4. Ozadus

It’s not every day a human woman speaks to me like I’m dirt beneath her shoes. She’s small enough that I could throw her across the room with one arm like she’s nothing, yet she’s scolding me with the rage and confidence of a fellow Kaleidian warrior.

It’s kind of cute, truthfully. Maybe even a little hot.

“Hey,” I begin, my tone much calmer than hers. “Is that any way to talk to a host? You are a guest on this ship, after all. Since, you know, it’s more or less mine right now. So maybe mind your manners, ma’am.”

Lisa’s eyes widen. “A guest? Are you serious? You’re so—!” She trails off and rubs the bridge of her nose with a groan. “You know, by legal chain of custody, this ship is technically more mine than yours!”

“Yeah. That’s not really how this works,” I respond. Lisa’s freckled face reddens even more, which makes me snicker. The way humans change color when they’re angry will never not be amusing to me.

“I gotta say, I really appreciate you fixing this ship up for me before I hijacked it,” I continue, crossing my arms. “I was planning to hire someone myself to fix it once I brought it home, so you saved me a good chunk of koltecs.”

I turn back to the wheel, gazing out the window as the ship soars through the stars. It seems that, despite being a pretty talented mechanic, Lisa isn’t confident when it comes to actually flying the ships. Otherwise, she’d have probably tried to grab the wheel by now. That’s not uncommon for humans, since space travel isn’t in their nature.

The woman paces behind me and tugs on her vivacious red hair, clearly trying to figure out her next steps. She mutters something about ‘bad choices’ and ‘second thoughts,’ all the while stomping harder with her work boots.

In all honesty, I don’t want to keep her around much longer. It’s fun having a girl who challenges me, even if she’s a human with little to no power. But the moment she steps off this ship, I know she’s going to tattle to the nearest planetary authority, no matter how much she promises otherwise, and then I’ll be screwed.

And as much as I’m enjoying messing with her, I can’t piss her off too much. While I wasn’t planning on taking off with this ship and some human girl, I’m as good as any kidnapper to her. She may not look like a serious threat, but human women can be dangerous if provoked enough, especially if they’re armed. They’re not particularly strong, but they can be vindictive.

Basically, I need to get rid of her and convince her not to report me to the second she gets her freedom. Not an easy task, but not an impossible one, either.

Perhaps a bribe is all she’ll need to keep her mouth shut. Mechanics make decent money, but if I put my mind to it, I could still wow her with a cash prize. Maybe?—

“Where exactly are we going, anyway?” the woman snaps, jerking me away from my thoughts. “The closest refuel center was that way!” She points her finger out the window.

I roll my eyes. What was all that just now about adventure? She’s going about this all wrong.

“You don’t need to worry about where I’m going,” I say with a smirk. “And that station is too far out of my way. All you need to know is that it’s a pretty long ride. But don’t worry, I’ll boot you out of here long before I’m there. You won’t get too far, alright?”

Lisa groans. “For fuck’s sake… I’m going to be in so much trouble…” she whines.

“Just say some Kaleidian stole the ship while you were working on it. You’ll be fine,” I say, dismissively waving a hand at her.

“Even if they do believe me, I’m still not gonna see a cent for all the work I put into fixing this thing!” Lisa snaps, stomping her boot on the floor.

“Yeah, that kinda sucks. But you’ll live.” I shrug my shoulders. “And you know what? I’ll do you a favor. If you promise to keep your mouth shut, I’ll give you a share of the koltecs I’ll earn from this ship. Maybe… ten percent?”

“Do you take me for an idiot? I’m not going to accept your stupid bribe!” Lisa hisses. “You know what, that’s it. Give me that!”

Before I can react, Lisa jumps forward and places her hands on the wheel.

“What are you doing?” I growl, grabbing her wrist and yanking it away. “Do you even know how to?—?”

An electric jolt rushes through my skin. My breath hitches in my throat, my heart racing. For a brief moment, I feel dizzy. I stumble aside and place my free hand on the wall, pulling Lisa along with me.

