“Why do you wear those glasses? You can get your eyes fixed, you know.”
The question felt like a job interview. Did she want this to be a job interview? “I don’t need to get my eyes fixed. Since we’re getting personal, what happened to your face?” Thalia raked two fingers down her cheek to demonstrate her meaning.
“I had a disagreement with the previous captain. I thought I’d be a better one. He didn’t. I got one cut for each failed mutiny attempt. The third time’s the charm. Do you know what I learned from that?”
“If the crew mutinies, they better do it right the first time?” It seemed obvious to Thalia.
The calculating grin returned. “I think I have a spot for you on my crew.”
Thalia took a long swig from the bottle. Leaving with Sue wasn’t Havik’s plan, but it was a damn good opportunity. He already ID’d the crew as smugglers. Surely, he’d know that if she left with Sue, it was just part of the job and not running away. Who would run away from a kiss like that? She wanted to snuggle up with him and discover where those kisses could take them.
Good places, she bet. The best places.
Fuck. She wanted to stay with her Danger B, but Sue presented the ideal opportunity to get in with the crew. They were inclined to trust her. Her gut told her she couldn’t say no, so she said yes.
“Sign me up, captain.”
Havik
This was not the plan.
Havik watched Thalia leave of her own volition with the smugglers. Had they coerced her? Tricked her? He hated to imagine Thalia in peril. Then, a quiet and vicious thought wiggled its way into his head: had the smugglers made a more generous offer?
No. For her many numerous faults, she was loyal to her word. She often applied a very generous interpretation to her word, but he felt confident that she would not betray him. She assessed the battlefield and adjusted the plan of attack, as any warrior would do.
Havik paced back and forth in front of the ship, waiting for Ren to return so they could leave this miserable station and retrieve his mate. Even if they left that instant, they would need to follow at a distance outside of long-range scanners, which meant burning fuel for nothing.
They had time. He had to be patient.
Fuck patience.
Waiting grated against him like sand in the wind. He needed to be doing something. Anything.
“Don’t you have a female to scowl at and silently judge? Where is Thalia?” Ren balanced a medium-sized box on one shoulder and carried a bag.
Havik hated the way his friend said his mate’s name, like it was humorous. What he shared with Thalia was sacred and just for them. He did not need Ren’s laughter.
Scrubbing a hand over his face, he shook his head to clear away the possessive thoughts and updated Ren on the situation.
“Lost another female?” Ren grinned at his perceived cleverness.
Havik landed a swift blow to the smiling fool’s abdomen. Ren doubled over, dropping the box and bag. A bell jingled. A colorful plastic ball rolled down the pavement.
Stabs—Havik would not acknowledge a fictitious rank—bolted down the ramp. Tail rattling, the kumakre pounced and tumbled with the ball, the bell jingling merrily.
Ren kneeled and opened the box. “This part was specially made. If you damaged it, we will be here another day.”
“Unacceptable.”
The ball rolled away, and Stabs scurried after, chasing the sound. A dock worker shouted in alarm and pressed himself against the side of a ship as Stabs dashed past. Havik assured the male he was safe if he remained still.
“You bought the kumakre a toy?”
Ren seemed unconcerned that he insulted the dignity of a fierce and wild predator with a few credits’ worth of plastic and metal and completely ignored Havik. “If you do not wish to wait, then do not attack males holding expensive, custom made converters,” he said. He lifted a piece of silver metal that appeared very much to be two cups welded together.
“That was custom made?” Havik did not understand mechanics.
“Yes. The inner chamber degrades over time.” Ren tapped the center where the cups joined. “I could waste days searching junkyards for the part, but it would be worn and fail, just as our current one does. Fortunately, this appears to have survived your temper tantrum.”
Havik had the overwhelming urge to punch Ren again. “How long until we’re ready to fly?”
“Three hours.”
“Make it one.” He needed to follow Thalia. The tracker worked at a considerable distance but the itching inside his head would cease if he were moving toward her, not sitting still while Ren played with his parts.
Thalia would have snorted at that, making such a ludicrous sound with her tiny Terran nose and sinus cavity.
“Impossible. The material needs to be tempered or it will crack, and that will cause a cascade—” Ren babbled, listing a series of mechanical failures that would prove fatal.
Havik ceased to listen. “Do it.”
He scooped up Stabs, clutching and hissing at the ball, and marched up the ramp.
Chapter 13
Thalia
The crew was less than warm with their greetings.
“Captain brought in another stray. This one won’t last a week,” a human man with a rough salt and pepper beard said. He looked like he fought hard in the battle of life but still lost.
“Please, question me some more,” Sue said, silencing the man with a look. “Dray, give her Paadric’s old cabin.”
Dray, the other Sangrin male who had been at the bar, asked, “Do you have luggage or something?”
“What you see is what you get. I didn’t have time to pack a bag before I was asked to leave the ship,” Thalia said, trying to keep her voice light. She wanted the smuggler crew to underestimate her because you never question the motive of those you think of as harmless. If anyone questioned her, she’d have to spin a lie, and making up lies on the spot was harder than people thought.
She forced a sunny smile on
