Essa (Pleasure Crew #4)

1. Essa

one

Essa

W ho would've thought that out of all the things humans have done on their boring little planet, their food would be the best thing about them? I expected little of Sloane and Avery's home planet when we first arrived, but I changed my tune as soon as I tried the delicacy known as nacho cheese.

Alik and Jovi have filled the food synthesizer on the ship with mountains and mountains of human recipes. Rytharian food was the first to go. Holoth's no longer on the ship, and Helna probably won't be permanent crew. Varon food was next, much to Jovi's annoyance. They left some sort of fruit-stuffed pastry, but other than that, there's only the food from my home and a plethora of human food. I don't even want to know how many credits Alik spent on it, but he would spend them all if he thought it would make Sloane, his mate, happy.

"Essa, I need to talk to you," Alik says as he grabs a slice of pizza for himself.

Of course, he needs me as soon as my food is ready to be eaten. I frown hard when Jovi strolls in behind him, rubbing his belly with a lower hand. He's going to eat all of my food before I get a chance.

"Oh, did you make pizza?" Helna asks, darting between the big purple Varon bodies and grabbing two slices before Jovi can reach them.

"Save some for the rest of us," Jovi mutters, but he doesn't go for the pizza right away. Instead, he moves to the food synthesizer, starting it up to make another pizza. Good, I will want more when I finish speaking with Alik.

"Is something wrong with Sloane?" I ask as I follow him down the hall toward the ship's exit.

We're waiting for Phial and Avery to return from their safehouse here on Earth. We had to come here so Avery could testify at her father's trial. He helped smuggle humans off Earth for many years, and she was working with the Intergalactic Alliance to build a case against him. That's why she was ultimately kidnapped from her home planet, had her body altered, and wound up on our ship.

Phial messaged us earlier and said they were on their way back, and then we were all going to decide where we would go. I'm hoping to go back to Rythar so we can be there when K'Vella has her babe.

"No, Sloane's fine," Alik says, rubbing the back of his neck as he walks around the ship.

Strange that we have to have this conversation away from the others, but then again, Alik probably doesn't want to worry the more carefree members of the crew unless he has to. With Holoth being gone, I'm the next closest thing he has to someone serious, which means he's desperate.

"What's going on, then? Is something wrong with Avery and Phial?" I ask, panic starting to settle over me.

If there's something wrong with someone on board the Jolly Folly, I can protect them, I can help. Phial and Avery are not on board. I don't even know where they are on this planet, and if something is wrong with them, I–

"Essa, calm down," Alik winces when I turn to face him. Okay, I'm getting much too worked up if my scary face is starting to come out. "No one's hurt. I need to ask your opinion on a job."

"Oh." Relief floods through me, and my body relaxes. "Start with that next time. You had me worried."

Alik presses his lips tight together and shakes his head. "Sloane received a message from that Straxion who helped her with her pleasure crew application, Via."

Via also helped Sloane find someone to help Holoth through his heat, and we're all very grateful for that. If she hadn't conspired behind everyone's back, Holoth and K'Vella wouldn't have met and realized they were fated for one another.

"Well, Via asked Sloane if we'd be willing to help her with some organic cargo." Alik's jaw works before he continues. "Two clones, no papers, no identification. They escaped some sort of facility here on Earth. We only have to keep them on board until Via's brothers can pick them up."

"Were they…?" I let the question trail off because I don't know how much of the clones' pasts are any of my business. Really, none of it is, so before Alik can answer, I shake my head. "Of course, we'll help them. That's what we do."

"Hopefully, we can get back to doing it more often," Alik says, staring off across the port we're docked at. "I still haven't heard back from the IA on when we'll be able to start taking jobs again."

"We could always become pirates," I tell him, wiggling my brows as a smile breaks across my face. "Your mate would love that."

"We're not pirates," Alik says, rubbing at his temples. He tries to hide the small smile dancing across his lips, but I see it trying to break free. "Let's get back on the ship. I want to head out as soon as we get the clones on board."

"Will anyone be coming after them?" I ask, following Alik back toward the ship's entrance.

"I don't know," he says, his narrowed eyes scanning over the crowds around us. "But we'll be careful just in case."

Until about thirty minutes ago, I'd never met a clone. I've been traveling through the cosmos for the last ten years after fleeing my planet on my seventeenth birthday to avoid marrying a male I had no interest in. In all of my time in space, I've never, not once, met a clone. But, looking at the two clones in this room with me, I don't know if I would've ever known if I'd met a clone.

I narrow my eyes on the two human males sitting on the loveseat in the entertainment room. They don't look dangerous, but they were being held in a research facility before they fled. Who knows what was happening to them while they were there? I don't know what they had to do to escape, but they'd have to be strong. Well, strong by human standards since they're not exactly a strong species.

