The Smuggler's Radiant (Renegades Book 2)

by L P Peace

  She placed her fingers on the controls. ‘Oh, please, just go away,’ she whispered. ‘Deyuul, can you hear me? I don’t know what to do.’ Rhona felt like an idiot, talking to herself on the empty bridge.

  Instead, they moved closer.

  Rhona hadn’t seen the guns fired. She had no idea what they would do to this deck or the spaces and people beyond. She was shown the controls while Makios was teaching her to fly. It was a ‘and here’s what not to do’ kind of instructional.

  ‘If you don’t tell me not to, I’m going to fire on them.’ There was no answer from the Uunda. Biting her lip and stealing her nerve, Rhona went to push the button.

  ‘No, Rhona, wait.’ It was Deyuul.

  ‘What’s going on?’ she said out loud, to the room.

  ‘I’ve got everyone. We’re safe. The Hieladan helped. Don’t kill them.’

  ‘The snake-men?’

  ‘Yes. They got through another way and are guarding the ship to ensure no one comes.’

  ‘You’re sure?’ she asked. ‘They kinda look like the bad guys.’ She closed her eyes, realising she was judging them on their appearance, precisely what she had promised not to do.

  ‘They’re not—I promise. We’re about to come through the door to your left.’

  Rhona looked and saw Makios appear.

  ‘Oh, God!’ she cried out.

  She ran through the ship, to the hold, slapped her hand on the door control and was running down and leaping off the platform before it touched the ground.

  Makios saw her running for him and met her halfway. She leapt into his arms, wrapped her legs around him and started covering his face with kisses.

  ‘Rhona,’ he breathed, one arm around her ass supporting her, the other on the back of her head. He kissed her, relief palpable in every muscle of his body. ‘Are you okay?’

  Rhona nodded. ‘You, last time I saw you, you were breaking the birdman’s wing.’

  Makios grinned. ‘Birdman,’ he chuckled. ‘Come, I’ll introduce you to our allies.’

  He didn’t set her down or let her go. Instead, he carried over to the three snake-men.

  ‘Dajin,’ he nodded.

  The red snake-man was watching Makios and Rhona with amusement.

  ‘Your mate is well then?’ He nodded at Rhona.

  ‘As you see,’ Makios said.

  ‘He wouldn’t shut up about you the entire way here,’ the snake-man, Dajin, said.

  ‘I was worried about him, too,’ she admitted.

  ‘Lucky male,’ the Hieladan said. ‘You should go before your continued presence causes an issue.’

  ‘Thank you, Dajin,’ Makios nodded at the snake-man.

  ‘And remember our deal,’ Dajin said. ‘Return the boy to us.’

  Makios nodded.

  The purple snake-man approached Makios and Rhona from behind. He reached out and pulled at the hood she still wore and took a strand of her hair.

  ‘To think,’ he whispered, ‘we should live in these times.’

  ‘Get your hands off her,’ Makios growled.

  ‘Apologies for my brother.’ Dajin eyed his purple… brother? He backed away. ‘We have a prophecy among my people, of a red-headed biped female.’

  ‘What happens to this red-headed prophecy female?’ Rhona asked, suddenly wary.

  ‘She takes a mate of each tribe and unites us as our goddess,’ the purple one whispered, staring at Rhona’s head.

  ‘Is red a common colour among your people?’ the black snake-man said, getting closer. Suddenly, everything felt slightly more threatening than before.

  Rhona held onto Makios tighter. ‘Erm, we make up two percent of the population of my world,’ she said.

  They three Hieladan looked at each other. There was almost a panic in their eyes while they weighed something.

  ‘Which is about three hundred million people,’ she finished.

  Immediately all three of them lost a tension that had been building. Dajin stepped back. ‘Go,’ he said.

  Rhona looked behind them and saw the whole crew had gathered and were watching the exchange between Makios, Rhona and the Hieladan.

  Sidha was sporting several bruises. Dark gold blood ran in a thin line from the corner of his mouth, and Dabin was holding him up, but he was grinning. As Rhona watched, Vella moved up beside him, slapped him on the shoulder and nodded respectfully.

  Kenian was standing next to Devorak. He had several bright purple bruises on his face, but he was there and safe. Beside Devorak was a dusky dark-purple-skinned alien. When he grinned at her, white teeth with a large set of canines flashed. Behind him, a slender tail lashed back and forth excitedly.

