Cathian Read online

  “Yes. The crew did an excellent job of finding Nara. Please give them my thanks.”

  “Let’s never do this again. Perhaps we should hire a Tryleskian woman to be on the crew full time.”

  “That will never happen. They don’t leave the planet unless it’s for short trips. Besides, I left my home world to escape all the women who tried to trap me into becoming their life-lock. A Tryleskian would see me as a prize to win.”

  “It wouldn’t be a bad thing to have one, if you don’t mind my saying so. She would have come in handy when you went into heat.”

  “A life-lock would mean having to return to live on my planet. I’m never going to end up like my father.”

  “Just because he’s miserable doesn’t mean you would be.”

  “I’m not willing to risk it. I want to find a woman who is drawn to me, instead of my family name and position. That’s all Tryleskians care about. I could be ugly, maimed, and dishonorable, but they wouldn’t care as long as they got to claim rights to me and our family fortune.”

  “I see.”

  “I need to sleep before the hunger returns and I lose my mind.” He reached out, clasping Dovis on the arm. “Thank you. Give York my gratitude as well. Both of you are true friends.”

  “We’ve got everything handled. Just relax and get through your heat.”

  Cathian returned to his cabin, stripping off his pants. He crawled into bed, reaching for Nara. She murmured in her sleep but cuddled into his arms. He inhaled her scent, his hunger stirring. He ignored it as he tried to sleep. Heat was difficult on his mind and body, and he needed the rest.

  Chapter Four

  Nara panted, smiling. It was day two of being inside his cabin, and she’d already fed Cathian four times in a row that morning. Now he climbed up her body, pinning her under him.

  He seemed to love to cuddle afterward, before he fell asleep. It had become a cycle with him. He fed a few times, until his hunger abated, then nap, waking when Dovis, the wolf-looking alien, brought them a tray of food. One time it had been a muscular blue alien man who she hadn’t gotten a good look at. Cathian didn’t allow them inside his cabin and always went to the door himself.

  He surprised her when he leaned in close to her face, glancing at her lips. “I want to kiss you. May I?”

  She didn’t have to think about it. “Yes.”

  Cathian gently brushed his lips over hers, and she moaned softly. They were velvety soft but firm at the same time. His tongue met hers. She got a good hold on him, feeling the sharp tips of his fangs, but they didn’t hurt. He tasted good, like the meal they’d recently shared. He growled, his chest rumbling against hers. He was a great kisser, passionate, and her body responded.

  Eventually, he broke off the kiss. “What made you become a trader by career?”

  His question surprised her, especially at that moment. She wanted to get back to kissing but he apparently wanted to talk. He usually slept after feeding, but his beautiful eyes weren’t sleepy looking while she gazed into them.

  “I wanted to leave Earth. There were a lot of painful memories.”

  “What kind?”

  She debated on telling him or not and decided there was no harm. They were intimates, after all. “I was married, but it turned out that he wasn’t the person I thought. It became ugly. He was a cheating, lying, thieving jerk.”

  His eyes widened.

  “He slept with a couple of my friends behind my back. One of them got mad at him and told me. Everyone knew but me. I was an idiot who’d blindly trusted him.”

  “I read up on Earth. Married is a legal contract, correct? It’s where both parties agree to terms.”

  “Yes.”

  “Was it a love match or business?”

  “I thought he loved me but he didn’t. Everything about him was a lie. He scammed me.”

  “Scam is to offer a high-quality product, but instead give an inferior one that has little to no value?”

  She nodded. “That sums up my ex perfectly. I came with a lot of family money, and it turned out he just wanted that instead of me. He stole most of it, but I had some accounts hidden away. I divorced him and bought my shuttle. It’s not much, a Dorkin Three model, but it got me off Earth and far from him. I didn’t want to go to prison for murder.”

  He scowled. “You killed him?”

  “No, but I wanted to. That was the problem. I would have if I’d stayed, and then would have been locked up for twenty years. He was mad when he found out I had secret accounts, and he couldn’t touch them in the divorce. His way of retaliating was to harass and threaten me. It was best if I just disappeared where he wouldn’t follow me. He’d never venture into space. It’s too dangerous.”

  “You wanted a fresh start. I understand this.”

  “Is that why you’re a captain? This seems like a big ship.”

  “It’s a cruiser. I’m an ambassador for my planet. I mostly do trade negotiations and keep peaceful treaties active between my race and others. It got me off my planet.”

  “What’s it like where you come from?” She felt very curious about him and his race.

  “Beautiful but cold.”

  “Lots of snow?”

  “No. Tryleskian is a warm planet all year round. Heavy in vegetation beyond our cities. The people are cold.” He hesitated. “Most of our life-lock bonds are political in nature.”

  “You mean marriages?”

  “Yes. I didn’t wish to end up unhappy, the way my father and mother have. There is no love or even like between them. He chose her for her good looks and her family’s history of being excellent breeders. She wanted his status and the perks that came with it. They are vicious and cruel to one another. Growing up with both together wasn’t a happy childhood. I don’t want my sons and daughters to be raised that way. Once I reached full maturity, it was my responsibility to breed the next generation or take this ambassador role.”

  “How long have you been doing it?”

  “Three years.”

  “Do you like your job?”

  “I do. Do you enjoy being a trader?”

  She wanted to lie but decided not to. “Not really. It’s scary most of the time. I lived in a human-only section of Earth. It wasn’t by choice. It’s just the way it is. Then I left, and suddenly I felt like I was lost out in space, you know? I hired two crew members. One is my navigator; she gets us where we need to go. She also speaks to all the aliens we sell to and deal with. She’s half human and half Barcalon. They’re good at learning languages. The other was the one who got us arrested, and he’s fully human like me.” She was still angry at him. “Derrick used the credits I gave him to buy hookers, instead of the part we needed for my shuttle. Our engine went down where we shouldn’t have been after delivering medicine to a planet suffering Krout.”

  “The illness that turns bodies into vegetation?”

  “Yes. They’re a bunch of innocent colonists just trying to make a new life on a planet, but the space authorities want them gone. They shut down all travel there, including medical shipments that would cure them and save lives. I heard about it, and they were offering good money for anyone willing to risk getting past the blockades. So much for turning a profit and doing a good deed all at once. We got caught, and I picked being sold at the auction over going to Alto Prison.”

  “Good choice.”

  “That’s what I was told by my crew. They said people are food there.”

  He lifted his chest off hers a little and glanced at her body, his scowl deepening. “You wouldn’t have survived.”

  “Gee, thanks.”

  “I don’t mean to offend you but your body is frail, Nara. You’ve seen other races. Yours isn’t one with good defensive abilities in hand-to-hand combat.”

  She’d give him that. “True.”

  “You did a great service to me. A Tryleskian weakens from starvation during heat. It can take weeks to months to recover, depending on how sick he gets. There’s also a risk of death