Worse than helpless. They were totally dependent upon people they’d never met, couldn’t trust, and were absolutely terrifying.
“Does it help if I assure you of your safety?” Alred asked peaceably.
Garnet turned forward again. No one had come any closer to her. Which was better than if they had continued to crowd around them, but only marginally because they were still trapped.
But like Goldie said, it wasn’t like they had any better options.
“It really doesn’t,” Garnet said. “But we don’t have any other choice. So, for now,” she locked eyes with Tanin again, “we’ll accept your hospitality. Thank you.”
Chapter 5
Tanin
The females followed him back to their half-finished medbay, but he could tell that the braver of the two wasn’t happy about it. Alred told him that she’d accepted his offer to help them with gratitude, but he didn’t need the translation to tell it was begrudging.
Garnet, Alred said her name was. The other was called Goldie. She hid behind Garnet while Garnet walked forward, facing the new situation with grim determination. She’d accepted his offer, but she was just waiting for him to betray her.
The mixture of bravery and suspicion and determination as she acted as a shield for her sister was unbelievably attractive. Tanin’s eyes kept being drawn to her as he moved around their mediring. The bed and scanning ring that went around it were both up and ready and fully functional. Or it should be. He didn’t have anyone on board who knew how to use one. The room also had plenty of medical supplies, but they were all still in boxes.
When it came to their health, they either suffered and healed the long way, or they used what little they had to the best of their ability. Alred could operate the mediring itself, but they could only use the automatic functions. That had served them fine thus far since they only used it to treat minor wounds. Sway knew anatomy and how to piece a body together, but his skillset wasn’t really trained towardshealing, and he didn’t know how to use the mediring at all. He patched them up if necessary. Neither of them were healers though. They had to make do with what they had.
But scanning and helping humans? Were human standard scans even included in the data for medirings yet? Or was that something they needed to get specially? If it was, he didn’t want to try. Unlike Alred downloading the human language, that seemed the sort of thing that would make people question what they were doing.
Humans were still rare in the universe. Their protector species were very cautious about the ones that were sent out to their mates. The last thing he needed was someone misunderstanding and thinking his crew were the ones who captured these females.
They were trouble. A lot of trouble. The kind of trouble he absolutely couldn’t get involved with. They were just a delivery company. Having human females onboard,illegalones, would only complicate everything.
But he also couldn’t blame them for being here. It wasn’t their fault. And so long as they were here, regardless of why, they were his responsibility. Anything that was on his ship belonged to Tanin, no matter how temporary it was. That was why he didn’t let anything onboard he didn’t know about. If something was his, he took care of it, no matter how he got it.
“Alred, ask one of them to lay down on the bed. And get ready to scan them.”
“I will try my best. But, again, I am not trained in healing sciences.”
“Just run the basic programs. That should be enough.”
Garnet was looking at him again. She was so suspicious. And he could understand why. He would have been just as distrusting in her position. For all she knew, they were lying to her to force their compliance.
Not that they’d really need to. She had been fighting him like her life depended on it, but her blows weren’t even hard enough to bruise. The first one, the punch to his nose, had hurt just because it was a sensitive spot, but it had been surprise more than pain that made him drop her.
She wasn’t strong enough to stop him from doing whatever he wanted to her. Neither of them were, not even together. They’d been scrappy, he could admit. Punching his nose, pulling his tail – they were the kind of sneaky tactics someone not used to fighting would use.
But if he was serious, it wouldn’t be enough. They weren’t a match for even the least of his crew. Surely, they knew it as well. That knowledge alone had to be terrifying.
But Garnet was still so strong and defiant, cutting him another suspicious look as Alred passed on Tanin’s instructions. He hadn’t specified which of them should lie down, but he wasn’t surprised when it was Garnet who moved forward first.
She inspected the bed like she was checking for weapons. Literally touching all over it, even bending down to check underneath, before she finally turned and hopped up onto it. Alred was speaking to her, likely telling her to lay back so the rings of the device could move around her.
She looked from Alred then right back to Tanin before doing so. She kept her gaze on him, and Tanin stared right back at her. Was she looking to him for some kind of comfort? Was she just trying to keep an eye on him to make sure he didn’t do anything? He really couldn’t tell based on the expression on her face.
But he didn’t mind her gaze on him.
Tanin didn’t tangle with females very often. He’d been raised on a space station, not the ancestral planet of his species, so he’d been exposed to females of every species from a young age. Because of that, it wasn’t odd for him to be attracted to alien females over his own species – the only example of which he knew was his mother.
But females of any species would have demands of their male. Even if Tanin wasn’t their mate, they would want things from him he couldn’t afford to give. Time, attention, devotion. Tanin’s only goal right now was to secure the stability and future of himself and his crew. He couldn’t afford to give a female the dedication she would need. Those he did take as pleasure mates wanted nothing more than a mark or two of fun. It kept things simple.
These were not simple females. These ones were trouble.
But he could stare back at her as Alred started up the scanner. Until he returned them to the proper authorities and bailed, he could enjoy the sight.
