Dovis Read online

  “Are you going to tell Cathian or anyone else?” Dovis glanced at them.

  One answered. “No. Of course not. You wouldn’t really kill us. You’re just in a bad mood.”

  “Don’t tempt me. This is none of your concern.”

  “Mari is alone,” Three whispered. “She had hope that you might have feelings for her, until you made her think you regretted what happened between you. That’s not what you were thinking, though. You should have told her the truth. You don’t want to lose her, but you fear she’ll reject you if you don’t keep biting her. You like her, Dovis. You have mating thoughts about her.”

  “She doesn’t feel like you took advantage of her,” Two announced. “She was aware her body did strange things around you and she was curious. Now that you’ve been intimate, she has other feelings.”

  “Strong feelings,” One added. “Go to her and tell her you feel things, too. It will make her happy.”

  “She’s not happy right now,” Two grumbled. “Asshole.”

  He glared at the middle one. “Stop calling me that.”

  “You’re calling yourself that. Why can’t I? I just say it out loud.”

  “Get off my bridge and stay out of this. It’s a private matter.”

  The Pods left but all three of them shot him dirty looks. He relaxed when the doors closed and he was alone on the bridge. He took the captain’s chair and began undocking procedures, notifying the station they were leaving.

  He increased speed once they cleared the station and set a course to the planet Callon. He had just taken a seat in York’s normal station to watch for anyone following them when the bridge doors opened and Raff entered.

  Dovis turned to glare at him. “What do you want?”

  “You’re a dumbass.”

  Anger immediately filled him. “The Pods went to you?”

  “No. You removed the vid device in your cabin—but not Mari’s.”

  He was out of the seat in seconds and lunging for Raff.

  The bigger male withdrew one of his blades and pointed it at him. “Don’t. Cool down. I didn’t come to fight.”

  Dovis stopped, snarled at him, wanting to do damage to the male. “You spied on us?”

  “Do you never listen to what I say? This is why I don’t bother speaking often. I told you I usually watch someone for at least two weeks when they become crew.”

  “You also said Mari basically wasn’t a threat.”

  “That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t keep an eye on her. You took part of my advice by ditching the fur and claws, but you were supposed to keep her. She didn’t even flinch away when you got all fury before you bit her shoulder. Do you know what that tells me? You probably could have gotten away with bending her over right there and taken her before you shifted again. You’re ugly as fuck right now and she still offered to kiss your muzzle before you left. That’s got to be love, man. Get your ass back to her cabin and fix your mistake. I’ll stay on the bridge and kill anyone who tries to attack us if some idiot from the station decides we’d make a good target.”

  “Mari doesn’t know me well enough to love me. Just stop talking.”

  “Human females are strange creatures. Look at Nara. My cousin keeps her sexually pleased and he’s nice to her. In exchange, she let him put his second heart inside her chest to life-lock with her. And she fell in love with him fast. It’s probably a human thing. Not only that, she gave away her shuttle and left a career to stay with him. In comparison, Mari had a shit life before now. It’s not like you have to work hard at making her happy, and you got the sexual pleasure part right. I didn’t watch most of that—no offense; I didn’t want to see that much of you—but it sounded like you were doing good.”

  He glared at Raff, still wanting to beat him up. “Get off my bridge and remove the fucking vid device from Mari’s cabin, now.”

  “Dumbass. If you won’t take her for a mate, maybe I will, once she realizes you’re too stupid to waste time caring about.”

  Dovis fought the urge to attack again as he watched Raff put his blade away in the holster and leave the bridge. Instead, he threw back his head and roared.

  He’d fucking kill Raff if he went anywhere near Mari.

  * * * * *

  Mari sniffed the pillow, inhaling Dovis’s scent. It had been two weeks since he’d left her cabin. They’d avoided each other since. He seemed to enjoy working while the rest of the crew slept. She stayed inside her cabin during those hours.

  She missed him.

  He’d shown her a side of himself he’d said only Cathian had seen. That had to mean something. Or maybe she was fooling herself.

  The comms dinged and she rolled out of bed, tugging on her clothes to get them righted. “Mari here.”

  “It’s Raff. You’re needed on the bridge. I think a few circuits blew on the life support control monitor. It went dark.”

  “I’ll grab my toolbox and be right there.”

  “Hurry up.”

  “Sure thing.”

  She ran into Midgel at the lift. The timid cook smiled at her as she exited.

  “Do you know anything about males?”

  Midgel nodded. “What do you want to know?”

  “How do you get one interested in you?”

  “To fuck or to keep?”

  Mari had to think about it. “Both?”

  “Undress and show skin. That seems to work for most species. My race doesn’t have mates, though. We only breed if we want to birth a litter.”

  Mari felt stunned. “A litter?”

  “Usually six to ten.” She tapped her flat stomach. “I’ve bred twice. I have seventeen children in all. I removed my clothes for the males both times and they jumped on me. But after, I didn’t want to keep either of them. Males are a nuisance, and far worse than raising the two litters I’ve had. Always clinging to you, climbing on your body, and making demands.”

  Mari was still surprised by her revelation. “Where are your kids?”

  “Grown and on their own. We’re solitary creatures, once we’re adults.”

  “Don’t you ever get lonely?”

  Midgel wrinkled her face, her whiskers twitching. “No. I like being alone. I’m done breeding and glad for it. Too much talking.”

  With that, she walked away. Mari watched her enter her cabin down the hall and then got inside the lift. “Strange woman,” she muttered.

  She visited maintenance first and then headed up to the bridge. She ran over possible reasons why the console would go down on the bridge but not register on The Vorge’s computer. It should have alerted her before Raff did.

  The door the bridge auto-opened at her approach. It was the first time she’d been there. It wasn’t Raff waiting for her though. Dovis sat in the captain’s chair.

  He jumped up and spun, staring at her.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “Raff said I was needed.” She glanced around, hunting for a dark panel. Every console appeared lit.

  “Interfering asshole,” he muttered.

  The insult hurt her feelings. “I’m just trying to do my job.”

  “Not you. I’m talking about Raff. Everything is in working order.” He pointed a clawed finger to his left. “See? Nothing wrong or it would show on the monitors.” Dovis sighed. “He sent you up here for me.”

  Mari bent and placed her toolbox on the deck. “Why?”

  “I’ve been avoiding you.”

  “I know.”

  “Are you still suffering from being attracted to me?”

  She inhaled. He was too far away. She walked forward until only a few feet separated them and sniffed again. His incredible scent filled her nose and her body responded lightning quick. “Yes.”

  “You should back away.”

  She returned to her toolbox. “I guess I should go then. I wondered why the computer didn’t alert me the second it went down.”

  “Mari?”

  She turned to face him. “Yes?”

  “How