"We have a situation," he snapped. "I need you."
Now that was unexpected. "Whatever for?"
He grimaced, anger all over his face. "The aliens hacked the ship. I've managed to establish our communications channel again, but for all I know, they're able to listen in. I've lost control of the ship, Kili. I hate to say this, but I can't deal with it on my own."
I gaped at him. "How did that even happen? Hacked the ship? This is one of the most modern crafts in the Athion fleet. It shouldn't be possible."
"Laird knows. They may have more advanced technology than we expected. I'm not good enough with tech to push them out of our systems."
"Neither am I," I interrupted. "And you know that. So what can I do to help?"
"I'm trying to get into their room. There has to be a way. Do we have welding tools somewhere?"
"Maybe, I'm not sure. I wish we had a full crew, then we'd have an engineer and some computer scientists."
Kion sighed. "So do I, trust me. I don't believe I volunteered for a solo mission. From now on, I'll only go on fully staffed ships. And I won't pursue any Trad vessels with a captain suicidal enough to fly into an asteroid field."
I gave him a wry smile. "Copy that. Never again. How's the female doing?"
His expression turned murderous. "They've turned off the cameras in the room. I don't have eyes on her. They could be doing Veles knows what in there."
That had me jump to my feet. Yes, I'd shot her, but now I was going to make up for that by protecting her.
"Let me out," I ordered.
"Your door is unlocked already," he said. "It has been for a while. I wanted to see what you do."
In any other situation, I'd tell him off for that. Tricking me, pretending I was a prisoner. No, that wasn't right. I'd made myself a prisoner. Having a locked door or not didn't really matter.
I stepped out of the room without ending the call.
"Where are you?"
"On the way to the engine room. I'm going to see if we have any tools that might help us break open that door. You go to their room, wait outside, just in case they decide to leave." He scoffed. "I wish the cameras were working. We're blind on our own ship."
He disappeared without saying goodbye. I stared at my data pad for a moment, hating the unfamiliar tension between Kion and me, before hurrying down the corridor. The guest rooms were almost at the other end of the vessel, intended to keep them out of the way of the crew. We'd never had any guests on the ship before, so the rooms had been unused until today. Of all the people I'd imagined having on board, two Trads and a human female weren't it.
By the time I reached their corridor, I was out of breath. I realised I didn't have any kind of weapon I could use if they attacked me. Hopefully, it wouldn't come to that. They didn't seem as aggressive as other Trads. It may be an act but for now, I had to hope that they wouldn’t turn on us.
Just when I turned a corner and the room came into view, their door opened and one of the Trads stepped outside. He was the larger of the two; a monster with horns and a tail that swept across the floor behind him. How did the female not run from them? They were scary even to me. They were born to inspire fear and terror, with their deep-set eyes and their sharp teeth. I didn't understand why they didn't use their human disguises while they were around her. Surely it would put her on ease if they didn't look like nightmare creatures?
The Trad spotted me and came to a stop. He grinned at me.
"Are you here to show me where the kitchen is?" he asked innocently. "Our female is hungry."
"Your female?" I growled. "She's not yours."
"No, you're right. She only belongs to herself. She's a strong female who doesn't need us, but I'm honoured that she's decided to trust us."
I cocked my head to one side, confused. "She doesn't need you? I thought human females relied on their males."
He laughed. "Not this one. She's gone through more than any of us could ever imagine, yet she's survived. She may be broken in a few places, but it's nothing that time won't heal. Now tell me, where do you keep the good food?"
I blinked several times. I couldn't make sense of him. He was almost friendly to me. Pleasant. Not like an enemy should behave.
Deciding to play along, I pointed in the direction I'd come from. "I can show you. Do you know what she likes to eat?"
"She seems to prefer plants," he replied, rolling his eyes. "She doesn't seem to like our meat much. I thought she really enjoyed our fluff worms, but then she said she didn't. So let's stick to plants, if you have any."
I nodded and motioned him to walk by my side. No way was I going to let him out of my sight.
