I could let him sweep me away and never regret it for a moment. The dangerous, precarious situation I was in wouldn’t let me. This was a world I did not know, in a future seven hundred years removed from the time I’d known. What could I expect? Was I safe? And what had happened to Earth? I needed to find out.
So I lifted my head and studied the decontamination unit Sin had taken me to. Then I inventoried what I’d seen of the hangar bay and the species lined up by the door, watching us. My translator implants had not picked up their languages, but they must have asked something about being shy. That much I had gathered from Sin’s response.
One had looked like a shark, and the other, an obviously male presence, had risen tall on several gently undulating tentacles. The third was a woman with blue skin, fairly humanoid in appearance save for a pair of daintily pointed ears. Three species I didn’t know anything about, and they made me intensely curious. Zeta Quadrant natives, probably, unlike Sin and me.
Then there was the hangar bay itself: dark, gloomy even, with black metal walls and floors, and dozens of different sleek vehicles parked inside. Ranging from shuttles to smaller flyers to all-terrain land vehicles, this ship had them all. It had all looked high-tech, alien, and thus very different, but not beyond anything I could recognize. The size of the bay also told me this had to be a very big ship, and now I wished Sin hadn’t distracted me when we flew to it. It would have been helpful to see it—or more of it—than just a black flank and an open hangar bay.
The cycle of the decontamination unit did not last long, just long enough to fray my nerves. I felt raw, exposed when the doors opened and Sin stepped away. He was such a frustrating man, and I hated that I let it affect me. We were mates; of course it did. But that didn’t mean I had to be okay with the sudden appearance of the cold shoulder. Except, it wasn’t that at all. He’d stepped away to block the view of those waiting on the other side of the door. Hiding me.
When I stepped closer, Val pressed against me, blocking my way out. Telling me without words that she, too, wanted me to stay back. Why? Mercenaries didn’t exactly have a good name in most parts of the Alpha Quadrant, but these were Sin’s people, weren’t they? I doubted they’d attack me on sight.
Leaning to the left, I got a look at the waiting party from underneath Sin’s arm. That’s when my pulse skittered in fear and surprise, and suddenly, I was grateful Sin and Val were standing between me and them. The aliens on the other side of that door, they wereveryalien, and that was saying something after seeing a guy with a head like a shark. Perhaps I just had a more primal, visceral fear response to seeing snake coils overthirty feet in length. That was one hell of a big snake, and there were two of them.
My fear must have been obvious to everyone, but especially to Sin. His body seemed to get bigger, gleaming silver as Val covered him. He also swung his arm behind his back and caught my hand, his fingers squeezing around mine in what I hoped was reassurance.
Two snake guys, their long tails making them impossibly large, though their upper bodies appeared very human-shaped. Just… covered in scales of gleaming black, edged with gold and faint flecks of bright green. They could be twins, their facial features were also far too similar, but that could just as easily be bias. My eyes weren’t trained to see the nuances of their alien features and pick out the differences. The shark guy beyond them was actually the friendlier-looking of the bunch right now.
The snake in the lead had the sternest look, and that alone made me decide he had to be the one in charge. He hissed things in sibilant, foreign tones, all serpentine and alien. Sin lowered his raised shoulders just a tad in response, then rolled one. “You’re the one who started it,” he said, in a tone that dripped with sarcasm and mockery. “Taking in strays, now it’s my turn.”
This did not appear to go over well with the stern-looking snake guy, and he rose taller on his tail and moved closer. It was very creepy how quietly he moved, and how sleek the movement was, so that it barely seemed like he’d moved at all. I’d blink, and he would seem closer. It made the skin on the back of my neck twitch and fear curl more tightly in my stomach. What was this place? Who were these people? And how much could I trustthem? I didn’t like having all these questions. I didn’t like being at such a huge disadvantage.
I couldn’t understand a word anyone was saying, proof that I was far beyond the borders of the Alpha Quadrant. Proof that plenty of intelligent lifeforms existed outside of Earth’s little bubble. My fingers tightened around Sin’s hand, my brain struggling for a moment with the enormity of all the changes: dead crew, deader mission, and possibly a ruined Earth, and I was utterly useless in all of it.
My brain sort of short-circuited then, and everything became a bit of a daze. It was a good thing that, despite his faults and rough edges, I did trust Sin fully. I let him guide me down the hall, past the snakes and sharks, deeper into a ship so black it felt like walking into the night.
Chapter 13
The Sineater
Val was consuming everything that my mate had to offer, a veritable feast of despair and confusion, fear and terror. It ached so deep inside my chest that I wanted to sink through the ship’s metal floors and escape. The thought came with the echoes of Frederique’s voice, calling me a coward, taunting me until I snapped—saying the truest things she possibly could and hurting me where it hurt the most. No running. I couldn’t do that to her, wouldn’t, even if I had a choice.
