She had her answer three days later when a group of vaguely familiar males trailed them from the space station and attacked. Veral allowed them to dock and slaughtered each male who attempted to board their ship. Their screams had echoed through the ship into the quarters she shared with Veral, making her hands tighten into fists against the bedding.
She understood the danger then, but she didn’t think he would follow through with his plan.
Terri didn’t even think of it when they received an assignment from the Royal House of Grezna to salvage a load that had gone down when the starship carrying it crashed. Although it had been weeks since the incident, and Terri herself had almost forgotten his quiet decision, when they stopped again to take on more fuel, Veral had kept to his word and locked her on the ship for her safety. Bewildered, she waited for him, and he returned with their supplies.
Each time they stopped as they passed through the quadrants, she was left aboard. It was only then, after the third stop, that she realized just how serious he had been about protecting her.
1
Four Months Later
Stars surrounded the ship in an endless field, one that changed only minimally as they traveled through space. Oh, the placement of the stars did shift as they flew from one quadrant to another, but to someone who knew dick about space, it all started to blur together in an unending, unvarying nothingness. They were now on month four of their journey to salvage in an outer alliance system, and it felt like they would never get there.
Terri held back a sigh. There were some impressive sights to be seen, but only if she happened to be on the flight deck, looking out of the viewing screen at the right time. It wasn’t as if the male she mated a few months ago ever alerted her to anything new they were coming across unless it was to tell her to brace for impact, or to hide when someone was hailing his ship.
It was only a couple months ago that just being in space had still been a fascinating adventure to her. It was preferable to the dying world that she had grown up on. When she left the planet with the alien salvager, Veral, she had been excited about what the universe held. Unfortunately, the adventure had already dried up when it became apparent that the male was not only overly protective but territorial to the point that she never got to do anything.
After an unpleasant incident with a male trader the first—and only—time she had been on a space station, she was left locked on the ship with Krono, the enormous canid-like dorashnal, whenever Veral had to disembark. There was a vague promise that she would be able to get out when they got a salvage assignment, but this was the first one that had come up.
His worry was understandable. She got it. Being on the space station just once made one thing really clear to them: with the human species nearly gone and almost unheard of in space, and Terri likely the only one of her species who left Earth, it made her exotic and coveted. She hated it.
After dealing with the gangs on Earth who gleefully kidnapped women, she hadn’t considered that in space she would be dealing with the same issues. Unfortunately, even the slightest interest in her direction drove her overprotective mate murderous. She didn’t pity those who had tracked and attempted to board their ship only days after leaving the space station. As far as she was concerned, they got what they deserved, but it did suck that it resulted in Veral being paranoid about anyone even knowing that she was onboard.
Terri shifted in the seat he had installed near his and glanced at her mate’s profile. The vibrissae that hung from his head like numerous thin, black tentacles made a whispering hiss from their tiny rattlers as they moved around his shoulders. It still amazed her that the huge alien beside her was her mate. Every inch of him was lethal to the core, his cybernetics glowing under his skin adding to the impression, especially when knowing that his cultural norm was to be “advanced” enough that emotional impulses that overrode the cybernetic codes were considered a defect.
She didn’t want to complain of how bored she otherwise was, not when she had changed his life the moment that they mate bonded. All his work to control his emotional impulses so that he wasn’t branded as defective had gone out the window when the intense emotions of the bond had left him helpless to hide them. He knew that his affection, love, and even jealousy—all things she greedily enjoyed—were a death sentence. Because of that, he had given her the choice to stay on Earth.
She could have lived her life in safety in the sanctuary city, but she chose to be with her mate. She willingly chose this life with him. She didn’t regret it—there was really nothing for her on Earth—but she did worry that her decision to accompany him had made his attempts to avoid his people all the more difficult.
He refused to speak of it when she attempted to bring it up, but it had become an uncomfortable point between them. Everything was fine as long as she didn’t mention it, but it didn’t stop her from thinking about it constantly as of late. Even in plotting out their course to check out wreckage on another planet, she had noted that Veral had gone out of his way to burn extra fuel to avoid inhabited zones.
All because of her.
She wasn’t stupid. She knew that eventually they would see more bounty hunters from Argurumal. They already had two who came after them on Earth, and Veral was certain that it was just the beginning. She also knew that he was worried about it, even if he didn’t share his concerns with her. The only thing he allowed himself to vent his grievances about were the males whenever they encroached anywhere near their ship. Though he hated other aliens’ attempts to steal her, he didn’t truly worry about them. Much of his venting was an outlet for his true concern: his people tracking them down. The salvager was their only refuge, and it wasn’t exactly secretive when they depended on taking odd jobs.
At least this time she would get to do some actual salvage work, and she was going to be on a planet! Sure, they made a stop to retrieve furs for an employer, but Veral had insisted she stay inside due to the number of unmated males approaching their ship… and that was before the space station incident. This time, since they were salvaging alone, she would be able to get out. She grinned at the idea of getting to stretch her legs on an alien world. If only they could just speed up the travel time. She’d assumed that they would be there in a matter of days—not months.
“You are restless, anastha,” Veral observed, his mandibles making a soft clicking sound as he examined a schematic blown up on one corner of the viewing screen.
Terri hid a frown. She hadn’t meant to be so obvious.
“I am just eager to get started on our salvager,” she corrected with a small smile.
His eyes turned toward her and narrowed, his mandibles letting out a sharper click. Although her mate wasn’t particularly expressive unless under the influence of strong passion or rage, she had come to notice the subtle nuance of his “you’re full of shit” expression.
“Honestly! Okay,” she conceded after he kept staring. “I may be feeling a bit impatient. I guess I didn’t realize just how long it would take.”
A soft chuff erupted from her mate, his glowing blue eyes warming by degrees.
“Is this not what I told you? There are great distances that have to be traveled when salvaging.”
“I know,” she grumbled. “I just didn’t think it would bethatlong. Plus I didn’t get to leave the ship with you when you last refueled and restocked our supplies, so it feels like it’s stretching on forever. How many more days are we estimating here, anyway?”
She frowned at the way Veral’s vibrissae quivered in amusement, his lips tugging upward. Her face flushed with embarrassment as she shot him a mild, chastising scowl. It was bad enough that she verged on whining—not that it wasn’t a legitimate observation—but now he was laughing at her.
“Time estimation: eight days until we are in orbit of outpost planet Tignr.”
She cocked her head. “Outpost planet? Does that mean there are people there?”