"I'm Raf, by the way."
"Kili."
"I know. You're the zutting Athion who tried to kill my friend and who shot my female. It would be hard to forget your name."
Despite his words, he didn't sound angry. I was so confused by him. Why was he acting so friendly? If I'd been in his shoes, I'd be a puddle of blood on the floor, smashed into a pulp. Yet Raf was smiling at me without a hint of animosity. It went against everything I knew about Trads.
I stopped and turned to him. He raised his thick eyebrows as he waited for me to speak.
"Why are you so friendly to me?" I asked, the words sounding much harsher than intended. "Are you trying to mess with me?"
Raf frowned. "What would be the use of being angry? There's nothing I can change about what happened. And it wasn't you or Kion who kidnapped our female from her planet and almost killed her. I'm not blaming you for what others of your people did. Yes, you're kind of responsible for us crashing on this rock, and you did shoot her, but you're already paying the price for that. And I assume your crimes will be dealt with by your government. It's not for me to judge you." He shrugged. "Do you want me to attack you? Would that make you feel better?"
I was tempted to say yes. I deserved it. I needed to pay for what I did but I didn't see how I could.
"If you want to make up for it," he said before I could respond, "help me provide her with the best food you have. And she needs clothes; we can't have her walk around in the same shirt she was shot in."
I nodded, glad he hadn’t said out loud that I’d shot her. "Did she have clothes on your ship? All we have is stuff in our size."
"Yes, we had some clothing we'd got from our raids, but I don't think it would be safe to go into the ship. Who knows how badly damaged the rooms are.”
I grit my teeth. "Don't worry about that. She needs the best we can offer. I'll go and search your ship."
That was going to be my punishment.
Chapter 9
Wren
Raf returned with a massive tray laden with bowls and plates. It seemed he'd plundered the Athion's pantry. He put the dishes on the floor, seemingly feeling very excited about not eating at a table. I had no idea where they'd heard about picnics, but both Raf and Vuk seemed to be excited about the concept.
"Is that how you always eat on Earth?" Vuk asked as he sat cross-legged next to me, a thick blanket between us and the cold floor.
I laughed. "No, we sit on chairs just like you do. This is just for special occasions. In the summer, when it's nice and warm, we might go and have a picnic in a park. When we were younger, my friends and I would have one in our garden. My mum would make us tiny sandwiches."
I smiled at the memory. That had been before the invasion. When parents still let their children out to play.
Raf opened some of the bowls, their intense smells distracting me. I reached for something that smelled like sweet and sour chicken, but looked like fried turnips. They were crispy on the outside but strangely gooey on the inside. Weird but delicious.
Before I took another one, I turned to Vuk, who was watching me with a smile. "Those aren't worms, right?"
He snickered. "No worms. They're plants that grow in dark caves on the planet Xauey. A delicacy."
"Very expensive," Raf confirmed, taking one for himself. "These two Athions must
be either very important or very rich to have this kind of food on board."
"Where are they now?" Vuk asked. “Do you have them locked up somewhere?”
“No, I decided to give them free rein to see what they’ll do.” Raf checked his communicator. "One is in the engine room. The other isn't onboard."
Vuk stopped eating, a sausage-like bit of meat hovering near his open mouth. “How can he not be on the ship? There’s nothing out there.”
Raf kept munching on something that looked like bright blue tortilla chips. “He feels guilty and went on a suicide mission. Nothing to do with me.”
But the way he looked at me, mirth shimmering in his eyes, told a different story.
“Did you tell him to go out there?” I questioned.
He shrugged. “It was his decision. He ran off before I could stop him.”
“I bet you tried really hard to change his mind,” Vuk chuckled.
I wasn’t sure whether to laugh with them or be a little annoyed. I was angry at Kili – it had to be him outside the ship – for shooting me, for planning to kill the Trads, but I also didn’t want him to get hurt. I didn’t like people getting hurt no matter who they were. Although I’d make an exception for Laki and Arri. Those two deserved to be tortured for eternity in the deepest pits of hell. It was a pity I didn’t believe in heaven and hell.
