Learning to Blush: Swarii Brides, Book Two

by Korey Mae Johnson

  He brooded silently to himself for a while.

  “Or maybe she’s not worth the trouble. I mean, sure—you might be lonely for the rest of your life if you never find your mate and the girl who you already claim to love is out there waiting for you… But…”

  “But she doesn’t believe in monogamy,” he reminded with frustration. “I’d ruin her life.”

  “You love her. You wouldn’t ruin everything… I mean, Graham has been really, really angry with me before but he’s never really hurt me. Same deal! You would never hurt Penny if she was your mate. I mean, she probably wouldn’t be as easy as me, but…”

  Thorton moved his body so he could try to tell if Ellie was inwardly laughing. But she didn’t seem to be. Did Ellie really think she was an easy wife? Was she really that delusional? “Wait—how did it happen that I’m taking advice from you?” Thorton suddenly asked, reviewing their conversation for insanity.

  “Because I care about you and I care about Penny. I’m a common-interest party! My opinion totally matters!” she cried defensively. “You’re obviously not happy, Penny’s not happy. If you’re not a match, just continue being unhappy! But you should at least play the odds!”

  Thorton sighed. “It’s not quite that easy—”

  “Yeah, it is that easy, Boss. Hell, Graham and I got together by accident. I mean, grow a backbone—” Suddenly a large piece of steel crashed out of the vent and smacked him right on the forehead.

  He grabbed his forehead, repressing most of what he wanted to curse somehow, but still emitting a gritted, “Son of a bitch!” He brought his hand away and saw blood. “Oh, you are dead—”

  The shoes were gone, and he could suddenly hear her voice from across the hall, still in the ventilation shaft. “Sorry about that. You should probably learn not to stand in the drop-zone…”

  “Grr! Grah!” He couldn’t form words; he was too busy pressing his hand against his injury. “Strapping!” was all he could eventually bark, but he was sure that Ellie had already well-fled the scene.

  He stomped angrily towards his room and brushed past Graham on the way, who had been walking while reading his electronic tablet until he noticed Thorton with blood oozing between his fingers. “You okay?” Graham asked.

  Your wife must be destroyed. Thorton nearly Shal’taed that to Graham, since Thorton was thinking it with every ounce of his being. But he was already beginning to get embarrassed; he’d known it was an accident, and he hadn’t been clear of her work zone like he should have been. “Yeah,” he grunted.

  “Need stitches?” Graham asked, pacing along next to him.

  “No.”

  “Want to say what happened?” Graham pressed.

  “Nothing happened.”

  “Okay, that’s fine,” Graham replied. “I’ll just make a note on your medical report then that your forehead simultaneously combusted. Be prepared for a lot of tests when we get back to Swaraan,” Graham replied loftily. He was still trailing next to him, as if Thorton was suddenly going to open up. He heard Graham hum and then he put up his wrist and tapped his communicator. “Where are you, Eleanor?” he asked, seeming to put it all together.

  Ellie’s voice immediately came back through the small com, but she was close enough for her voice to echo from above the ceiling. “I didn’t do it! He was in the drop zone! The DROP ZONE.”

  Graham's reply was very casual and patient. “Can you come here, please?”

  “But I didn’t do anything!”

  Graham dropped his wrist and looked up. “Are you in the ventilation?” he asked the ceiling, putting his hands on his hips.

  The vent remained silent.

  “Eleanor?” Graham asked impatiently.

  “I didn’t do anything!” the vent cried again stubbornly.

  “I was in the drop zone,” Thorton finally admitted, wiping his fist over his forehead. He still looked up with annoyance. “Eleanor, if you don’t have proper gear on in the next two minutes, you and I are going to chat, and only one of us will be sitting down for it. Get it? Come out of there, it’s not good for your lungs.”

  “But I’m nearly done, anyway.”

  “You’d better be done in the next minute and forty-nine seconds, or else my belt’s coming off!” Thorton snapped, and then felt the bump that was already protruding from his forehead. “Damn monkey,” he added with a grumble, turning back towards the direction of his room.

