22. Chapter 22

The next day, Zil is back to training the uzains. He still hasn't mentioned what was on his mind. I don't feel like making him talk. When he is ready, he will tell me. it isn't like I can make him tell me, anyway.

I'm back into the kitchen, on my own. The pot of water is almost boiling. There is the smell of freshly cut carrots and onions, it smells like a good day.

When Zil can't be here with me, I have to entertain myself. I suppose I can be in the training field and stare at him from upstairs, but watching uzains smashing their weapons at each other is a bit too nerve-wracking. I know none of them are there to kill each other, but I can't help worrying about them, not wanting anyone to get hurt.

Or maybe they still get hurt at times, but if I'm not there, I won't see it.

That doesn't leave for a lot of things I can be doing. I suppose I can keep cooking. Zil or some other uzains can have some. Not to mention I still can't survive their food from the food area.

I don't understand why the uzains need two kitchens, but I'm not complaining. That's far better than having someone else in the kitchen. Most of the uzains may be nice, but I'd rather be alone.

I work on the carrots and other ingredients. If I keep my hands busy, maybe I won't think about Zil all the time.

The uzains travel a lot, so they probably portion out their supply so that they won't run out before arriving at their destination.

There shouldn't be a lot of spare ingredients for me to play around with. But if the chefs are going to be a disgrace with these, I suppose it will be better if I'm the one cooking them.

Maybe uzains have a very different taste to a human, otherwise, I don't understand why their food is that bad and they still seem to be fine with that.

I toss the carrots into the pot. How are the ones working in my stall doing? I went missing, so they are going to do something about that, right?

Fuck...

I'm trying to stop myself from thinking and worrying, yet...

Ouch!

I wince when a sharp pain stabs my finger. So much for telling Zil to be careful with his fingers when I'm the one hurting myself.

At least the cut isn't too deep.

But I don't think I can keep cooking with the untreated wound.

Fuck...

I turn off the stove before washing my poor finger. it has been so long since I injured myself. This is such a basic mistake.

That's because I keep thinking about what the uzains do to me. Zil is to be blamed.

But I'm still bleeding, and I'll need a bandage for the wound.

I turn around when the kitchen door opens. I take a step back at once as if I've done something wrong.

Am I not supposed to be here?

Is...

It is the captain and he lifts his brows at me. "So, you're here."

I nod, moving closer to the counter, getting as far away from him as possible, even though the kitchen is so small that it doesn't make a difference.

He eyes me up and down. "Who let you in here?"

"Zil... He said—"

"I'm the captain, not him!" He hisses and cracks his knuckles. His horns seem even sharper now.

"I don't mean to hurt anyone. I..." Maybe I hurt myself after all, so...

He lifts his brows at me. "What's with your finger?"

"Oh..." I look at it. There is blood oozing from the wound, and it doesn't seem to be fixing itself already. "I cut myself."

He laughs. "Really? I thought you were pretty good at cooking."

My cheeks heat up. "It's an accident."

He pulls something out of his pocket. "Here, I have a bandage."

I frown. "Why will you have something like that with you?"

"I'm always prepared." He comes over to me.

My instinct and my whole body screams for me to flee. He is the one who whipped me and threatened to punish me. Who knows what he is going to do?

He hisses at me. "If I were you, I'd know better. Looks like you think that Zil is good enough to protect you."

"That's not what I mean, it's just..."

He snickers. "I'm still going to punish you for embarrassing me in front of everyone."

"What do you mean?" I take another step back, but he wraps his arm around my waist and yanks me to his side.

He grunts. "Let me bandage you first."

I think I'm good with my wound now. There has to be a way to get help without having this huge and crazy uzain bugging me.

But he grabs my wrist and puts on the bandage. It wraps around my finger on its own, sealing the injury. The medicine on it sends a tingle down my spine. It makes my finger cool, which hopefully will speed up healing.

I let out a breath when he lets go of me. He is similar in size to Zil, but a lot more threatening. "What do you want to do to punish me? Whip me again when Zil isn't watching?"

"I heard you made food for him."

"Yes, you know I'm good at that."

"Now make some for me." He folds his arms, sneering at me. "If you dare to play tricks on me, you'll regret it."

"What if I don't want to?" Maybe my cooking skills can get me into trouble and be my bargaining chip at the same time.

His eyes darken and he comes even closer. I regret my words at once. His hot breath lands right on my face. "Who knows what will happen to Zil?"

What?

My breath hitches. Even though I shouldn't care about Zil, he is still the nicest uzain I've met on this spaceship. I don't want to get him into trouble.

The captain smirks. "It will be smart for you to listen to me and understand how this spaceship works. If you insist on embarrassing me, you'll regret it."

"So... you want food and that's it, right?"

"And you'll tell Zil to fuck off and stay with me from now on."

What?

Wait... Is he expecting there to be something between Zil and me? Or is he jealous of how Zil gets a woman, but he doesn't even though he is the captain?

I suppose this means Zil's plan is working, but when it comes to hoping it will keep us out of trouble... it's not working.

