Page 4 of Space Daddy’s Guide to the Galaxy (Villains in Space #2)

4

ZIGGY

Time to kill them all.

Reclaiming my mate had dulled the nearly unhinged possessiveness pulsing beneath the surface, but the thought of another predator nearby had me growing feral all over again.

Mine, mine, mine!

“Fuck…” Micah gasped, hurriedly yanking on his pants. “I swear, Zig, only one Maroxian got in before I closed the bayeeee?—”

His babbling turned into a yelp as I grabbed him around the waist and star hopped us to the cockpit. As soon as I determined the space was clear of threats, I engaged the lockdown doors and initialized an internal heat scan of the entire ship.

Let’s see where you’re hiding.

So I can kill you.

“Do you think they’ve come for the egg?” Micah whispered loudly. “Would they realize it was gone already?”

“Doubtful.” I frowned at the odd data displayed on my dashboard. “The Maroxians had the egg in a custom incubator with barely any security.” I glanced at my stellar collision and smirked. “At least, not with any security I couldn’t handle.”

The incubator itself had been easy to infiltrate, and my tendrils made quick work of the single guard assigned to overnight duty. Maroxians may have been at the top of the food chain in this corner of the galaxy but this false sense of superiority had turned into a glaring blind spot on their part.

Because Stellarians are superior to Maroxians.

We are superior to most other species, actually.

Micah was staring at me with a glassy-eyed expression I knew well, further confirmed by the pheromones he pumped into the air.

Behave.

“You’re so effortlessly sexy, I cannot,” he murmured before snapping out of his stupor to squint at me. “Did you say incubator? Wait—is that the reason you tried to turn the boiler room into the nursery?!”

“Yes,” I replied mildly, confused by how his agitation seemed to be rapidly accelerating into panic.

“Oh gawd!” he gasped, looking like he was going to make a run for it. “I need to… I can’t believe I fucked this up too…”

What in Stellaria’s name is he talking about?

For reasons I blamed entirely on his blessedly deceased parents, Micah’s ‘worth’ was an ongoing conversation. I knew he was the most impressive creature in all the galaxies—had even procured a certificate from The Knowledge saying as much to hang on the cockpit wall—yet he still insisted on focusing on his supposed flaws.

An impossible task.

Since he has none.

When he glanced at the barricaded door again, I realized why he was about to charge into battle.

For the egg.

Sigh.

“Star brightness,” I inwardly scowled that this borrowed form wasn’t allowing me to refer to Micah as the sunshine he was. “The asset is safe and warm enough. It was close to hatching anyway…”

I trailed off as my gaze drifted back to my security monitor, realizing exactly what had set off the motion sensors.

Oh.

Well, this is inconvenient.

“W-what is it, Zig?” Micah’s voice wavered, making me want to kill every Maroxian all over again.

But that’s not the intruder we’re dealing with.

“Just a vermin problem,” I soothed, forcing a smile. “I’ll handle it while you fly us out of here, all right?”

The way Micah’s warm brown eyes lit up caused my guilt to roar to life all over again. I knew he loved driving the ship, and while that was reason enough to allow him to do it, at the moment, I was shamelessly using it as a distraction.

Just until I get the situation under control.

“Commander Babygirl, at your service!” He saluted, grinning wildly, and I was thankful my current form hid the blush caused by that moniker.

It was in reference to the first time Micah had topped me—shortly after we defeated Astrum Force Command and during what he called our “Captured by the Enemy Alien Meet-Cute” at the Muonova.

We’d switched roles a few times since then, but I’d never let down my defenses quite like I had that time.

The twenty strong drinks helped…

It certainly wasn’t a hardship to let him claim me. Micah was the only creature alive I would ever submit to, because he was the only one I trusted enough to allow myself to give up control.

Plus, his cock is perfect.

Actually, my mate was perfect, inside and out, and while I’d once thought claiming him was as close to heaven as I could get, I’d since discovered how exquisite it felt to allow him inside me.

Breeding me.

I knew a breeding kink—which we both enthusiastically had—and actual procreation were completely different things. The issue for me was how blurred the lines had become.

How it’s all I can think about.

If I was being completely honest, the promise of Micah “pumping me full of Stellarian super space babies” had been lingering in the forefront of my mind ever since he first brought it up on Kaalanesea.

Unfortunately, I had mixed feelings about the concept of family —for reasons I blamed entirely on my creator back on Earth. Yes, Theo had sufficiently groveled for his crimes of abandonment during our brief return to the planet, and I’d genuinely forgiven him, but my scars ran deep enough that I knew I still had work to do.

Eventually.

Right now, I had a mission to complete, so I buried my confusing desires as deep as possible, where not even Dr. Micah and his “unbilled therapy time” could find them.

Problem solved.

Trusting Micah to get us en route for Stellaria, I star hopped to my skinsuit closet. While this Maroxian disguise had been necessary for securing the asset—and surprisingly adept at making my mate come—I could admit, it wouldn’t be the best option for luring a helpless, newly-hatched alien out of the ductwork of my ship.

It’s far too large for the task.

As much as I was craving my Earthling skin—the identity I most related to—my true form would be the best fit for the job.

After carefully encasing my Maroxian skinsuit in carbonite, I hopped to the weapons room for a closer look at the situation.