  “Come out of there right now, young lady. I mean it,” Graham added firmly with the tone of an embarrassed parent. “You have sixty seconds.”

  Losing Graham wasn’t so easy. Graham rushed his pace to catch back up with Thorton and walked into his room with him. “Alright, Commander—so we’ll be landing in the next five hours. Michael is actually somewhat proficient now with radio systems; he passed the test I gave him on that, so I’m putting him on that first. Also, he’s sort of a bear of a human, so I think he, Tim, and Tom should be able to handle the welders. I have to go find some fuel for us, so I want you to oversee the repairs. Do not—I repeat—do not put Eleanor as Michael’s manager. I’ve watched how that dynamic works, and it doesn’t. The only person in the damn universe who can get all those kids to work is Michael, so if you need a number-two, that’s your man. Otherwise I wouldn’t trust Tom and I’d trust Tim less. They’re still kids who think everything is a video game. That worries me, as does their attention span.”

  Thorton cleaned his wound in the sink. “They have attention spans?” he replied. Except when they were playing video games, Thorton hadn’t seen those boys focus on anything for longer than five seconds. He’d seen squirrels that weren’t so distraction-prone.

  “Exactly. Proves what happens when they don’t use the cane in school. And they certainly didn’t get it at home, either. As far as I can collect from what Ellie tells me, those kids had some of the most careless parents imaginable. It’s lucky they turned out as well as they did. Practically no schooling at all, either. Which is too bad, because they’re smart. Really smart. Penelope’s test scores were… interesting.”

  Graham looked at his wrist and clicked the com-link. “Time’s up, Eleanor.”

  “Give me five minutes?” the com begged.

  Thorton turned as he was done applying small bandages to his scrape, mending his skin back together. “Is she serious?”

  Graham massaged his temples. “I should have brought the damn paddle.”

  “Yeah,” Thorton agreed. “Hindsight is twenty-twenty. You thought she was dead at the time, remember. Meaningless to tan a corpse.” He toweled off his hands and asked, “So what was so 'interesting' about Penny’s scores? And what test is this? She didn’t take the engineer’s exam.”

  “No, she didn’t. But her language skills are as high as a native-born Swarii, and she doesn’t have robocuffin in her blood to help brain function. After six weeks, she’s as good—or better—at our own language as we are, Thorton. Her brain’s able to break down things in a way similar to ours but she does it much more efficiently.” He shook his head. “And she’s so young… Her potential is astounding. I think when I get her to Swaraan I’d like to maybe adopt her or something, get guardianship. Get her into a good learning program that will—”

  “Whoa, whhooa…” Thorton said, slicing his arms through the air. “Come again, now? Adopt her?”

  “Only for a couple of years until she’s old enough to go to the mating festival. I don’t care what the Earthlings say or what young arbitrary age they chose to call a girl an ‘adult’, but as far as our standards go, she’s still a dependent. Her brothers are nice boys, but personally I wouldn’t trust them with a goldfish. Michael’s young, single, and in five years he will either be one of the youngest engineering commanders in history or his attitude is going to get him shot by whoever his Captain is. Either way, I don’t want to burden him with the responsibility of caring for her… Especially with as head-strong as she is! In a lot of ways, she’s less behaved than Eleanor. Eleanor is at least co
ntrolled by some degree of shame or embarrassment… I didn’t notice that about Penny yet. It’s disturbing. I don't think she's used to getting attention from anything she says or does…”

  “I’ve noticed that, too,” he admitted. “Since day one… But…” There was something about the fact that Graham noted that in their culture, she was still practically a child, that made Thorton feel really horrible about how much he desired her. The thoughts he had had! The fantasies! He had even dreamed about Penny’s belly growing round with his future children…

  Ellie was right. Thorton had already felt a claim to Penny.

  “I doubt she’d ever go willingly to a mating festival,” he said, nonchalantly, trying not to display any emotion about it. “She’s anti-marriage and all that…”

  “Yes. I’ve heard that line of idiocy out of her,” Graham said, typing something into his electronic pad. “It was very amusing. She’ll change her mind about that, though, or I’ll change it for her by then. With Earth as guarded as it is, she has to know she’s not going back there anytime soon. It’d be good for her to get a man who can care for her when she’s old enough.”

