Perhaps she could even be the One.
I recalled the expression that rose to my father’s face every time he looked at my mother. Even now, I felt the absolute love and devotion he had for her. I was beginning to feel that with Alice too.
Absolute and total devotion.
My mood darkened that these assholes were threatening to take her away from me.
No one came between a Titan and his mate.
No one.
I entered the engine bay. Spread out before the emergency escape pods was the rest of my illustrious crew. A dozen members in total, a mixed bunch from all four corners of the galaxy.
Standing at their head, the largest and physically most powerful of them all. Horn Tusk.
Rattigan left my side and joined the others. Stryder was the only member who stood at my side. The only true friend among them.
“You called me here?” I said, addressing Horn Tusk.
He stepped forward and spat on the floor. “I did.”
“Tell me your demands and maybe we can come to an agreement,” I said. It was the typical response in situations like this.
“You know what our demands are,” Horn Tusk said. “We want to abduct children. They’re easier to transport and masters pay us premium prices. You are a good smuggler, a good captain. But we cannot continue to bust our asses and take such high risks when we could be earning so much more.”
I made eye contact with each member of the crew. “You know I will not back down on this issue. If it was anything else, anything at all, I would budge. But not this.”
Some of the crew looked genuinely sorry.
Horn Tusk shrugged his cape off and let it flutter to the floor, revealing half a dozen blades strapped to his broad back. He pulled two free. “I was hoping you would say that.”
I limped forward and withdrew my sword. It sang in my hands. Despite all the technology in the galaxy, it was in old weapons that we put our faith. Too many species had developed defense systems to counteract advanced weapons, too many safety protocols with DNA scanners and voice activation. Swords and hammers and bows required only a skilled hand.
I drew a sword breaker in my offhand. As I pulled it out, I intentionally dropped it. The most mutinous of the crew chuckled. I bent down to pick it up.
“You appear a little frail, Captain,” Horn Tusk spat. “I’ll try to make this quick. I don’t like to make creatures suffer.”
Challenges needn’t end in death, but capitulation. But such was the personality of most smuggler captains that they resolutely refused to surrender.
I was no different.
Horn Tusk swung his swords around. I blocked them both and rolled to one side.
Horn Tusk rolled his neck and shoulders, warming up. He slashed at me again, one blade slicing a gash in the wall. I caught that blade in my sword breaker and twisted it, snapping the blade in two and parried the other.
Horn Tusk reached for another sword on his back and came at me again.
I glanced at the doorway. I hoped Alice would return soon. Eventually, I had to show my hand and defeat him. But the longer I danced, the more tired I became.
I ducked and then stepped to one side. His blades swung across, faster than I expected. I barely managed to parry and used the situation to my advantage. I struck at the weak joint under his arm. It wasn’t a strong blow but enough to slice his flesh.
I couldn’t keep dancing, but I could slow him down.
He howled in anger and more than a little pain and swiped his arm around to decapitate me. I ducked and rolled. I came up onto my feet and stumbled…
It wasn’t on purpose.
Oh no…
The sickness was returning.
Blood oozed from Horn Tusk’s armor and splattered over the floor. It was a bad sign. His chances of becoming the captain were waning by the second. His piggy black eyes came to the same conclusion but he would not back down.
“I think the human female has weakened the captain,” Rattigan said, curling his lip in disgust. “When we went to his quarters, he was in bed with her.”
“I bet she looked as sweet as a peach,” Horn Tusk said.
“She looked fine, if you like hairless beasts,” Rattigan said.
“I bet she was juicy,” Horn Tusk said, keeping his beady eyes on me. “I can’t wait to taste her.”
They were goading me into making a mistake, to lash out in anger…
It was working.
Liquid hot bile bubbled at the back of my throat. I stepped forward, taking an offensive line. The limp I harbored vanished and even the pain of the sickness faded into a dull murmur. I couldn’t keep up pretenses any longer.
I roared and my blade flashed. Horn Tusk parried the first with ease but his injured arm was slow and I knocked the blade out of his hoof and caught the second in the swordbreaker. A twist of my wrist and it snapped clean off, clattering to the floor.
Horn Tusk moved to grab another pair of blades but I was ready for him, and jabbed him in the gut with the pommel of my blade and smashed him across the mouth with the cross-guard.
I aimed the tip of my blade at Horn Tusk’s neck. “Do you yield?”
Horn Tusk raised his hooves. But Rattigan wasn’t done goading me yet.
“Do you think the human female is still upset about the death of our slave?” Rattigan said. “The one we call Maisie?”
“What are you doing?” Horn Tusk said, grunting in the direction of his compatriot. “He’ll run me through if he learns the truth! I yiel—”
“Not yet!” Rattigan said.
“If I learn what?” I said.
Rattigan sneered and edged closer. “If you discovered Horn Tusk is responsible for her death.”
Horn Tusk, despite