What the hell?My skin is still clammy when I release my grip on Lisa’s wrist. I draw in a deep breath as my heart returns to its normal rate.

Then it hits me like a train.

“When you touch your fated mate, it will be like an electric shock,” my mother had told me decades ago. “Your heart will pound at the speed of light, and you will feel lightheaded, perhaps dizzy for a moment. But once it’s over, there will be no doubt in your mind that she’s the one. When this happens—and it will, I’m sure of it—never let her go.”

Lisa, the human woman I’ve just accidentally kidnapped, is my fated mate.

“I… I don’t know what just happened,” she says, taking a step back. Her face is slightly pale, gaze pinned to her feet. “But… I feel weird. I’m gonna go sit down.”

I can hear her heart racing. Her body must be reacting to the spark, too.

But humans don’t know about the fated mate phenomenon, so as far as she knows, she just had a dizzy spell.

And just like that, she’s off. She runs out of the cockpit and slams the door shut behind herself.

Damn it!I turn the ship on autopilot and rub my temples, letting out a sigh. If I had known I’d be running into my fated mate this morning, I’d have gone about my day a lot differently. Probably would have dressed a little better, too.

But instead, I’ve made the worst possible first impression imaginable. How does a guy even come back from that?

I need to redeem myself somehow. Maybe I’m not gonna win her over anytime soon, but at the very least, I can convince her I’m not an awful guy, either. Once I do that, maybe I’ll have a chance of salvaging our fate.

I give Lisa a moment to collect herself before stepping out of the cockpit to search for her.

She hasn’t gotten far. She’s sitting on the floor in the hallway, sipping water from a canteen. The color has returned to her pretty face, her eyebrows furrowed.

“Hey,” I say, kneeling down on the tiled floor in front of her. “You feeling okay?”

She shoots me a nasty glare and scoots in the opposite direction. “What do you care?” she scoffs. Lisa hugs her knees to her chest and avoids looking me in the eyes.

“Look, I know we got off to a rough start,” I explain. “And yeah, I know you’re kinda at my mercy right now. But I’m trying to get by just like you are. And whether you like it or not, this ship isn’t turning around.”

“I kinda figured that,” Lisa grumbles.

I offer a sympathetic smile. “Just know that I’m not gonna hurt you. You’ve got no reason to trust me, and I can’t force you to. But if there’s one thing I want you to trust me on, it’s that you’re gonna come out of this ship unscathed, if a little pissed off.”

She doesn’t respond. Frustrated, I place a hand on her chin and tilt her head up to force her to look me in the eyes. “You hearing me?”

Lisa swallows, pausing for a brief moment before nodding. Her sky-blue eyes are wide, displaying a mixture of concealed fear and frustration.

“Yeah. Whatever,” she finally says. “I hear you, and I don’t think you’re lying to me. But that doesn’t make me your friend, either, okay?”

She’s a stubborn one, but I’m relieved to see that I’m at least somewhat getting through to her. With a nod, I pull my hand away from her. She scoots herself back against the wall.

“That’s fine,” I say with a nod. “But, uh, just so you know, we’re gonna be here for a while so we might as well make the most of it.”

I rise to my feet and brush my long hair out of my face. “I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. I’m gonna see what kind of food we have around here,” I say.

It’s not a lie. I haven’t eaten in a few hours. But I also know that a surefire way to win a woman over is to wow her with your cooking skills.

“Good luck,” Lisa says flatly. She pulls a protein bar out of her pocket and tears it open, taking a bite. A pitiful excuse for a meal.

As I make my way down the hallway, I throw one last glance over my shoulder. “You’re welcome to join me,” I say. “Or you can live off whatever boring snacks you have in your pockets. Your choice.”

I continue down the corridor, leaving the human alone to ponder the offer. If she knows what’s good for her, she’ll follow me eventually.

We still have a couple of days before this ship reaches Kalei. That’s plenty of time to make myself the good guy in her eyes, and maybe even convince her to stick around with me once we land, isn’t it?