Chapter 2

Chapter

Two

BEHTU

I deny the warmth spreading behind my sternum. I'm a Star Maverick, an elite space pirate. I'm incapable of tender feelings! She didn't heed my warning and I took what she so freely offered and that's the end of it. Nothing more than a good, hard rutting.

I shift on my makeshift bed, Qhix's hospitality a cruel comfort. The darkness of the room is a shroud that fails to cloak the tempest within me. My sivot churns restlessly, an untamed beast roused from a lifetime of dormancy by a small, slip of a female. Control is my creed, my constant companion in the wilds of the Universe —except when it comes to her.

That infuriating, delectable human.

I silently curse my body's betrayal. It is not in my nature to be so... unbridled. To be anything less than master of my own will. Except, it seems, where Jules is concerned. Her taste still lingers on my tongue, a ghost of spice and fervor that has my mouth watering. Her scent clings to my flesh, an intoxicating blend of female and wildness that taunts my every breath.

I rolled to my side and pillow my head on my bent arm, seething at my own weakness, at how easily my sivot had emerged and knotted her, spilling mating seed into her tight sheath as if claiming her for eternity. That was not supposed to happen! I am Behtu Ky'Orlax, Star Maverick elite, not some lovelorn youth ensnared by primal urges.

As the first hints of dawn threaten the horizon, I wrestle with the beast roaring inside me. Glaxis 3 beckons with its hidden treasure, a bounty rumored to be more valuable than the rare rysis stones on Tyrig 6. Now that I've sampled the treasure between Jules' lush thighs, what awaits me on Glaxis 3 pales in comparison. Each thought of her is a lash against my resolve, and I know if I stay on Pryt, my resistance will crumble like the ancient ruins of the first city on Klaxis.

As I steel myself against the desire to remain, to have another taste of her seductive charms, I know I stand at a precipice. One step toward her is a step away from the freedom I hold dear—a life amongst the stars, unbound and untamed.

My sivot churns just below the surface of my flesh in conflict with my eagerness to leave Pryt and Jules behind.

I growl softly, the frustration evident in the set of my jaw, the clenching of my fists in the cool sheets. Being tethered to another was never in my plans, and the thought of succumbing to my sivot's will to claim a mate is as abhorrent to me as the chains of rule I forsook long ago when I passed my crown to my younger brother.

The surging of my sivot competes with the gravity of my will. I ache to chart new courses, to claim the fortune on Glaxis 3 that taunts me. Yet, the thought of leaving her feels akin to severing a limb—an exquisite pain that's absolute.

"Until again, Jules," I whisper into the silence, a vow or a curse—I cannot decide. As I rise from my bed, the decision carves itself into my very marrow. The Star Maverick must sail the void, unfettered and unbound. It is the only way. My sivot snarls in protest, a rumble that vibrates through my chest, but I quell it with the iron will that has navigated me through countless perils.

Jules, with her verdant gaze and indomitable spirit, has become my greatest peril yet. To remain would be to place my fate in her hands, an idea both terrifying and tempting. But the vast expanse calls, promising solace in solitude.

I will not be tied down to a female even if she has awakened my beast.

Steeling my resolve, the choice is made. I will leave before the others awaken before Jules can look at me with those eyes that see too much. My sivot surges and roars beneath my flesh, but I ignore my beastly persona. The beast doesn't care for treasure or freedom. It craves her. It lives solely for her.

In the stillness, I gather the scant possessions that tether me to this place—my weapons, my gear. The weight of them feels heavier now, burdened with the unspoken goodbye that lingers on my tongue.

I move through Qhix's beachside domicile like a specter, each step a silent testament to the conflict raging within me. The sea outside murmurs its ceaseless lullaby, but it's no match for the cacophony in my head.

Qhix stirs when I kneel beside his bed, his eyes blinking open to the pre-dawn gloom. "Behtu?" he whispers, confusion etched across his features.

"Shh," I shush him, pressing a finger to my lips. "I'm setting off."

"Off in search of treasures untold?" Qhix sits up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"There's too much Maverick in me to linger in one place for very long."

"Until again, brother," he nods, his understanding a silent pact between us.

"Until again." We share a brief clasp of forearms, and then I turn away, leaving behind the warmth of companionship for the cold certainty of solitude, but that has always been my way. It's the way of a Star Maverick.

I slip away from the slumbering house, determined to reclaim the destiny I chose long before Jules' star collided with mine.

