Pirate's Gold - S.J. Sanders Page 0,64

Just that quickly, his anger dissipated, and he drew her against him, nestling her within his embrace.

“I am very pleased, however, that you have come back to me safe, anastha,” he whispered against her hair.

A low purr rumbled around her from his vibrating mandibles, and she instinctively melted against him. Her endorphin rush finally bottomed out as she sagged against him, a tremble working through her muscles as he held her close. She was distantly aware of the sounds of feet hitting metal as the rest of the pirates joined them, but she pushed it away, relishing her moment with him.

Unfortunately, the captain wasn’t the patient sort who took well to being ignored.

“Enough with the loving reunion. Your mate is safe, and the crew is all here with the Evandra herself beneath our feet. No more delays,” Egbor snapped impatiently.

As Terri pulled back from Veral’s arms, she noted that the captain had a feverish light to his eyes as he stared down at the dark hull of the starship. His pupils were blown wide as his gaze twitched with a sort of frantic restlessness that could only be obsession.

She lusted over whatever the ship held as well, but that half-mad look on his face made her draw deeper into Veral’s embrace, reluctant now to set foot inside. She didn’t even want to touch the thing, and would have crawled up onto her mate if there wasn’t a risk of making herself appear even more foolish than she had already managed.

Whatever dwelled within there couldn’t be worth that.

Her opinion didn’t change when Veral led them to where his scans indicated the entrance hatch was located. It opened with little effort from him, seeming to respond to him in a similar manner to how the medical unit had. This time, however, the ship didn’t power down when he disconnected from the door. Instead, the interior lit up.

A voice echoed from the ship’s interior. It took her translator a moment to catch up since she hadn’t studied the Elshavan texts as much as Veral. She sucked in a breath when the words finally sorted themselves out in her mind.

“Welcome, Captain.”

21

“Captain? This salvager is not captain. I am the only captain here,” Egbor bellowed, his head craning around as he addressed the Evandra’s AI.

“Negative,” the cool voice responded. “Scans indicate that you do not have starship interface implants required of those with captain-level clearance. There is only one being present with such implants who has initiated uplink with the Evandra.”

Egbor turned on Veral with a savage expression. “Keeping secrets from me, were you Argurma?”

“Not secrets for those who know anything about the Argurma species. That you are ignorant of our implants for tech interface is no fault of mine,” Veral replied.

The pirate’s face darkened with anger and embarrassment. Veral kept his amusement to himself, but took pleasure in seeing Egbor rattled. The captain had been upstaged by a salvager, and he did not like it. Veral watched the male, calculating the odds of an attack. Despite his anger, the odds were low. Egbor didn’t get where he was by merely reacting. He was too smart for it.

Just as Veral predicted, an easy smile replaced the captain’s scowl, though the tension lingered around his eyes, despite his forced joviality. He cut a quick glance toward his crew, weighing their reaction. The pirates were watching the interaction far too closely.

“Not that it matters,” Egbor said quickly. “Communication with the ship’s AI is a boon to our cause regardless of who accomplishes it. The starship doesn’t know any better when it comes to who really holds the power, and as long as we can gather information from it, it will serve our purpose.” He relaxed further and gestured with a wide sweep of his hand. “Go ahead, Captain, find out where our treasure is.”

A sneer of distaste pulled at Veral’s lips. Predictable. Although his mate had a lust for wealth, it was merely to satisfy her needs. The fact that credits ensured that she ate and had comforts was the only use she had for it. For the captain, it was a different matter. The pirate’s greed lit up his eyes with a fever, making them overly bright, willing to risk all for his treasure.

“Are you certain? It is not too late to turn back. This ship should not have been disturbed. No treasure is worth that.”

“The treasure is worth everything and more,” the male hissed, and Veral nodded.

It was exactly as he had calculated.

His arm tightened