Chapter 4CamilaBerus

Chapter 4

Camila

Camila stepped out of the medical bay just as Roxy and Ckzarr were stepping in.

"I'm sending Dex over to the common room so you won't be alone. Just wait for him there," Tahra called after her.

"Thank you, Tahra."

Camila headed down the hall toward the common room. Things were looking up: she was clean, and her ankle didn't hurt nearly as badly anymore. She'd sat on the med bed until it beeped softly, letting her know it had done what it could, and then Tahra had wrapped it for her. The extra support, plus a very small dose of painkillers from the med bed, helped. Still, she was supposed to stay off it for the next little while to give it a chance to fully heal.

Tahra had also given her a change of clothes. Nothing fancy, just an oversized t-shirt that she wore belted like a dress. It was clean, and the fabric soft and comfortable, and that was more than she could say for her old clothes which Tahra had thrown into the laundry.

Rehden was nowhere to be seen. Good. Camila wanted to take a nap on that comfy-looking couch. Once Rehden got his hands on her, she'd be sleeping on the floor again at the foot of his bed. Like her old owner, he avoided sleeping next to her as much as he could since it was possible for Talleans to form mating bonds with humans, and he clearly thought humans were inferior.

Meeting Roxy and learning about the outer planets had briefly given Camila hope that she'd be free out here to find a job and live life as her own person, not owned by anyone.

But Rehden being here meant those dreams were dashed now. There was no way he'd let that happen. He might have stolen her, but he was more possessive of her than her old owner ever was.

Yet Tahra had assured her that as long as she was on the ship, she was free, so Cami was going to enjoy whatever false sense of freedom she had right now.

One day at a time, right? Well, today included a nice nap on a comfy couch, thank you very much.

She climbed onto the soft leather and sighed contentedly, closing her eyes.

"Well, hello there." The suave-sounding voice came from behind the couch, the words spoken in English.

She turned around and found herself staring at a human man she could only describe as an ultra-sexy nerd. He wore glasses, but they suited his face well, making his angular jaw look even more chiseled. He was fit and well-muscled and looked like the type who'd optimize his workouts and diet, the type to count micro- and macronutrients and min/max his way to a perfect body.

He came around the front of the couch and sat down next to her, making sure to give her enough room that she didn't feel uncomfortable.

He stuck out a hand. "They call me Dex. As in Poindexter. Not my real name but it stuck."

Cami didn't sense any danger from the man. "I'm Cami."

"I hear you are going to be traveling with us for the next little while." He gave her a genuine smile that had her grinning too.

"I…guess I am."

"Where are you headed?"

She frowned, not knowing how to answer that question. Where was she going from here? She'd never planned on being "here" at all.

"Haven't thought that far ahead?" he asked with a chuckle.

"No. Before Ckzarr and Roxy found me, I was living out of a crashed shuttle and running out of food bars. I thought I was going to starve to death."

"Well, there's no risk of that now. We'll keep you fed here. No way we'd let a pretty girl like you starve."

Camila's smile faltered as she wondered what she'd have to do for the food. Since being taken from Earth, the Dominion had made it very clear that her most valuable asset was her body. Uctarr had fed her well at first since she was a novelty, but as he acquired more human women for his ever-growing harem, the quality and quantity of her food diminished. She was sure it was because she wasn't as pretty as the other women.

Her hair was medium brown with a hint of auburn in it, but not enough to call it red. Her eyes were brown as well with a touch of tawny, but not enough to call them interesting. She was someone people looked at, said, "Oh, she's pretty," and then promptly forgot about.

Her looks had been both a blessing and a curse in her time as a slave. The auctioneers had set her price high enough that she avoided the pleasure houses, ending up with a merchant. When Uctarr had gotten bored of her, he'd kept her around because she was "pretty enough." But by the time he was lending her out to Rehden, she was only getting nutrition bars and other prepackaged rations. No more gorging on Uctarr's delicious leftovers.

