Page 20 of Ruin (Villains for Hire)

O nce they were moored in the docking bay of the Vengeance, Lira unstrapped from the jump seat while the guys went through power-down procedures.

Nerves filled her stomach like angry spatflies .

She was about to meet the people that were, essentially, Ruin’s family.

What if they didn’t like her? She was about the farthest thing from a mercenary as a person could get. She wasn’t big or scary or good in a fight.

Okay, maybe that last one wasn’t entirely true. She hadn’t actually done too badly in the last two fights she’d been in.

Feeling a little better, she peered down at herself and immediately winced. She was dirty from being in the ductwork and there were some blood spatters staining her clothes. Should she try to clean up? Or… since she was about to disembark onto a ship full of mercenaries and assassins, maybe the blood and dirt would make her fit in better.

Ruin’s approach stalled any more anxious spiraling. “Ready, bird?”

Craning her head back, she offered a grimacing smile. “I’m nervous.”

He drew her against his side as they left the flight deck and headed for the gangplank.

On her other side, Hush patted the top of her head with his tail. “Don’t be nervous, tiny human. No one’d dare be mean to you, knowin’ you’re Ruin’s.”

Warmth suffused her. As much as Hush’s reassurance, and that he cared enough to reassure her in the first place, meant to her, that wasn’t what caused the majority of it.

It was being called Ruin’s.

That warmth kept the nerves at bay when they stepped off the gangplank and into the docking bay. The unexpectedly messy docking bay. Her brows rose.

There was stuff everywhere. Tools, half disassembled… somethings . That one might be a short distance shuttle? And that pile of scrap might’ve been an enclosed terrarover.

Her fingers twitched and her mind instinctively began piecing together those random parts, working through how to put them back together again.

“Ayyy,” a masculine voice called out, making her jolt.

A Drifter with red skin half a shade lighter than Hush’s approached, smiling brightly at the guys and wiping his grease-covered hands on a rag. She didn’t think he could see her yet, and tensed, wondering what his reaction would be when he could.

“Took you long enou- whoa!” The male stopped short and blinked at her. “What’s… oh shit, that’s a human! Where’d you find one of those?”

He scanned her from head to toe, expression intensely curious, like he’d never actually been this close to a human before. Maybe he hadn’t. Not counting the men Vargot bought to try to breed with her, she’d only seen five other humans in the seven years she could remember. Her people were rarely found in the Outer Rim.

Beside her, Hush chuckled. “I said the same damn thing.”

Ruin offered her a hand and pulled her against his side. “This is Lira. Lira, this is Thrill.”

“Hello.” She waved and offered what was hopefully a calm and not noticeably skittish smile.

He reminded her of Hush, which was fair since they were both Drifters and both had an exuberance about them, but there were just as many differences. Thrill seemed slightly younger, and there was something a little darker about him. A shadow in those sun-yellow eyes. Physically, he had fewer tattoos but more piercings, and his hair was shorter.

Thrill’s bright eyes bounced back and forth between her and Ruin as a smile grew, revealing sharp canine teeth, one of which was shiny silver. “Well now! What d’we have here? Do I smell”—he sniffed dramatically—“ feelings ? From Ruin, The Unruffled?”

Ruin snorted. “You’ve ruffled me numerous times.”

Thrill waved that away with a flick of his tail. “Yeah, but not in a ‘I wanna kiss you’ sorta way. Thank the fuckin’ luck moon. What I’m smellin’ here are unmistakably, very ‘I wanna kiss you’ feelings.”

Hush grinned broadly and stuck his tail out like a pointing finger. “As always, ka’ve , your nose is dead on.”

Thrill shrugged a shoulder with feigned modesty even as his gaze zeroed in on Beep and sharpened covetously. “What’s this? D’you bring me a present?”

Lira stiffened and sidestepped to block her robot. “No.”

The sound of her own voice startled her and, realizing what she’d just done, the blood drained out of her face.

Seeing her fear, Thrill’s brows tented and something that looked very much like pain flashed through his eyes. He raised both hands, tail drooping so low it almost touched the floor.

“Be at ease, little sister. No one’ll hurt you here. My oath on that.”

Exhaling shakily, she relaxed and whispered, “Thank you. I- I didn’t mean to be afraid. I just… ”

Thrill offered a sad, understanding smile. “I know, little sister.”

He did know. She could see it in his eyes. He knew what it was to fear, to brace for the lash you had no hope of evading. Not letting herself overthink it, she closed the distance between them and gave him a hesitant hug, unsure if the gesture would be welcomed or spurned.

To her surprise, he returned the embrace, albeit briefly. Stepping back, she met his gaze.

