Page 7 of Warrior Enchanted

Clean, and dressed in actual clothes, I curled up on one of the cots, a blanket around my shoulders and my knife tucked beneath the nearby pillow. Now what? I was exhausted by what I’d lived through the past two days, days that felt like a lifetime. I hadn’t eaten much or slept much since I’d woken to find myself in this nightmare.

I’d only just thought about food and there was a rapping on the door which was followed by an honest-to-God doorbell chiming. I stared at the door in surprise, my hand shooting out to grab the knife again. I hesitated, should I open the door or not? Who could it possibly be?

The knocking sound came again and I made up my mind. I couldn’t hide in here forever anyway. There was a little screen next to the door on this side too, and hazarding a guess, I just pressed my hand to it, hoping that would make it open again. It did, sliding to the side with a soft swishing noise.

I froze in place when I realized who was on the other side. I’d expected it to be Akri again, or maybe Sunder. It should have been one of the human women on the ship. This definitely wasn’t any of them. I was staring at the huge red chest of the four-armed alien. The alien who’d stared at me like he wanted to eat me up, in a sexy fun way, and then ogled another pair of boobs without shame. Total creep.

Jerking my chin up was the only way I could look him in his bright yellow eyes and I tried not to appreciate how handsome he was. How much I itched to touch those black springy curls of his to see if they were as soft as they looked. Hiding my hands behind my back meant he couldn’t see the knife, but it also meant I would be slower to react if he did anything.

His lower arms were holding a tray laden with food, far more food than I could eat. He spoke, his voice a lovely tenor that I couldn’t understand, but he’d thought of it. A box like the one Sunder had crackled with an electronic voice, translating for him. “I brought you food, beautiful human.”

I gaped at him. Had he just called me beautiful? The audacity… We didn’t know each other; was he one of those guys that just flirted with everyone? I hoped he’d just hand me the damn food and left, but the way he was staring at me, his full attention on my face. I had the feeling that he’d stand in front of my door as long as I let him.

“Right, thanks,” I said, reaching for the tray with both hands before I remembered I was holding a knife. His eyes slowly drifted down from my face, over the shirt clinging to my chest, before landing on my hands. His expression didn’t change when he saw the knife, though the pink freckles on his face brightened a little more. He pressed the tray closer and I took it from him, grunting in surprise at how heavy it was.

“Let me help you,” he offered, the electronic voice missing the obvious eagerness in his tone of voice. He didn’t step inside, but all four of his hands had reached for the tray again. I felt threatened; like he was about to invade my private space. I winced back and snapped at him before I could stop myself.

He froze in place and just watched as I hurriedly dropped the tray of food on the empty bed. Then I slammed my hand on the panel next to the door and watch it slide shut right in his face. Panting, I kept staring at that closed door, worried by the weird, tangled mess of feelings inside of me.

Why did I feel bad about doing that? Why did I feel this weird urge to open the door again and apologize? My heart was racing, my palms were sweaty, and my stomach was a tight ball. I didn’t like having anyone as big as him close to me right now, not someone who looked as fit and virile as he did.

It was a good thing that tray was piled with food enough for half a dozen people; I was going to stay inside this room for as long as they let me. I had everything I needed in here to survive for now.

Chapter 5

Jakar

My mate was hurt and scared. It was clearly written in every motion of her body and the expressions on her face. So though I wanted to knock on her door again, wanted to prolong this moment of contact, I didn’t. I hadn’t even gotten to ask her if she’d let me court her yet. Now when would I get the chance?

Kitan and Chloe had shaken our tail of pursuers so now we were flying to Rakex; a planet on the edge of Kertinal space. That’s where we’d meet up with Eoin, Tori, and her baby, who we’d had to leave behind on Yengar station in all the chaos. That’s where we’d be leaving the humans we rescued if Ziame could manage to arrange it with the Rakex government. I didn’t have much time to convince Meena to stay on the Vagabond with me.

Still in front of her door, I closed my eyes to recall what she’d looked like. Long black hair draped around her slender shoulders, her small chest emphasized by the way the shirt she wore clung to her. Her skin was this deep, lovely tan that I just wanted to touch; was it as silky as it looked? She was beautiful but she was scared and I knew I’d made a mess of this interaction just now. Sunder was right. She wasn’t ready; she needed more time.