She wondered what they'd want from her here.

Her thoughts must have shown on her face because Dex suddenly had his hands held up in a placating gesture. "No, no. That's not how it is. We don't do that here. If you haven't noticed, there are quite a few humans on the ship, and we're all here by choice. No one's going to make you do anything you don't want to."

Camila's cheeks heated. She hadn't meant to assume. Oops.

Her words were stuck in her throat because Camila felt his presence behind her. A shadow darkened the area around them.

Dex turned, twisting to look behind them. "Oh hey, Berus. Have you two met? This is Cami."

"We have. I carried her from the enemy's ship," said a warm baritone. Berus the Bear made his way around the couch to stand in front of her, then stuck out a hand. "Hello, Cami. I am Berus."

She stared at the giant hand in front of her for a moment, then realizing that she might be coming off as rude, she steeled herself and went in for the shake. Her hand was positively tiny in his.

He didn't shake it, however. He simply took her hand, then knelt, bringing himself down so they were face to face. Her heart pounded in her chest as she wondered what he planned to do.

He brought his nose to her hand, sniffing lightly, then started nuzzling it. Nuzzling was the Tallean equivalent of a kiss. They did kiss, but it was only as part of sex and all over the body. Nuzzling held more of the emotional connotations of a human kiss. The giant Tallean was, in essence, kissing her hand. But with emotion.

Camila didn't know how to react. All she could do was silently stare. That was turning into a theme for the day.

A furious snarl broke her awed silence.

"Get away from her." Rehden's angry voice had Cami shrinking back.

Dex and Berus were on their feet in an instant, placing their bodies protectively between her and a very pissed-off Rehden. Camila paled. When Rehden was in a good mood, he wasn't so bad. When he got angry? It was no laughing matter.

She'd known before he stole her that he had a bad temper. She still had the scar on her forehead as a reminder of the first time he'd gotten angry and shoved her. Her hair covered most of it, but it was there.

He'd still been her safest way out of the inner planets. What she couldn't have predicted was how often he'd be in a bad mood as they made their way from port to port.

"Come here, Camila," Rehden ordered. "Now."

Her many years of training had her instinctively bowing her head and scrambling to get to his side. She was already halfway there when she realized that she had a choice now. If she chose not to follow Rehden's orders, these two would protect her. Maybe she could be extra "nice", and one of them would hide her in his quarters. She wasn't above offering sexual favors if it got her closer to freedom.

She stopped and then started scrambling back behind the two males. Rehden reached out, quick as lightning, grabbed her by the hair, and tugged her to his chest.

"Where are you going, slave?" he gritted into her ear. "Remember your place."

Camila whimpered when he shook her.

His words had been for her alone, but Dex and Berus had heard. Neither of them seemed to agree with him, especially not Dex. He looked ready to tussle, even though Rehden looked to outweigh him by quite a bit.

Rehden started toward the hallway, dragging Cami along, but Dex moved quickly to block him.

"Not so fast, buddy. I'm not sure if you got the memo, but there are no slaves on this ship. That includes her."

Rehden released Cami and focused his ire instead on the human man. Thick, tree-trunk arms wrapped around her, firm but much gentler than Rehden's had been. She found herself lifted off her feet and then tucked behind Berus's huge body.

Realizing what was happening, Rehden whipped around with a snarl, looking ready to fight. "Give her back. Cami is mine."

Berus

Berus let the rage take over when he heard Rehden's declaration that Cami was his. If he cared so little about his survival that he'd fight him, then so be it. He answered the other male's snarl with one of his own.

Suddenly, Cami was between them, holding her hands out in appeal. "Please, don't fight." She looked genuinely worried.

Was her worry for him or the other male? Didn't she know Berus could hold his own? Rehden wasn't any match for him. Not physically, anyway. Especially not with such a delicious little female to fight for.

