your mate,” Harzt said, scales flashing with red and orange. “Just because you enjoy fucking the female doesn’t mean—”
Nokx threw the security officer against the wall, his forearm a bar across his throat, and snarled in Harzt’s face. “Do not—”
“Stop it, both of you.” Faros sounded annoyed rather than concerned about whether they would hurt each other. “If you want to fight, wait until we’re done and go destroy the gym instead of my office. Sands and storms, you’re acting like children.”
“Do not talk about her like that,” Nokx said, baring his teeth at Harzt before he released the security officer. “Don’t fucking talk about her at all.”
Harzt’s silver eyes narrowed. He straightened his uniform and didn’t comment on the altercation. “What difference does it make? The female isn’t yours, Nokx.”
The silence stretched. Nokx searched for a denial or some kind of excuse, but nothing came to mind. His mouth dried out until he couldn’t speak or even breathe. He couldn’t ignore the truth, staring him right in the face like a furious haugmawt,
Faros leaned back in his chair, hands pressed together near his chin, as he studied Nokx. “Well. That changes things a little.”
“She is mine,” Nokx said, rather grudgingly. He didn’t want the two males to be the first beings who heard about his feelings for EJ. He should have told her that first, should have understood her feelings on the matter before sharing it.
“Your mate?” Faros asked, eyes narrowed.
“Yes,” Nokx said. He couldn’t say all of it out loud, not until he had a chance to tell EJ. He could not say ‘she is my mate’ until EJ herself knew it. Until he could ask her to stay with him and she felt free to accept.
The captain groaned and tilted his head back, staring at the sloping ceiling. “You just couldn’t leave things simple, could you? Sands take you both.”
Nokx folded his arms over his chest. “Explain to me what’s going on. Let me know. I will protect her if there is a need to put her in danger.”
“You’ll flip your shit the moment anyone looks at her sideways,” Harzt said under his breath. “Just like you can’t stop growling when we look at her or even talk about her. You would be even worse to have there than just her alone.”
Nokx didn’t try to hide his irritation. “I can act just as well as...”
“They’d see right through you,” Faros said quietly. “I’m sorry, Nokx. Truly I am. You can’t be part of this—any part of it. I’ll explain it later, I swear, and I will do what needs to be done to return her to you.”
His hackles rose as he searched the captain’s face for a hint of what the male was talking about. “She’s not going anywhere without me, whether you’re sorry about it or not.”
“Oh, I’m not sorry about sending the criminal back to the gen ship,” Faros said. He leaned back once more and drummed his fingers on the desk before gesturing to the side. “I’m sorry for this.”
Nokx turned in time to see Harzt bring a tranq gun up and set it against his neck, then the room tilted and he tumbled into darkness.
Chapter 26
EJ
EJ sat and talked with the other females for longer than she expected... long enough that she wondered why Nokx hadn’t come back for her. Violet must have interpreted her look, because the older woman pushed to her feet and nodded at the door. “I’ll take you back to your quarters. Usually the guys are sniffing around by now, but there’s been a lot going on lately.”
“A lot of what?” EJ asked. She waved goodbye to Gemma, who headed in the other direction, and studied the corridor as Violet navigated them through the ship past identical doors. “It doesn’t really look like there’s a lot going on, to be honest. Everyone is very... relaxed.”
“It looks that way on the surface,” Violet said slowly. She tapped her chin, deep in thought. “But Faros has been tenser than usual and spending far too much time actually doing work—looking at the star charts, studying radar, plotting a course, digging into various comms projections from deeper space. It’s puzzling.”
EJ shoved her hands in her pockets. “He doesn’t usually work?”
“Stars, no,” Violet said, laughing. “He spends most of his time eating and napping, then throwing around weights or boxing, then eating more. I’m given to understand Xaravians don’t become pirates if they have any kind of tolerance for work.”