“I’ll be damned if I let those uppity Strewn engineers figure this out for me,” I muttered, my scanner sliding past another conduit in pristine condition. TheVarakartoomwas my baby; she was my pride and joy. If I could, I’d emblazonherwith my family mark, but I was pretty sure Asmoded would object to that. It wasn’t possible anyway, but that was how close I felt to each bolt, nook, and cranny. It felt like she was sick, and I was watching a loved one slowly bleed out and die.
Thatcher said nothing from behind me. He didn’t move, didn’t appear to even blink. He never did, even when I chatted away or complained endlessly aboutthe unsolvable problem. He didn’t make a sound until the lights abruptly went out. No, that wasn’t entirely true either. I didn’t hear him coming, just suddenly felt the heat of him as he pressed me into the nearest wall. Caged by his big body, I was surrounded by muscle and the scent of leather and weapons oil, with a dark note beneath it that was all his, one that tempted me to turn my head and bury my nose against his chest.
I heard only the sound of his breathing, steady and certain, and the faint, slow thud of his heart. The darkness caused by the blackout in this hallway lasted only ten seconds, but they were the longest ten seconds of my day. I found myself cataloging each ridge of muscle I felt against my spine, memorizing the feel of his thigh against my legs and the way his arm felt pressed against my shoulders. He’d done this before; he did it every damn time the power fluctuated, as if he thought something would come out in the dark and attack me.
Opening my mouth, I got ready to tell him to let me go the moment the lights came back on. This was pointless and ridiculous, as much as I loved feeling all his muscles against me. I would have had to be without a pulse not to appreciate that part, even if he drove me utterly mad with his hovering otherwise. Except this timewasdifferent. For starters, he did not let me out from between him and the wall the moment the lights came back.
A low growl rumbled through the air and vibrated from his chest straight into my body. I twisted my head but saw nothing suspicious in the sliver of hallway I could see from under his arm. Then there was a thud, and Thatcher flowedaway from me like liquid. I spun, but I wasn’t fast enough to see what had happened.
He stood in the center of the hallway, half a dozen feet away from me, with his arms out at his sides but already lowering, like he was relaxing. I saw absolutely no sign of anything that could be considered a threat. Then he turned, and his fist unfurled, opening like a flower. Blackness coated his fingertips—a thick, tar-like substance—and he offered it to me like it was a freaking gift.
“Does this help?” he asked, his head cocking to the side. My mouth dropped open in surprise; did he just speak? Actually speak? To me? I thought he’d firmly decided stalking was done in silence, but perhaps I was wrong. My eyes lingered on his face for long moments, confused by what had just happened, before lowering back to the sludge dripping from his fingers. I raised the scanner in my hand very slowly, like I was coming out of a trance. Did this help? Was it what I thought it was? Was this what was causing theVarakartoomto malfunction?
Chapter 2
Thatcher
When you were a broken bastard like I was, you knew you could never have what some of the crew members on the ship had: a family, a lover, a home. That just wasn’t in the cards for someone like me, and I’d made my peace with that long ago. In fact, I’d accepted that fate before I’d ever gotten to the Zeta Quadrant aboard the UAR battleship Praetor. You didn’t get recruited for the Shadow Unit unless you wouldn’t be missed and were expendable. I’d known the moment I’d joined that I’d die on the battlefield and that was it. It was just a matter of time.
My eyes flicked to Ysa, taking in each detail of her beautiful face and committing it to memory: the delicate arch of her nose, the soft curve of her brow, and the pretty azure shade of her skin. I tracked the long, bright blue braiddown her spine to her waist, where she tied it so it stayed out of her way. The tip was threaded with wooden beads that clacked temptingly together when she walked. It was a sound I was so familiar with by now that I sometimes heard it even when she wasn’t around.
