Pirate's Gold - S.J. Sanders Page 0,81

the impassive expression that the male bore. His face immediately shut down once more as he glared at her.

“What do you want, female?” he snarled.

That was unpleasant of him, but from her recent experiences, Argurma did not have good manners anyway.

“Simple. Return them to their ship, and then me to mine. I will give you the docking codes to align with my ship. Once I am aboard and am certain that my friends are safe, I will comm you the deactivation code.”

“The council—”

“Not my problem. Consider this a small mercy. That male there is very protective of his female, and I fear what he might do to you or anyone you turn them over to if you are fortunate enough. Especially once that little human has recovered and that symbiont armor is operational again. None of you are going to enjoy that nasty little surprise. Take my word on that. If you even think of trying to kill me and take them anyway, I might remind you that without the code, the grenade will detonate in thirty-six galactic standard hours.”

“I don’t understand. If you had something like that all this time, why didn’t you use it before now?” Terri asked in disbelief as she sagged against her mate. Once he had noted that Azan had the situation well in hand, he had returned to his mate, gathering her once more into his arms.

Azan gave the female a sharp grin. “Pirate ships are notoriously difficult to gain control of, and murdering the captain on his own ship is risky for one who attempts it. This worked out well in my favor. He died here going after his treasure, and I barely escaped, but returned to the crew to see them through the trials to come. I will be a hero. A far better scenario. Perhaps not exactly what I imagined, but worth the expenditure of the capsule.”

Kaylar snarled and turned to glare at Veral. “I thought you said that this female posed no danger.”

“I did not specify that she would not be dangerous to you,” Veral said, his tone flat. “If you had not betrayed me, we would have returned her to her ship without incident.”

“Very well. Seems no other options are available. The council will not be happy,” Kaylar growled. To Azan’s surprise his face suddenly relaxed, a smile tugging the hard line of his lips. “As your pirate friend says, however, not my problem. I will inform them of the situation and return to my previous assignment. Let us return to the surface of the ship. The disembarkation platform is waiting there. It is a dinix-class platform. It will fit us all easily with room to spare.”

With a pleased smile, Azan returned her blaster to its holster. No more walking through jungles and hot bogs… She could not have planned it better!

28

Now that the matter between Kaylar and Veral seemed to be settled, and to her surprise and amusement neither male seemed to hold a grudge at all over the matter, Terri was able to relax and observe the interior of an Argurma warship. It wasn’t as large as the salvager, but it was extremely comfortable. She settled at a table, practically groaning with relief at having an actual place to sit for the first time in days. All the tension and worry that had plagued her eased out of her, leaving only a bone-wearying exhaustion.

Azan flopped in the chair beside her and sighed, her eyes also on the males seated opposite them, pouring over holograms of star charts as the ship navigated toward where the salvager awaited. She had returned from one of the cabins where she had taken Garswal, after filling him with foods from Kaylar’s replicator, so that he could sleep. The female rubbed her face and sighed mournfully.

“I can’t believe we went through all that hell and came away with so little,” she muttered. “All that gold… The finest metals I’ve ever seen. And the giant gems! No, instead I’m walking away with that stinky old robe covered in decomposition powder. You can keep that.”

“I am certain that our client may purchase it. If not, I can find a buyer who will appreciate a rare item of antiquity,” Veral interjected. “It may be the only thing that will even partially reimburse us for the expenses of this salvage.”

Terri blinked and sat up, a smile flooding her face as excitement sent a burst of energy through her.

“That’s not the only thing that will reimburse us,” she