by L P Peace
The Officer’s Mess
Warriors: Book III
L. P. Peace
The Officer’s Mess © 2021 L.P. Peace
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All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
[email protected]
www.lucypeace.com
Cover by Sam Muraski
Editing by Ly Publishing
Contents
Trigger Warning
Blurb
Glossary of Terms
Foreword
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Epilogue
Universal Menagerie
Also by L. P. Peace
Reading Order
About the Author
Trigger Warning
Please be aware, that throughout the course of this book, Danielle is dealing with abuse from her past which is sexual in nature. If this is a trigger for you, please use your best judgement and if you choose to read it, proceed with caution.
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As always, I NEVER go into unnecessary details. This isn’t about having good conflict. My characters tell me who they are, this is Danielle’s trauma, but be assured, she comes out the other end.
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For those of us who have been assaulted or abused, we can too. <3
Can she trust them?
Trapped on board a Temerin ship, Danielle avoids the aliens who rescued her from the IGC during that fateful explosion. Aerdan, Haddis and Bedvir in particular seem to dog her every step even as Danielle does everything she can to avoid not just them, but the feelings they evoke in her.
When Danielle realises she’s fallen in love with all three of them, she fights her darkest memories, and their natural competitiveness, to find a future for them all.
Discovering the Tessans have put a bounty Tolomus, Danielle and the crew of Compound Errors engage the entire Temerin nation to find and take down the infamous slaver once and for all.
Can their new family survive contact with the enemy?
Glossary of Terms
Standard IGC measurements
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Hacri - Hour
Metri - Minutes
Scira - Seconds
Madith - Miles
Fenth - Foot/feet
Inith/iniths - Inch/inches
Rote - Day
Cycle – month
Solar - Year
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Common Amaran insults
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Vrok - Fuck
Vrokking - Fucking
Durv - Shit
Durev - Shithead
Vashni - Idiot
Keth – Scum
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Temerin Swear Words and Phrases
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Uncut korosh - Temerin have two cocks which are tethered together. It's customary for the tether to be cut when they reach the age of majority so that when they begin having sexual relations, they can choose the methods of pleasuring their females. An uncut Korosh is therefore an underage male.
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White cock from lack of use. Temerin cocks are white when not aroused. They grow darker the more aroused they are until they appear almost black.
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Black cock – black from your chokehold. Unable to get a mate so resorted to masterbating both cocks until they’re black.
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Vojan – a single dicked prick (most Temerin insults are cock based)
Charvosh – Idiot
Garrock – Coward
Garrah Gi’van – stuck up snob
Kojash – rapist
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Other Temerin words
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Lathia – Beloved one, what Haddis calls Danielle
Cahdra – my mate, Bedvir’s preferred endearment
Sitha – Precious, Aerdan.
Dahi – boy, usually in reference to a family member.
Vopak – a small furry creature that lives in arid deserts on Termi. They live in large, tight knit family groups and breed at a massive rate.
Donta – feline like predator.
Hadda - father
for those of you already familiar with the series, this book picks up after the events at the IGC.
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For those of you who aren’t familiar with this world, you can download The Captain’s Promise free from BookFunnel.
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The black and white figure of High-Protector Thanesh stared at Aerdan from the screen. The only thing breaking the monotony of his face were the pale amber eyes that searched Aerdan’s face for a sign of a lie.
Amused, Aerdan grinned, letting Thanesh see him.
‘She is still in her room.’ Thanesh’s voice rose as though it was a question, but it wasn’t. With a Protectorate, everything felt like an accusation, or maybe that was just because it should be, usually.
‘I have no reason to lie to you. Since she entered her room, the delectable Danielle hasn’t come out except to slide meal trays in and out.’
‘Still.’
Again, the accusation was clear.
‘Still, it’s almost like dearest Danielle doesn’t trust us.’
Beside him, Bedvir grunted.
‘Perhaps that’s because you are headed away from Tessa rather than taking her to her allies.’
Aerdan nodded solemnly. ‘Well, as soon as we’ve shaken our tail, we’ll bring the delicious Danielle straight back to you.’
‘Or you could tell us where you are right now, and we could catch your tail and bring Danielle back to Tessa.’
