Pirate's Gold - S.J. Sanders Page 0,66

be an incredible story to tell our son or daughter.” Her hand smoothed over her stomach as she spoke, filling Veral’s heart with warmth with the simple gesture. “That is, if we survive,” she muttered, “and don’t join the dead here as ghosts ourselves.”

“You have an unhealthy obsession with the concept of the spirits of the departed lingering,” he observed.

“Says the male who still thinks skulls are romantic gifts,” she retorted with an amused smile.

“It is not the skull which is valuable, or the dead who provided it, but the gesture of honoring one’s mate by vanquishing all threats to her welfare that has meaning. It means holding one’s mate and her honor above all else.”

Terri paused, her head tilting to the side as she considered his words. Slowly, her eyes slid over to the captain. “In that case, I look forward to receiving that asshole’s skull,” she whispered as she nodded her head in the captain’s direction.

A smile curled his lips as his eyes narrowed on Egbor where he trailed near Veral’s side. It would be a great pleasure to do just that.

22

Once she knew what to look for, Terri couldn’t unsee the destruction and needless death everywhere. The experiments had ravaged the crew, killing everyone trapped in the starship with them. She shivered as she tried not to imagine the screams, and yet they seemed to surround her, all the same. Veral didn’t believe in ghosts or hauntings, but in her mind, there was little difference between a ghost and the terrible things that her imagination conjured to torment her with.

Her eyes slid over to Egbor, her lips tightening. Ever since entering the ship, he no longer lingered behind them, staying on Veral’s left with his guard tagging close beside him. There was an eagerness about him, as if he were waiting to be the first to set upon whatever he could find.

Part of her wondered if he was posturing for the crew, and that was possibly some small part of it, but on the whole he was motivated by his desire to possess the wealth of the Evandra at any cost. She almost felt sorry for the Blaithari male standing guard at the captain’s side as they made their way deep into the starship.

There seemed to be a certain weight that surrounded them—a stench of death—and a tangible presence of the unknown that she felt the farther they went into the ship. It made her skin prickle and a shiver crawl up her spine.

Azan’s muttered chants under her breath did little to calm Terri’s anxiety as they made every step feel like venturing into a forbidden place. She wanted to shout and beg the other female to be silent—anything to reduce the ominous feeling that accompanied them into the depths of the starship.

Every now and then, she swore she felt a tremor echo through the ship. Although no one said anything, she knew that Veral noticed it from the way he tensed, and the wary shift of his gaze as he attempted to pinpoint the origin, his vibrissae vibrating as he searched for any hint of the creature moving through the ship. Even the pirates appeared to still, their eyes roving nervously.

Despite the rumbling echoes that trembled throughout the ship, they moved without any sign that they were nearing the abode of any of the bio-tech creatures. Terri could almost pretend that the monsters weren’t lurking within the starship.

That illusion disintegrated the moment the door to the upper deck slid open at Veral’s approach, releasing the stale air and stench of rot captured within out into the corridor. Terri gagged at the horrible smell, her stomach churning as they stepped inside. They hadn’t taken more than a few steps when the AI’s voice echoed around them.

“Warning. You have entered the upper deck habitation zone. There is a water breach on the forward quarters. Immediate evacuation is recommended. Repeat, immediate evacuation is recommended.”

“Immediate evacuation for a bit of water, never mind the murderous bio-tech swimming around somewhere down there,” Terri mumbled as she peered around nervously.

For a habitation zone, the corridor was just as dark and featureless as any other part of the ship she had seen. The only thing that broke the seemingly endless depths were the doors that lined each side of the hall, their angle emphasizing the fact that the floor sloped at a hard tilt. Some opened at their passing, revealing empty rooms, but most remained shut, likely occupied by the remains of their