  “Age-wise, you know… Ellie’s not much older than she is,” Thorton felt he needed to point out.

  “Ellie was young to be mated, true. She was also too young for the way that Frian piece of scum was treating her,” Graham replied defensively, looking up from his tablet. “You saw what he did to her!”

  Thorton could only imagine what Ellie’s master had done to her. What he had seen was the Frian undress her and fondle her in public before beating her like some sort of mutt who'd piddled on the carpet. Even so, Graham hadn’t mated with Ellie to save her from the Frian Prince, Jazeel. Graham had mated with her on accident, because of a split-second decision he'd made when he hadn’t felt like he needed to guard himself. Graham hadn’t thought he COULD mate with Ellie at the time. It was astounding that she was a half-breed, and even more amazing that Swarii could breed with humans at all…

  “I’m not blaming you, I’m just saying—you haven’t complained about her age… Much. She’s mature, you know…?”

  Ellie suddenly walked through the door, looking like a giant dust bunny. Of course she did; she was always there to prove Thorton wrong.

  “Ah, God,” Thorton conceded with an eye roll.

  Ellie raised her arms, as if she was a prize she was showing to an audience at a game show. “See? I’m done. I’m out of the vent.” She glanced over at Thorton. Her eyes were the cleanest part of her body. “And I’m perfectly healthy.”

  Graham had an expression that was attempting to look firm. But Thorton knew him too well—Graham was trying to keep from laughing. “And perfectly filthy, Eleanor. I’ve known many a cleaner potato.”

  For once, Thorton had the sterner look. Thorton could feel it—he could feel her going back into the same pattern she had before she stole the ship, and then nearly killed herself. Hell, they all nearly died when extracting her from that planet!

  Eleanor needed more boundaries. She needed rules. And she needed the rules enforced. “And that’s why you should wear face gear, at least. You know I’ve known men that’d died from getting a virus in their lungs from the crap breeding within the ventilation system. Weirder stuff has happened. But that’s not the point. The point is safety gear.”

  “Safety gear?” she coughed. “You do wiring without gloves all the time,” she reminded, and Thorton couldn’t argue with her. She was right, though since he’d gone to Earth, he had been trying to set a better example about that sort of thing. Eye gear? No problem. All he had to do was see a man’s eyes nearly get fried out of his head once. He wouldn’t have any trouble wearing goggles again. Gloves, however, were still a pain in the ass.

  “This isn’t about Commander Hux. This is about you ignoring orders and rules, Eleanor. Bedroom, now.” Before Ellie could respond, Graham frowned. “And try not to touch anything on the way there,” he added.

  “I was doing my job! Don’t be ridiculous! And I shouldn’t be punished just because he’s pissy that he was in the drop z—”

  Graham held up his hand; a gesture that silenced her. “Keep arguing with me and you’re going to be a very sorry little girl all day tomorrow. You’d better have started going to the room by the count of three, Eleanor, or else Thorton’s getting himself a show.”

  Her mouth dropped, and Thorton saw the little bit of skin he could see under her dirty face turn bright pink. “Graham!” she whined. “I just—”

  “One.”

  “It’s only a dumb safety rule that—”

  “Two.”

  She closed her mouth, glanced very briefly at Thorton, and then turned heel and scampered from the room.

  When she was out of sight, Graham sighed, then sat back and looked cockily at Thorton. “What were we talking about? Something about them being so mature? Or how right I am? Something like that…?”

  “Okay, it’s possible that they’re a little on the immature side. Could they live by themselves on their own? No. But adoption might take some of my awkwardness to another level—”

  “I thought you didn’t think humans were attractive,” Graham suddenly cut in with a knowing glance.

  Thorton’s mouth hung open. “When did I say that?”

  “When I met Ellie,” he reminded.

  “Ellie’s particularly pint-sized. Humans are normally small—in a weird way. I wasn’t used to that. Penny—Penny’s like… Penny’s different. She’s…”

  “Got huge breasts, I get it,” Graham groaned, and shook his head.

