Page 22 of Sway’s Peace (Delivery Service #2)

Her stomach was twisting up in horrified knots at the very idea.

He couldn’t be. She wasn’t attracted to Covor at all .

She knew humans were bad at recognizing that kind of thing, but surely, if he was her mate, she would feel something .

At best, she felt nothing for him, at worst, it was annoyance.

There was nothing about him that interested her even slightly.

“Let go!” She shook her head quickly, denying everything, as she pulled harder against him. Denying his claim, his words, the very possibility that she was meant to be hitched to this despicable-

She cried out when he grabbed her with all four hands, lifting her clear off her feet, shaking her slightly as he snarled.

“No! I did not bring you here to watch you flirt with other males. I have been patient. I have been kind! ” He roared, making her wince, trying to lean back but unable to escape. “Who was he? What did you do? Did you fuck him?”

“Please, let me go,” she whimpered, arms throbbing from the pressure of his grip crushing them against her torso as he held her up.

Covor made a soundless growl of rage that made her tremble.

She’d never seen him this mad before, but he looked on the verge of doing something violent.

And if he did, there was absolutely nothing she could do to stop him.

He controlled her completely. She couldn’t even escape anywhere on the station since he controlled all of it.

Grace never felt so helpless in her life. And with that acknowledgement came a horrible sense of acceptance. She went slack in his grip, a strange, almost familiar, sense detached calm coming over her as she waited for whatever fate he was about to force onto her. Even if it was-

“I do believe the female asked you to put her down.”

The calm, even timber of a new male’s voice made her head whip up. She wasn’t sure who she expected to be stepping off the simple lift into the office, but it wasn’t the purple body of the ratchi male who owned the ship in Dock Twenty-three.

He was a big male himself, not quite on the same size of Covor, but certainly bigger than Sway.

He was muscular and stood proudly, arms crossed over his broad chest, thick, muscular tail sweeping across the ground.

Now that she wasn’t looking at him through a camera, she could see that the quills on his head actually glowed, like they were bioluminescent.

Though, that was silly. Ratchi weren’t bioluminescent.

He must have made them do that somehow, like cosmetically.

But whatever made his quills glow, it was irrelevant, because the moment Covor spotted him, he let out a single exclamation of horror and dropped Grace.

Unprepared to suddenly be standing back on her own power, she stumbled and fell onto her butt as Covor was backing away, reaching for his waist like he was going to grab a weapon.

“You…” Grace blinked as the purple ratchi approached her. “Loyalty?”

He gave her a smile, and it was much wider than a typical ratchi smile – though she still wouldn’t call it a wide smile. He offered her one of his three fingered hands. His claws were glowing like his quills.

“Are you alright?” He asked kindly.

“Grace, get away from him!” Covor snapped.

Seriously?! He was jealous of Loyalty for offering her a hand ?!

It was ridiculous and only spurred her into taking the offer. Her skin smacked defiantly against the tiny scales of his palm, her nose going into the air. Loyalty blinked, like he was surprised, but he helped her stand. She gave him a grateful smile as she straightened her dress.

“I’m okay,” she said, rubbing her arms, trying to sooth away the throbbing ache.

Loyalty cocked his head at her. Giving her a look that was almost confused. But before she could ask him if he was okay, he was smiling at her again.

“I think you’re lying to me,” he said, glancing briefly at the hand she had taken again. He shook his head before focusing back on her face. “But I will pretend to believe you to spare your dignity.”

She couldn’t help but smile, gratitude and sharp relief making her dizzy. “What are you even doing here?”

“We had a meeting,” he reminded her gently. “I arrived but you weren’t there, so I waited. And then I smelled your fear. I thought I should come check on you before that ratchi female did. She looked ready to kill someone.”

“Oh! Reetak!” Grace turned to the lift. “I hope she doesn’t do something-”

“Ah-ha!”

Covor’s triumphant bellow made them both look back. The station master had retreated to his desk while they spoke. From inside, he drew out a plasma pistol and, like he was brandishing a sword from legend, leveled it at Loyalty.

“What are you doing!?” Grace yelled, trying to rush forward.

But Loyalty stopped her. He put a hand out and caught her before she could run past. With a simple sweep of his arm, he pushed her behind him. Clearly putting himself between her and the pistol as he faced Covor without batting an eyelid.

Had Covor gone insane?! Even carrying a weapon like that around on a space station was tempting a horrible fate. One wrong shot, and he could open a hole to space that could kill the entire room and force the rest of the station into emergency lockdown.

Covor glared at Loyalty like he was scum at the bottom of his shoe. “I don’t know how something like you managed to sneak your way into my station, but you are not welcome here.”

“I am simply getting my ship repaired,” Loyalty said calmly, completely nonplussed. “So I can return home. Same as anyone else who comes here.”

“You’re not getting vekt repaired by me. I don’t care if you’ve got an air leak and a hull break, you’re getting back on your ship and leaving. Now!”

“Covor, stop!” Grace tried to walk out from behind Loyalty, but he didn’t let her. His arm keeping her back was not painful, but it was immovable. “What are you talking about?”