But he didn't want her to get caught between two fighting males. They could crush her, or worse. She was a tiny little thing, and Berus wasn't sure if she'd survive an accident if claws came out.

So out of an abundance of caution for her safety, Berus held back. But if the other male attacked, the fight was on.

Rehden had paused long enough to realize he was outpowered, and didn't strike either. "She is mine," he hissed. "I own her."

"There are no slaves on board this ship," Berus said. "She is free to be her own person and make her own choices."

"Lies! That's just an excuse to steal my property. I know who you are. You were responsible for bringing humans here in the first place. I'm not so stupid to believe that you are all suddenly against owning them."

Then, probably believing that Berus's guard was down, Rehden quickly lashed out. Berus sidestepped him, and the two started circling each other. Out of the corner of his eye, Berus saw Dex pull Cami out of the way.

Rehden threw the first punch, and this time, Berus punched back, unable to stop himself. Ulrek would be angry if any part of the ship got broken, but he'd deal with that later. As they fought, exchanging blows, Berus felt his bloodlust tickle at the edges of his consciousness, but he held it back.

This was a fight for dominance, not to the death. That said, if Rehden kicked with his claws, he'd let his bloodlust out. Claws were deadly, and letting them out meant the intent was to kill or maim.

"What the fuck is going on?" The captain's voice echoed through the room, but Berus barely heard it through his rage.

Rehden ignored Ulrek as well and lunged for Berus again. Berus landed a punch on the other male's shoulder even as he danced away, putting the furniture between them. But Rehden didn't retreat. He swiped a clawed foot at a blanket draped over a couch and tossed it at Berus, blocking his view. The sneaky male attacked then, coming in low.

But Berus had been expecting that and leaped out of the way. He'd trained with human males who were smaller and had to use their wiliness to gain an upper hand before. It would take more than that to deceive him.

Enraged that trickery didn't work, Rehden tried speed instead. He lunged for Berus, fists flying as they traded punches.

They had an audience now. It wasn't just the captain; the other crew members were watching the fight, too.

"What are we, savages?" Ulrek didn't sound amused. He turned to the crew. "Pull them apart. Now."

Tuhror and Gavin rushed in and grabbed Berus by the shoulder. They wrestled him back as others did the same to Rehden.

"This is my ship, and I say there are no slaves on it." Ulrek was livid, but his voice remained calm. "As long as you are on board, you follow my rules. I don't care what you do once you're off the Revenge . If you two want to fight, fight when we get to New Rhea."

Rehden was undeterred. "So what's going to stop your crew from using my human?" he spat.

Wrong thing to say, especially in a room full of humans.

Roxy, always outspoken, was the first to reply. "Nobody is using anyone. No one will bother her. Unless she wants them to, of course. Until we get to our destination, Cami can stay in my room."

"Oh, no! I don't want to be a bother." Cami looked uncomfortable. Like she was worried she'd be blamed for the fight. "I can sleep on a couch in here. These are much nicer than I'm used to."

"You won't be a bother at all," Roxy said.

"Roxy is moving into my room," Ckzarr said, surprising everyone. "You can have hers. There is a code to lock it so no one can get in unless you let them."

Cami thought for a moment, then nodded. "Thank you."

"I suppose that is an acceptable compromise," Rehden grunted. He knew he was outnumbered and had to concede, even if he didn't like the proposal.

Berus still had the urge to pound the other male's face into a pulp. He'd been studying him before, watching his moves and learning how he fought. Now, he wanted to teach him a lesson.

Rehden knew, too. He'd known the moment Berus landed that last punch that Berus meant business. Realizing he was the less experienced fighter, the other male retreated, scurrying back to the guest room.

Berus barely paid attention while Roxy and Ckzarr were announcing their mating to the crew. His focus was completely and utterly on Cami. She still had a wide-eyed look on her face, and when their eyes met, he couldn't have torn his gaze away even if he'd wanted to.

He made a silent promise to her and to himself right then and there. Rehden would never get his hands on her again.