“Do you believe in an afterlife?” I asked.
“Where’s this coming from?” Vuk asked while chewing loudly.
“More specifically, do you have a hell for all the bad people?”
Raf grinned. “Oh yes, there are several places for bad people. Five different rings around an icy volcano. It spits ice every hour, drenching one of the rings at random. The dead are sorted into rings depending on their sins.”
“Our sins are very different from your human ones though,” Vuk reminded me. “Our people are a violent race.”
“So what would you get punished for? Being too nice?”
Vuk chuckled. “Almost. Flattery and seduction are both sins. The seduction one hasn’t been mentioned a lot though since our females died. Of course, sometimes there are relationships between men, but they rarely involve seduction.”
“More like grunting and fucking a lot,” Raf supplied, wiggling his eyebrows.
“Other sins are mercy during battle, weakness, desertion and treason,” Vuk continued. “We don’t have a king, but our Polityks still demand complete obedience. Any action against them or the Rzad, our government, can be punished by death.” The humour had drained from his face. “You’re looking at two dead Trads, Wren. Our own people have sentenced us to death. Most other races of the universe would try us for piracy, and a lot of them have the death penalty. The life expectancy of pirates isn’t very high.”
Raf raised his bottle of water like a wine glass. “To life. As long as it may last.”
Feeling a little silly, I copied Raf in lifting my bottle. “To life.”
With my belly full, I was ready to think about what would happen next. I wasn’t going to stay in this room until some Athion ship came to rescue us.
"Are the Athions still where they were earlier?" I asked and Raf checked his communicator.
"Ehm, no. They're both in the med bay."
Oh no. That likely meant Kili had got hurt while being on the Phoenix.
"I know what you're thinking," Vuk muttered and put a hand on my thigh, squeezing gently. I was surprised that I didn't feel the urge to flinch or push him away. I seemed to have decided that he was safe.
"What am I thinking?"
"You're feeling sorry for him. Guilty even, maybe."
"Why would she feel guilty?" Raf asked. "He's got nothing to do with her. Well, besides shooting her, but him going out to our ship was his own decision."
I rolled my eyes. "I'm not feeling guilty. Vuk's wrong about that. But yes, I kind of pity him a little. He got hurt and I don't like it when bad things happen to people."
The guys exchanged a look.
"You're cute," Vuk said with a chuckle. "And so very unlike us."
"Maybe unlike your kind, but I think the two of you aren't much like other Trads," I argued. "You don't like violence. You avoid killing people during your raids. You could have done all sorts of things to me while I was injured and helpless, but instead, you helped me. You're good people. Despite being Trads."
Again, they looked at each other, puzzled expressions on their faces.
"Did she just call us good?" Raf asked in mock terror.
"We'll never live this down. Our reputation is ruined." Vuk managed to look sad despite his eyes blazing with mirth. "We might as well cancel our pirate membership now."
I laughed. "Alright, you're not good in general. Just sometimes. Better?"
"Much." Raf grinned. "Let's do a deal. We're nice to you and you won't tell anyone how friendly we've been. We can't let anyone know that we're not actually evil monsters ready to take over the galaxy."
He winked at me. "That's what you thought of us when you first met us, right?"
"Well, it's not exactly like I'd ever had a chance to meet a Trad before," I defended myself. "In fact, I'd spent years trying to avoid that very thing. If the Athions hadn't kidnapped me, I'd probably be in a woman's refuge now, staying celibate until the end of my days."
"Celibate? How awful." Raf was still grinning at me. "We can't let that happen. It would be such a waste."
I swallowed hard when I saw the heat in his gaze. The mood had shifted without me realising. And surprisingly, I was fine with that. I blinked, and suddenly it was like a veil was lifting. I saw them with new eyes.