The Protectorate—they were obsessed with human women. They seemed to think they alone had the right to them. If they got their hands on Danielle, she would be brought back to Tessa, where every male there would try and stake a claim.
Too bad for them; Aerdan had already staked his.
Of course, Haddis and Bedvir both had as well, and that was a problem. But it was one he’d deal with once their trap was set for the slave ship following them.
‘If we tell you where we are, we’ll give our hand away to the slavers following us. We have a plan. We have everything set up. Thank you for the offer of help, but it’s not necessary.’
A hard look entered the High-Protectorate’s eyes. Aerdan grinned wider in response. These Protectorate
took themselves so vrokking seriously. Thanesh’s lips thinned, his jaw clenching. It took all of Aerdan’s self-control not to burst into laughter.
Haddis was sitting in the pilot’s seat, not even trying to hide it. He chuckled to himself, his legs kicked over the arm of his seat as he glanced from Thanesh to Aerdan.
‘I suggest you make your ship more agreeable to Danielle. Perhaps then she will leave her room and come and talk to me.’
‘That sounds like an excellent plan. I’ll implement it immediately.’ Even he could hear the insincerity in his voice.
‘Tell me what happened again,’ Thanesh said, after leaning back in his seat.
Aerdan sighed. Thanesh wanted him to repeat the same story over and over, looking for inconsistencies.
There wouldn’t be any.
They hadn’t kidnapped Danielle; they’d rescued her.
‘The explosion went off,’ Aerdan said, hearing his voice become toneless and bored. ‘Everyone ran. You know. I saw you picking up your female and running just like everyone else.’
Thanesh’s jaw clenched. How this huge male had been so quick and so gentle with his female, Aerdan would never know.
‘Danielle was crushed in the rush to escape. Under foot and screaming.’ The noise of it reverberated in Aerdan’s head. He heard it in his nightmares sometimes when he’d wake up in a cold sweat and an overwhelming need to see that she was safe. On the nights he couldn’t resist, he’d go down to her door and listen, waiting until, under the background noises of the ship, he could hear her breathing, steady and regular. ‘The Myardahl got to her before we could. He jumped over the crowds and was bringing her to the ring shuttles when we caught up with him.’
Cornered, the Myardahl had desperately fought to keep a hold of Danielle. In a twisted way, it just made Danielle all the more enticing. Others could see how special she was, and that made her more attractive to Aerdan.
There were five of them against the Myardahl, and even though he had the strength of the stronger races, Aerdan and his kin, his friends, were trained to fight since they were children. Sidha had gained some skill in the time he’d been with the Protectorate, and between the five of them, they’d made short work of the Myardahl, though they’d left the vojan alive if unconscious.
Then she was in his arms, and they were running to their ship. Aerdan hadn’t let her go until they’d safely gone to FTL.
Aerdan repeated the story to Thanesh, playing up his own bravery, of course.
‘When I showed her to her room, she locked the door and hasn’t come out since. She accepts meals through the door, but never if someone is in the hall.’
His Danielle was damaged—in pain. There was something in her that distrusted every male she came across. He’d seen it when they chased her out of the breakfast where they’d first laid eyes on her. Danielle had led them on a merry chase through the building where they were staying. But when she got down to what the IGC laughingly referred to as a street, everything changed. It was Bedvir who noticed how she paled as soon as she came into contact with males. How her wide, beautiful dark brown eyes widened further out of fear. The way she started shaking.
They’d approached her then and guided her back into the building, leaving her at the elevator so she would feel safe.
Aerdan had known they’d see her again, but it didn’t mean he didn’t burn her face into his mind as the lift doors closed.
When they rescued her from the Myardahl, when he’d held her in his arms the first time, he’d known he was never letting her go. He would woo her, win her, and with such a delectable mate, he’d rebuild his mita—his clan.
‘If Thogas had made it to his embassy, she would never have been allowed to leave,’ Thanesh said.
‘Thogas. That’s the Myardahl garrock?’
‘Yes, and Myardahl only have one use for slaves. You saved her from that. My thanks.’
‘Didn’t do it for you, Protectorate.’
