by Heather Karn
“Hasak!” I lost it. Whether my own rage took over or I acted yet again on instinct, I wasn’t sure, but I raced to the larger man and threw a punch to his face like my life depended on it.
Cartilage cracked and crushed under my fist, blood pouring from his nose. I jumped out of his reach and raced to Hasak to get us both out of here. One attempt at trying to lift him was one attempt too many. He may have been younger and smaller, but he was definitely a heap of too-heavy-to-lift dead weight. But I wasn’t going to leave him.
As a disgruntled Spock chirped in my ear, I lifted my wrist to study the comm unit. Why was I always learning things too late? We needed to stop putting off my training on everything.
Expecting to be smacked to next Tuesday any second, I pressed several buttons. “Can anyone hear me?” I asked and waited. Nothing. Pressing a few more, I asked the same thing. Not one to give up, I continued until the fourth attempt when a voice echoed on the other end as a growl surfaced behind me and my voice warbled.
“Cammie?” Maltak spoke, concern in his voice. It wasn’t Ki, but Maltak was just as good.
“There’s a man attacking me. Hasak tried to help, but he was thrown and unconscious. Send help.”
“Where are you?”
“Umm.” I was just beginning to search for any clue as to my location when I was lifted off the ground by the other arm. Now both would be sporting bruises. Hissing in pain, I tried to focus.
“This is an outrage,” the man holding me seethed, his whiskers trembling with his fury.
“Cammie,” Maltak yelled over my comm unit. “Where are you? Look for a corridor number. They’ll be near the top of the wall in yellow.”
My eyes searched the limited area I could see. Nothing. My attacker prepared to throw me, and I braced for impact.
“Corridor 71,” Hasak whined, his chest rising and falling rapidly.
His words caught the man holding me off guard. I kicked out, my foot colliding with his abdomen just below his ribs. A gust of air was forced from his lungs and he lost his grip on me as I fought. Either he was the worst fighter ever, or he really wasn’t expecting me to fight back. It was probably the latter.
Rushing to Hasak’s side again, I relayed the information to Maltak. “A security squad is on the way,” he assured me.
“If they aren’t here in like thirty seconds it isn’t going to matter,” I warned the second in command as the large Lutharian rounded on me with such vengeance in his eyes that I almost wet myself.
“Cammie, run,” Maltak ordered, desperation in his voice rising.
“Not without Hasak.” I lifted Spock from my shoulder and set him in Hasak’s lap. “Guard him,” I ordered the drits, who squawked with indignation as I tightened my fisted hands and stood, ready to meet the next attack.
Footsteps pounded up the corridor seconds before a security team rounded the corner several turnoffs back. The man in the lead spotted us and turned his team toward us as my attacker stalked forward. I lifted my hands, prepared to meet him.
“Captain Hilgal, stop!” Galdro shouted, closing the distance between us as fast as his legs could carry him. “That’s a female.”
The new captain halted, gaze whipping down the hallway toward Galdro and his approaching team. “A female? What do you have a female aboard this ship for?”
“You’ll have to talk to Captain Kilani about that.” Galdro slowed to a halt, but Hilgal was still between him and me. “Cammie, are you all right?”
“Yes, but Hasak isn’t.”
Galdro nodded to two of his team. “Take them both to the laboratory to have them checked out.”
“She ran into me,” Hilgal growled, spearing a finger at me with such accusation like I’d killed his firstborn rather than just bump into him.
His face growing stone cold, Galdro stepped closer to Hilgal, the promise in his voice chilling me. “Cammie is under our protection and is considered a member of this crew by all of us. Touch her again, and I will not hesitate to do whatever I must to protect her.”
“Kilani will hear of this.”
“He already has and he’s on his way here. Now, Cammie, please follow my men to the laboratory.”
Why did I always have to return to that place? It held more bad memories for me than any other place on this ship.