  As Makios walked onto the ship leading the crew, the dusky purple male stopped and exchanged a few words with the Hieladan. Then he followed them onto the ship.

  ‘Let’s get off this vrokking station,’ Makios growled before he hit the door release.

  Behind him, the dark-skinned alien was yet to take his eyes off Rhona.

  Caras was a dimming light in the viewscreen. Makios had switched part of it to the rear view to watch for anyone following, but so far, they seemed to be safe.

  Rhona was strapped into a seat at the back of the bridge watching everyone else wander around. Makios wanted her strapped in, in the event of a pursuit.

  ‘Can I stand now?’ she shifted uncomfortably on her numb arse.

  ‘We’re about to go to FTL,’ Makios said. ‘Then you can come out.’

  He was sat in the pilot’s seat fervently hitting buttons, planning a trajectory, throwing things up on the screen. He worked so fast that Rhona missed half of what he was doing.

  The door opened, and the purple-skinned male stepped onto the bridge.

  ‘My ship looks good,’ he said casually.

  Makios laughed but ignored him.

  ‘Your ship? I don’t think so.’ Rhona stared at him.

  He turned to look at her and smiled. The canines gleamed white against his dark lips.

  As his flint-grey eyes took her in. His skin was a dark dusky purple, she realised. Hair that had first appeared black shone a dark-violet under the light and hung down to his waist. He looked at her from narrow, upturned, grey eyes with oval pupils. He was a few inches shorter than Makios, and what muscle showed was lean and well developed.

  He had a long neck which thickened into defined shoulder muscles. His face was long. Wide cheekbones sat over a fine jaw and framed a fine nose so that his cheekbones seemed almost out of place, apart from the full lips which were a shade darker than the surrounding skin.

  His long, smooth tail reached around and absently scratched an exposed piece of skin on his abdomen.

  He watched her watching it, and a small smirk appeared on his face. ‘You’ve never seen a Maruzen before?’

  Rhona shook her head. ‘I’ve never seen most aliens before,’ she admitted. ‘I was in the Sol system until two weeks ago.’

  ‘Sol?’

  ‘Terrans’ homeworld,’ Makios called.

  The Maruzen’s mouth opened in an O. ‘Ah, a virgin to us aliens and our ways,’ he said, slipping into the seat beside her.

  ‘Careful,’ Rhona said, she wasn’t sure she liked this guy.

  ‘You’re okay, Rhona,’ Makios called. ‘Unless you trip Daris’s mating instinct, he won’t act on anything he’s saying.’

  ‘How can you be so sure?’ Rhona said, eyeing the demon warily.

  ‘Because until I find my mate, I have no urge to have sex,’ the Maruzen said.

  Rhona processed this information for a moment. ‘Are you saying that until your species finds their mate, they’re a virgin?’

  ‘Billions of virgins,’ he said with a smirk on his sensual lips, ‘yes.’

  ‘Does she spark your instinct, Daris?’ Makios seemed to want to put the conversation to rest.

  Daris regarded her for a minute. ‘Close, but no.’

  ‘What?’ Makios turned. ‘Close?’

  Rhona almost fel
l out of her chair laughing from the look of shock on Makios’s face.

  Daris watched her, delight evident. ‘I may find my mate among human females,’ he mused. ‘I must pay more attention to them.’

  ‘So you’ve never had sex?’ she asked.

  ‘I don’t like where this conversation is going,’ Makios grumbled.

  ‘Shut it, you.’ Rhona waved her hand at him dismissively.

  Something sparked in Daris’s eyes.

  ‘No,’ he said. ‘I do know how to pleasure a female.’ He licked his lips, revealing his long, white canines. ‘But I’ve never enjoyed the experience for myself.’

  Rhona laughed and shook her head. ‘You’ve never had sex, but you’re a dirty flirt, aren’t you?’

  Daris smiled. ‘It is my nature.’ He shrugged and leaned back in his chair.

  ‘A second ago, when I told Makios to shut it, something…’ She paused and gathered her thoughts. ‘There was a thought. I saw it in your eyes. What was it?’

  Daris’s smile widened to a grin. ‘I like you. You’re perceptive.’ He sat up, leaning towards her. ‘I saw why you didn’t spark my instinct,’ he said quietly.