My Lizordian freighter awaits, a silent sentinel against the waning night. I resist the temptation to cast a look back at the peaceful beach, at the place where my control shattered like crystallite upon stone. But I know if I do, I'll lose my momentum, so I keep my back on it all, my raging sivot a bitter companion, as I prepare to ascend to the solitude of the cosmos.

"Glaxis 3," I command the onboard navigation system, my voice steady despite the tempest inside. The engines hum to life, a familiar thrum that speaks of new beginnings, of uncharted territories waiting to be conquered.

As the ship breaks through the atmosphere, the first rays of sunlight kiss Pryt's horizon goodbye. I soar toward the promise of adventure and the hope that, among alien moons and ancient treasures, I might find a way to silence the sivot's roar.

I sit alone on the command deck, the engines whispering secrets of entanglement and entrapment. I can almost hear Jules' breath within them, a siren call luring me into the depths of a mating trap. The nature of my sivot is primitive, yet powerfully binding—a connection that could shackle a free soul like mine to another for eternity.

The temptation to turn around and return to Pryt, to be ensnared by her allure, is a gravitational pull against everything I've fought to be. I nearly caved from the electric touch of her skin against mine igniting a primal need within my sivot. To remain would be to relinquish the freedoms of a space pirate, to confine myself within the orbit of her existence.

Born of Klaxis nobility, I gave up my crown to be master of my own fate. For the thrill of pilfering a spacecraft, the reaving of treasure, to harness the unbridled expanse of the cosmos—these are the lifeblood of my existence. I cannot, will not, trade the rush of my pirate blood for the soft prison of domesticity, no matter how sweet the captivity.

My weft pulses at the thought of her, a cruel reminder of the pleasure we shared. A pleasure potent enough to bind, but I am resolute. I am the hunter, not the hunted; the captor, not the captive. My sivot bellows its dissent, white-hot fury churning inside me. But as the starscape stretches out before me, vast and full of unknown adventures, I shove down the beast's cries and set my sights on the horizon.

My sivot may rage, may claw at the confines of my control with memories of her beneath me, but I will not succumb. I refuse to be trapped by my own desires, ensnared by a bond that will anchor me to one spot, to one female.

My path is among the stars, my destiny written not in the lines of a fated mate's palm, but in the hidden treasures that await across the galaxy. My future lies beyond, in the uncharted realms of space where the only bonds are those I choose to forge. The hunt for Glaxis 3's treasure beckons, a challenge worthy of my undivided attention for the truest treasure I seek may not be one of glittering jewels or ancient artifacts, but the freedom to roam the cosmos, unbound and unclaimed.

The void of space envelops the freighter like a lover's embrace—a cold, indifferent one. Stars pinprick the darkness with their unforgiving light as I navigate through the galaxy where Pryt lies nestled within. My fingers dance over the control panel, each movement precise despite the chaos brewing within me.

Jules.

Her name is a pulse in my blood, a whisper against my skin. I can still feel the silken slide of her hair between my fingers, and taste the salt of her sweat on my tongue. The way she arched beneath me, her glistening tunnel a perfect fit.

"Bliking dund," I mutter, dragging a hand down my face. It's not like me to let a female weave her way into the fabric of my thoughts, disrupting the pattern of my solitary existence.

But she has!

Frustration coils tighter inside me. My sivot growls, a low rumble in my chest that reverberates through the ship's hull. My beast wants to turn back, to claim what he perceives as ours. But it's my hands on the controls, my will that steers this course.

My freighter clears the galaxy for open space. I set a course, engage the truliian converter, and hyper-jump with a pound of my fist. The stars blur into streaks of light, painting ribbons of luminescence across the viewport as my ship hurtles through the cosmic tapestry. Bright nebulae bloom and fade in the dense blackness, their ethereal hues casting a kaleidoscope of colors against the backdrop of infinity. The force of speed presses me back into my seat, a thrilling velocity as I ship follows the course set into the navigation system.

The ship slows and Glaxis 3 comes into view. An inhospitable moon orbiting a gas giant, an inhospitable jewel shrouded in a noxious fog.

I can't help but grin as the excitement bubbles up from the pit of my stomach, chasing away the lingering shadows of regret. This is who I am. The chase, the hunt—it's in my blood as much as any royal lineage ever was.

Glaxis 3 is a contradiction. Its surface is marred by craters, the scars of cosmic battles fought long before my time. Mist curls around jagged peaks like serpents, a veil that hides the secrets below. The air is thick with fog that glows an eerie green from the bioluminescent foliage clinging to the rocks.