The two men lifted Hasak under his arms and pretty much had to drag him along. Spock climbed back up to my shoulders as I followed the men down the corridor. I could still feel Hilgal’s seething glare boring into the back of my skull.
Once at the laboratory, Yulaki instructed the men to place Hasak on one of the tables as he approached me. “Kilani has instructed that I see to you first. Please, completely retract the uniform.”
“How?” That was one thing I had yet to figure out yet.
Yulaki reached between us to where I held up my arm, staring at the uniform controls. He took control, pressing two of the outer buttons at the same time. The uniform retracted back into the wrist device, Spock chattering at it the whole time. When it was back inside and there was nothing left to look at, I gave my attention back to Yulaki, who was staring at one arm and then the other with a furrowed brow glare.
“I’m going to touch you,” he warned.
“You’re the doctor.”
A quick nod and he was lifting one of my sleeves, showing off the first bruise I’d felt myself receiving under Hilgal’s rough grasp. His investigation complete on that arm, Yulaki inspected the other. That bruise wasn’t quite as large or color as the first. Lips pressed into a tight, white line, Yulaki placed himself between myself and the other men and lifted my shirt to my bra line, checking for any bruising on my stomach. Some of the tension eased as he found nothing there or on my back.
“I need to report to Kilani,” Yulaki stated. “Are you in pain?”
Shaking my head, I tried to tug my sleeves lower over the bottom half of the bruising. “No. Not yet. He’s going to be mad, isn’t he?”
“That’s an understatement, only his hands are a little more tied dealing with Captain Hilgal instead of someone like Saren.”
I nodded in understanding. I’d figured this was going to get ugly when Galdro had called the other man a captain. A thought occurred to me.
“Is Hilgal a Level Eight Mate as well?”
Yulaki nodded. “All the captains are mates, and each has a level of eight because of their rank.” He lifted one side of his lips in a sly grin I’d never seen on the more reserved man. “He’s going to regret attacking you when he finds out you’re his equal in Mate status. Don’t be surprised if he tries to make up for his behavior in order to gain your approval.”
A snort escaped me. “Yeah, that’s never going to happen. Even if he decides to start treating me like a princess, I’ve seen the real him and I don’t want to have anything to do with him.”
“He’ll still try to sway you to forgive him.”
My answer was a shrug. “Can I leave now?”
Yulaki sighed. “Let me call Kilani. He’ll want to send an escort.”
Great, I hadn’t even managed a few hours minus a babysitter without being attacked. And this time a uniform hadn’t helped. My luck was not changing for the better.
After Yulaki called Ki, I had to wait for the captain to send someone to come for me. I wasn’t surprised that it was Galdro. The man grinned at me as he approached, and I couldn’t stop smiling back at the mischief in his eyes.
“You should’ve seen the look on Hilgal’s face when Kilani explained to him that you are a Level Eight Mate. It was priceless, and Hilgal’s already trying to convince Kilani for a private meeting with you so he can formally apologize before either of our ships leave the planet.”
“No.” My smile dropped. I’d never be meeting someone who’d beaten me, let alone in private. The thought made me shiver.
A hand settled on my shoulder, steadying me. For not touching, these guys were all getting used to me and knowing it helped. Things still remained the same wi
th each other, but not with me. How would the rest of their kind react to that, and to me?
“The captain won’t allow it, especially if you disagree. Do not fear.”
My stomach took that moment to alert me I was still hungry, but after being beaten up for bumping into someone, I was no longer in the mood to venture off the ship to the busy market. “Is the mess hall open?”
“You’re hungry?”
I nodded.
Galdro nudged me toward the door and led me through the corridors to the mess hall. It was deserted, for which I was grateful. More than once while I ate, after filling my own plate since Mortan was absent, and while I ate, I caught Galdro staring at my bruises. That was it. I was going to change into long sleeves when I returned to my room. Spock chittered as he ate the food I’d found for him, making me smile, even if I didn’t feel quite like smiling.
“Where is she?” Kilani’s voice came over Galdro’s comm unit sounding tense and worried.