  ‘Why not?’ she asked. ‘I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m relieved. He’s my man.’ She pointed at Makios.

  ‘And what a perfect pair you are,’ he said. ‘I’m almost jealous.’

  ‘So,’ Rhona prompted, ‘why didn’t I spark your instinct?’

  ‘Because Maruzen males are sexual dominants,’ he murmured. ‘And Maruzen females are sexually submissive.’

  ‘And I’m about as sexually submissive as a hellcat,’ Rhona grinned.

  ‘I can only assume what that means.’

  Daris enjoyed murmuring, Rhona realised. He enjoyed the intimacy of having people lean into him, to strain to listen to him. Even in conversation, he liked to be in control.

  Rhona leaned away, watching Daris’s reaction. Instead of chasing her and losing control, he leaned back in the seat once more and cocked a leg over the arm facing her. His tail swept back and forth across the floor in lazy arcs.

  ‘So, sexually dominant. Dominant in other places?’

  ‘What are you asking?’ He smiled.

  ‘How do you treat your women? Your culture.’

  ‘You want to know if we demand submission in all areas?’

  Rhona nodded.

  ‘We’re not Adosian,’ he said. ‘We worship our females. You are the life givers. We dominate sexually because it’s our instinct and the instinct of our females to submit. Though they only submit to their mate and only sexually. In other areas, they,’ he paused, ‘make their opinions known.’

  ‘I bet they do.’ Rhona grinned.

  ‘Our females cannot conceive without climaxing. Is it not the same for human females?’

  Rhona laughed. ‘No. If that were the case, the human race wouldn’t have made it past the first generation.’

  ‘And we would already be pregnant a hundred times over,’ Makios grumbled.

  ‘Hello there, my love. Feeling a little insecure?’ Rhona looked at him.

  Makios chuckled. ‘Not at all. I know I have nothing to be insecure about.’ He looked at her, desire on his face. ‘After all, a hundred times over.’

  ‘Makios.’ She put a finger to her lips. ‘Shhhh.’ He grinned back at her and a knot of need twisted in her abdomen. Rhona looked back at Daris, who was watching her every action closely.

  Makios grabbed the comm. ‘Brace for FTL,’ he said. He waited a few moments before the stars burst across the viewscreen.

  Rhona watched the display. She was endlessly fascinated with the way the stars pulled into thin lines of refracted light.

  ‘Does your species often change colour like that?’ Daris asked, leaning towards her.

  Rhona’s face was aflame with a mixture of embarrassment and need. She looked at him, pressing her lips together in a tight line and suppressing the almost girlish grin that wanted to escape. She cleared her throat. ‘Occasionally,’ she admitted.

  ‘Interesting,’ he said. ‘I’ll have to watch you while I’m here, for the little quirks of your species.’

  ‘And how long will that be?’

  ‘We’re dropping him off at the gate station,’ Makios said. ‘That’s where his heap of durv is parked.’

  ‘You shouldn’t talk about your ship that way,’ Daris said.

  ‘What’s this ship thing about?’ Rhona asked, drawing her knees up to her chest.

  Daris watched her do it with a look of keen interest. ‘This,’ he gestured to the room in general, ‘is a Maruzen F-class private cruiser. Therefore, naturally, it’s my ship.’

  ‘The Nevalis is your ship,’ Makios growled.

  ‘The Nevalis is a Kathen light personnel carrier.’ He leaned forward. ‘It’s awful. The cockpit and the living quarters are the same room. There are the hold and the engine room.’ Daris shook his head. ‘The amount of work I had to do to make it liveable. The amount of work I have to do just to keep it flying.’ He leaned back. ‘I much prefer this ship.’

  Makios laughed. ‘The Kathen LPC’s are terrible,’ he agreed. ‘Which is why the Kathen military sold them and upgraded to the Maruze long-range LPCs, and which is why,’ Makios turned in his seat, ‘I told you not to buy that piece of durv in the first place.’

  ‘Ah.’ Daris waved off Makios’s words dismissively.

  ‘Maybe if you’d have listened, you’d be able to save money instead of fixing that piece of durv once a cycle. Then you wouldn’t be in with the vrokking Calidon syndicate and beholden to vrokking Adalth.’ Makios’s voice had climbed until he was all but shouting.

  ‘Honey,’ Rhona called to him in her calmest voice. ‘Are you okay?’

