. If you don’t have the right frequency and physiology, I imagine that it could be very damaging.”
Nitska blinked. “I don’t think they thought that through.”
“Probably not. Folks can get silly when they have a reliable source of sex around.”
Nitska grinned. “You too?”
Sil shrugged. “He’s careful until I ask him not to be.”
She felt something approaching and wasn’t surprised when Kalek arrived and walked up to her. “I didn’t want to chance you arriving late.”
She got to her feet and pulled him down for a kiss. The dining hall grew silent around them as the kiss became intense. When she pulled away, his eyes were glowing. “When I see you, right?”
He chuckled. “I think I have just created a dangerous distraction.”
He offered his arm, and she took it and murmured, “Don’t worry, I have your back.”
She waved to the blushing Nitska, and the rest of the dining room was still staring. They walked out, and as they cleared the door, hooting broke out.
Kalek grinned and said, “We have given them something to talk about.”
“Oh, you have no idea.”
He laughed. “Of course, I do. That is what last night was all about.”
“Wait, which part of last night?”
His eyes gleamed. “We will discuss the finer points later. There are several I would like to improve on.”
She exhaled as she realized that bantering with him was dangerous. She was already firmly in the trap.
Chapter Eleven
Standing at Kalek’s side, holding his arm instead of his hand, she met the second Hmrain in her lifetime. She had a funny feeling that it wouldn’t be the last.
The male in question was a pale green with gold stripes and huge dragonfly wings folded down at his back. His hair was a darker green, and his eyes were black. His features were finely chiselled, but she didn’t consider him as handsome as Kalek. He didn’t have silky soft feathers.
Jornal’s gaze fixed on her the moment that he left his ship with his entourage. It wasn’t just a hungry expression; it was like he was starving, and she was the only food within sight.
“So, he’s in rut.” She murmured it softly, and Kalek looked down at her.
“How do you know?”
“He looks at me like I am dessert and the meal just started.”
Jornal came to them, and he smiled at Kalek, extending his arm to him. “Greetings, brother.”
Kalek clasped forearm to forearm, and he smiled, “Welcome to my ship, brother.”
When they had finished their greeting, Jornal stepped back. “So, this is a Terran?”
She grimaced. “Yes. This is a Terran.”
He leaned back and chuckled. “More spirit than I would imagine coming out of a dying world. I thought you would be desperate to earn your place.”
“I have already earned my place, been registered, and have sent a scathing letter to the education station for their allowing us to be removed from protective custody, to begin with.”
Jornal smirked. “How have you earned your place?”
She continued, and Kalek didn’t stop her when she cocked her head and said, “I have become the intimate companion of Captain Kalek, I participate in fulfilling his needs as fully as he requests, and a few times that he isn’t expecting it. He provides me with calm, and I love the feel of his body against mine. And his wings. I absolutely love the feathers on his wings.”
Jornal blinked and looked at Kalek ruefully. “You knew she felt this way, and you met with me anyway?”
“If I knew she felt that way, we would be back in my quarters, and she would be against the wall again or perhaps over the table.” She shivered slightly, and he looked down at her with a slow smile.
“Come on, show me this famous oxygen farm that I have heard so much about. I think it is about time for you to have a bit of a competitor in the air.”
Kalek smiled, and they walked through the ship to the main floor of the oxygen farm. Jornal took flight, his wings humming as they carried him up. Kalek kissed her hand before his wings beat heavily and carried him up and away.
She smiled as she watched him fly, and it was only when she heard the hiss and felt the cold at her waist that she remembered the guards that Jornal had brought with him. The world grew dark, and her heart beat faster until the rage filled her completely, and she passed out.
The ship rocked under her, and she looked at the interior of the shuttle with only the four men that had kidnapped her. She looked for weapons and found additional injectors. She found three.
Sil crept quietly from the med bed she had been on and caught a glimpse of the warship on the readouts. Nonononono.
She hit the first two with the injector, and then, she ducked and jabbed the third when he came at her. He grabbed her, but he went down.
The pilot turned and said, “What do you think you are doing, Terran? Jornal needs you, and we will deliver you to our ship. Once he gets what he needs from you, he might return you to Kalek, or he might pass you along to the next Hmrain. I hear your kind is expensive.”
She didn’t think. She punched him, and his nose exploded in blood. He backhanded her, and she fell. She kicked at his legs, and when he went down, she kicked him in the jaw, and he passed out.
