When the food finally arrived, my stomach growled at the aroma of the creamy red soup. I hadn’t really eaten in two days. The crew was easy with each other, jokes and teases tossed around the table. Ruush’s laugh was loud and generous, his face breaking into a wide grin. It was infectious. I found it hard to keep my exterior calm and neutral. Calm and neutral served me well. They kept me alive so far. Boring? Hell yeah. But no one pulls a knife on you for being boring.
In the course of conversation, Resolve asked me the occasional question. On my second beer, which barely tasted like anything, I realized they were sounding me out. Of course. I ran away from a major crime lord, who I claimed was dead. I was beyond suspicious, downright fishy even. I wouldn't trust me, either.
After a while, the barman brought in a fresh tray of sandwiches and pitchers of the tasteless beer. He leaned down to speak with Jonee but she shook her head and pushed away from the table. He absently rubbed his chest, a frown on his face, as he watched her walk away.
The aroma of mustard and cheese distracted me, and I reached for a sandwich, unable to resist. I realized that the crew was waiting for me to finish eating. I took a big bite, trying to chew and smile at the same time. My master didn’t starve me, but it had been a long day, and my grumbling stomach wouldn’t be satiated. If I ate much more, though, I was going to fall asleep at the table like a greedy kit.
“Business time,” Ruush said, drawing everyone’s attention back to the center. The crew settled down.
“We got a proper job yet?” Rise asked.
“I don’t like hauling cargo anymore than you,” Ruush said. “But since the incident at Blackborn, clients are gun shy.” The crew groaned but no one bothered to explain what happened on Blackborn. It didn’t matter. I’d sat through enough of these meetings to recognize that a plan failed, losses were cut, inventory lost, the client upset, and new clients hesitant to deal with a failed smuggler. It happened every day.
“So we’re going to make our fortune the old fashioned way. We’re gonna steal it,” Ruush said. “And fortune favored us today. We have a genuine doctor on our boat now.”
All eyes turned towards me. “And we’re going to use her to get access to Avalon.”
I recognized the name immediately. “Avalon’s under quarantine,” I said. “No one in or out.” The colony currently suffered a hemorrhagic fever. It wasn’t exceptionally contagious, only if you got blood on you, but it was dramatic enough to cause a panic, so the colony was under a strict lockdown.
“Not for the Interstellar Health Organization.”
“I removed my identity chip,” I gently reminded him. The chip had all my medical credentials, the kind that can’t be faked. Without the chip, I had no profession, at least on paper, but I was also invisible to computer networks and hard to track. Worth the loss, in my opinion.
“We’ll implant it again. You have an interview in Avalon in a week. The IHO was very excited to have you volunteer.”
So he had already decided. Equal risk. “How is me working at an IHO field hospital going to pay my fare?”
Ruush sat a glass tablet down on the table. It projected a holographic image of the planet upwards. “There are several field hospitals on Avalon and not a lot of inventory control. You get us access, we load up the excess supplies and sell at a profit.”
My stomach threatened to turn. That was disgusting. Vile. “Stealing medical supplies during an epidemic?” The words were like ash in my mouth. I bolted down a mouthful of the tasteless beer, trying to wash the ash away.
“We all know they have more than they need. We’re going to redistribute to those that need it.”
“That can pay,” I said.
“Of course. We’re not a charity.”
I stood up from the table. “No. I won’t do it.”
Ruush’s eyes held mine in a calculating gaze. He wanted to see if I would back down, how far he could push me. Well, joke’s on him. I wouldn’t do it.
“That’s the price of your passage,” he said arrogantly.
“No.”
“I’ll leave you here on Kile and those two psychopaths you’re running from will find you in a day. Hell, I’ll wrap you up in a bow and deliver you myself.”
The image of Ruush wrapping me up in just a bow momentarily distracted me.
Swift and Gentle. Right. The brother’s weren’t going to be happy with me. I let their father die. I ran away. They would whip me, yes. Beat me, certainly. Torture me. Rape me. My stomach churned. Swift would force himself on me to break me. I couldn’t go back to that. Never again. But I couldn’t do what Ruush was asking either.
