Epilogue

EPILOGUE

VYA

"I don't like this," Khorahn said softly.

Grinning, I patted his hand.

"I know you don't, but you know how much I like doing this and won't stop me, right?"

He let out a sigh that matched his father's.

Knowing I'd won, I straightened my systems dress, touched the tracker implanted in my wrist, and told the ship to open the bay doors.

All movement in the docking bay stopped as I descended the ramp.

I'd made a name for myself in the past few months. The systems hadn't ever heard of a female bounty hunter before me. I guessed none of the women born in the systems had ever experienced how epic it was. If they had, they would have rushed to follow in my footsteps. As it was, I was happy enough to be the only one. It gave me a level of unparalleled infamy, which meant it hadn't taken long for the word to spread.

My gaze swept over the dock and landed on the biggest, baddest, and ugliest male present. Another Zoshesh. I sincerely hoped this one didn't smell.

"Hey. You. Lead me to the canteen," I called.

The male's gaze shifted from me to the two males trailing me.

"I hope you're not looking at them for permission. Are you able to lead me, or should I ask someone else?"

The Zoshesh's gaze returned to me. He nodded once and watched me closely as we approached.

"Human?" he rumbled.

"I am."

His gaze dipped to my large middle.

"Youngling?"

"It is. If you help ensure my safety, I'll let you feel my youngling kick when we're done."

His gaze flew to mine. He grunted his agreement, turned around, and started pushing the closest male out of the way.

This wasn't the first time I'd roped some random male into being my muscle. Khorahn nearly had a heart attack the first time. He and his father were extremely overprotective now that I was carrying their next generation. But truthfully, so were ninety percent of the males in the systems.

Seeing a pregnant female on a void station was unheard of…a miracle, some might say. I used my status of walking miracle to my advantage and sashayed my way through the station.

"I'm really, really glad you got these foot coverings for me," I said over my shoulder to Khorahn. "These floors are gross."

"They aren't meant to be traveled by females," Khorahn Senior said. "Females are meant to stay on ships."

"Not being able to go where I want when I want sounds like captivity to me. No thanks. Maybe more females would like to visit void stations if they were cleaner."

A nearby male laughed, and the Zoshesh leading me thrust out one of his four arms to punch the male right in the face. The accosted male grunted in pain, glanced at me, and apologized.

I ignored him.

Bad behavior was ignored. Good behavior was rewarded. It was that simple with me, and a lot of males were catching onto that. Especially my bounties.

The Zoshesh stopped in front of a canteen. The mix of music and loud talking bled into the corridor as I peered into the dim interior. The music suddenly silenced. A few shouts sounded, and then those quieted, too.

Anticipation filled me, and I tried hard not to smile but failed as I looked at Khorahn and Khorahn Senior.

"Anything would be better than this," Khorahn Senior said. "The grow bay has?—"

Khorahn hushed him. It wasn't safe to talk about how they'd turned the grow bay into a mini replica of Earth for me. Grass. Vegetables. Pretty flowering fruit and nut trees.

"Don't let anyone touch me without permission," I said to the Zoshesh.

He nodded and stepped inside, clearing a path for me. I followed, very aware of how I had every male's attention when I stopped in the center of the canteen.

"My name is Vya, the female bounty hunter from the Senwar system. I'm here for Vegetable Head, a Norwegian. If you're here, Vegetable Head, surrender willingly, and I will take you to my ship."

A male stood and pushed his way through the crowd toward me.

"You're not a Norwegian," I said.

"No, but I have a warrant. You can take me to your ship."

Another male pushed his way through the crowd.

"Me too."

The first time I'd walked onto a void station, I'd had a real target. When I'd demanded his surrender in a canteen like this one, I'd ended up with six other males eager to surrender too. After that, I'd stopped worrying about tracking and just started showing up at void stations to see what would happen. I never left with less than four bounties.

Keeping my glee to myself, I set my tracker to the first volunteer's skin and listened to it ping with a valid warrant. Same with the second one. A decent amount of chit, but nothing crazy. Time to sweeten the deal.

Grunting, I set my hand to my stomach.

"The baby just kicked. Do you want to feel it?"

I took the second bounty's hand and placed it on my stomach where the baby truly was kicking. She liked bounty hunting as much as I did.

The male fell to his knees beside me and stared at my stomach—anything below it was hidden by a mesh of chains for modesty while on a void station. My insistence, not Khorahn's.

"Incredible, right?" I asked.

The male nodded and didn't fight me when I removed his hand.

"Vegetable Head," I called again. "It's not too late to come quietly."

Seven more men approached me with active warrants. I didn't let them touch me. Just the one.

It was like fishing in a barrel every damn time I came to a void station. I thought the way I collected bounties was hilarious. The father—technically "fathers"—of my child did not.

All our bounties led the way to the ship. The male I'd enlisted to help us waited at the bottom of the ramp, guarding the ship as all nine were put into stasis. Once we were finished, I descended the ramp and took one of his fours hand. It was larger than my head and would have spanned my stomach pre-pregnancy easily. Now, not so much.

"You're strong, so be really careful," I said. It wasn't really a necessary warning; I just liked how the big ones usually turned into a puddle of gentle after I said it.

His hand settled on my skin, featherlight but hot. It warmed my cool belly, and the baby kicked like crazy.

His gaze didn't turn to wonder but shifted to Khorahn and his father, who stood behind me. I knew that look. He was imagining what would happen if he killed the pair. Would I go with him willingly? Did I need to be willing?

"Do you know your birther's name?" I asked.

The question snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Angjux."

"That's pretty," I said, stepping back and dislodging his touch. "Is she still alive?"

He nodded.

"Tell her I said hi when you talk to her. And if you see another human, I hope you'll treat her as gently and kindly as you've treated me. Thank you."

I turned away from him and walked up the ramp past Khorahn and Khorahn Senior. As soon as the door closed, Khorahn's arms wrapped around me from behind.

"Tell me that was the last time."

"You want me to lie to you?"

He swept me up in his arms and strode out of the cargo bay. I brushed my finger over his fierce scowl.

"If you really want me to stop, I will," I said softly. "But I trust you to keep me safe, Khorahn."

I cupped his face so he focused on me.

"We both know I'm not doing this to collect bounties. I'm trying to make the systems a safer place for all of us humans. We're so new. A novelty. Most of the males don't know how to care for us. Letting them see me and showing them I'm a real person who can do more than just carry a baby will influence how they see the next human woman they meet. Hopefully, in a positive way.

"Speaking of positive meetings…we should visit Mtinash's paradise after we trade in the bounties and see if he's had any luck yet."

Khorahn's scowl deepened.

"He wanted you before you carried my youngling. He will want you more now."

"Only if he hasn't found a female of his own yet. You never know. He might have gotten lucky by now.

"And even if he hasn't, he won't be able to talk me into staying. What I want is right here."

With a cheeky smile, I reached between us and rubbed my palm over his ambal.

His pants were down the second we were in the steam room, and his glitter goo hit me in the stomach three times, right where the males had touched me. Khorahn didn't like me smelling like anyone else, and I didn't mind the sex-a-thons that followed a successful hunt.

Moaning, I lifted my hair out of the way and let him remove my dress so he could touch me all over, grateful that I'd been taken and that he'd stolen me for myself. I couldn't imagine living any other life than the one I lived with him.