Page 20 of Savage Union (Brutal Universe #2)

19

JESSINA

T urk sent a message to Snuffy and the cabin boy ran down to the navigators’ quarters and collected all my personal possessions and my uniform and boots. I hadn’t brought much and he was able to bring it all up in one pile, but his long, flexible nose quivered when he handed it to me.

“I’m afraid your things don’t smell very good, navvie,” he remarked. “No they don’t… no they do not.”

I took a careful sniff and grimaced. All my clothes smelled like Gurflug. When I unfolded the uniform, I saw why—brown, slimy smears streaked the black fabric.

“Ugh!” I dropped the clothes reflexively and almost gagged.

“Gurflug,” Turk growled, his face like a thundercloud. “I never should have hired that asshole in the first place!” He looked at Snuffy. “Send these through the steam cleaner right away and bring them back in the morning.”

“Yes, Captain. I’ll see to it. So I will. So I will,” Snuffy vowed.

He gathered my clothes again, though he left the boots which were unmolested, and scurried from the ready room at once.

Turk sighed and ran a hand over his head.

“All right—enough excitement for one day. It’s time to turn in. Come on, boy.”

He led me through the back door of the ready room and I found myself in his private quarters. The place he lived in wasn’t huge, but it looked extremely spacious compared with the tiny navigators’ quarters I’d been sharing with Gurflug.

It smelled much better too. Turk’s warm, spicy, masculine scent permeated the small space. Breathing it in made me feel calmer. Even though I was nervous about pulling off my deception while living in such close quarters with him, I told myself I could manage—I would just have to be careful.

“This is it. I’m afraid it’s not much—just a bedroom and a bathroom,” Turk remarked. “At least it should dispel any idea you might have had about the captain living in fucking palatial splendor.”

“I never thought about it,” I said quickly—though I had often wondered about where he slept and how he lived when he was out on deep space missions. He didn’t go into those details when he visited and talked to Slade.

The bathroom was nothing but a shower unit and a toilet—nothing to see there. I turned my attention to the bedroom.

The bedroom was small and extremely neat without a single thing out of place. The bed was covered in a dark blue spread. It was large compared to the bunk in my former room—but not really large enough for two—especially if one of them was a seven-foot-tall muscular Brute clansmen like Turk.

“I, uh, guess I’ll be sleeping on the floor,” I said, looking at the narrow strip of floor at the foot of the bed. At least it was carpeted, unlike the cold steel of the floor I’d been sleeping on in the navigators’ bunk.

“You don’t have to do that,” Turk objected. “I didn’t take you into my quarters to treat you like a dog!”

“Oh, I don’t mind!” I said quickly. I was afraid he might find me out if I slept too close to him. After all, there was only so much the Synth implant in my arm could hide. “I’ve been sleeping on the floor in the navigator’s bunk,” I added. “And at least your quarters is carpeted.”

“Sleeping on the floor?” He frowned. “Why the fuck did you do that?”

“Well because, Gurflug claimed the top bunk,” I explained. “And the springs on his mattress sagged so much I was afraid he might fall through and crush me. Also, there was the smell when he…” I trailed off, not wanting to go into details about my former roommate’s excessive flatulence.

Turk’s face grew grim.

“That fucking entitled asshole! There’s no way someone his size should take a top bunk—especially with another crew member below.”

“I tried to tell him that but he wouldn’t listen,” I said. “And it wasn’t like I could roll him out of the bunk and claim it myself. He’s about three times bigger than me.”

Turk frowned.

“That’s true, but just because you’re small doesn’t mean you can’t defend yourself.”

“I tried…with Jerx, I mean.” I felt myself go cold all over as I remembered the awful attack. “He was just…he was too strong.”

“Hey now…” To my surprise, Turk put out a hand and cupped my face. I felt him wipe my cheek with his thumb and realized that I had started crying—or at least, my eyes were leaking a little.

“Sorry, Captain.” I pulled away from his gentle touch and hastily swiped at my eyes. “I just felt so…so helpless when he came for me like that. It…I guess it made me realize I’m the smallest and weakest one on this ship.”

“That’s true, but it doesn’t have to mean you’re helpless,” Turk told me. “Look, now isn’t the time for it but I’ll show you some close-quarters self defense moves later on. In the meantime, let me see this.”