“I understand,” I said, trying to remain calm, “but I swore an oath to do no harm.”
“Oaths are easy enough to break. Your master never hesitated to break one.”
“Do I look like Calmness Yvar?!” My temper finally snapped. “My job is to help people, not harm them. I thought the Fremm were all about honor and duty.”
“Honor, valor and loyalty,” he said. “Those are the three sacred swords of Fremm.”
“I don’t give a chooha’s fluffy ass about sacred swords. Yes, I worked for a bad man who did terrible things, but I didn’t have a choice. All I’ve ever done is heal. I won’t change that now. Not for you, not for anyone.”
“Words. You spoke only words.”
“They meant something! You want me to go be a doctor in the middle of a plague? Fine. I’ll do it. But I won’t help you steal from the sick. Or better yet, let me be the ship's doctor for a year or two. I’m sure you get banged up enough to keep me busy.”
The crew held its breath. I got the impression that for all their good natured teasing, no one argued with the captain. His nostrils flared. His hands clenched in a fist. Yes, he was upset.
Good job, Meyet. Piss off the Fremm. They’re not known for their issues with anger management or anything.
Resolve broke the tension. “She has a point.”
“You growing a conscious now, woman?” Ruush snarled.
“No, sir,” she said softly, ears flat against her skull.
“Anyone else got a bright idea they need to share?”
The crew remained silent.
Ruush exhaled slowly and tension visibly drained from him. “Tell you what, Meyet. We can come to an accord on this.”
I folded my arms over my chest. “I don’t see how.” If he left me on this rock, I’d talk my way onto another ship. Even a slave ship if I had to. Swift and Gentle would kill me, of that I was certain. But continuing to live as a slave was better than the alternative.
“A wager,” he said.
I tilted my head, curious. “You’ll cheat. That’s what you rogue types do.”
“A card game?”
“Do I have ‘chump’ written on my forehead?”
The Fremm barman was back in the room, gathering up the empty glasses. He laughed. “I like this one, Ruush. She’s on to you.”
“A game of skill? Chance? A drinking game?” Ruush’s eyes gleamed. Oh, he was having a good time.
“Tell me about the hoop challenge,” I said, addressing the barman.
Marks of surprise burned on his brow. My eyes drifted from the barman to Ruush. Their skin tone was different but their features so similar, I was ashamed I didn’t see it earlier. Ruush was a grayish slate blue, but the barman was a lighter, brighter blue grey. They were brothers, or at the very least, related. Now that I saw them side by side, I noticed something else. Ruush had never betrayed his thoughts or emotions with the luminescence of his skin, the luminescence that every Fremm had. He was either a master at controlling his emotions, or he wasn’t a full-blooded Fremm.
If he was a Terran-Fremm hybrid, then that only went to prove my theory that hybrids were the most gorgeous of species.
Now I was blushing.
Ruush cocked an eyebrow at me. “Go ahead and tell her, Dashle. My brother, by the way. I’m sure you noticed the similarity.”
“It’s pr
etty straight forward,” Dashle said. “You get a metal plate. You toss it through the hoops. Each hoop is a little smaller than the one before. Clear all the hoops, free booze.”
“Did you devise the game?” I asked, not taking my eyes off Ruush. I folded my arms over my chest, studying him.
“Nope. Came with the bar.”
“Has anyone ever beaten it?”
“Not in the ten years I’ve owned the place.”
I cocked my own eyebrow at Ruush. I liked the sound of this game. “What’s a jarhead?"
“An old Terran word for soldier.”
“Has your brother ever tried his hand?”
“Doesn't have to,” Dashle said. “He already drinks for free, the bum.”
Perfect. “Hoops it is, Ruush.”
Ruush leaned forward. He was close to me now, the heat of his body making me shiver. “Terms?”
“If you get the plate through all the hoops, I go along with your plan. No arguing, even though I hate it. If you lose, I serve as the ship’s doctor. I might even be gentle when I stitch you together.”