She closed her eyes and remembered what she could from the shuttle flight from Earth to the station.
She sat at the controls and carefully started pushing buttons. The engines went offline, but she was still soaring toward the warship.
She pushed a few more buttons, and the ship spun in a circle. When she saw Kalek’s ship, she mentally cheered, but she kept rotating because she had no idea what she was doing.
* * * *
Kalek noticed that the guards were gone, and so was Silhouette. He growled at Jornal and flew past him and through the halls. At the shuttle bay, he noted that instead of the single large shuttle, a smaller one had been hidden behind it. His crew at the bay were found tied up and sedated.
Jornal
followed him. “What is it?”
Kalek snarled and pinned him against the bulkhead. “Silhouette is gone. Your men took her.”
“I didn’t tell them to. They must have thought she would help me.”
“Call them back!”
Jornal winced. “I will order them to return her once they arrive at the warship. They are running without coms.”
Kalek grabbed his brother and hauled him to the control centre. “Tell your warship to send her back.”
He watched the shuttle on the sensors, and then, something strange happened. They lost forward momentum and suddenly spiralled in a circle. They paused, shot forward, and spiralled again.
Jornal sent out the message, and while he was doing that, Kalek sent out the grappler team.
Kalek waited and watched as the shuttle engaged in a number of erratic motions. He smiled slowly.
“What is going on? What is the pilot doing?”
Kalek smiled as he watched the grapplers approaching the shuttle. “I believe that Silhouette has gained control of the shuttle. Unfortunately, she doesn’t know how to fly one.”
“There are four Skarth men in that shuttle.” Jornal watched as the grapplers locked onto the spinning shuttle.
It had gone into a corkscrew flight back toward Kalek’s vessel. The grapplers steadied it, and then, the shuttle was being carried in via the single rider pods.
Kalek’s wings opened and closed as he headed to the shuttle bay and waited behind the pressure screens as the small ship was brought in and landed in the secure area. His crew was about to force the opening of the vessel when it opened, and Silhouette staggered out, covered with her own crimson blood and a lot of Skarth purple.
Kalek was about to take her in his arms and soothe her, but she saw something behind him.
The scream from her throat was astonishing and full of rage. Jornal was not expecting the blow to the abdomen that knocked the wind out of him, and the right hook that followed up was a definite surprise. He went to one knee, and Silhouette folded her hands together and slammed them across his face. Jornal fell and looked at her in shock.
Kalek spoke as she raised her hands again. “Silhouette, enough. Let me take you to medical.”
* * * *
Kalek’s voice was calm, and the brush of his wing against her cheek drained her rage. She turned toward him, and he caught her as the adrenaline wore off and she lost power.
Kalek picked her up, and he looked at Jornal staring at his slight burden. “I believe you owe me an explanation.”
Jornal nodded. “Will my men be tended to?”
“They will.”
Kalek walked the hall with her in his arms, and she started squirming when they were near their destination. “Silhouette, what is wrong?”
“I am getting you dirty.”
He snorted. “Blood washes out.”
Dlafen was there when they arrived, and he touched her and gave her a concerned look. “Her emotions are shattered. What happened to her?”
Kalek turned, and Jornal walked in. “His men abducted her.”
Silhouette grumbled. “Knocked me out. So, I did the same, but I don’t know how to use the dial thingy.”
Dlafen blinked. “Right. We are going to get her in a solar shower first, and then, we can see what we are dealing with.”
Silhouette mumbled. “My legs are kind of floppy.”
“Okay. We will take a blood sample and see what they dosed you with, and then, we will get to work on the bruising.”
She nodded, and Kalek helped her through the next few steps until she was on a med bed, and they gave her an injection to help metabolize the sedative.
The moment that the aggressive mania faded, the close call, the fear, and the memories rushed back. She started to cry with big fat tears and soon turned away from the medics and curled into a ball while her mind connected the past with the present. She had nearly been lost forever.
* * * *
Kalek looked at the men that she had nearly killed with a full dose of a sedative. The one who had been beaten was the only one she had fought. He was Kalek’s concern.
Jornal frowned. “I cannot apologize enough. They tried to take her for my benefit.”
Kalek looked over to Silhouette, and he walked quickly when the medics started to speak to each other in concern. When he saw her, his heart rose in his throat. She was bruised, but it was the emotion in her eyes that was terrifying. He had never seen true panic in her gaze until this moment.