“Grace, get away from that thing!”

“Stop this!”

“You get out,” Covor’s glare tightened on Loyalty. “Or I deal with you here and now myself.”

Loyalty was unmoved. He stood tall and unafraid, staring Covor down like that plasma pistol was a toy gun and not capable of shooting a burning hole clean through his chest.

“I have already paid for my services, and I will have them. You are under contract.”

Covor laughed. “Do freaks like you even have contracts?”

Loyalty grinned. “Funny enough, no. We don’t need them. My people are trustworthy.”

Covor sneered, like the very idea was vile.

What the heck were they even talking about?

Covor had done too many strange, random, scary things in the last few minutes.

Why was he looking at Loyalty like that?

Talking about him like he wasn’t even a person.

It wasn’t a matter of prejudice against ratchi, as Reetak was also ratchi and Covor had never showed her any particular displeasure or annoyance that he didn’t share equally with everyone else. So, why…?

“Get away from my female,” Covor said, voice low and dangerous.

“It does not appear that she wanted to be your anything,” Loyalty said easily. “And you hurt her.”

“She belongs to me.”

“Her skin is damaged.”

“I can do whatever I want to my female!”

Loyalty cast a look down at her. “Is that-”

“No!” She cut him off before he could even finish the question. “Absolutely not! Loyalty, please, let’s just go.”

Covor took a step their way. “You’re not going anywhere with her.”

“I’m not leaving at all,” Loyalty said evenly. “I paid for ship repairs, and they still haven’t been started. And I will not let you continue to try intimidating or threatening this female.”

“Covor, please,” Grace said, injecting her voice with as much calm as possible. Trying anything to sooth this situation before it got worse.

The pistol popped when it went off.

Grace saw the light. She felt Loyalty twitch. But it couldn’t be real. No part of her believed that Covor had actually shot someone.

Until, with a grunt, Loyalty fell back. He twisted as he dropped, making sure he didn’t land on her, though one of his quills scratched her leg on the way down.

He hit the ground with a loud, pained grunt.

The smell of burnt scales struck Grace’s nose as something dark, deep, and violet splattered on the rug.

Was that… Was that blood?

Grace was shaking. She was going to be sick. She’d never been exposed to violence before. She’d never witnessed someone be murdered before!

Oh, god! That’s what she just saw, wasn’t it!? She just witnessed a murder!

She wasn’t even aware of Covor grabbing her arm, yanking her back to him. She was staring, wide eyed and horrified, at Loyalty’s body. His leg was twitching. Was that a death twitch? Did dead bodies twitch?!

Her stomach heaved and she turned, upending the contents all over the floor. Covor made a sound of disgust, shoving her away from him without letting go of the grip he had on her wrist. Making sure she couldn’t actually escape as she shuddered in horror.

She’d just watched someone get killed. She’s seen someone get shot! She-

The hum of the lift lowering was probably the loudest, most jarring sound in the world.

The room, quiet and tense as though even the air was disturbed by the crime that had just been committed, was shattered by its gentle movement as it started moving up.

Grace and Covor were both still. Frozen by the fact that they were standing at the scene of a murder with nowhere to go.

A couple seconds later, the second lift underneath locked into place.

This time, it was Sway who stepped off the platform. Grace’s heart dropped. No.

Sway’s calm smile was gone. His face was blank and empty as his gaze turned quickly around the room, assessing the situation without a word.

Grace.

The marks on her arms.

The ratchi male laid out on the ground.

The pistol still in Covor’s hand.

Covor’s other hand clutching her wrist so hard, she felt the blood being cut off.

Sway cocked his head. The move slow and deliberate. Just looking. Staring.

Grace shivered. Why…

Why was he suddenly so frightening?

Like she was staring into the blank, empty eyes of a shark on the hunt. The lifeless shine of a doll, all black and glossy, devoid of soul and feeling.

“You,” Covor growled, turning the pistol on him next.

He really must be insane. One body wasn’t enough!?

“Sway, run!” Grace screamed, trying to get to him. To block that pistol.

But, of course, she couldn’t fight against Covor’s strength. He tightened his grip on her wrist until she felt the bones crushing together. She whimpered.

Sway’s head lifted back straight. So slow. So eerie.

Calmly, so unnervingly calmly, he tapped his pocket.

His combot flew out and shot into the air.

It flashed once. The little eye on it turned, like it was examining the entire room.

Covor suddenly went stiff, and she was afraid he’d set off the pistol from that alone. Was Sway trying to get evidence?

Speaking easily – how was he not reacting?! – Sway asked, “Captain, this is the situation. May I have permission?”

“ No, ” replied an equally calm, male voice. “ Deal with it as you see fit, but you do not have permission. ”

Sway nodded once and caught the combot out of the air. He stuffed it back in his pocket.

Covor, who had been stunned by his nonchalance, snarled through tightly clenched teeth, spit flecking his lips. “You’re the one she was out with, aren’t you? A weak little farasie? You’ll be easy to deal with too.”

“Grace,” Sway spoke to her, ignoring Covor completely. “You don’t have to do anything, of course, but I would be much obliged if you’d close your eyes.”