Ruush shook his head. “Not good enough.”
“What do you mean?” I was giving him everything he wanted a few minutes ago.
“If I win, you go to Avalon and play doctor with me but I also want…” He leaned forward and whispered in my ear.
My eyes went wide. A hot, fierce blush overtook me. I slapped him.
He grinned as he rubbed his jaw. “Is that a yes, kitten?”
Barely able to control my pounding heart, I looked over the table. All eyes were on me. “I don’t really have a choice, do I?”
“Sure you do,” Ruush said, heading for the front of the bar. “It’s just not a good choice.”
Ruush
The look on her face.
It was worth the slap. I chuckled as I rubbed my stinging jaw. So worth it.
Damn, if only I could figure out how to get Meyet to touch me again. She could even slap me. I wouldn’t mind.
A crowd had already gathered at the hoops in anticipation of the match. Dashle handed me a flat metal plate. It was a standard military issue chow plate, with a small lip at the edge, machine turned. The side gently sloped upwards. Thin. Durable. Years of drunks tossing the chow plate through hoops had worn away the finish.
I saw the way she looked at my brother and then at me. She was clever. She had noticed my deformity, the Fremm trait that I lacked. She didn’t react. That may have been due to years of conditioning from living with Calmness Yvar. She was probably skilled at hiding shock and disgust.
But the way she slapped me. That was shock and disgust right there. She had none of that when she realized I don’t have the luminescence that all Fremmians have. Blame my Terran father. While I got his good looks and charm, I also got his flat, empty skin. Dashle, however, had always passed as pure Fremm. His complexion clearly broadcasted his thoughts and emotions. There was a faint silvery glow when you touched him. Me, not so much. It freaked out the Fremm side of the family, but it was good for business.
Maybe my little deformity didn’t bother her after all.
“Take out the augmented lenses,” she said.
“No can do.”
“You’ll have an advantage.”
I grabbed her, my hand wrapping around her waist, and I pulled her towards me. I leaned my face in close.
“I need them to see.”
The lenses detected a rise in her body heat, right at the apex of her thighs. Ain’t technology great.
“Kiss for luck, kitten?”
She pushed me away.
“I’ll turn off the extrasensory functions.” I grasped the plate in both hands, flexing the disc. It was stiff and rigid.
I tossed it like a discus. It sailed through the first hoop without a problem. One down. Five to go.
The second hoop was not a challenge. Neither was the third or fourth. The crowd grew larger. Many of the cocky and the foolish had tried the hoop challenge and failed, so people were anxious to see the outcome this time. The fifth hoop was always where they had stumbled. The circumference was a tight fit and the aim had to be perfect.
Meyet stood to the side, arms folded over her chest. She was irritable and her eyes heavy with fatigue. I should have let her rest but there would be plenty of time to rest when we were on our way to Avalon.
I flexed my arms, going through the motions of trial throws, but didn’t release. Satisfied I’d put on enough of a show, I threw the plate. It banged slightly on the left side but cleared.
Meyet perked up, standing straighter. She sensed her victory near.
I almost hated to do it.
“Dashle!” I shouted over the crowd. “How many have tried the sixth hoop?”
“Two hundred and seventy eight, by my count,” he said. He probably had a tally behind the bar. Dashle was organized that way.
“Who’s got money saying I can’t do it?” The crowd roared. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Hilly talking to a bookie. That poor sucker.
“Kitten, the bet was to get the plate through the hoop?”
She frowned at me. “You know it is.”
“Just checking.” I grasped the plate in both hands and folded upwards. The plate bent into a U shape and I flattened it. The top edges rounded, so I folded it again. It wasn’t pretty, but it would fit through the hoops. See, the game was rigged. Dashle and I figured it out the moment he bought this place. The last hoop was smaller than the plate, but high enough on the wall that the average drunk couldn’t see the disadvantage. No one could ever win.
Until now.
I lined up my folded plate, ugly as it was, and aimed for the hoop. I held my breath and released, watching the plate make its sloppy flight through the air and eventually, through the sixth hoop.
