Chapter 36

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

VYA

The ship shook so violently that I fell to the floor and bounced lightly. Confused, I sat up and looked around. Khorahn was gone. A bright light blinked in the center of the low ambient lit ceiling. It had never flashed before. The ship had never shaken me out of bed before either.

"Khorahn?" I called, standing. Walking felt weird. Like I was lighter.

The door slid open at my approach.

"Khorahn," I called again as I ventured out.

He shouted something from the direction of the control room. I turned that way but heard a scrape of noise behind me a second later.

Warning buzzed along my skin as I looked back and saw a creature with four arms and a tail that flailed wildly behind him. He was covered in nappy fur that looked like it had blood in it and smelled bad.

Fear shortened my breath and made my hands tremble as his surprised gaze swept over me from head to foot.

"Female? Human?" He threw his head back and laughed. "He stole you from the Wsoau, didn't he?"

His reaction was confusing.

"The Wsoau stole me. Khorahn saved me," I managed in a hoarse whisper.

The creature nodded. "Yes, no female would willingly work in their sorry bathhouse. I promise I will not return you to them. However, I will need to take Khorahn from you. They are paying too much for me to retrieve him to refuse."

The private bounty.

My gaze swept over the creature again. He hadn't made any threatening move toward me, but his bulk indicated he could easily overpower me if he wanted to.

"I need him." My voice shook. "I don't know how to work this ship."

The creature nodded again. "You can accompany me on my ship if you wish. After I deliver him to the Wsoau, I will care for you."

Even though he wasn't doing anything to make me feel threatened, I still felt it. A lot. And that made me regret ever telling Khorahn to stop scent-marking me. That and the guy's smell. My eyes were starting to water.

"I would prefer to stay on Khorahn's ship with Khorahn."

"Anerman Cu Behan," Khorahn said from behind me. "Forceful seizure of a ship without a public warrant is against the systems' laws and will add to your list of punishable crimes."

Anerman chuckled. The sound was so deep it vibrated in my chest.

"I understand now why you left me behind. This is a prize worthy of forgetting everything. Even systems laws, is it not?"

As he spoke, I edged back toward Khorahn. His hand settled on my shoulder, comforting me.

"My beauty, it would be safer if you returned to our sleep bay."

"Our?" Anerman asked. "Are you breeding her? I heard they are compatible with over seventy percent of the systems races and have a lunar fertility cycle ensuring quick procreation."

His gaze returned to me.

"Are you already carrying his young?"

"No."

"I will gift you my ship and all within it if you agree to carry my young."

The idea of doing anything with the guy in front of me made me gaggy.

"I don't know anything about ships, so they have no value to me," I said, hoping the answer was a diplomatic enough refusal.

"Perhaps you will change your mind when Khorahn can no longer act as your protector."

I did not like the sound of that. And neither did Khorahn, apparently, because he stepped around me protectively.

The other male chuckled again. "For your safety, back away, pretty female. I have some chit to settle."

I hurriedly backpedaled and saw the man launch himself at Khorahn. His tail wrapped around Khorahn's neck at the same time one set of his arms wrapped around Khorahn's torso. He lifted my savior off the ground and squeezed as he started punching Khorahn's head.

Khorahn's muscles flexed throughout his back and arms. Anerman grunted as his grip behind Khorahn's back began to slip. The tail around Khorahn's neck squeezed harder.

Compared to the two fighting, I was squishy and very breakable. My gaze darted around, looking for anything I could use as a weapon. However, everything was securely attached.

I didn't know what to do, and my panic was growing,

Khorahn made an angry sound and flexed harder, breaking Anerman's hold. Having freed his arms, he thrust his fist up into Anerman's jaw, knocking the creature so hard his head snapped back. Then, Khorahn gripped Anerman's tail and pulled hard. I heard something crunch. The guy cried out, arms flailing as his tail fell lifelessly to the ground.

"Anerman Cu Behan, you are being detained in accordance with warrant 75204377," Khorahn rasped. Then he hit the guy in the forehead with the back of his wrist.

His wrist beeped.

"Warrant 75204377 confirmed," a voice said.

Anerman was making odd sounds. Growls and pants interrupted with clipped groans.

"Go willingly into stasis, and I will give you a stim to mend your tail. Fight me, and I will break another section. Do we understand each other?" Khorahn asked.

"My ship," Anerman panted. "You need me."

"You're right," Khorahn rasped. "I do need your cooperation to disconnect your ship and repair mine. However, you will give that willingly to protect the female's presence—confirmed and tracked by the Conservators—on this ship."

Anerman made a wretched sound and gingerly picked up his tail.

I barely paid his pathetic whimpers any attention. My gaze was focused on the growing discoloration around Khorahn's neck and his progressively more labored breathing.

"We can deal with the ship after you're scanned," I said.

Khorahn motioned to Anerman. "Walk."

Anerman turned around and led the way to the med bay where the stasis thingies were. Khorahn stumbled twice, wheezing more loudly with each step. Anerman quieted before we reached the med bay and glanced back at us. I could see the calculation in his gaze.

"Don't," I said.

He chuckled.

"You are as intelligent as you are uniquely appealing in your furlessness. However, the hunter doesn't look well. I think I should stay and see what happens."