“You can’t call a human a stray, Sin,” Asmoded warned me firmly. He had coiled closer on the deck, head cocked at an angle as he studied my mate like she was a slide under a microscope. Dravion was behind him, camouflaged against the wall and pretending he wasn’t part of the confrontation while avidly studying us at the same time. Meanwhile, Saisir, Asmoded’s long-lost son, was holding his rifle like he was ready to use it, staring with distrust.
“Why not?” I said. “You adopted yours like a Gracka puppy.” Frederique was in overload; she’d been through too much in too short a time. I had to get her out of here, to the med bay, for a health check, although I already knew that Val had healed whatever could possibly be physically wrong. The need to hear that from the doc was powerful, and I wanted to get her updated translator implants and visual implants so she would not be helpless. I might not have been helpless in a very long time, and I might usually enjoy seeing others squirm, but not her.
Sweeping her into my arms, I made the choice for everyone here to end this pointless discussion. It was moot anyway; Frederique was mine, and she had taunted the beast into claiming her. She was not leaving. The others might as well get used to it in a hurry, and they could wait a long time before I explained myself.
Asmoded barked orders behind me. I could hear him conferring with Ysa and Dravion about the containment situation in the hangar bay. Quiet footsteps followed us, not Jaxin’s, but Thatcher’s, the human male with the feral look in his eyes. He’d been watching over our engineer with a razor-sharp gaze, acting like a man certain his ward was in imminent danger. Not that Ysa had realized how protectively the human had hovered; she would not appreciate it if she did.
I was not surprised when Dravion caught up to me before I reached the med bay. Frederique had gone limp in my arms; she had not fainted, but it was close. Her eyes were staring at the black ceiling, tracking the lights placed at intervals. She had gone numb, and if I didn’t know that that could be part of the healing process, I would be worried. No, who was I kidding? Iwasworried, and I wasn’t used to feeling that way.
“Where did you find her?” Dravion asked as we entered his domain. Thatcher stayed by the door, uneasy and restless. Even when Val pulled on those feelings, they did not let up, but they were only a small, tightly controlled drop to feed on, anyway. I did not like his presence there, at the only exit. Dravion was on my other side, prepping a medical cot and laying out supplies with his tentacles on a tray at the same time. We were flanked, but with Val at my side, not outnumbered.
“On the planet,” I said, which I knew wasn’t helpful. Once I had Frederique settled in my quarters, I would have to meet with Asmoded again to explain at least some of the particulars. I wasn’t looking forward to that, but only because I didn’t relish the idea of leaving Frederique’s side. I would certainly enjoy doling out what I knew sparingly. It wasn’t like it was of much use to anyone now. TheLancing Lightwasn’t going anywhere, and neither were the dark things from the depths of that nasty planet’s oceans. It was done.
Dravion blinked his black, mirror-smooth eyes at me and heaved a put-upon sigh I ignored. He patted the cot in front of him with a tentacle, but I did not like the idea of letting go of Frederique. I froze, trapped between what I knew I should do and what my instincts wanted of me. The sounds coming from behind me indicated more arrivals, and that just put me even further on edge.
Val paced between Thatcher and me, as she did not consider Dravion—with his always calm and placid temper—any kind of threat. That meant she was also between us and the new arrivals, but none of that settled the protective, angry energy coursing through my veins. I was always cold, in control, angry, sure, but never irrational. It felt like part of me was observing from outside my body and noticing how crazy I was acting.
“Sin,” Asmoded said, “let the doctor do his job.” I twisted beside the cot, staring, glaring. He was with his mate this time, but Mandy’s presence did not ease my tension. She was small, still a little rounded from her pregnancy, and cradled their son against one shoulder. A black-scaled little boy with two human legs and a slender, sinuous tail, he was a blend of human and Naga.Vulnerable and harmless, and yet male… I bared my teeth and received a furious glare from my captain in return.
“It’s okay,” Frederique said, her hand patting my chest gently. She lifted her chin and raised her green eyes to meet mine, offering a pale, wan smile. Reassuring me, acting like I was the one having a meltdown, even though she was the one who had just nearly fainted. I growled, frustrated, even more furious, and no closer to understanding the tangle of big feelings inside my chest.
Her feet touched the cot when I began to lower her slowly, but even after I’d set her down, I could not convince my arms to let her go. It was the best I could do. Dravion seemed to know that, because he came in with his scanner, but carefully kept his distance with most of his tentacles. I knew that scanner would tell him she was in good health, but I still needed to hear him say the words out loud.
“All is well,” he said kindly. “Let me just update her translator implants with our languages, yes? We can discuss upgrades at a later time.” Yes, later, that was better. When she was not in shock and not dealing with a radical change in her world. She’d have to accept having me take control of her life, but that would come soon enough.
“Perhaps,” Asmoded tried again, “you could step aside while Dravion does his job. You need to explain to me where you found her, Sin.” He gestured with his hand, and his tail made an undulating come-hither motion. It was closer now, having slid into the med bay and in front of his mate and newborn son. He was not above those protective instincts any more than I was, but hewasmore in control.