"Beautiful and deadly, just how I like it," I whisper, admiring the lethal elegance of the landscape. It reminds me of her—of Jules. But that thought I push aside, focusing instead on the thrill of discovery, on the legendary treasure that awaits.

"Let's see what you're hiding," I challenge the moon.

With deft maneuvers, I guide the ship toward the surface, my heart pounding in sync with the engines. Each beat is a step away from Pryt, from Jules, and a step closer to the unknown. And nothing, not even my sivot writhing for a fated mate, can tether me to the ground when the stars call my name.

I pocket my scanner and clip a tracker to my belt so I can attach the oxygenator to my septum and activate it. A blast of crisp, pure air rushes up my nostrils, shielding me from the toxic surroundings I'm about to enter. The hatch releases with a sharp exhale and the ramp lowers.

My boots crunch over the uneven terrain, leaving shallow impressions in the soft soil. I can't shake the ghost of Jules' touch from my mind, her scent clings to me like a second skin despite the fresh air filling my lungs.

"Focus, Behtu," I mutter to myself, trying to concentrate on the task at hand. The tracker beeps irregularly, insisting there's something valuable buried beneath the layers of alien detritus. I pull the scanner from my pocket and sweep the foggy expanse, its lights piercing through the gloom like the eyes of some hungry creature.

The world around me is a surreal garden of oddities—trees with bark that shimmers iridescent under the eerie light, and plants that seem to move just out of the corner of my eye. It's an artist's fever dream, a riot of color and shape that begs exploration. Yet it's the unexplored corners of Jules' soul that beckons me more strongly than any alien treasure could.

"Bliking dund!" I growl and curse as my foot catches on a root, nearly sending me sprawling. My sivot roars inside, clawing at my control, enraged by the distance I've put between him and Jules.

I force my sivot back into the depths of my being. But it's a battle I'm slowly losing, the sivot's fury is a tempest against which my will stands fragile and wavering.

So absorbed with my internal struggle, I don't see the Stryt until it's too late. A shadow detaches itself from the surrounding darkness, and before I can react, pain explodes in my neck. I reach up, fingers brushing against a dart protruding from my flesh.

"Bliking Stryt—" My curse is cut short as my knees buckle beneath me. The ground rushes up to meet my face, and the last thing I feel is the cool embrace of the toxic moon before everything fades to black. My sivot howls in protest, a sound only I can hear as consciousness slips away, the darkness swallowing me whole.

JULES

I lie awake in bed, my body as tense as a coiled spring. The darkness of the room is thick, almost suffocating, but it's not the absence of light that keeps me from sleep, it's Behtu and his enigmatic sivot.

If the beast only presents to protect damsels in distress, then why did it feel more personal? I didn't require help and even if I did, why did he fuck me like he owned me?

Mine! The sivot claimed me as he trapped me on his knot and spilled a gallon of beast jizz inside me that I can still feel dribbling out.

My body pulses with a lingering heat, a sweet soreness between my thighs as I recall the sensation of two different cocks stretching my flesh as they filled me. Hot shivers race down my spine, hardening my nipples in response. Behtu and his beast are irresistible, drawing me in like an addict to forbidden fruit.

My heart flutters recalling the tender regard Behtu had cast my way when he smoothed a reverent hand down my cheek, a warmth blooming within me, spreading like wildfire through my veins.

The sheets cling to my skin, damp with the heat of the tropical night and my restless energy. I push them away, yearning for a cool reprieve that never comes. Every nerve in my body is hyper-sensitive from the best sex I've ever had. My clit still pinging from residual climaxes.

Back on Earth, I would never be this brazen when it comes to men, but I wasn't on Earth and none of the same rules apply out here. I'm not the promiscuous type, but after being abducted and then sold to an orc rapist, I decided to act on my attraction to Behtu. The glossy, blue Kaul is as sexy as they come.

As an ER nurse in lower Manhattan, I know how precarious life can be. I've seen death many, many times up close and at its most tragic. Facing mortality happens on a regular basis when ambulances arrive with gunshot wounds, stabbings, or hit-and-runs. You name it, I've seen it. I've stared people in the face who are my age or younger as they've taken their last breath, and death comes knocking when you least expect it.

After what I've been through and survived, I mean, why not partake of a little sumpin sumpin? What happens in outer space, stays in outer space. Am I right? No one will ever know my pussy was destroyed by a Kaul's beastly alter ego before the Kaul himself had his way with me and this bitch doesn't kiss and tell.

I let out a soft moan as I stretch my limbs. The feeling of satisfaction lingers, tempting me to seek out Behtu for another romp.

