Shalia had been working in silence when the Dohrags shifted their conversation to more sensitive matters, but they’d been engrossed in the discussion and hadn’t paid her any mind. But now Grallox’s attention had been caught, and he eyed the woman with a lusty stare.
“You. Come here,” he commanded.
“I can’t. I’m doing my job.”
“Did you hear what I said, woman? I ordered you to come here!”
Shalia felt a sharp pang of fear shoot through her belly. “The commander made it quite clear I was to do this and not let anything distract me from my work,” she countered, picking up a stack of plates.
Grallox moved fast, lunging to his feet and grabbing her arm hard, shoving her toward his little group. The dishes clattered to the deck. Chairs moved and the others stood, circling her, blocking her path, following their friend’s lead.
“You do whatIsay, not what that half-breed tells you.”
Shalia’s panic was growing by the second, the men’s lecherous stares and Grallox’s seeming lack of fear of the station’s rules regarding females making both sides of her fight-or-flight response flare up hard, only increased by the runes now active on her body. Her Infala was even reacting, and she felt an odd tug just as two of the four men abruptly went flying, sprawling across a nearby table. Shalia, Grallox, and Trutzo all spun in shock.
Commander Valin was standing in their midst, a towering,furious sight to behold, his fists clenching and unclenching as he practically radiated violence. He stared at Grallox hard, his chest faintly glowing beneath his shirt. They were bonding, and his Infala must have somehow sensed and reacted to her panic, Shalia realized.
“Back off, and leave,now!” he growled.
Grallox stood tall. He was a head shorter than the commander, but there were three others backing him up. He had numbers on his side.
“No. This has gone on long enough. This bitch needs to be taught a lesson.”
Valin glanced at Shalia, the mark on her arm where Grallox grabbed her plain to see. She felt the shift in her chest, her own Infala reacting to his in such close proximity. He was furious, and the power was trickling into her body through their bond. She’d never felt anything like it before.
Valin glared at his underling, stone-cold anger in his eyes. “Touch her again and I will kill you.”
“As if you would dare,” Grallox said with a flippant laugh. “Besides, you may be the commander now, but that’s all going to change, and a lot sooner than you think.” He moved toward Shalia, reaching out for her.
The sound of his arm snapping was loud, the bone breaking in an instant under Valin’s meaty grasp. The others jumped into action as soon as they realized what had happened. He’d twisted hard and fast, applying pressure at just the right angle, all while looking as though it had required no effort at all. This wasn’t the act of an amateur. Despite his restraint as their commander and appearance as a calm and rational leader, Valin apparently knew far more about fighting dirty than he let on.
And in his rage, he was true to his word.
As the other mutineers moved in to attack their commander Grallox snatched a knife from the table and swung hard. His arm dropped loosely before he even got close to making contact, his lips moving but silent, unable to call out.
Shalia’s eyes widened as she processed the red coating thecommander’s fist. Then she realized Valin had torn out the man’s throat with his bare hand.
That was that. He was committed now.
He moved fast, dropping Grallox in a heap as he spun into action, using not only his fists, but his hard elbows and knees, slamming bone into the skulls and jaws of his attackers with a sickening crack. He was a huge man, much larger than the others, yet now that he was in combat, letting his body and emotions fully off the leash, he moved with the speed and grace of a dancer. A deadly, violent one at that.
This was not a sparring session. It was a fight for survival. And more than that, he was protecting his lover. His mate. With Shalia’s safety on the line, Valin didn’t hesitate to use all of his skills at full-force. To her utter shock, the whole thing only took seconds.
Barely winded, he stood over the four dead crewmen a moment then hurried to Shalia’s side, wrapping her up tight in his arms. “Are you hurt?” he asked, trembling with both fear for her safety as well as lingering rage.
“I’m—yeah. But this—they’re dead.”
“Yes, I’m aware.”
“It’s going to be a problem.”
“I know. But no one else was present. If I work fast, I can move them to a work area and stage things to look like an accident?—”
“It won’t work.”
The certainty in her voice took him off-guard. “Why are you so sure?”
“Because I overheard Grallox talking. He already called for help. He requested reinforcements.”
