My heart flutters with warmth. Mathiras has gone from ignoring me to hovering over me as if I’m precious and I’m absolutely loving this. Part of me wants to turn back around so I can get more cuddles and attention back on the ship, but there are humans waiting for a rescue, and I think of Jade and Alice and Ruth, and I know I’d never leave them behind. “Let’s keep going. We need to find out where they’re holding the humans. We can’t leave until they’re all safe with us.”
“Safe with us. Aren’t you cute.” Bethiah gives me a dismissive look. “There’s no place safe for a human in the universe. Not even their home planet.” She takes two steps over and plants her boot on the neck of the male trying to slither away on his stomach. “They keep getting snatched from there, poor loves.”
“What about Risda?” I protest. “The farm place?” It’s not my favorite because I prefer space but there are a lot of humans there and no one’s been enslaved.
Bethiah shrugs. “Safer is still not safe. But it’ll do for now. Is that the plan? Shove all these humans into Lord va’Rin’s arms? Make them his problem?”
Mathiras tears his gaze away from me. “Unless you have a better plan?”
She smiles. “I don’t, actually. I’m just along for the ride…and to get my ship back.”
Matty nods. “Which reminds me. We need to find where they’ve got Zebah hidden away, or if she’s even here.” He moves to the captive’s side and hauls him to his feet. “You feel like talking, my friend?”
The male spits on Mathiras, hitting his cheek.
Mathiras only grins, tilting his head enough to wipe it on his shoulder, but my head boils with fury. Anger blisters through me and I take a few steps forward, ready to break every bone in the male’s body for daring—
“Whoa, whoa,” Bethiah says, stepping between me and the captive. She puts a hand in the air. “Remember the plan, little flower. Dead men tell no secrets.”
“Dead men don’t spit on my mate.”
“I don’t mind it,” Mathiras says, sliding his blaster under the male’s chin and pointing the muzzle against the alien’s skin. “It shows loyalty, after all. And it means he’ll be that much harder to break. And Helen does adore a challenge, don’t you, love?” His voice becomes soft and sultry, and I shiver at how good it is.
“I do like a challenge,” I admit, playing along. “If I break all the tiny bones on him first, he won’t die for a long time. Then we can just put pressure on the bigger ones for a while. Not enough to break them, but just enough to make it hurt really bad. And there are a lot of tiny bones in the face. A lot of soft tissue, too. Actually there’s a lot of soft tissue in the abdomen, too.” I pause, thinking. “Do you suppose it hurts if we harvest the organs, or do organs even have nerve endings? But I suppose that doesn’t matter if we start with bone-breaking first.”
The captive licks his lips, looking at me with disbelief. “She can’t.”
“Actually, my friend, she can,” Bethiah says, grinning. “And that’s the scariest part of all. Someone’s made our little qura’aki buddy here a killing machine. Isn’t that fun?”
The alien swallows hard again, looking at me.
I just smile and crack my knuckles. “Did you know the nose isn’t made of bone at all in a lot of species? It’s just cartilage that can be moved around. It can come loose, or be removed entirely—”
“What do you want to know?” the male blurts.
CHAPTER 71
MATHIRAS
“Of course it was a trap,” the captive male says as I haul him to his feet. “You can’t talk about so many credits in the Belly and not have someone plotting to take your head.”
I knew that, but in a way, it didn’t matter all that much. Once I saw all those humans, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to leave them there. “So where’s your master? And where are all the humans?”
“Gone,” he says, and there’s a hint of smugness in his voice. “Left the station earlier this evening. We’re to collect your credits and wait for instructions.”
I bite back a curse. To think we’ve come this far and to have everything slip out of our grasp once more. Frustrated, I give the captive male a shove. I hate that we’ve somehow failed all those frightened people and our mission to boot. I let him stumble forward and pace away, rubbing at my mouth. We just need to regroup somehow, maybe visit Zakoar again and ask more questions, or the Belly—
“And Zebah? Where’s that little shitstain?” Bethiah asks.
The male snorts. “That one. She talks endlessly, you know. They had to gag her to silence her.” He shakes his head. “Boss tried to ransom her back to the bounty hunters’ guild but there were no takers, so he left her tied up in a room in the back.” He staggers a step or two forward and turns, and as he does, he focuses on Helen. His expression grows calculating. “Are you truly a—”