He reached for my hand—the one I’d scraped in the shower—and brought it to his face.

“Oh, I…I’m okay, really.” I wanted to pull away from him but also, I wanted him to keep touching me. I couldn’t help it—I felt the pull of my Fated Mate. I wondered if Turk felt it, too.

“How did you do this?” he asked me, looking down at the heel of my hand which was a raw, angry red.

I shrugged.

“Trying to get away from Jerx. I scraped it on the drain in the shower when I fell.”

“Gods.” He closed his eyes tightly for a moment and I saw all kinds of emotions passing over his strong features. Anger, worry, regret…and more I couldn’t name.

“I’m all right,” I offered tentatively. “I mean, you got to me in time. He never actually…actually got it in me.” The words seemed to stick in my throat but I forced them out anyway, trying not to remember the feeling of Jerx pinning me to the wall or the scent of the harsh soap and the feeling of his hot breath on the back of my neck as he shoved?—

I cut the thought off abruptly, I couldn’t stand it!

“You say you’re all right but you’re still crying,” Turk said, frowning. “I should have gotten to you sooner.”

I swiped at my eyes again.

“I’m sorry—I don’t mean to.”

“You don’t have to be sorry,” he told me. “Here—let me see your palm again.”

I had pulled my hand away earlier but now I held it out again, wondering what he was going to do. I couldn’t have been more shocked when Turk brought my injured hand to his mouth…and licked it.

“Oh!” I exclaimed as a warm tingle ran through me. “What…what are you doing, Captain?”

“Healing you,” he said simply. “The venom my fangs make is capable of healing whoever I choose.” He bared his teeth briefly and I saw his fangs again, though they looked considerably smaller and less scary than when he’d showed them to Jerx.

“Er…thank you,” I murmured, looking down at my hand which was already much less raw. I couldn’t help thinking to myself that Brutes were able to heal their Fated Mates, too. And feeling his warm, wet tongue on me made me tremble all over.

He licked me a few more times and then nodded.

“There—I think that should do it. Did you get hurt anywhere else?”

I shook my head.

“No, Tur—I mean, Captain.” I suspected my knees were bruised where I had knocked them against the hard tiles, but they would heal on their own. I couldn’t have him licking me there —he might get too suspicious.

“All right.” He released my hand and nodded. “Then let’s get ready for bed.”

“Do you mind if I keep wearing your shirt?” I asked uncertainly. “I mean, since all my clothes are in the cleaner?”

“Wear it as long as you need to,” he said. “I usually sleep nude but since you’ll be staying with me, I’m going to change into my sleep trousers.”

He turned and got a pair of long, black satin trousers from the storage cupboard set into the wall. Before I could look away, he was nonchalantly toeing off his boots and pushing down his uniform trousers.

I supposed it made sense—he thought we were both men and we’d been naked in the shower together earlier. But it still felt shocking to see him undressing so casually in front of me. I needed some space and some time to process everything that had happened that night. If I wasn’t careful, my reactions were going to give me away.

“Er, do you mind if I take another quick shower?” I asked him. “I still have shampoo in my hair from…from earlier.”

“Hmm? Oh right—of course not. Here.” He reached into the storage cupboard again and handed me a dry towel. “Take as long as you want. I’m going to bed.”

“Okay. Thank you.” I accepted the towel from him and ducked into the bathroom.

Once the door slid closed, I breathed a sigh of relief. Thank She of the Four Faces that I wouldn’t have to spend another night in the same stinking room as Gurflug or worry about Jerx again.

But though I was safer in one way, I was in even more danger in another. The closer I got to my Fated Mate, the more my body would react to his. Sometimes two people didn’t know they were Fated Mates until they spent time in close proximity. That was when the symptoms of The Need started to appear for a woman and The Thirst affected a male.

I had heard of both of these afflictions when the maids whispered together, so I knew some of the symptoms. They could be…extreme.

I tried to push the worry out of my mind as I hung Turk’s shirt carefully on a hook and entered the shower unit. As I rinsed the shampoo out of my hair, I tried to reassure myself. There was no way it would go that far. After all, Turk didn’t even know he was my Fated Mate—he thought I was just a boy he’d hired to navigate his ship. As long as I kept my distance and slept on the ground rather than getting in bed with him, everything should be fine.

Right?

I certainly hoped so…or I was shortly going to be in a lot of trouble.