Galdro pressed a button and responded. “Mess hall. She and her pet were hungry.”
“Already?”
I eyed the comm unit and fought not to roll my eyes at it. “Yes. We played a long game of fetch so we’re both hungry.”
Chuckling, Galdro relayed my message, after which, Kilani stated he was on his way. The moment the captain stepped through the doorway, Galdro dismissed himself, leaving us alone. Ki’s face was carefully blank, but he couldn’t hide all the tension lining his features as he sat in the chair beside me that Galdro had vacated. The longer he sat silent, the more his mask fell away to shame and despair.
“I honestly don’t know how to keep you safe. Never would I have anticipated that it would be so difficult.”
Shrugging, I nudged a chunk of fruit toward Spock’s side of the plate. “It’s not your fault. He needs to control his temper. You just don’t go around beating people up because they bump into you.”
“Some of the captains are proud. That pride leads them to treating their men, and others, poorly.”
“Beating people up is a bit worse than poorly.”
Kilani sighed. “He wants to meet you to officially apologize.”
“No.”
“I told him you’d say that, but he has insisted that I give you the request and not speak for you.”
“Well, now you know.” I shivered again. “And you can tell him not to bother coming to my Courtship, or whatever it’s called. I will never willingly subject myself to someone so violent.”
“He wouldn’t hurt you again-.”
“I’ve been told that over and over again. ‘I’ll never touch you again’, but what always happens? The second he gets drunk or mad, fists start flying.” My voice choked and I turned away.
“Who hurt you, Cammie?” Ki’s voice was soft and desperate. “Please tell me.”
My breathing quaked as I inhaled. “Ki...I can’t.”
“Cammie.” The pleading in his voice was my undoing.
“My father.”
Kilani inhaled sharply. “No. How is that possible?”
I shrugged, a humorless laugh spilling from my lips. “First it started when he’d come home drunk. Then he was always drunk. After a while he didn’t even care when he was sober. And each time he’d promise to get help and never hit us again. He broke every promise.”
“Us? Your mother? Siblings?”
“My mother. I’m an only child.” Thank goodness.
“I’m so sorry. How can you trust any man again? Me included.” He gripped his ears as he leaned hard on his elbow on the table. “No wonder you were so terrified of me when I yelled at you that first day. I’m such an idiot.”
“You didn’t touch me,” I countered. “And you haven’t yelled at me since. You’ve been trying to protect me, and you keep your promises. But like I said, I don’t want to be anywhere near Hilgal.”
“You won’t be. I’ll have him escorted off the ship. If he has a problem with this, he can take it up with the council.”
“Please don’t tell anyone what I said.”
Ki lifted his head, his eyes softening as he reached between us and ran a furry thumb across my cheekbone. “It’s not my information to tell.” His eyes drifted over me until they caught on a bruise and a hiss escaped him as he lifted my shirt sleeve. “He did this to you?”
“Yeah.”
“If I’d known it was this bad, I would never have approached you for his request. He’d never have a chance to request it as he’d be immediately ordered off my ship. Excuse me while I take care of this matter.”
He was out of his seat and marching through the doorway before I could comprehend that he’d left his chair. Both Spock and I watched him leave. And this was why I trusted Kilani.
A few minutes later, Galdro rejoined us as I set my dirty plate on the counter. “Where to next?”
“My room, please,” I sighed, tugging on my short sleeves again to hide the bruising. “By the way, how’s Hasak?”
“He’ll be perfectly fine in an hour or two.” Galdro chuckled, leading me out of the mess hall. “You should’ve heard Kilani rail into Hilgal about injuring Hasak as well as you. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen our captain lose it like that. Meanwhile, Hilgal still believes he’s in the right, which he isn’t. This wasn’t his ship and he shouldn’t have been wandering it in the first place without Kilani’s consent. Also, harming Kilani’s crew was out of line. If he had a grievance, protocol states that Hilgal bring the matter and those involved before Kilani, not take out justice himself.”