A replica of Khorhan stepped out of the med bay. Fully nude and hiding nothing, he took in our group with a sweeping glance as I took in all of him. He looked almost exactly like Khorahn, except this version had nipples.

"I can tell you what happens," he said. "You cooperate with me, we disconnect your ship, and you go quietly into stasis. Now."

The new Khorahn's gaze swept over me. "Are you willing to stay with my genetic replication while I deal with this?" He nudged Anerman roughly.

"Yes. I'll take care of Khorahn," I said, not sure what was going on.

He nodded to me and pushed Anerman down the hall, away from us.

Supporting Khorahn, I helped him into the med bay and got him onto the table. The arm swung out toward his feet. Without releasing his hand, I stepped back and let the beam run up his length.

"Internal tissue damage has occurred to the airway. Recommend regeneration and anti-inflammation stims. External tissue irritation. Recommend pain lubricant. Scan complete. Proceeding with recommendations according to emergency protocol five-one-seven."

The arm moved and gave him two shots right in his neck.

He continued to wheeze painfully for another minute while whatever was in those shots kicked in. His breathing became less labored after that and his eyes, which he'd closed the moment he'd lain down, opened and shifted toward me.

"You are not calm, Vya," he said.

A half-sob-half-laugh escaped me as I threw myself onto his chest.

"I've never been so afraid in my life. Not even when I was bathing those creepy shelled aliens. I thought you were going to die, Khorahn."

His hand smoothed down my back.

"The ship monitors my vitals. If I lose consciousness, a bot would drag me into the med bay and resuscitate me."

"That's not okay, Khorahn. Do you know how much something like that would scare me?"

His hand stroked my back soothingly. "I know. That's why I walked here."

I poked his side angrily. He chuckled and captured my hand.

"With you on my ship, Vya, I have every reason to live. Until my dying breath, I won't stop fighting to be with you."

Swallowing hard, I stared down into his blue eyes and gave up the battle I'd been waging against myself. My skin no longer shimmered, and I was feeling everything again. Fear. Anger. And a desperate need never to leave Khorahn's side.

"I want to be your reason to live," I said.

He growled softly and captured my lips. His kiss erased my fear and drew me deeper into the dream of staying with Khorahn.

A throat cleared behind us.

"The Zoshesh's ship has been removed from the hull and gravity restored."

I jerked back from Khorahn, but he didn't release me as his doppelg?nger continued speaking.

"It's worth a decent amount of chit, but it might be wiser to let it drift than attempt to trade it at a void station where it would draw attention."

"We'll take it with us to the Helix station," Khorahn said.

"Not as much chit but safer," the man said. "Are you going to introduce us?"

Khorahn's gaze traced over my face, and I could almost feel his reluctance. A corner of my mouth lifted, and I quickly darted in to deliver a soft, brief kiss to his lips.

"My name is Vya," I said, without looking at the man. "And I belong to Khorahn."

"Belong? No female belongs to any male."

"Okay. Fine. Then, Khorahn belongs to me."

The man chuckled.

"Then perhaps you'd care to escort him to his sleep bay so he can recover while I put this one into stasis."

I twisted to look at the pair lingering in the doorway. Anerman stood just behind the Khorahn double. His hands were bound together in front of him, along with his broken tail. He was looking at me with longing, though, which made me want to leave quickly.

"Sure. We'll move." I took Khorahn's hand and held it as he slowly got to his feet.

"It was a worthy attempt, Anerman," he said as we passed the alien.

"Not worthy enough to gain her attention," he said softly.

I was very glad Khorahn was breathing normally and walking beside me instead of the stinky four-armed fur monster as we moved down the hall.

"You still smell like fear," Khorahn said. "Allow me to scent-mark you. Please."

"Feeling fear doesn't bother me, Khorahn. Being numb to what I knew I should feel did, though. Please let me keep my emotions. This way I know what I feel is real."

He reluctantly nodded and let me lead him the rest of the way to the bedroom. He didn't resist when I encouraged him to lie down but also didn't release my hand when I moved to leave.

"Stay with me. Please."

"Only if you tell me why there's another guy on this ship who looks exactly like you."

"He's my genetic founder," he said. "I'm a clone, Vya. The seventh version of the original Khorahn."

Clones. No way. It took a moment for that to sink in.

"And that's why you don't have nipples?" I asked.

"Correct. It's to identify me as the clone and him as the original."

His fingers grazed over mine. The sensation ignited a hunger for him that I knew wasn't due to any scent-marking but rather the memory of the pleasure I found in his touch.

"I don't mind that you're missing a few details," I said, trying to focus. "It makes you more interesting."

"He will wish to speak with you."

"Can we maybe talk about your dad when you're not playing with my nipples? It's a little weird for me."

Khorahn's ears flicked oddly.

"Dad? He is not my father."

"You're a part of him, made from his genes, right?"

"Yes."

"And I'm guessing he raised you and taught you what you know."

"For a time."

"Then, by Earth's definition, he's your dad. What do you call him?"

"Founder."

"Well, I'm going to call him mood-killer if we keep talking about him."

Khorahn's nimble fingers plucked at me, and my response was a small gasp, which he took advantage of with a deep kiss. When he pulled back to meet my gaze, I was panting for breath and hungry for more.

"Tell me what you need," he said.

"You. All of you."