Helen considers this for a moment and then sits upright against me. “Are we taking the humans with us? Tonight?”
“What? No.” I shake my head. “I think that’s a bad idea. They’re just as likely to run away into the station without realizing we’re trying to help them.”
“But they know the female you sent them off with is helping them?”
I hesitate. “I…would like to think that, yes.”
She makes an exasperated sound. “Matty. They’re scared. Clearly I have to go rescue them from…who is the female?”
“Bethiah.”
Helen pauses. “The one that ran into Adiron and Jade? They said she was dangerous.”
I’m starting to think every female I meet on this end of space is some form of “dangerous.” Zebah, Bethiah, and even Helen. “She can be.”
“I’m going to go save them, then. I’ll show them to my room and let them know that they’re safe. They’ll like me.” She snaps her fingers, leaping out of my lap. “I’ll give them my rolling pin so they feel better!”
“You do that, love.” She stands up, her jumpsuit gaping open and flashing me her gorgeous red skin and dark little nipples. My cock gets harder at the sight, and I automatically adjust myself. “I’ll leave them in your hands.”
“Okay.” She leans in and kisses me. Then, she glances down at my crotch, gives me a wicked look, and leans in and kisses it through the fabric. “Save that for later, too.”
I bite back a groan, watching as she zips up her jumper, her eyes sparkling, and prances out of the room with a swing of her ponytail. She’s so happy and perky now, as if she’s just unlocked a secret that will trouble her no more. Here I am, sitting here wrecked, the scent of her all over my hand and my mind focused on anything but tonight. I run my palm over my shaft and then slap my cheek, sitting up. Time to concentrate.
And if I lift my hand to my mouth and lick her scent off my fingers, well, no one has to know but me.
I settle in to a checklist of things to ease my mind. If we’re going to be transporting a huge number of humans, even a short distance, we’ll need to make sure the Little Sister is in top shape. The air filters all over the ship look good, and we’ve got backups in the hold. Food supplies should last us for a week if I overestimate, and our fuel cells have backups stored as well. There is a question of capacity, but if saving their lives means I have to step over humans for the next few days, I can certainly live with the inconvenience. I ponder sending a quick comm to Risda III ahead of time and then decide it’s not worth the risk. If we’re on someone’s radar, the last thing I want to do is point a big arrow to the fact that we’ll be flying a bunch of vulnerable humans to the far reaches of space.
I’m pondering how to stretch food stores in case the return to Risda gets delayed—because a good captain is always prepared for every scenario—when Bethiah storms onto the bridge, her hair wet and her clothing sticking to her lanky frame. She flops down onto Adiron’s chair and sprawls out. “Well, that was a journey.”
I frown at the trail of water she’s dripping across the floors. “Do I even want to ask?”
“Let’s just say that humans are very wiggly.”
“You…do know they can probably bathe themselves?”
“The problem isn’t the bathing. The problem is that they keep trying to make a break for it every time I turn my back.”
I can’t say I blame them. I’d probably run for the nearest station if Bethiah tried to bathe me, too. “Helen will help them out. Let her handle it. She’s got a soft spot for humans and knows them really well.”
The mesakkah female scowls at me. “I can be soft for humans, too. You don’t know me. And aren’t you worried they might harm your pretty little qura’aki? She’s built like a twig.”
One of those humans? Harm Helen? I bite back a laugh.
CHAPTER 68
MATHIRAS
Hours later, I have my weapons holstered at my waist, and Helen is at my side, bouncing. At first I thought she was bouncing like a gladiator about to join a fight…but I think she’s just excited. She’s wearing a gray bodysuit that matches mine but has elected not to have a blaster belted. Instead, she has blades worked into her tight sleeves and stashed into the seams of her cloak. Over her sleeves, she has a pair of glinting arm shields. I’m not a big fan of them as I find them clunky when I’m trying to shoot, but Helen likes the idea of wearing them. She has the ooli mask in her hand but hasn’t put it on yet, so I can see the look of intense eagerness on her pretty face.