Pieces of eggshell littered the crate, with a few larger chunks flung about the room, as if the asset had hatched in a hurry. My gaze took in the deep scratches traveling up the wall before focusing on the missing air vent cover.

The mangled air vent cover.

The one that looked as if it had been removed with extremely large, extremely sharp blades.

Hmm…

Perhaps ‘helpless’ wasn’t the right word.

I didn’t know exactly what species I was dealing with here, because no one did. The distress signal Astrum Force originally received—which Honnor and Bron were still trying to track—had simply mentioned the abduction of a youngling of great rarity and importance.

A creature that could “bring great power to whoever possessed it.”

I growled low, furious once again that I’d been forced to choose between my high-level mission and my mate.

Fuck this.

Extending a few tendrils into the duct, I tasted the air, aiming to not only determine which direction the asset had gone, but its mental state.

The more frightened, the better.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t get much of a reading. So, with an irritated sigh I felt all the way to my nonexistent bones, I floated upwards.

Only to come face-to-face with an impossibly large pair of glowing yellow eyes.

What in Stellaria’s ? —

Before I could finish the thought, a dark shape was lunging for me, its sharp claws extended as an ear-splitting yowl echoed in the close confines of the air duct.

It was nearly impossible to catch a Stellarian off-guard, but I didn’t have the luxury at the moment of examining how this creature had accomplished it. Recovering quickly, I dematerialized before it made contact, reappearing behind the little shit and unleashing dozens of tendrils to entrap and immobilize my prey.

Only when my tendrils tightened on empty air did I realize that—somehow—the creature had not only escaped my clutches, but it was already bounding away.

I AM GOING TO KILL IT!

Of course, I knew I couldn’t kill the “rare and important’” asset I’d been assigned to rescue, but the insult was enough to make me see red.

And no one said anything about not teaching it a lesson.

With this satisfying compromise in mind, I took off after my prey, smirking inwardly when I found it backed into a corner and hissing wildly.

Time to learn.

“Is everything okay up there, Zig?” Micah’s muffled voice sounded below us, instantly silencing the creature. “Do you, um… need my help?”

My mate’s translation device meant he could now understand Stellarian, so I called back to say I had the situation under control.

Because I do.

Thanks to my night vision and the glow from my tendrils, I was finally able to take a closer look at what I was dealing with.

I could make out a thick coat of shaggy, chestnut-colored fur, along with pointed ears drawn back as it hunched low, attempting to squeeze itself into a ball. Its enormous eyes were locked on me, unblinking, while a thin, hairless tail twitched against the metal wall behind it, but I couldn’t be sure what the movement meant.

Since I can’t get a read on this thing.

Its front paws and pangolin claws were lowered—which I took as a good sign—but I could see even larger claws on its hind feet as well. In sharp contrast, two tiny fangs peeked out as it started to hiss under its breath and, all at once, I realized it reminded me of the Earthling felis catus.

I’m facing off with a fucking house cat.

It scuttled further into the corner, revealing a circular grate I recognized as being part of the kitchen’s new range hood system. A plan immediately sprang to mind, and I knew just the man to help me accomplish it.

Aside from his impressive brain, one of the many things I admired about my mate were his superpowers—his seemingly magical ability to create almost anything out of thin air.

Well, out of inorganic matter.

What I also appreciated was knowing he hadn’t gone far. While Micah’s inherent helpfulness had been taken advantage of by his parents, I tried not to make him feel as if his only worth was what he could offer me. However, at the moment, I needed my partner to capture the creature before it escaped.

Strategy in place, I called out to Micah again, explaining I was going to open the grate above the range and that he needed to be ready with an impenetrable cage of some kind.

His reply of affirmation had our prey cocking its head, almost curiously, but then the movement of my tendrils sliding toward the grate caused it to growl and crouch lower, clearly preparing to pounce—or make a break for it again.

Fuck. This.

I wasn’t what you’d call nurturing on a good day, and with how thin my patience was, I honestly didn’t care to make this entrapment easier on the source of my irritation.

Striking before it could, I wrapped a tendril around my prey, pinning its front limbs against its body, holding the writhing, snarling creature in place as I turned my attention to removing the grate.

A rapid grinding filled the cramped space—like an engine attempting to turn over in an Earth-based automobile—and I could only watch in amazement as the house cat transformed into something incomprehensible.

The fur hanging from its face parted as thick tentacles emerged, and the end of its flicking tail ballooned before a ring of spikes appeared, like a medieval morning star.

Then, it opened its mouth, its jaw hinging wide like a snake swallowing its prey whole, the tiny fangs extending to enormous canines nestled in two rows of equally deadly teeth.

By Stellaria…

I snatched my tendrils away and unleashed a dozen more, sharpening the ends for battle as I debated how to best subdue my opponent.

Unsurprisingly, the creature in question didn’t wait for me to decide. It took one look at my weapons and dove downward, slicing clear through the metal surrounding the range hood grate and disappearing to the kitchen below.

Where my mate is…

With a battle cry that shook the shredded metal surrounding me, I flew after it, my essence freezing in my proverbial veins to find Micah backed against the wall with the extremely angry asset stalking toward him.

Maybe I will kill it after all.