“They are fine, Jack. Rema and Dr. Ghix were with them. They are being brought to us now.”
I let out a slow breath and relaxed back against him. The endless star filled expanse of space glared at me through the fake window and I glared back.
I loved my mate, but damn, why couldn’t he have been a non-space traveling barbarian species that would stuff me in a cave and keep me naked and pregnant for the rest of my life? This space travel bullshit was for the birds. I bet Sam had the time of her life during the jump. A good natured sneer spread across my face and shook my head. At least one of us was having a good time during all the space travel.
I was going to have to get used to it, eventually. Maybe someday the sight of the vacuum wouldn’t make me want to run away and hide under my bed. My ancestors were probably rolling around in their graves. One of their own didn’t like starships.
Patty and the others entered the bridge, and I turned to see if Patty hated the transition as much as me and her still pale face confirmed it.
She came to stand next to me and Ohem and blew out a breath. “That sucked ass.”
Ohem chuffed in amusement. I elbowed him in the stomach and earned a sore elbow for my efforts. I cursed and rubbed it, frowning at Patty. “Next time we ask for the good drugs and sleep through it.”
She snapped her fingers and groaned. “Damn. I was right next to Dr. Ghix and didn’t think to ask that! Next time for sure.”
Sam giggled, raising her hand sheepishly. “I thought it was fun! Kinda like a roller coaster ride.”
“Yeah, from hell,” Callie said and slid down the wall to sit with her head braced on her knees.
She’d looked sick when she’d come in. We had one more vote for transition suckery and Sam was overruled. Sam went to sit on the other side of Callie while Dr. Ghix tried to coax Callie into drinking something green and glowing.
I gave Sam a face in sympathy and turned back to watch the screen again. I didn’t need to witness Callie throwing up. It would just start a chain reaction and I didn’t want to ruin the creepy feel of the bridge with my vomit. I forced my focus on space, hoping to calm my stomach, but it didn’t help.
This space didn’t look any different from the space we had just left. Just endless blackness filled with stars. We were going to be traveling a whole week before we got to Detritus. Hopefully, enough time to maybe get over the jump before we had to do another one. I wanted to make sure I got my hands on some sleepy bye pills before then.
Before I worried about drugs and the peacefulness of nothingness, I wanted to get some more tests done with Dr. Ghix and run through some basic self defense with the girls. Get them familiar with the alien weapons so I wouldn’t have to worry about something happening to them while I was down on the planet. It didn’t seem like enough time to prepare them for whatever was going to happen. I wanted to get them started on being ready for anything as soon as possible.
They were going to be alone on the ship without Rema, Aga, Ohem, or me. Just the crew of the Solus. A crew I wasn’t entirely sure we could trust with all the treachery that had happened so far.
I hadn’t told them they were for sure not coming with me to the surface. It would be a fight. Patty was going to be pissed, and I was already preparing to lock her into a closet to keep her ass on this ship. It was too much for me to worry about trying to keep an eye on them while also watching Ohem, who didn’t need my help or protection, but tell that to my new trauma induced paranoia.
I couldn’t be effective in a fight with my attention split so many ways and I just needed to explain that without making them feel like I thought they couldn’t handle themselves or that I was trying to mother them. They were adults and could very well make their own decisions, but I would not budge on this. I’d knock them all out if I had to.
“I want you and the girls to train while we’re traveling. Self-defense and with whatever weapons they’ve got on this ship. We’ve only got a week to prepare and I want y’all ready,” I said without looking away from the screen.
Patty moved closer to me and I raised my arm so she could tuck herself into my side. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and hugged her to me. “It’s not too late to go home. This isn’t your fight, Patty,” I whispered. It was my fight against the threat to my mate. Ohem loved his people. He wanted to save them and I would help him do that. I was a good wife like that. I would destroy worlds for him if he asked me too and, though the girls liked my mate and considered him a friend, it wasn’t the same.
Being abducted and then thrust into an intergalactic war in the space of a month was a lot to ask of the human women.
Patty looked up at me, smiled sweetly, and then bit the side of my boob hard with her evil little human teeth. I jerked back with a squeal and glared at her while I rubbed the spot she’d tried to take a chunk out of. “Ow, bitch! What the fuck!”
Patty was giving me a smile worthy of any Rijitera, all shining teeth with mean intentions. “Since violence seems to be the only thing you understand well enough not to question, I figured I’d give that a go.”
She took a step towards me and I backed up into Ohem. Small though she was, the woman scared me sometimes.
“I’m not going anywhere. Thisismy fight, Jack. Someone wants to kill you and Ohem. That makes it as much my fight as it is yours. You think you’re the only one that has protective instincts? The only one that wants a little revenge? Fuck that andfuck you.I may not be an all mighty werewolf monster, but I can pull my weight,” she said with a soft tone, but the underlying menace was daring me to say something.
I did not take that dare.
“I’m sorry. Of course, you’re not going anywhere. It was a stupid thing to say. Won’t happen again,” I said, my hands held up to ward off an attack.
Patty sniffed and nodded before she tucked herself back into my side and I slowly put my arm back around her shoulders. It was like hugging a honey badger that liked you well enough, but just one wrong move and it was game over, man.
Ohem leaned down so he could put his mouth next to my ear and whispered. “She is frightening.”
I turned to him with wide eyes and whispered back. “I know, right?”
Patty snickered beside me. Both Ohem and I shuddered, and her snicker turned into laughter. I smiled down at her, hugging her tighter to me. I loved her to death. I was very much going to wait a while before dropping the ‘you’re fucking staying on the ship or I’ll hog tie you and put you in the closet’ bomb. Let her cool down first so her anger didn’t build into something truly dangerous. Better to ambush her with it later and then run like hell while Ghix tranqed her.
