“Oh… we don’t have anything like that.” Zad covered her lack of knowledge with a smile. “Can I see him? I feel bad because he got hurt helping me.”
Eris studied her for long moments, her expression giving nothing away. It was like she was looking for something although Zad had no idea what. They were from worlds literally a galaxy apart, different species. What would Eric’s sister be looking for, and, more importantly, why did it worry her that she might not find what she sought in Zad?
Then the human female smiled. “You know what, yeah… come on. I’ll take you to him.”
3
It any society, shit and the unfortunate sank to the bottom and there were always places like the Tarviisan pits. Human history was littered with them, and, it seemed, it was the same over the galaxy.
So Sparky felt right at home as he walked through the front gates of the pits and down the corridors. He was aware of the looks he got from the aliens he passed as they tried to work out whether he was predator or prey. He could understand it.
As a human—compared to some of these assholes, particularly the seven-foot guy who looked like he was hewn out of a cliff face—he looked small and soft, unthreatening. So he winked at them, just to confuse them, as he passed. If they thought he was a mark, they had another think coming. He hadn’t survived Ruas and countless other shitholes to go down easily.
“You know, one day one of them is going to try their luck,” a voice chuckled.
Sparky grinned as he looked up to see Rishnakt leaning up against a wall just ahead of him. The horned alien was one of the new owners of the pits, and a big bastard Sparky wouldn’t want to tangle with on any day of the week—perhaps twice on Sundays.
“They’d get the fucking shock of their lives then. Wouldn’t they?”
Rish cocked an eyebrow. “Why? What would you do?”
“I do a fucking cracking can-can routine,” he replied with a wink.
“I have no idea what that is,” the big alien replied mildly.
“Dance routine. Frilly dresses and everything. I’d say I’d do the makeup, but honestly, Scott does that way better than I do.”
“Uh-huh,” Rish nodded and then pushed off the wall. “You here to see the kid?”
“Yeah.” He fell into step with the horned guy. “Figured he could do with a friend. You know?”
“You’re a good male.” Rish nodded in approval.
“Fuck’s sake, mate, don’t say that too loudly. I’m a complete tosser. Everyone knows that.”
* * *
“This is fucking embarrassing,” Eric grumbled, one arm slung over Zero’s shoulder as the big cyborg helped him the few steps back from the toilet.
“Suck it up, buttercup. You wanna play with the big boys, you’re gonna get a few boo-boos.” Zero grinned as he deposited Eric back on the bed shoved in the corner of the Sprite’s tiny medbay.
His condition had improved so much that Tal, the Warborne’s medic, had allowed him out of the auto-unit, the precious piece of medical equipment stowed against the other wall. Tal’s definition of improvement and Eric’s appeared to be very different. As far as Eric could tell, as long as he wasn’t dead or about to die and breathing on his own, the medic considered him “improved.” Never mind that he could only take a few steps on his own and he was still pissing blood.
“I was practically disemboweled!” He winced as he passed a hand over the dressings on his tender stomach. He’d been healed most of the way, but he still had wounds. Tal had said it was better for the body to heal up at least some of the damage on its own rather than get confused. As if that wasn’t the biggest crock of shit he’d ever heard. Cells did not get “confused,” but Tal was the doctor here. The medical doctor anyway.
Eric gritted his teeth and leaned back against the edge of the bed rather than look weak in front of Zero. Not only was the cyborg built for combat in a way Eric could never match, but he was also his sister’s husband—a member of the family. That was the only reason Eric had allowed him to help when he needed to use the facilities.
“Yeah, and I’ve lost limbs before. Beauty’s had his throat cut and Red busted her spine once. You’re not special.”
Eric gaped. “That’s not the same at all! Most of your limbs are metal, Beauty’s a fucking space dragon and Red’s some kind of lizard-woman. She could probably regrow her own tail or something.”
“She’s part Krynassis,” a voice said from the doorway. “We don’t have tails. But we do have limited regenerative capacity. Not enough to regrow a limb, though, usually just enough to replace lost scales.”
Eric turned suddenly, wincing as his stomach pulled, to see the angel from his dreams standing in the doorway. His sister was behind her, but he barely paid Eris any attention. Everything, his whole being right down to the cellular level, was focused on the woman.
She was beautiful. He’d only gotten glimpses of her in the corridors between the darkness and the scaled aliens—did she call them Krynassis?—that had been trying to rip his guts out, but she was utterly beautiful. Like supermodel, statuesque, goddess-level beautiful. Tall and slender, she had curves in all the right places with long dark hair that cascaded over her shoulders. Dark eyes were locked onto him and he swallowed, hard, hoping like hell she didn’t look below his belt.
“Hi.”
As soon as the word was past his lips, he wanted the deck plating to open up and swallow him whole. Hi? What a fucking inane thing to say… his embarrassment was not made any better by the side look Zero gave him. Eric didn’t agree with a lot of what the alien cyborg said, and there was a certain amount of friction because the guy was involved with his sister. In that moment, though, they were brothers in arms and the look Zero shot him clearly expressed his disappointment. There was even the hint of cyborg eye-roll. Could cyborgs eye-roll, or did their implants prevent it?
“Hello, Eric.”
Oh god, even her voice was beautiful… the sultry rasp went right to his cock. Wincing, he leaned forward, hand over his stomach as though his wounds were playing up. His shirt fell forward to cover his reaction.
Instantly her expression creased in concern and she stepped forward. “Eric? Are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine. Thank you.” He waved off her concern with a smile. Well, what he hoped wasn’t too strained a smile, cutting a glare at Zero as he ushered Eris out of the room.
“We’ll leave you pair to it,” the cyborg called out cheerily. “Eris and I have some… reports to attend to.”
“We do?” She looked up at her husband, caught off guard, her expression so surprised that even Eric, not known for his ability to pick up on social cues, felt like groaning.
“Yup,” Zero reached out to trigger the door release as he went through it, winking at Eric. “You know… in our quarters.”
“Oh, those reports—” Eris’s voice was cut off as the door shut, leaving the two of them alone in the room.
He risked a look at the woman in front of him. She smiled, wariness shadowing her eyes. They were a warm honey-brown and he found himself instantly captivated.