He pulled one of his feathers and stroked it along her cheek. When she blinked and returned to herself, he picked her up and held her. He spoke calmly. “What happened?”
Silhouette whispered in his ear, and the more she whispered, the harder it was to hold in his fury.
Jornal frowned. “What is wrong with her?”
“Well, aside from an incident in her youth on Terra where she was drugged and woke with men who meant her harm, and this being horribly similar... the man she fought explained the plan for you to use her until your rut was over and then sell her to the next Hmrain, and again and again.”
Jornal blushed. “It was bravado back on the ship. I am frustrated, but after speaking with her, I never would have tried anything.”
“When she returns to herself, whenever that happens, I am going to need your apology and the head of the man who hit her.”
She muttered. “He hit me back.”
Kalek chuckled. “Oh, so you got the first hit in?”
“His nose. Kapoof.” She sighed and leaned against him.
“Excellent.”
“My face hurts.”
“Then you need to let the med team work on you.”
“Hold my hand?” She looked at him with sleepy eyes. “Oh. Wait.”
Silhouette put a hand around his neck and pulled herself into him, kissing him softly. “Hello.”
He smiled as she slowly fell into sleep. “Hello. Glad you’re back.”
Jornal blinked. “She was almost insane, and then, she settled into normal brainwaves. How did you do that?”
“I didn’t do anything. She did it. She pulled herself together because she didn’t like the edge.” He held her for a moment and then settled her back on the bed, putting the feather in one hand and holding her left hand with his.
Jornal blinked. “That seems like a lot of maintenance.”
“When you find a companion match that you know is for you, she will know that she is yours as well. They are starting to comb through the untested Terrans now because even a marginal match can give you what you need. Keep an eye on the first colonies and see if you can strike a deal.” He smiled and looked at the figure on the bed who was in a natural sleep as the medics worked on the tissue damage she had received. She hadn’t broken anything, and it made him grin.
“Why are you grinning? She was beaten.”
Kalek looked at his brother. “She didn’t break anything. Even striking you, she tempered her attack and made sure to avoid injury. She gets a light punishment if she damages herself.”
Jornal frowned. “What kind of punishments?”
“Have you heard about tickling?” He smiled and explained the cause and effect.
* * * *
Sil woke up, and she could swear that she heard someone discussing tickling. She smiled slightly and was told to smooth her expression as a medic worked on her face.
She faded in and out of sleep, felt someone carrying her, and then she rested again with feathers around her.
When she woke in Kalek’s arms, she startled for a moment and then turned into him. “Don’t you have something you need to be doing?”
He slid his hands up and down her back. “I would like to be doing you, but you had a trying day yesterday.”
“Yesterday?”
“Yes. Jornal and his men are gone. He is going to be dismissing them from his service and grounding them.”
“We
ll, that is something. The one I talked to was very unpleasant.”
“The three you tranqed will recover. Dlafen is going to teach you how to use medical tools; our dock master is going to show you how to fly a shuttle.”
She drew circles on his chest. “The spinning thing.”
He smiled and kept rubbing her back. “It did let us know that the trained pilot was no longer in charge, so I sent the grapplers out to get you.”
Sil looked up at him and smiled. “And they brought me home.”
He looked at her and pulled her up to kiss him. One thing led to the next, and he rolled to his back and flexed his wings around them in a warm cocoon. She smiled and let his hands guide them both into a delightful celebration of her will to survive. All she had been thinking about was getting to Kalek, getting home.
Chapter Twelve
Korvil was a lovely world, and she could understand why folks flocked here to vacation. The idea of spending weeks travelling for months of vacation was foreign to her, but she didn’t judge. She was too busy travelling to all the cities and meeting the local mayors and dignitaries.
Silhouette was enjoying a day on the beach with her guards, and they made sure that two of them were always with her while the other two could enjoy themselves a few feet away.
Nitska waded out of the sea, and she grinned. “Mistress, you should come into the water.”
“Um, I am not a strong swimmer, and I don’t want to give you any more work when it comes to lifesaving.” She looked down at the clothing that had been selected for her by her stripey roommate. “Besides one solid wave, and I will end up naked.”
The band around her breasts had the support of some fine threads, her bikini bottom was an inch wide at its thickest point, and the sarong that she had on was more of a light shadow than clothing.
The bio monitor cuffs were new and part of Kalek’s program for peace of mind. He wanted to be able to track her anywhere, anytime.