The murmur of Behtu and Qhix from the adjacent room draws my curiosity like a magnet. Behtu's deep timbre is unmistakable, even softened by the walls between us. I slip from the bed, my movements deliberate, silent so as not to wake Lena and Elle who sleep nearby.

Reaching the door, I pause. Breath held. Ears straining.

"I'm setting off," Behtu says in a hushed tone.

My pulse thunders in my ears as his words hit me like a physical force.

"Off in search of treasures untold?" Qhix responds and I can almost see Darcy's mate quirk a snowy eyebrow in question.

"There's too much Maverick in me to linger in one place for very long." Behtu's answer stops my heart.

"Until again, brother," Qhix says.

"Until again," Behtu replies.

I run back to my bed and lie down, waiting for Behtu to come and tell me goodbye. Off in the main living area, I hear the whisper of the door open and close. Anger flares hot and fierce within me. After what we did together on the beach, he's just going to slip away without a word.

My throat constricts as I seethe. Fists crumple the sheets tight enough to sting.

The memory of his touch lingers on my skin, a taunting echo. His eyes glowed, white-hot with lust—no, it was more than that. With something that touched my soul. A reverent yearning that seared me to the bone, binding us in an inexplicable connection that I can't deny.

My heart clenches, aching with a blend of hurt and resolve. If he leaves Pryt, I know it in my bones he will never return. I know I will never see him again and I can't live with that. Fueled by emotions, I act on impulse. Leaping from my bed, I quickly don a fresh pair of pants and pull a top over my head. I slip out the door, my mind whirling with frantic energy as I move quickly through the house and out the main entrance.

Barefoot, the night cloaks me in shadows as I follow in Behtu's footsteps. The lush foliage of Pryt rustles softly around me, a spattering of whispers urging me onward. My senses are heightened, every leaf and vine etched sharply against the backdrop of darkness.

Behtu moves like a specter ahead. His long white hair, ethereal in the waning moonlight, cascades in a liquid sheet down his broad back. He's unaware of my presence, his steps carrying him relentlessly toward his ship—the vessel that promises to take him away from me forever. And he wasn't even going to say goodbye!

I follow, driven by a potent mix of fury and longing. The dense underbrush is no match for my determination as I navigate the terrain, every muscle coiled and ready. He might be a space pirate, a rogue who wanders the cosmos, but I'm a New Yorker, damn it! And I refuse to be ignored.

The distance between us dwindles, yet I keep to the embrace of the jungle, moving with as much stealth as I can muster. I trail him, a shadow among shadows. My breathing is even, controlled, a silent mantra that syncs with the beat of my racing heart.

The metallic sheen of Behtu's ship glints under Pryt's giant moon, a silent siren calling to my reckless heart. My feet carry me forward, the soft hiss of the hatch, as it opens, sets my pulse thundering inside the cage of my ribs.

I duck behind a large shrub, peeking through the prehistoric-sized leaves, and watch as he strides up the ramp. I figured after what we shared, he might turn and look back at the house where he thought he left me sleeping. Perhaps a wistful moment of regret will flit across his handsome face before he flies away.

Nope. Not even so much as a backward glance from the sonofabitch.

I make like a ghost flitting up the ramp, my breath stuck in my throat, every sense heightened. I slip inside, pressing my back against the cool wall of a narrow corridor just as the ramp begins its ascent. The hatch seals with a definitive click, and my chest tightens, not from fear but from a wild cocktail of adrenaline and yearning.

"You're not gonna leave this bitch behind," I murmur under my breath, the words barely a whisper in the hum of the engines coming alive.

I'm headed down the corridor to confront Behtu when the floor vibrates beneath my feet. It's a low thrum that resonates through my bones, syncing with the restless energy coursing through my veins. My hand hovers over the control panel beside the access door to the command deck.

Awestruck, I stop in my tracks, peering through the little window in the door as the command deck lights up with a kaleidoscope of colors, each one reflecting off Behtu's majestic form as he takes the helm.

He's oblivious to my presence, his focus solely on the path ahead. There's a certain grace to his movements, a confidence that speaks of his countless adventures navigating the stars. And it's that untamed spark in his eye, that glow of his sivot lying dormant yet ever-present, which draws me to him like a moth to a flame.

As the ship breaks away from Pryt's gravitational embrace, part of me screams that this is insane and that I should have never followed him. Yet there's no denying the magnetic pull, the tether that binds me to this male whose very essence calls to mine.