“Will Hilgal be punished for that?”
“Not as much as you’d think or what he deserves. Maybe he’ll have to pay a fine to Kilani.” Galdro shrugged. “However, the fact that he hurt you may be worse than his actions on Kilani’s ship. The council may decide that he’s unfit to attend your Courtship.”
“I don’t want him there anyway, remember?”
“No one would blame you for that. Here we are. If you need anything, I’ll be out here.”
“Thanks.” I slid the door open and stepped into my room. Spock hopped from my shoulder to his blanket on the bed where he curled up. I couldn’t blame him. It had been another interesting day, and I was ready to curl up beside him. After I changed my shirt.
In a clean sweatshirt and leggings, I slid under the covers and closed my eyes. While I intended to rest for a few minutes, I was woken from sleep a while later by a hand shaking my shoulder. My eyelids whipped up to find Kilani standing over me.
“Are you all right?” he asked sitting down beside me as I rolled to my back to see him clearly.
“Yeah. You?”
He grinned. “Yes. Here, I went back to the market before we left the planet and bought you these to help you feel better.” Ki held out a plate filled with a dozen skewers of meat. My heart melted at the gesture. Did this man care about the little things that everyone liked and did, or just me?
“Thank you.” I sat up and took the plate from him. “You said before we left the planet. Are we back in space?”
“Yes. After what has happened and Hilgal’s unpleasant reactions, I thought it best to skip our final mission and change course and go straight home. He’s likely already filed a complaint against me.”
“Is that bad?”
Ki shook his head and tore a piece of meat off one of the skewers and popped it in his mouth, grinning at me while I gave him a playful glare and started eating. “No. He was in the wrong, and there were witnesses. The worst that his report will do is draw attention to you, but as that was going to happen anyway once we reached home, he’s doing little but showing his arrogance and lack of respect for the protocols set up by the council.”
“Galdro told me a little about that.”
“Good.”
I bit into a meat hunk I’d pulled off the skewer, too tempted by its flavorful scent to put it off any longer, even though I needed to for our next conversation.
“Ki, I need you to tell me what’s going to happen when
we arrive at your planet and about this Courtship.”
Appearing more tired than I’d ever seen him, Kilani rubbed his face and groaned. “Any number of things could happen when we arrive. The council will probably want to meet with me and discuss what’s happened and how you came to be on my ship. When Hilgal arrives, we’ll have another meeting to discuss his complaint. You’ll be escorted to the Courtship building and remain there until your Courtship day.”
“How long will that be?” I was already claustrophobic when I considered being stuck in this room, and at least the planetary stops allowed me off the ship for a few hours.
“Likely only a few days to a week. The lower levels of Mates and the Companions meet monthly for a large Courtship. When higher level Mates are determined, the Courtship happens soon after they’re brought to the building. There is enough time to alert those who are eligible and for them to arrive.”
“And what if I don’t choose someone?”
He sighed and rubbed his face again. “Then you stay in the Courtship building until you do. Lower Mates and Companions go about their lives as normal until the next Courtship date, but since higher levels don’t have regular Courtship days, you’ll stay in the building until they reschedule one or you choose from those you’ve met.”
Lovely. I was going to be stuck inside a building for the rest of my life or choose a Mate.
“So...I really am going to be forced into choosing someone.”
“No-.”
“If I’m trapped in a building until I do, then yes, I’ll be forced to choose.”
Ki’s shoulders slumped. “Would choosing someone be so bad? Would I be so bad?”
Right now, he was my only probable option. I’d never tell him. Not to his face.
I lifted Spock onto my lap, and he curled up on the fur blanket. It didn’t go beyond notice that I was cuddling Ki’s apology gift. Apparently now that I’d accepted, everything was supposed to be good between us for his abducting me. And truth be told, besides missing my mother like crazy, this life of being cared for and doted on was much better than the life I’d left, even if I had a knack for trouble finding me.