Of course, I’d looked at them, a lot. But until now, their large, muscular bodies had been intimidating, frightening even. With those tree trunk thighs and arms as big as a human bodybuilder’s, they could easily crush me. I’d seen them from the perspective of prey. Now, that was changing.
Raf’s V-neck shirt showed off his chest, his muscles hard beneath the scaled skin. Vuk’s clothing was less revealing, but even so, the fabric was stretched taut against his abs, leaving little to the imagination. My mouth watered at the thought of running my hands over their hard chests. They were gorgeous.
Even their horns were no longer frightening. I realised how I hadn’t even noticed them recently. Their demon-like appearance had become normal to me. And their tails were more amusing than scary. I loved how they sometimes seemed to have a mind of their own. Vuk’s tail was wrapped around his lower leg, moving ever so slightly, like a sleeping snake.
Instinctively, I reached out, putting one hand on each of their chests. Raf froze while Vuk leaned into the touch, but neither said a word. They were warm, far warmer than a human would be.
A deep rumbling sound came from Raf and his chest vibrated softly. His eyes widened, as if he was afraid he’d broken the moment, but I just looked at him curiously.
“Sorry,” he whispered. “Can’t do anything about that.”
“He’s from the North,” Vuk muttered, as if that explained everything.
“Do people from the North vibrate?” I asked, unable to hide a cheeky smile.
Raf’s cheeks turned a deep red, highlighting the tiny scales surrounding his eyes.
“They purr,” Vuk explained. “When they’re really happy. Or excited. In an…intimate way.”
I stared at Raf. He looked to the floor, no longer meeting my eyes. I was confused. Back in the shower, at the very beginning, Raf had shown me very clearly that he wasn’t interested in me. He’d told me that he didn’t find me attractive. At least that’s how I remembered it, even though my memory of that moment was fuzzy.
“Look at me,” I whispered. “Are you happy just now? Or is it more?”
“Don’t make me say it,” he said quietly, his voice barely audible. “I don’t want to turn this into something you’re not ready for.”
I pulled back from both of them, but only to get to my knees and climb onto Raf’s lap. I almost laughed at how he stille
d even further, barely breathing. He was scared. I wrapped my arms around him, hugging him. His body was even warmer now that I was pressed against him. The hard planes of his chest felt good, far too good. He was still vibrating…purring. The strange movement against my breasts made my nipples harden. I sucked in a breath. That hadn’t happened in a while. Together with the heat pooling in my core, I was more aroused than I’d ever been.
It was a little awkward though to be the only one doing all the hugging.
“Hold me,” I muttered. “Please.”
“If you don’t do it, I’m going to take her from you,” Vuk said from behind me. “She wants this, Raf. And she’ll tell us if she wants us to stop. Right, Wren?”
I nodded. I wasn’t sure myself how far I’d let this go. I didn’t know where this confidence was coming from and how long it would last. I’d never even kissed a man, yet here I was, straddling Raf, my nipples brushing against his chest, my body craving to their touch.
Finally, he moved, but not at all how I’d expected. Faster than I could even see, he grabbed me around the waist and then he was standing, me clinging to him, his arms cradling me. I wrapped my legs around his hips, unable to ignore the hardness waiting in his trousers. The purring was getting stronger. His eyes were fiery pits, swirling with desire. I looked up at him, my lips parting. I was ready for him. I needed him.
His lips brushed against mine, gentle at first. He was giving me the chance to bow out, to stop him before this went any further. But I wanted it. This was my decision.
I leaned into the kiss, grabbing his neck to pull him closer, and he got the message. The softness turned into passion as he kissed me again and again, giving me short moments to breathe, before his lips descended on mine again. I knew he was still taking it slow, but it was enough for me. I’d never imagined a kiss could feel this good. In the end, it was just two people whose lips touched.
I chuckled at the thought and Raf stopped, looking at me curiously.
“Why are you laughing?” His voice was hoarse, melting my insides in the most delicious manner.
“I didn’t know kissing could be this wonderful,” I replied, a blush heating my cheeks.
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