As I open my mouth to call out his name, the ship surges forward, breaking through the atmosphere, and for a fleeting moment, weightlessness claims me. There's no time to scream for help as the ship's acceleration tosses me like a rag doll the length of the corridor. I reach a dead end and my head connects with something hard. A starburst explodes behind my eyes. The world slips away, and everything goes dark.

---

Silence greets my return to consciousness, a deep, suffocating silence that blankets the ship in an ominous shroud. I blink, trying to orient myself, the taste of iron sharp on my tongue. I push myself up, each movement sends a throbbing echo through my skull. I touch the back of my head, grimacing at the lump I find there.

My vision is a little blurry, but no rising into ears, or nausea so I don't think I have a concussion, just a nasty bump.

"Behtu?" My voice rips through the stillness like an alarm. No shocked retort over my stowing away comes to ease the tension knotting in my chest. The absence of sound is more unnerving than any siren could be.

I rise unsteadily, driven by an urgency that overrides the pulsing ache in my head. My vision clears, the edges of the corridor snapping into focus as I stumble forward with determination etched into every step.

As I approach the command deck, the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. There's a charged energy in the air, a sense of impending revelation that sends a shiver racing down my spine. My hand reaches out, hovering over the control panel beside the door, hesitating for a fraction of a second before pressing the access button.

The door slides open with a hiss, revealing the command deck suffused in gentle luminescence that spills from towering wall panels. The controls are dormant, screens dark and lifeless. I scan the room, my breath catching in my throat. Behtu is nowhere to be seen, and a creeping dread coils inside me.

"Behtu!" I call out again, louder this time, the echo of my own voice bouncing back at me, mocking my solitude.

I move to the viewport, my gaze sweeping across an alien landscape. A dense fog hangs in the air, washed with an otherworldly glow emanating from the vibrant bioluminescent plants that drape the rocky terrain in a spectral green glow.

Behtu is out there somewhere, searching for treasure as a pirate is inclined to do, that's all. Nothing untoward is amiss. He landed and is now out looking for whatever it is he came here for, even though it's eerily quiet, the kind of quiet that screams wrongness in every corner.

I try and fail to suppress the unsettling sensation that something is wrong and stride over to the command console. I settle into his seat and tuck my legs under me, smoothing my hands over the strange material that's not quite leather. I inhale his intoxicating spicy scent lingering on the unfamiliar material and try to relax while I wait for his return.

Will he be happy to see me or really pissed off?

The fog beyond the viewport shifts and I blink a few times in disbelief. There's another ship parked a few feet away. Was Behtu here to meet someone?

The answer is not long in coming. My breath catches as the sight before me unfolds. "Oh shit!"

Two hulking aliens, their leathery scales glinting like oil in the soft light, are hauling Behtu's limp form between them. His head lolls back, revealing his pale and unconscious face, a contrast to his vibrant blue skin. Panic ignites within me, a flame threatening to consume all reason.

I slide out of the seat and duck behind the console. Peeking around the sleek structure, my eyes never leave Behtu. The nurse in me sits up and roars, watching his chest until I see the rise and fall of his steady breathing. He's alive and that's a relief, but who are the assholes hauling him aboard the other ship?

What the fuck do I do now? I don't know, but I have to do something, I can't let Behtu go with them. If I knew how to fly a spacecraft like that girl, Stacy, I could follow them and find a way to get Behtu back. Fuck, I wish I had paid more attention to how things worked, and I could use the comm to call for help.

Maybe I could find a weapon and leave the ship. The foggy air outside doesn't look lung friendly and Behtu is wearing a breathing device clipped under his nose. If I open the hatch, I could suffocate on the surface on this alien world and that wouldn't do either one of us any good. Trembling with adrenaline, I huddle in the shadows of the command deck, the metal floor cold beneath me as my heart pounds a frenetic rhythm against my ribcage.

My mind races with indecision, my pulse thrumming with a mix of fear and uncertainty. The answer comes in the form of a beam of pulsating energy shooting out the back of the alien craft, connecting to Behtu's ship with a violent jolt. My teeth rattle in my skull, and the taste of fear is acid on my tongue.

The alien ship shudders to life, engines humming with power as it begins to ascend. Behtu's ship, an unwilling consort, is dragged along in its wake. My stomach churns, and my thoughts turn to Behtu. Wherever we're headed, rescuing Behtu is my top priority.

I need a plan, something to cling to beyond the helplessness clawing at my insides. The thought of Behtu, captive and alone, ignites a fire within me, a searing determination to rescue Behtu. I need to search the ship for weapons. I mean, this is a pirate's ship after all, and corsairs always have weapons.