  “And little spots—!”

  “Freckles,” he corrected, using some human word.

  “Freckles! Red hair! Hips! And her bottom is like—pow.”

  Graham gave him a chiding glance.

  Okay, so maybe talking about her bouncy, sexy little bottom was going too far, and it was so eye-catching that there was no need to point it out.

  “Are you trying to get some sort of approval from me to attempt her?” Graham asked dully.

  “No. I know attempting her is a bad idea…” Thorton slouched wearily. “I just want to, anyway,” Thorton admitted. “I was telling the dust-monster out there as much. I know Penny’s probably too young. I know she’s a little nutty and way too flirty and opens her legs like she’s a stop-and-go, and that she’s about five inches too short.” And he knew he loved every minute being around her. He loved the smell of her hair, the bat of her long eyelashes, and that pink, drop-dead-sexy smile…

  “Remember you have an invite back to the next mating festival,” Graham reminded. “You’ll probably meet someone there, and you’ll forget about Penny, and she’ll get some time to mature and act a little less like an Earthling. You’re probably not a match with her, anyway. Don’t kick yourself over it.”

  Well, Graham definitely wasn’t Ellie—Graham had said no words of approval, no words of encouragement. He put his electronic tablet in his side satchel. “Did you want to keep talking about this?” he asked, even though he was already turning towards the door.

  “Definitely no. I need more of your advice like I need a hole in the head—and I already have one of those…” He fingered the injury on his hairline.

  Graham chuckled. “You don’t need my advice, Thorton. You’ve always known the best path. The hard part is getting you to walk down it.”

  “You’re sounding like the Admiral again,” warned Thorton with a weary smirk.

  Graham turned his head back before he stepped into the hallway, making a grimace. “I know. Well, he is my father. It’s not his fault he’s always right like me.” He grinned, winked, and left Thorton alone with his thoughts.

  Chapter Seven

  Penny paced down the hallway, putting her thumbs around the belt loops of her short-shorts. She was thinking about heading for Thorton’s room and seducing the hell out of him—but then, she realized that she might weary him from chasing him. No; men liked to feel like they were the hunter
s.

  And so she went to go bother Graham. She didn’t have any interest in him; Penny was a lot of things, but she wasn’t the type to attempt to steal a man from her own cousin. Still, Graham was fun to bother and offered something she most loved in the world very freely—attention and affection. It was more fatherly than brotherly, certainly not anything like a lover, but she liked that. He was different. And perhaps if she paid attention to Graham and less to Thorton, Thorton was the type that would come around to her out of jealousy.

  She came to their room and was about to knock on the door, since it was rolled open about an inch, anyway, but then she saw through that crack Graham, fully clothed, pulling his completely naked and wet wife out of the shower-room and towards the bed.

  “Graham!” Ellie was whining in the Swarii language. “You’re being dumb! It’s a stupid rule! I was working!”

  “Calling me dumb does not help your case. I am your husband and your captain. Respect is something you need to learn, Eleanor. Now bend over the bed.” He released her wrist, which he had been dragging her by, and pointed towards the bed’s edge.

  “Why?” Eleanor asked, looking awkward and worried. “What’re you gonna do?”

  He crossed his arms, his face firm. “Besides spank you?” he asked, causing Penny to gasp and her eyes go wide. “Because the way you’re acting right now makes me think you need the kit as well.”

  Penny had no idea what ‘the kit’ was, but it was clear that it was no mystery to Ellie. Ellie immediately jumped up to Graham and desperately wrung both of her arms around one of his forearms. “No… Graham! Please no? I’ll wear safety gear next time, okay?”

  “Woman, this isn’t just about safety gear. You don’t follow commands because you think you know better. That’s why we’re here. That’s why we’re all here. That’s why our ship is broken. That’s why I’ve lived on a ship with only half-day on land for the last three and a half months. I’d say it’s because you can’t learn from your mistakes, but that’s not the case because you’re constantly doing more and more complicated things with your job. So you can learn…”