My tail thrashes back and forth as we wait for Alik to tell us if we were followed when we jumped away from Earth's galaxy. My job is to monitor the clones to ensure they don't do anything stupid. At least for now, once we know their level of stupid is on our level, it'll be fine. What we don't want is for their level of stupid to be hurting someone on the crew.

The message we received to help the clones was easy enough to follow once Alik had Sloane show it to the rest of us.

Sloane, my best friend in the whole universe, has a contact at the pleasure crew company she used to work for. This female sometimes does things that aren't legal, one of which is having brothers who are space pirates. She's asked us to get the clones off Earth, keep them hidden long enough to know they aren't being tracked, and then drop them off with the pirates. New lives are waiting for the clones, and they have the means to pay for it.

For being clones, they don't look alike at all. Maybe they weren't cloned from the same male. I mean, that would make the most sense. They're both large specimens from Earth. They're at least on the tall end of their height spectrum, their bodies filled out with muscles that aren't genetically possible unless they were drugged, which means they're either still taking drugs or they were genetically altered either during cloning or after.

One wears a scowl, his dark eyes laser-focused on mine, staring me down like he's telling me he's not scared of me. It's kind of cute because I'm not even trying to scare him yet. If I were trying, he wouldn't be looking at me how he is now. His dark hair is cropped short, and yet my fingers still itch to scratch through it, and see if I can get him to purr instead of growl. The thought of that has me smiling a little, but the male is unaffected. He just stares.

The other is smarter than his counterpart. He keeps his eyes on his lap, rolling his shoulders every once in a while like he's trying to get some of the tension out of them. His coloring is strange, one I haven't seen on a human, one that I need to ask Sloane if it's normal.

We were only on Earth for about a week, but I didn't see another with bright orange hair like this male. His pale, freckled skin is also strange, but I know other humans can look like that. I want to know what color his eyes are because I have a feeling they're not dark like the other clone. Maybe they're blue like Sloane's and Avery's. I think blue would look nice with his bright hair.

The clones are both wearing white shirts that cling to their muscles. It's really not fair to me because I'm supposed to be keeping watch, not slightly lusting after them. Especially not the one who's staring at me with nothing but anger and vitriol. He should be happier, considering we're helping right now. Then again, the various scars visible on his arms make me wonder if he's been hurt so much he doesn't know how to be happy.

"Can I stand?" the orange one asks, his eyes lifting from his lap. They're blue—so blue, so pale and beautiful, and the intensity in them has my tail freezing mid-flick behind me. I'm so flustered by their beauty that I don't even register his question until he's wincing and adding a pathetic "Please."

I jerk my head in a nod, trying to cover the fact that I'm so affected by the sweet way he spoke and the beauty in his features. It's because I've never seen someone like him, that's the only reason. Not because I'm now thinking about looking into those eyes as he says 'please' for very different reasons.

"Stay over there, though," I warn, hoping my voice doesn't betray me and alert him to my interest. "I don't want to have to hurt either of you."

The dark-haired one lets out a snort, but when I clench my teeth together and look back down at him, he's cocking a brow up at me as though to ask me what I'm going to do about his disrespect. He lifts his chin in a challenge, which would rile me up more if it didn't show off the scars around his neck. Scars that I've learned the shape of because of how they wrap around Avery's neck.

I take quick steps over to the male who's still sitting. The pale one is behind the loveseat, his hands on the back of his head, eyes going wide when I get closer to them.

"Apologize." He hits the dark-haired one in the shoulder, but the other male only pulls his lips back in a snarl. "Fucking hell."

I grab the dark-haired man's chin and tilt it even higher, my eyes scanning the scars on his neck. He makes an unhappy sound that could almost be called a growl if he weren't a human. My teeth clench together as my nostrils flare. The scars that circle his neck are about half an inch thick and spaced about an inch apart—slave collar scars.

"Who did this to you?" I ask, tilting his face down so we're back to looking into each other's eyes.

Hatred burns in his gaze. Dark, molten anger dripping off his glare as he stares me down. He takes a deep breath, his lips pulling apart as he seethes through his clenched teeth.

"Who did this?" I ask again, my voice melodic, my pupils constricting slightly—not enough to scare, but enough to demand submission. "I will make sure they pay. Now, tell me."

The hatred burns deep in his eyes, so hot that I'm sure it's boiling inside him. The other male is still standing behind the loveseat, but he doesn't make any move to get between us. He doesn't say anything. He's just standing there, watching to see what happens.

"Get your hands off me," the dark-haired male snarls. My tail twitches behind me, my heart racketing in my chest at his defiance of my dominance. "I've never hit a female, but if you don't get your hands off me, I will fight back."

"Adam," the pale one warns. "She can take you."

"I know," the dark-haired human, Adam, says with a tick in his jaw. "It's why I wouldn't feel bad."

I narrow my eyes on him, his expression matching mine. I lift my lips, my fangs elongated, thrumming with venom and the desire to sink into this male, to make him complacent, make him tell me everything bad that's ever happened to him so I can fix it. If I can't fix my own problems, I can at least try to fix everyone else's.