The Ulinial engineer was a genius; there was no other way to describe her mind. She was absolutely amazing at fixing just about anything, and if she wasn’t fixing things, she was improving them. She’d made specialized, insanely effective armor unique to each of the permanent crew members of theVarakartoom. Special boots for the Rummicaron, Jaxin, that could retract around his webbed feet, for instance. Slots for Tass’s shoulders so he could grow his weird plant-like tentacle vines whenever he felt like it. She’d enhanced the armor I wore too, to compensate bionically for the damage done to my left leg.
I shifted on my feet, the motion only barely noticeable. It was just enough to remind me that my entire left foot was made of metal, as well as much of my lower left leg—a replacement made by her and Dravion, the ship’s doctor. Another genius. Truthfully, I was very privileged to be part of this crew, and I would do my best to repay them at every turn. I was alive far beyond my expiration date, thanks to theVarakartoom.
“Doesn’t it hurt?” Ysa asked as she wiped at the substance eating away at my hand with swabs. I shrugged, because what was I supposed to say to that? Yeah, it fucking sucked. It did, but that wasn’t going to make it any better, and it was hardly the worst pain I’d ever been in.
I’d been at the mercy of a crimelord for months, and he’d been hellbent on extracting information aboutEarth and the Alpha Quadrant from me. Mostly, he’d wanted my knowledge to get his hands on the massive ship of humans in stasis the UAR had brought into the Zeta Quadrant, or a means to get more. I hadn’t caved then, so this was just a blip in my day. Easy to ignore. Then again, I probably had a bit more nerve damage this time around, and that helped me not feel all the pain I probably otherwise would have.
“Are you back to not talking?” Ysa sighed. She’d tried to convince me to go to the med bay with her, but I knew the engine room was closer. More importantly, for the first time in all the months this thing had stalked her, toyed with her, it had been too slow to get out of my way. For the first time, she had tangible proof that a presence was here, disrupting the ship. She needed this sample, and she’d have to analyze it as soon as possible. In just a few days, we’d reach Strewn, and she wanted to solve this before then.
My mouth twisted into something that almost approached a smile before I could help myself. Not talking to her was the only defense I had against her. If I talked, I knew I’d crave being even closer, crave having her more than I already did. If I spoke to her, she was lost. I’d claim her, consequences be damned. She deserved better than that, better than a man whose mind was so twisted and broken he’d forgotten right from wrong. I just knew it was wrong to have her, so I didn’t speak. I adored her sass, however; it got to me every single time.
“Fine,” she huffed. “Keep your thoughts to yourself. Just as long as you know that I’m kicking you out of my engine room as soon as I get your hand clean. You need to go see the Doc. This is a really nasty chemical burn.” My hand was eaten raw by the black substance—this was true—but bynow she’d gotten her samples and begun cleaning off the rest with a substance specifically designed for this. She kept it on hand inside the engine room at all times because she and the two other engineers were at greater risk of chemical burns than your average grunt. It was a good thing she did, because I could tell the damage was pretty severe.
“Dude, that’s nasty,” one of her engineers said. The pair was always together, so I was never quite sure which was which. It was the Pretorian who spoke, peering over Ysa’s shoulder at my hand with huge yellow eyes. The spots on his cheeks changed color along with his moods, and they were a mixture of brown and white this time. If I wasn’t mistaken, that meant disgust and shock, a very lovely combination. I bared my teeth at him.
It was a good thing I’d learned long ago what that mark on one of his many wrists meant, or I’d have beaten his stupid face to a pulp by now. Brother, sibling, family. The kind of bond that made him completely unacceptable as a mate to my little engineer. Same for the other one, the Rhico. She’d marked them as hers, because she was a kind-hearted lady who took in strays the way Asmoded did.
“Shut it, Ivo,” Ysathea said. “Analyze this sample instead. Stat,” and she shoved one of the slides she’d just prepared at the male without looking. He had fast reflexes, and four hands with which to catch the glass slide. Without a word, he trotted away to do as she’d ordered, and I stared after him, amused.