The crowd burst into an insane level of applause. I paused to hope Hilly made a killing betting on me.
Then I turned to Meyet, ready to claim my prize.
She was not a happy kitten.
Chapter Eight
Meyet
“You cheater!”
A beguiling grin broke out on his stupid, sexy face. Silver flashed briefly over his deep plum eyes. “Fair is fair, kitten.” He grabbed me by the waist, and pulled me towards him. He leaned in, voice a purr. “I want to collect on my prize now.”
I pushed back, beating my hands against his pectorals. Damn, he was built like steel. No, no sexy thoughts. You’re angry now, Meyet. Get with the program.
“Not here. In private.”
“I’ll take it anywhere I please.”
Seriously? Who the hell did Ruush think he was? I stomped down on his foot and he released me, more in surprise than pain. But I was not wearing the proper boots to cause considerable enough pain.
Add to shopping list: foot crunching boots.
I marched back to the Promontory, shoulders back and chin held high, and walked straight to my cabin. If I could slam doors, I would have. The best I could manage was stomping my feet. Childish, yes, but he suckered me. Stars, I spent twenty-five-years surviving in a literal den of thieves and murderers and I had managed to keep myself out of trouble. One day with the Fremmian rogue and I’m drunk and losing at bar games. Was this what Malik had meant by “living?” That level of recklessness thrilled me but scared me at the same time. What had happened to careful, cautious Meyet?
She made the wrong choice when she took the alien rogue up on a bet, that’s what.
In my narrow cabin, I threw myself on the bed. It groaned under my weight. The space was exactly wide enough for me touch either side with my arms extended. I would have asked Ruush for a cabin less claustrophobic, but I didn’t want to know what he’d ask for in return. Because he would ask, with that cocky grin on his face, the one that made me all gooey inside.
The man was trouble. Sexy, delicious trouble.
Dammit, Meyet. Get yourself together. You’ve never lost your head over a male before. Don’t start now.
I knew
what had happened to the careful, cautious Meyet. She ground the ash of a Chi Ghilla Rainbow snake under her boot, sealing her fate. Careful and Cautious Meyet was a thing of the past, ash under my boot. I wasn’t so sure I liked the new Meyet that was emerging.
And Ruush wasn’t going to wait much longer to collect his winnings.
As if I summoned him with my worries, there was a light rap at the door before it slid open. “May I come in?”
“It’s your ship. Captain.” The words were bitter in my mouth. It was his ship and it was his vile plan, and even his dumb idea for the bet. And I fell for it.
He leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed over his chest. His hooded eyes flashed silver, as he studied me. My stomach fluttered with a spike of desire. I shouldn’t have wanted him the way I did. I should have screamed at him, demanded to know who he was to decide who got supplies and who had to suffer in an epidemic. He was toying with lives.
“Come to gloat?” I asked.
“You know why I’m here.” In the dim light of the cabin, his eyes gleamed silver.
“I thought augmented lenses could see through fabric.” I stuck one hand on a hip.
“I can detect metal under fabric.” Handy when sizing up an opponent or quickly doing a security scan. “And body heat.”
“Doesn’t sound all that honorable. No wonder those things are illegal.”
“That’s not why.”
This was happening. Who knew how long I would stay on Avalon. And when the quarantine door opened for me, a ship full of thieves would sneak in. Maybe I could talk him out of it, though it wasn’t likely. Once we were on the planet surface, when he saw the under-equipped clinics, it might soften his black heart. If he had a heart at all.
“Come to my cabin,” Ruush said.
Nothing good could happen there.
“I don’t think so, smuggler.”
“There’s not enough room in here. I can barely breath.”
“Take it up with management.”
I was not going to his cabin. He was a complete rogue. A scoundrel who took women to his cabin and seduced them. My traitorous girl parts fluttered in excitement at the idea of being seduced, but I ignored the ache between my thighs. Nope. No seduction by the big blue charmer that night, or ever.
Alien Rogue's Price: Alpha Alien Romance (Alpha Aliens of Fremm Book 4) Page 4