"You'll tell me eventually," I say, my voice much more soothing than my features let on. It's a perk of being Haventh.

There are many perks of being Haventh, the biggest being that I'm the predator in all situations—always. No one is scarier. No one is more deadly.

I drop the male's chin, but he keeps his eyes on mine. I step backward, our eyes never leaving one another as I take step after step back to the wall I was leaning on before I noticed his scars.

I have no interest in making enemies of these males. In fact, I would like to make more friends. I enjoy the human friends I already have and wouldn't mind adding a couple more.

"So he's Adam, and you are?" I let my eyes move to the pale male standing and looking toward the entertainment room door.

No one's coming through that door until Alik ensures no one has followed us. It should be soon, but I don't know how that works, so it could also take a long time.

"Seth," the pale male says. His shoulders stiffen as he continues to stare at the door. I frown and look at it, too. My brows pull together because there's nothing there, and the door is tightly closed. "I also have scars, but it's for the best if you don't grab my face."

"No face grabbing." I nod. "Sorry. Sometimes I get overly excited and do things without thinking."

Adam scoffs again on the couch, and when I look at him, he's still just as angry. I don't know what I've done to him, and I don't know if it's me in particular or everyone in general. The fact of the matter is that he dislikes me. I don't know if I've ever been disliked for no reason, and I'm not quite sure I like how it makes me feel.

"Someone's on the other side of the door," Seth says, a muscle in his jaw flexing as he watches the door. "I know it's someone in your crew, but it's unsettling."

"It's the lizard," Adam says, his voice full of disdain.

"Phial is not a lizard," I snap, my feelings getting heated as soon as one of my friends is talked about in a not-nice way.

No one disrespects my friends. No one. Not even guests on our ship. My tail thrashes behind me. The telltale sign that I'm close to lashing out.

Adam's an aggravating male—one who has no respect for anyone or anything. We're doing him a favor, but he still chooses to be rude and disrespectful. He stares me down with a taunt in his eyes, asking me what I'll do about it. I wonder if he'll keep pushing if I show him what I can do.

"He looks like a lizard," Adam says, crossing his arms over his chest. Seth steps in front of him, blocking the staring contest we're in. At least one of them is somewhat intelligent.

"Ignore him," Seth says, his voice filled with worry.

The ethereal glow of his pale eyes takes my mind off the male behind him, trying his hardest to get under my skin. I give Seth a stiff nod and try to relax my body. Okay, so maybe I don't want these males as friends. That's fine. They won't be on the ship for very long.

Maybe it was wrong of me, but when I found out the clones were male, I hoped they might be interested in me. I know that's wishful thinking, but it would be convenient.

My friends have all recently found their mates, and I haven't even found a male to have sex with me in almost two years. It doesn't help that we've been pretty busy, and Jovi and Alik always got the pleasure crew since they needed it more than anyone else on the ship.

Now, though? Now, I'm the only one without someone to share my life with. I mean, I have my friends, but that's not the same at all.

It's for the best that I haven't found anyone. I'm still betrothed to a male on Haven III, my home planet, and if I start a relationship with someone else, I'll have to call off the engagement. It works out better if I don't find anyone to spend my life with.

Adam looks around Seth. His eyes are still angry and hate-filled, and I lift my lips slightly, showing my fangs. It would be so easy to rip into his throat and leave him on the floor to bleed out. He doesn't want that. I don't want that, but I could do it in seconds.

No, these aren't the males for me. This is a job and nothing more. My friends can have their happily ever afters. I'll be happy for them.

The entertainment door opens, and Jovi and Alik walk in. Their daggers are strapped across their chests, making them seem more dangerous. They're bigger than these humans by a good few inches, not to mention having two more arms. Jovi and Alik don't feel threatened in the slightest, but they have two strange males on a ship with their mate. They'll make sure everyone knows who's in charge here.

"We need to talk." Alik motions for the two males to sit back down on the loveseat and drags Holoth's recliner over to sit across from them. Jovi stands next to him, a hand on the back of the chair, as they stare down the human males.

"Am I good to leave?" I ask, eager to get away and do something more entertaining than being stared at.

"Yeah, will you keep an eye on Sloane?" Alik asks.

I give him a short nod before heading out. I linger for a moment longer to look at the two males who will be our job for the next who knows how long. Adam's still staring, still angry, his gaze burning into mine, making my fangs thrum. Seth's eyes are back on his hands, his red curly hair covering his eyes from my sight.

I turn back around, my tail twitching at the end. I need girl time right now, and I know the best way to get it. I'll make some sweets in the food synthesizer and ask Sloane and Avery to hang out. Yes, they'll help to ease some of the uneasiness I feel after interacting with the males. Maybe they can also help me figure out why I feel so shaken by the interaction.