Home > Alien Mercenary's Bride(5)

Alien Mercenary's Bride(5)
Author: Mina Carter

“Fucking Fin!” he growled, straightening and running a hand through his cropped hair. This close she could see it would form tight curls if it were longer. Her eyes widened as she reached his shoulders, wider than some fliers she’d traveled in.

“Oh gods, you’re still bleeding!” she gasped, lifting on her tiptoes. Her hand splayed on the center of his chest as she tried to get a better look at the wound. “Do you have a first aid kit? We need to stop the bleeding… stitches maybe…”

He covered her hand with his, his teeth white in the heavy beard as he grinned. “Mouse, I’m a mercenary… this is nothing. I’ll live.”

She wouldn’t be placated, even though his touch made her skin tingle. “Please, it’s my fault. Let me at least clean you up?”

Heat flared in his eyes so intense that she was surprised she didn’t spontaneously combust on the spot. Then he smiled again. “You’re as white as a sheet, little mouse. Will you be able to clean it up without passing out? Or manage to set some stitches… push a needle through my skin… without losing your lunch?”

She hadn’t eaten lunch, just some kind of nutrient bar from one of the crates, but that was by the by. She felt herself paling even more, lightheaded at the very idea. He chuckled, not unkindly, catching her as she wavered.

“That’s what I thought. Okay, I’ll go to medical. Come on, you can make sure I don’t pass out on the way.”

Taking her hand in his, he led her out of the cargo bay and into corridors she’d only seen in passing as she rushed through them to find a hiding space before she was discovered. She didn’t even know how large his ship was, just that it wasn’t far from the shuttle bay to her hiding place. As Altav led her through the corridors, though, she realized it was much smaller than she’d thought.

“Just in here.”

She was herded ahead through a door into what had to be a medical bay. Then stopped dead as the big guy from the doorway fight uncurled himself from a seat in the corner, his pale eyes fixed on the pair of them. Her heart in her throat, she backed up and collided with Altav. His large hands curled around her shoulders, stopping her escape.

“Have you decided what we’re going to do with her yet?” the other guy growled at Altav, this time in Terran standard. His glare made her suppress a whimper. She knew better than to show fear. Predators like this would tear her apart without a second thought.

“Back off, Fin,” Altav snapped back. “She’s mine. I’ll deal with her.”

His voice was hard but his hands on her shoulders were gentle as he shoved her half behind him and away from the door. Protective. Possessive. Like he didn’t like the other male anywhere near her. The feeling was mutual. Fin was handsome and heavily muscled, but something about him just scared the daylights out of her.

Fin growled, smiling without any humor in his eyes. “Oh, you will. Especially when the boss finds out about her. Whatcha plan on doing then?”

“What the draanth?” a new male voice announced another arrival as its owner ducked in through the door. Marika’s eyes widened even further. What was this… a unit of giants? “No pissing contests in my medbay, or you can patch yourselves up—”

He paused mid-step as he spotted her, his unusual eyes widening in surprise. Like Altav’s, the pupils weren’t round, but where Altav’s were oval, his were slitted like a cat. A chill rolled down her spine. She’d heard the Edanians were into strange body modifications. It explained the odd accent as well.

“Our doctor, Tal,” Altav rumbled. “He’s good people. You don’t need to be scared.”

The doctor’s gaze flicked back to Altav and he whistled. “Looks like someone clocked you good, Skinny. Get your ass up on the bed and let me look at that for you.”

Altav shoved her gently toward a chair in the corner, adding a nod toward it for her to sit down. She did, watching with concern as he levered himself up onto the exam bed in the middle of the room with a sigh. He lay on his front, winking at her as the doctor looked at the back of his head.

She bit her lip. She’d hurt him badly by the looks of the doctor’s face. And he was all that stood between her and Fin putting her out of an airlock… She looked over at the other mercenary.

He was watching her, his expression hard. She was under no illusions. He’d shoot her if she tried to run or if she even thought about running. A cold sweat slithered down her spine as she held still and tried not to think about anything. She’d thought Maxim was bad, but Fin put even his malevolent gaze to shame.

Shit. Out of the frying pan and into the fire.

 

His little mouse was terrified. She hid it well, but Skinny watched her out of the corner of his eye as Tal patched him up.

She sat quietly in the corner of the room, as far away from Fin as she could get, and avoided eye contact. Everything about her— manner and posture—was reserved and unobtrusive, designed not to call attention to herself. As though she’d be more than happy just to fade into the background. As though she’d practiced fading into the background.

He didn’t like that, a surge of anger welling up inside him at the thought that she’d been forced to hide that way. Hiding in plain sight wasn’t something anyone chose to do. It was a survival tactic of the desperate. And given how bright and vivacious she’d appeared in the market, it was something she’d learned to actively turn on and off.

It didn’t work with him, though. Not only would he have noticed her as soon as he walked in the room, but the scent of her fear hung in the air making it impossible to ignore her. For him anyway. Talent didn’t have expanded olfactory senses and Fin was aquatic. They’d need to shove the poor mouse in a bucket of water for the Navarrian to pick up anything from her.

“We done?” he asked the former imperial warrior as the discs of the medical bed finished whirling around him. He had to admit, Zero and Tal had done them a favor by blowing the place up. This upgraded imperial tech was impressive. Without it and Tal’s ability to heal from the cellular level up, he’d have had staples in the back of his head for a while.

“All good,” Tal replied in Terran, dropping the bloodied dressings into a disposal pouch. Then he switched to Latharian without so much as a look at the woman in the corner of the room. “Just don’t go pissing off any human females in the near future. They might be small, but they have a vicious bite.”

“Yeah.” Skinny smiled and rubbed at the back of his neck as he sat up, leaning against the edge of the bed. “Found that out, thanks.”

“He’s more interested in impressing her,” Fin commented from the corner, arms folded over his chest. “Found her holding his own gun on him in the cargo bay and what does this dickhead do? Slams me up against the wall.” He made his hand “talk,” dropping his voice to imitate Skinny’s lower tones. “Safety’s on. She’s okay. Do me a favor and make this look good, okay?”

“Oh, you are fucked.” Tal shook his head. “You are so going to pay for that one when she finds out. Females do not like to be fooled or lied to.”

“Yeah…” Skinny glanced over at his mouse again. She was still doing her best “part of the wall” impression and his guts twisted. What had started out as something simply to make him look more impressive had backfired and now she was scared. Seriously scared. He had to make this right.

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