“I’m sorry that you know.”

His lips tipped in a crooked smile, and he gently flicked her on the tip of her nose. “Back at ya, little sister.”

Returning to Ruin’s side, she waved goodbye to Thrill as they left the cargo bay, feeling as if she’d just made a friend.

On the way to the Vengeance’s flight deck, they passed half a dozen other crew members. Two towering, white-furred Na’vah, a Lurian like Ruin, a Lo’yr, a Quicksilk, and a Kii’mian that had her pulse hiccuping. No humans, at least not so far.

They all greeted the guys, then gave her and Beep quizzical, scrutinizing looks. Those stares would’ve made her more nervous if Ruin and Hush hadn’t been flanking her, but they stayed close in a clear display of protection and familiarity.

She’d been worried Ruin might distance himself from her once they were among his friends, but he walked so close their bodies brushed with every step and he kept a hand curled around her shoulder. The implied intimacy in the gesture warmed her to her core.

Finally reaching the flight deck, Lira peered around in wide-eyed admiration.

She could see where they’d added upgrades, working more advanced tech into the existing stations lining the perimeter of the circular room. The ingenuity required to integrate a Nyxian-made cerebral interface with a Lo’yr A.I. navigational system was incredible. And impressive.

“An’ here I thought I was the only one that put that hungry look on your face,” Ruin whispered in her ear.

Her cheeks flushed, and she quickly covered his mouth with her fingertips. “Ruin!”

Eyes dancing, he nipped her fingers lightly before straightening.

“Report,” came a husky, feminine voice.

Lira’s spine automatically snapped straight at the command in that voice. Turning, she zeroed in on the speaker and had to stop her jaw from falling open.

“Captain Muru,” Ruin and Hush both greeted, dipping their heads respectfully.

Copying the gesture, she tried not to stare too blatantly while Ruin briefed the captain on everything that’d happened during the mission. It wasn’t easy. She was a fiercely beautiful Voragon and one of the most striking females Lira had ever seen.

Her lavender scales were a shade darker than her skin and flecked with gold and bronze that caught the light. She was tall at just under six and a half feet, but the pale purple, draconic wings folded neatly at her back made her seem even taller, as did the backward sweeping horns jutting from her forehead.

A long, powerful tail swished idly as she listened to Ruin's report. Large, almond-shaped, mint green eyes narrowed and the scales over her brow furrowed when he got to the part where he’d rescued Lira and killed Vargot.

Those mint eyes focused on her assessingly—surprise, then speculation flickering in their depths at different parts of the story.

Lira felt like she was being dissected under that piercing stare. There wasn’t any cruelty that she could see, which kept it from being completely unsettling, but it still took effort to resist sliding just a little farther behind Ruin.

When the guys finished, the captain turned and called out, “Seer.”

A female Rodian twisted in her seat. “Yeah, Cap?”

“Dig out everything you can on an element called veherium, but be quiet about it.”

“On it.”

“Fuckin’ corporations. Always up to somethin’,” the captain growled under her breath. To them, she said, “You two look like shit. Go get fixed up.” She leveled those assessing eyes back on Lira. “Does anyone else know the location of that planet?”

Lira shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

“Then I hope you plan on staying aboard.”

“I- yes? I want to.” She didn’t realize she’d reached out to Ruin until the captain’s gaze fixated on her hand.

The scales over Muru’s brow lifted. To Ruin, she asked cryptically, “Bound?”

He cleared his throat and nodded. “If all goes well.”

The female’s lips curled ever so slightly. “Well then. In that event, go see Whisper after. He’ll get her on the crew list.”

“My gratitude, Captain.”

Once back in the corridor, Lira released a shaky breath. “She’s beautiful and very intimidating.”

Hush chuckled. “Mmhm. She’s also fuckin’ terrifying when she’s pissed, and scary good with a blade.”

Lira didn’t doubt that one bit.

“She said ‘crew list’. Does that mean I won’t just be a passenger?”

“That’s right. You’ll be a crew member, with a job and a stipend, just like the rest of us.” Ruin drew her closer against him and bent to nuzzle her hair. “I told ya you’d be welcomed.”

Relief and a burgeoning sense of belonging washed through her. She was being accepted here, among Ruin's people. His family. It was more than she'd dared hope for.

“Hurry up, would ya?” Hush prompted from up ahead. “The sooner we get patched up, the sooner we can hit the mess. I'm fuckin' starved.”

Ruin snorted. “You're always starved.”

“Bein' this pretty takes fuel,” Hush quipped back with a grin.

Lira found herself smiling at their banter, the last of her nerves fading away. It felt good here. Right. Like maybe this could be home.