Chapter 4 #2
He turned with a sigh, heading toward his office instead. No time like the present to call his contact and confirm the rendezvous, he supposed. Normally, he would have done it already, but being shot at by a bunch of pirates tends to shift one’s routine a little.
He swiped his wrist over the door, watching it slide open with a quiet chime. He was about to step through, leaving Vox in charge on the bridge, when A’Kar called his name.
Gark schooled his expression into neutrality before turning. “Yes?”
“Your…guest is loose.” The security officer pointed at a video feed on one of the corridors near engineering.
Gark frowned, striding the few short steps to the security station, the call to the buyer forgotten. The woman was limping down the corridor, swiping her wrist over every door panel and muttering to herself.
Gark shook his head. She was going to be the death of him.
He watched as a door opened for her, and she stepped through and into—
“Why the fuck is there a woman in my engine room?” The comm channel flared to life with Arik’s angry voice.
Gark closed his eyes. She really would be the death of him.
She really was a tiny thing, even if she did wriggle a lot. Gark held one arm around her middle, holding his breath and clutching her to his chest like an errant child. She kicked her legs and pushed down at his arm as if her puny muscles could budge him. He snorted, amused at her antics.
Unfortunately, that meant he drew a breath, and her scent punched him in the sternum. He forced himself to relax and breathe out, fighting against his body’s reaction.
When he’d entered engineering, it was like his entire focus centered on her. His first instinct was to race to her side and skewer Arik on the nearest available pointy object.
Thankfully, he’d managed to rein in his impulses long enough to register the relief on Arik’s face when the door to engineering had opened.
He’d been standing as far away from the woman as he could get, despite her following him around the room, peppering him with questions. Gark had never seen the big engineer scared of anything or anyone, but he was clearly terrified of this tiny woman.
As much as that amused Gark, he wasn’t about to piss off the brawny mechanic. Nobody in their right mind would do that.
So, he’d grabbed the woman and marched off with her, intending to take her back to his cabin, where she should have been, but when she would not stop talking, he veered toward the med bay.
He strode into the small white room, calling for the medic. “Klath!”
A door in the far wall slid open. “I’m here, hold on.”
The medic was a Taurean, but short—barely six feet tall—and stocky.
He hadn’t admitted it, but Gark suspected he had some outer planets heritage.
A world with heavy gravity, most likely, considering how similar his build was to Jarden’s.
Klath, like most of the crew, had his reasons for sharing or not sharing, and Gark respected that.
“She needs a translation chip. She can’t understand a thing I’m saying.”
Klath frowned. “What about your comm? Doesn’t it have a translation program?”
Gark shook his head. He hadn’t thought it was necessary to load his wrist comm with the human languages. Not for a job meant to be only hours long. “Not for her language.”
Klath sighed. “Let me see if we have something in the med program.”
Gark nodded, placing the woman on her feet.
She’d stopped kicking as they’d entered the room, and now that she wasn’t fighting him, he was acutely aware of her curves pressing against him.
And that scent. It was settling around him now, like the most beautiful-smelling perfume.
He knew he’d never experience anything as wondrous ever again.
He couldn’t spend one more second with her soft bottom pressed against his front, or he’d be hard as a rock.
“Gark,” he said, tapping his chest. He needed to hear her speak his name.
She looked at him warily, chewing on her bottom lip in a way that had him biting back a groan.
“Gark,” she said, and he wanted to leap for joy.
Again, he felt as if she were made for him. Would she feel the same way?
“Aletta,” she said, her voice music to his ears. Slightly husky and with a lilting accent, he knew he could listen to her read the manual for the cleaning robots, and he’d be enthralled.
“Aletta.” Her name was beautiful, and it suited her.
He frowned as she took a step backward, her back hitting the adjustable bed. She wasn’t afraid of him, was she? Not after he’d saved her. Twice. Not when she was his mate.
“Aletta?” He lifted a hand, but dropped it quickly when she flinched, his stomach twisting.
“Where’s my sister? Where’s Dylan?” She asked, hands on her hips. She had to tilt her head way back to look up at him, and Gark grudgingly admired how she didn’t back down.
“I don’t know where your sibling is,” Gark said.
Her face scrunched in confusion. “I can’t understand you.”
Klath tapped on his tablet. “Right, let’s see if this works.
” The robotic-sounding voice of the ship’s medical AI filled the room.
It was a recent upgrade and included an added translation module in case a patient’s translation chip was faulty.
It listened to the spoken language and translated it into the chosen language.
It wasn’t perfect, but it would serve their purpose.
The AI spoke in Taurean. “Earth languages include German, French, English—”
The woman’s head jerked up. “English! I speak English. Where’s my sister? What have you done with her?”
Gark’s translation chip was working perfectly well, so the AI kept silent.
Gark tried again. “I don’t know where your sister is.”
The AI translated his words, creating a weird situation where he felt like he was being mocked.
She frowned. “I don’t understand.”
Gark crossed his arms, frustrated. The external translation program wasn’t the most reliable, as it was an older version.
It was usually unnecessary, as it was an emergency backup.
Anyone who travelled between planets had a translation chip inserted in their early years, which was far more effective than any translation program.
Klath frowned at the tablet. “It should be…” he tapped the screen twice. “There!”
The slightly too-smooth AI voice spoke again, translating his words, and the woman’s eyes darted to Gark’s.
“But you have Dylan! I saw you take her away!” She stepped up to Gark, poking him in the chest with a finger. “Where. Is. My. Sister!” She poked him with each word.
“I did not take anyone.”
She raised an eyebrow, spreading her arms and looking down at herself. “Oh yeah?”
Gark ground his teeth together. Why did the Lady send him a mate who was so stubborn? She definitely would be the death of him. “I rescued you.”
She snorted, pushing her hair out of her face with one hand. “Look, buddy. I was doing fine.”
It was Gark who snorted this time. Either she was deluded, or she’d had a knock to the head. He mentioned as much to Klath.
The woman crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at him. “I’m not insane, and I didn’t get hit on the head. I saw a bunch of guys who look like you—” she gestured between Gark and Klath “—take my sister. I tried to get to her, and they left on a black ship.”
Gark frowned. “And why do you think she’s on The Lady?”
She walked toward the display screen on the wall over Klath’s desk. The one that was currently showing the view of the mess. She lifted her hand and pointed at A’Kar, who was standing against the wall with his arms crossed.
“Because the guys who took my sister had that same tattoo.”