The captain lifts my chin with a finger, staring terror into me. "You heard me. Tell him you aren't his mate and stay with me."

"You're the one who kidnapped me."

"So? I can be the one who killed you if you keep being a bitch. Consider yourself lucky. You are a smart female and you know what to do."

I glare at him. "Except nothing is going to change. I'm Zil's mate and I thought you knew about that."

"No, you aren't." He smirks as if he knows both Zil and I are lying about it. "Look, you only agreed because he threatened you." He flexes his arm and rubs his horn. "I'm the one who can protect you. You may not be my mate, but you'll be better off staying with me instead."

So... Are these two uzains fighting over me? And that was the reason they fought?

No way... I'm not that amazing.

I shake my head. "Get that out of your head. I'm not going to do something like that. I'm with Zil. If you want food, I can get you some, but I'm not going to stay with you."

"I'm going to put you on my bed, and you'll serve me. I can wait until you are comfortable with me. But you aren't staying with Zil anymore."

"No!" I hiss at him. "I'm not going to stay with anyone else."

"Are you sure about that?" He grunts and gets close to me again.

I grab the knife next to me, pointing it at him. "Don't come any closer."

He tilts his head to the side. "Are you threatening me with this toy?"

"I'm good with a knife. You know that. I've chopped up more things than you can count."

He laughs. I hold my breath, fighting to not shake. I have chopped a lot of things, but most are vegetables and they won't fight back. But the captain doesn't know about that and he doesn't need to know.

He clears his throat. "So, you want to fight me."

"I can fight you if that's the only way I can communicate with you. Otherwise, it will be great if we can just talk about it and for you to take no as no."

He lifts his brows at me. "So, you think you stand a chance against me."

"Who knows? Fuck around and you'll find out. I didn't set up my stall in a space station just because."

He smirks. "I grabbed you here without any resistance."

My cheeks burn when I can't deny that. I've never trained for any combat before. I can shoot a laser gun, but that's pretty much all I know to do against bad beings like him. There's no laser gun here for me, so that's not very useful.

He growls at me again. "Put down the knife. Time for you to learn."

"No. I'm not going to let you do whatever just because."

He comes at me and, fuck it, I stab at him when a growl comes from the door, and a shadow slams at us.

The captain hisses and the shadow, Zil, starts a fight. The two of them end up on the floor, tangled in a mess.

I hurry to get out of the way while the two huge uzains fight again. "Hey... Stop it, both of you."

"Captain..." There are other uzains at the door, but the two of them are busy in a fight.

I go to the door. "Can you stop them?"

"Well..."

The captain growls. "Get this crazy one off me!"

Zil has the captain pinned under him, he grabs the captain's horns, gesturing to slam him to the kitchen island, which may break a horn. "Maybe this is time for you to learn to keep your hands off her."

The captain growls again and the uzains at the door hurry into the kitchen. Two of them grab Zil, peeling him off the captain.

Zil spins around, slamming one of the uzains to the side and he grabs the other's throat, pinning that one to the kitchen counter. "This is what you get for trying to fight me."

There is an ugly choking noise from the poor uzain. I hold Zil's arm. "It's okay, I'm fine."

Zil lets go of that uzain. The captain is standing again. He hisses. "Such a low move."

"You attacked my mate when I wasn't looking. Who is the more disgusting one? Low move, huh?" Zil flexes his horns. "Look, I thought we've solved that."

The captain hisses back. "You attacked me when I wasn't ready."

"Really? So it isn't enough that I beat you in the cell."

The other uzains look at each other, confused. Now, the captain and Zil are arguing, there's nothing the rest of us can do to stop them. Maybe they are like me, none of us are brave enough to interject.

Maybe this is what's happening earlier in the training field. They were going to fight over that, yet I arrived at the right time and the call from the base ship stopped them.

So... They will be fighting in the future. It will just be a matter of time.

Is this part of the pretense from Zil? That he is going to do whatever it takes to protect me? But why?

I don't want to be with the captain, even though he may think he and Zil aren't that different. I'm still being kept here against my will, but... At least Zil tried to be nice to me.

The captain hisses. "I'm the captain and this is my ship."

Zil hisses back at him. "I don't care. Hazel is my mate and she will remain so. You aren't going to take her away from me."

"That's what you claimed."

I add. "Zil is right. I'm his mate."

The captain laughs. "Who are you to talk?"

What?

Zil gives me a nod with resolve, gesturing for me to keep quiet. I don't understand this. I'm the one involved in this and should have a say on who my mate is. But maybe this is a uzain thing. Regardless, this is still dumb.

Zil says, "I don't mind if we are to let everyone know about this fight. I can yank your horns once and I can do that again."

The captain snickers. "Good. We still have time before we arrive at the destination. I'll show you who has her."

Fuck this...

All the other uzains seem to be fine with this. How can that be?

They should know better than this. There's no reason the only way is to fight about it. And no one even asked for my opinion on who's my mate.

What year is this? Do these beings still do the stupid fight for their mate thing?