She had them very well trained, her two engineers, like a pair of little brothers eager to please their big sister. I should know, I’d once been such a little brother who’d doted on every word his big sister breathed. I’d have doneanything for her, died to keep her safe, and that was the only reason these two were still breathing. Because I recognized their loyalty.
The Rhico was standing on the other side of her workbench with his massive arms crossed over his chest. His ugly face wore a glare full of suspicion, not helped by the net of scars that crisscrossed his skin. That glare was aimed directly at me and said all kinds of things: Go away, I don’t trust you. Leave now or I’ll kill you. Ysa is not yours, and I’ll protect her down to my last breath. The kind of threats harbored in that glare would have withered a lesser man than me. I just curled my lip and bared my teeth, which was considered a hostile gesture for nearly every species out there.
I already knew all that anyway, and it didn’t matter. He had nothing to worry about because the only thing I wanted was to keep Ysa safe. It was a good thing I was so distrustful by nature myself, because I’d known in my bones that she needed me. Now I’d been proven right: somethingdidhave it out for her, and it had been toying with my engineer for months now. This first strike wasn’t going to be the last. Now, more than ever, I needed to stay at her side and keep her safe.
Of course, that’s when Dravion swept into the engine room on his undulating tentacles. A crate of supplies was clutched in one, which he effortlessly hauled with him. “Oh,” he said when he discovered that Ysa had already cleaned my hand. The damage to my skin was severe and obvious, bone and tendon exposed, the flesh raw. I should have been in terrible agony, judging from the expression on his face, but I hardly felt anything. Some of that was definitely nerve damage, but I had also learned to controlpain to some degree. I attributed that ability to the nanobots that swarmed through my veins.
The crate he carried dropped with a thump to the ground behind him, and then cool, gentle tentacles and fingers took my abused flesh from Ysa’s care. He took charge naturally, and nothing about it would make sense if I protested. Still, I wanted to, I wanted Ysa’s fingers back on my skin. A dangerous road I couldn’t afford to let myself go down, so I clamped my mouth shut and said nothing.
“What happened?” Dravion asked, but it wasn’t him I answered. No, the captain had also arrived behind him. I might have ignored Dravion’s question just so I didn’t have to speak in front of Ysa, but him? Nobody ignored Asmoded, and the demand in his golden eyes was unmistakable. He wanted answers, and he was going to get them. As much as I hated the instinctive response, respect for the chain of command had been instilled in me from the day I’d joined the UAR’s impressive military forces.
“There was a blackout in the C Corridor,” I said, and watched as Ysa’s head jerked up and her dainty little nose flared. Something danced in her blue eyes that was suspiciously close to fury, but whether it was fury over the blackouts or my sudden ability to speak, I wasn’t sure. “Just as I suspected, something has been stalking Ysa, and this time it attacked.” I flexed my badly burned hand and tried to ignore the horrified fascination on the Rhico’s face, and the curiosity that now sparked in Ysa’s eyes. Had she seen the metal that had been fused to my bones, glinting in that wound?
I pointed at the slides Ysa’s Pretorian engineer was currently hunched over at another workbench. “I secured a sample and scared the creature off, for now.” Ysa made a noise that had to be one of her laughs, but muffled. Under her breath, she repeated my phrase: secured a sample. She probably thought I wouldn’t hear, human ears were notoriously bad compared to pretty much any other species out there. My hearing was better, much better, and I heard anyway. Nano-enhanced, she had no clue how badly she’d been underestimating me. Her males knew, though. They knew, because I’d sparred with them in the gym countless times.
“I see,” Asmoded drawled as he slithered farther into the engine room, silent on his tail. His eyes were on the Pretorian, who hunched deeper over his work. “Any results yet, Ivo?” the captain asked. Ah, so the Pretorian was Ivo, which made the Rhico Grunn. There was no answer, but Ysa slid into the silence immediately, full of confidence in her skills and her people.