  Makios and Daris glared at each other from their seats.

  ‘Yes,’ Makios said after a tense silence. ‘I worry about you, Daris.’ He looked back at the screen.

  Daris sighed and visibly relaxed. ‘I know, my friend. I worry about you too.’ He pointed at Rhona. ‘Though less so now.’

  ‘How long have you two known each other?’ Rhona asked.

  ‘Since the Alidai fighting pits,’ Makios said, turning to look at the console.

  ‘You’re a pit fighter?’ She could hear the doubt in her own voice.

  ‘Daris is very fast, stronger than he looks. His strikes are precise, and his tail is a weapon of its own.’ Makios spoke defensively of his friend.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Rhona said. ‘I didn’t mean to imply you’re weak. It’s just—’

  ‘I don’t have the bulk of a pit fighter?’

  ‘To be honest, I don’t know. We don’t have pit fights in our system. They’re considered barbaric.’

  Daris’s eyes widened in alarm.

  ‘But you don’t have the bulk I would have expected.’

  He nodded. ‘And that’s why my opponents never saw me coming.’

  ‘Why did you stop?’

  ‘Because,’ he smiled, ‘they’re barbaric.’

  Rhona laughed.

  ‘How’s he doing?’ Rhona asked as she stepped into the Medbay.

  Dabin turned to her and nodded a greeting. ‘He’s bruised, but not seriously injured,’ he said.

  ‘He,’ Kenian growled, ‘is sitting right here and if you don’t stop talking about him like he’s not here, he will lose his calm.’

  ‘I’m sorry.’ She looked at Kenian, who was sitting on the bed in the centre of the small medical room. ‘I just wanted to hear the doctor’s opinion first.’ She took a deep breath. Guilt crept deeper down her throat. ‘How are you doing?’

  Rhona eyed the bruises on his face.

  ‘Fine,’ Kenian said. ‘This is nothing. It’s all on the surface.’ Kenian looked at Dabin and stared until he left the room. ‘I wanted to thank you for the station,’ he said. ‘I wouldn’t have gotten through the first few metri without you there.’

  ‘I’m so sorry we left you,’ she said, holding back the guilt and tears that had bee
n threatening her since Deyuul first stepped up the wall into the balconies above them.

  Kenian shook his head. ‘I’m not. Devorak looked after me, and a lot of the crowd disappeared after you were gone. If you had been there, it would have gotten worse and both of us would have been hurt.’ Kenian took her hand. ‘You have nothing to feel guilty about, little human,’ he assured her.

  ‘I’m probably going to feel that way for a while anyway,’ she whispered.

  ‘I wasn’t sure I was going to like you at first,’ he confided. ‘Now, I’m grateful to have you on the crew.’

  Rhona squeezed his hand, and he squeezed back.

  ‘Thank you,’ she smiled.

  They exchanged a few more words, but despite the moment they had shared, Kenian still wasn’t forthcoming. Leaving the medical bay, she went in search of Devorak.

  ‘How are you doing?’ she asked when she found him in the seating area on the mezzanine.

  Devorak seemed to be lost in thought. He looked at her when she spoke, but it was still a moment before his eyes cleared and he was present with her.

  ‘Good,’ he said. Rhona wasn’t convinced. ‘You?’

  ‘A little shook up,’ she admitted. ‘It wasn’t a good day.’ She dropped into a seat beside him. Devorak didn’t answer straight away, but Rhona stayed quiet and still, offering her company and nothing more.

  After considerable silence, he sighed.

  ‘No,’ he said. ‘It wasn’t.’

  Rhona stretched her limbs out in front of her and yawned.

  ‘Are you tired?’

  Rhona grinned. ‘Drama always makes me sleepy,’ she admitted.

  ‘Have you seen a lot of it?’

  ‘I was a trader with my family.’

  Devorak nodded.

  ‘We trade across planets in my system,’ she said. ‘We spend weeks, months in space, depending on our route. So, lots of time doing nothing interspersed with quick moments of high drama.’ She grimaced, ‘I’ve possibly seen more than my fair share actually.’

  ‘Can I ask you a question?’ Devorak looked at her.

  Rhona nodded.

  ‘I’ve met a few humans,’ he said. ‘None of the females are quite as tall or, slender as you are.’ He turned to study her. Looking at her willowy limbs. ‘Alethia, for example, is considerably shorter than you are.’