Right then and there, I knew what I’d have to do. When we were helping the refugees settle in on Rakex, I’d have to stay behind with them. If I didn’t, I’d lose my chance with Meena. I’d have to wait for as long as she needed me to wait. It meant leaving the Vagabond and my brothers. The thought made me sad, but I had wanted a mate for so long, I would do anything for that.

Turning around, I headed for the door next to Meena’s. It was one of the access points to my hydroponic bay, which we’d built in a row of converted crew quarters. Meena had been assigned a room right next door to the place that I frequented the most on this ship. There were other humans in this hallway, but they’d put them four to a room to save space. Meena was the only one with quarters entirely to herself. I knew my friends had probably done it because they knew she was my mate; I hoped she wouldn’t be upset with the preferential treatment.

Entering the green, verdant place, I breathed in deeply and stretched out all four of my arms. The air here was a little humid, a little warmer than on the rest of the ship. I imagined it felt a little like the jungle climate back on my home world, not that I could recall it. There were no trees in here, but the entire back wall of the room was covered by climbing plants. In neat lines, the hydroponic pods lined the space. It was a room converted from four bunk rooms into a single space, big enough to give you a little slice of what it felt like to be outside on a planet.

Walking to the nearest pod’s control panel, I immersed myself in the work. Growing food for an always-growing crew meant I couldn’t slack a single day. I took great pride in supplying at least a quarter of our food myself, growing fresh vegetables to go with each meal that Tori cooked.

With Tori not on the Vagabond right now, we were down to each of us taking turns in the galley to various degrees of success. Sunder and Aggy had made the food today, which had turned out alright. I’d heaped on more than I knew Meena needed on that tray because I had far less faith in Hina and Fierce’s cooking skills, and they were up next. I mean, I loved my brother, but he preferred raw meat and bones, which didn’t exactly encourage the learning of cooking skills.

I wondered if Meena was any good at cooking and if she was good with plants. Hina was, but she cared more about looking at them under a microscope, finding out about their individual parts and what you could use them for. Me, I just liked the peacefulness of working here, of making things grow that could nurture my brothers, their mates, and me. Here, on the Vagabond, I’d found my place, found the things that I could do to contribute. I’d have to figure that out again once I stayed behind on Rakex with Meena.

When I reached the last row of pods at the back of the room I caught a flash of yellow and frowned. The plants there didn’t flower yellow and they were beyond that phase, so what was it? Shifting my arms out in a more defensive position, ready for action, I leaned around the row of pods for a better look. Startled when I discovered Akri sitting in the corner, legs tucked up against his chest and his arms curled around them, head tentacles doing the same thing.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” I asked, surprised. I didn’t think he came here. Akri had not shown much interest so far in any of the plant life aboard the ship. Not when he was the AI housed in the ship’s main computer and not now that he’d somehow gotten downloaded into the brain of this body. A body we’d pulled from a broken stasis pod that the Doc had struggled to revive or even get any kind of readings on.

Akri looked up at me, his head lolling awkwardly back on his neck. He didn’t move more, just stared at me for a moment. “The abundant noise is interfering with my ability to control this host,” he said in my native tongue, the syllables sounding effortless and perfect. Akri probably spoke my native tongue better than I did as I’d lived most of my life adapting to this Quadrant’s traders’ common.

“That’s no good. You can hide in here as long as you’d like brother, anything I can do for you?” I asked, concerned by how limply he held his head but how tightly he was holding his body together. “Should I call for the Doc?”

Akri’s mouth tightened, his eyes closing. “Processing, please hold.” I had to hold back a chuckle there. That was so typical of him to say, even though he didn’t need to, now that he was in a body. Not that any of us expected him to say that when he was the ship either. It had to be hard to adapt to such a different body. One day he was the size of a Star Class Cruiser, the next he was this tiny creature living inside it.

“Negative, I am performing within the expected parameters. I believe I am just… tired?” he responded finally. His eyes opened again to look at me, his body slowly uncurling, legs stretching out in front of him. From his neck hung a small pouch by a strap and he touched it with one hand, “I have Meena’s pain collar here. According to my calculations, you’d most appreciate disposing of it.” He fiddled with the opening of the bag, an angry scowl on his face when his fingers were clumsy with the string that held it shut.

My heart started racing, my spots darkening to a deep red that matched the rest of my skin from my anger. Her pain collar? I definitely wanted to be the one to destroy it. I’d worn my own for so long that I could still feel it sometimes, and scarring lined my neck from the times it had been too tight after a growth spurt. Would she want to see it happen? Or did it have less meaning to her, since she’d only worn the thing for a day?