“Greetings, Shipmaster,” Surkah said as she closed her fist, placed her right arm on the left side of her chest and bowed her head. When she looked up, the shipmaster nodded, his lips turning upwards at the corners. “Greetings, Surkah.”
His voice was super deep.
“My lissa garnered positive results from my scan of the human, and they’re better than we could have ever possibly imagined.”
The shipmaster’s eyes seemed to light up with curiosity. Those hypnotic eyes flicked to me for a moment then switched back to Surkah. “Mikoh informed me. It is a definite match?”
A match of what?
“Yes. It is a one hundred percent match,” Surkah beamed, sounding giddy. “We have succeeded in finding our primary objecti—”
The shipmaster suddenly said something in a strange language that cut Surkah off. She frowned and glanced at him then me and back again before nodding once.
“What was that about?” I asked Surkah. “Why couldn’t I understand him?”
“Because I momentarily disabled your translator so you could not understand me.” He answered instead.
Oh, shit. That didn’t sound good. He didn’t want me to know what they were talking about, and I didn’t need to be educated in their species to know that was bad fucking news for me.
“Why?” I asked him, without looking at him.
“That is none of your business.”
His clipped answer caused me to tense.
“I don’t understand any of this,” I said, feeling helpless. “Why am I here?”
“It will be explained later,” Surkah assured me. “You need your rest. Your wounds are healed, but your body still needs to recover from the blood loss you sustained.”
I nodded but said nothing further as I turned and looked at the Maji shipmaster who was staring right back at me. His stare was unnerving but captivating at the same time. He looked from me to Surkah and frowned.
“You seem tense, sister. Are you well?”
Surkah is the shipmaster’s sister?
“I am troubled.” She sighed. “She feared she would die by Maji hand or become a slave. I assured her we wish for peace with humans, but she remains unconvinced.”
You’re damn right I remain unconvinced!
“Surkah speaks the truth,” the male rumbled. “Humans need not fear us. We are here to help.”
So you say, you huge son of a bitch.
“Okay,” I mumbled.
Surkah made a sound of displeasure. “She does not trust us,” she said. “Her fear stinks the room.”
The shipmaster nodded. “I can scent it, but it is to be expected after her … ordeal last night.”
I’ve been out the whole night?
“We were informed that no human citizens come close to your World Base of Operations,” the shipmaster said, interrupting my thoughts. “But you came very close last night … why?”
I hesitated in replying, and this prompted the shipmaster to say, “Be truthful.”
I pondered on that request for a moment. I wasn’t sure what would happen to me if I told the truth. Would they hand me over to the watchmen? I killed one of them so my penalty would be death. I looked at Surkah.
“If I tell the truth, will you keep your word that you won’t allow any harm to come to me because I’m a human?”
“Yes,” she replied instantly. “Human females are just as important as Maji females now. No male or female of my people would allow any harm to come to you. You are … precious.”
Why are humans so damn valuable to this species?
“Okay,” I said slowly before looking back at the shipmaster. “I came here because a trader I met told me that the power was down at the WBO and that the watchmen had retreated to the wall. I wanted to see if that was true.”
“A very risky move,” the shipmaster commented.
“Every move I make is risky,” I countered.
He raised a thick brow. “I’ve noticed.”
“In case you haven’t noticed, Earth is currently in an ongoing global world war. There is no law, no order, no humanity, and now, climate change is ruining what’s left of the planet. Earthquakes, floods and other natural disasters happen nearly every day; just last week, I had to hike hundreds of miles to avoid a hurricane that caused a flooding so bad it would consume a two-story building in hours. There are hardly any rivers left, seas are drying up more and more with each passing year and food just doesn’t grow easily anymore. Things are … falling apart here. It’s why your arrival has everyone even more on edge than usual.”
“If what you say is the truth, then we have arrived just in time.”
“What does that mean?” I asked, flustered.
Every time one of them spoke, it only resulted in more questions, and it was pissing me off.
“Rest,” the shipmaster responded. “We will converse when you’re stronger.”
“I’m not sure humans get much stronger,” a voice said from the door, earning a menacing growl from Surkah.
I turned my head and stared at Mikoh, who was leaning against the door panel with his massive arms folded over his broad chest. He winked at me, which earned another growl from Surkah. He looked at her, puckered his lips, and made kissing sounds, and when she advanced on him, the shipmaster moved into her path. He was grinning like a fool.
“Please do not maim my second in command, sweet sister.”
I mentally stored the information about Mikoh’s rank. Surkah kept her focus on Mikoh; her lips curled up and her teeth bared at him.
“I won’t cause permanent damage, baja,” she hissed. “I’ll rip open his thigh and leave it to heal naturally. That will make him rethink bothering me in the future.”
Mikoh laughed, and this caused the shipmaster to sigh.
“Mik, she will harm you,” he informed his second in command.
“Only because I won’t fight back,” Mikoh teased. “We all know that Surkah just wants to get her hands on me and on a region close to my cock as well. A coincidence? I think not. You’re not hiding your lust for me very well, my intended.”
Surkah roared and knocked the shipmaster’s arm aside to charge at Mikoh.
With wide eyes, I watched as he pushed away from the wall and took up a defensive stance with a sadistic grin on his face. He caught Surkah the second she jumped and crashed into him. They both moved incredibly fast, but Mikoh was faster, and within a couple of seconds, he had Surkah spun around and pressed against the wall with her arms pinned behind her back. Mikoh had her legs spread apart and had his knee between them to prevent her from kicking him. One hand held both of her wrists at the base of her spine, and his free arm was pressed on the base of her neck to likely stop her from using her head as a weapon.
“Do you feel better?” Mikoh growled low.
Surkah snarled back, and she sounded a whole lot meaner than he did.
“You won’t be aware of when I harm you,” she warned him, her voice gruff. “I swear I will kill you.”
I glanced at the shipmaster and jumped when I found he was watching me. His gaze was intense yet curious at the same time. I couldn’t break eye contact until he did. He turned from me and looked at his sister and his second in command and just stared at them with obvious interest. I could have sworn I saw him smirk a little, too.