‘Still, you have my thanks.’ Thanesh let out a breath. ‘As soon as you have dealt with this slaver ship, you will bring Danielle here. She needs to be surrounded by her people.’
With that, the screen went dark.
Aerdan grinned. ‘She already is.’
‘Vrokking right,’ Haddis said, nodding with approval. They’d all claimed her as kin. Aerdan was determined he’d claim her as his mate.
‘Right, you uncut korash, we need to talk about Danielle.’
Haddis sat up straight in his seat while Bedvir turned slightly towards Aerdan, telling him he had Bedvir’s full attention.
‘Not here. We need to talk to Kentor and Sidha too. The delicious Danielle has been holed up in her room for far too long.’
‘So, a temit,’ Bedvir grunted.
‘It’s hardly a temit when there are only four Temerin.’ Haddis scowled.
‘You’re a white cock born out here in space, so I don’t expect you to know the history of your people.’ Bedvir’s throat croaked with the effort of speaking. ‘A temit is a meeting of two or more mita. Between the four of us, we represent three mita. A meeting of Temerin mita—temit.’
By the time he was done, Bedvir’s voice sounded like stuck gears. He turned and walked out.
‘But it’s only a temit if the mitas are beholden to the decisions,’ Haddis said, looking at Aerdan. ‘It’s not a temit if it doesn’t affect anyone outside of the ship.’
Aerdan shook his head and walked over to the comm. Of all the vrokking things to be arguing about.
‘Kentor, get out of bed. Bring Sidha. We’re meeting in the mess.’
‘Kentor, get out of bed. Bring Sidha. We’re meeting in the mess.’
The announcement rang out over the comm.
Danielle was sitting on the floor, her knees against her chest, her forehead against her knees.
Last night had not been a good night. Dark dreams and memories pulled her under over and over. She woke up through the night crying and begging the dark figure in her dreams to leave her alone. He never did. He hadn’t back then either.
Pushing that aside, she thought through what the leader had just said. They were meeting in the mess. All of them?
Could this be her chance?
Standing, Danielle walked over to the door and listened.
The ship they were on was small. There were three levels. The leader seemed to live on the top one, separated from his crew. The bottom level was the hold and engine room. The middle level, the one she was on, was made up of the bridge, several hallways, crew quarters, the mess and some other rooms she’d barely gotten a glance at before she’d locked the door to her room and refused to come out.
The aliens had her. They actually had her and, from what she could tell, were leading her further and further away from safety.
Not that Danielle considered the Tessans safe. But at least there were humans among them.
Footsteps went by.
‘I’m not done with you yet,’ a deep voice said.
There was a bump outside her door, and everything went quiet. A few moments passed, then the deep voice was chuckling. ‘I like making you need me,’ he said.
Danielle recognised Sidha because of how much he’d talked during breakfast at Rhona’s suite back in the Amaran quarter of IGC station. He liked to hear himself speak, she thought spitefully.
Immediately, Danielle was racked with shame. She didn’t want to think these things. She didn’t want to be that way, be that person anymore.
Feeling herself slipping back into self-pity, Danielle stood straight, wiped the emerging tears from her eyes and let out a deep breath. She wasn’t going to be that person anymore. The person they had made her.
She listened carefully for more noises, and when there weren’t any for a few minutes, quietly, she opened the door.
The flooring was made up of metal grating, and her boots made a noise as she stepped onto it. She stopped and looked around, waiting for the three of them to appear. It was always the three of them. T
hey ran around her like headless chickens waiting for her approval. She hated it. Hated the attention. Hated the needy looks in their eyes when they looked at her. Like she had an answer to some question no one had bothered asking her.
Carefully, she walked along the corridor, heading in the direction she’d come from the day they brought her on board. Heading back towards the bridge.
All she needed to do was get the coordinates from navigation, then call the Protectorate and let them know where she was.
The Temerin weren’t taking her back to them. They’d made that clear when the Protectorate sent them coordinates where they could safely rendezvous to transfer Danielle to their care.
‘Vrok that.’ The leader had laughed, deleting them from navigation and inputting his own.
They’d kidnapped her, and for some reason, they thought she’d be thrilled about it!
What was their dysfunction?