Page 29 of Sway’s Peace (Delivery Service #2)

“You can stay in here,” he told Grace as he picked up his discarded clothing.

More jumpsuits and shirts – the only things he wore.

He tossed them into the laundry chute – which would automatically clean and return his clothing to the return bin.

He’d have to come back at some point to collect them.

But for now, he didn’t want to offer her an untidy dirty room.

But as he turned, he winced. The pod bed – standard on a starship – was unmade. There was a stack of trays on the floor beside the bed. The storage drawers were all half open. The privy was clean – thank the stars – but that was only because he rarely used it.

“I’m sorry,” he said as Grace stepped in after him, frowning. From the doorway, Loyalty was snickering as he set her luggage right inside.

“Is this your room?” She asked, glancing with concern.

“It is. I, er, never use it. Much. But I’ll clean it up right now.”

“Are you… staying in here with me?” She gave him a quick look, and he realized that she wasn’t worried about the mess. She was concerned about him pressing her for more than she was willing to give.

“Oh. No!” He reassured her quickly, turning to shut the drawers of his personal storage.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to give you that…

I would, of course… That is to say, I often sleep on the bridge.

I really only come in here to change. But I can do that in any of the privies on the ship.

You are more than free to have this room while you’re here. ”

“Demand your credz back,” Loyalty smirked, leaning in the doorway. “The custodial services here suck.”

Sway didn’t have time to be annoyed with his quip.

As he was shutting his drawers, his eyes caught on the pouch that he used to store his old claws.

The weapons he’d brought with him from Rik-Vane but never wore again.

He used to never let them be trapped in pouch, much less in a drawer in his room, far form his reach.

Before Grace could notice them, he scooped up the pouch and shoved it in his pocket before knocking the drawer shut as he turned.

“Please, make yourself comfortable,” he said sincerely to Grace, turning her gaze back onto him. “I’m going to get you some new bedding. And, er, I’ll take those trays as well.

She shifted her weight. “I feel bad about kicking you out of your room.”

“You have not,” he assured her with a soft chuckle. “Believe me, I am happy to have you here. Unpack. Use whatever you like. You can throw my clothes on the ground. I’ll come get them later. After I show Loyalty where he’ll stay, and take these to the galley, of course.”

He bent over, scooping up the trays. Ashamed that he’d shown her the slovenly side of himself so quickly after meeting her. It wasn’t that he liked being dirty, or even that he didn’t know how to clean, he just didn’t do it.

He should. He would . He wouldn’t let her think him a slob.

Before Sway left, he switched ownership of the door on the console to Grace, so that she could control when it locked and unlocked. With her set as the owner, it wouldn’t even let him in without her permission.

She gave him a smile before the door shut behind her. Her luggage was in there with her. He imagined she was going to take the time to get comfortable. He was glad for it.

This was good. This was right. His female belonged in his space. He immediately felt calmer just for having her there, even despite being technically separated from her now. With Grace in his room, he knew she was safe. No one could hurt her in there.

She was close to him now. She would be staying with him.

Even if he told himself it was only temporary until she found where she wanted to go – as he assured her – he knew he didn’t actually think that.

He wanted her here. He wanted her to stay here.

And now that she was here, he had a chance to make it permanent.

For now, however, it was enough that she was safely ensconced in his room.

He could be satisfied with that as he left her to continue onto his next task, Loyalty trailing just a few steps behind.

He didn’t even realize how tense he had become since he originally got called out of his ship until just now, when it started fading away.

His female was safe. She was with him. Things were okay again.

Oh, maybe that was why he was so on edge.

So quick to use violence. Even the farasie, for all that they were considered the most peaceful species in the universe, would still resort to violence when it came to protecting their mates and families.

It wasn’t exactly encouraged, but it wasn’t unheard of either.

And he might have only shared a single meal with Grace, but she already meant more to him than anyone in his memory. Of course, he would be protective of her.

Thinking of it that way, he actually felt a lot better. Maybe he wasn’t completely hopeless after all. He couldn’t be condemned for violence against another when it was performed for the sake of those most precious to him. Even the farasie would agree with that. Right?

Feeling much better about things, Sway walked into the new galley and put the trays in the dish cleaner of the brand new synthesizer.

Loyalty was still there, looking around curiously.

Sway was glad he hadn’t decided to relinquish the machine now that Grace was here.

The last thing he wanted was to offer her terrible food.

“You will be staying in Goldie’s room,” Sway said to Loyalty, focusing back on him for a moment. “She will need a chance to get her belongings from it first. I’m sure the captain already told her to come back. He’s very good about details like that.”

Loyalty inclined his head. “That’s fine. I want to go to my ship anyway. In case that skakt didn’t already destroy it, I want to see if I can salvage what little I do have there.”

“Very well,” Sway said. “I’ll wait for you. Tell Vytln, the lvtl male, out front to comm me when you return.”

Loyalty grunted in agreement before turning and walking off. He had a ratchi’s nose, so he could probably just follow Sway’s scent when he came back. He certainly didn’t need help following their trail back to main stowage.

Sway watched him go before frowning, looking at the ground.

Grace was here. And he was glad for it! And even more grateful that, technically, he hadn’t ended his streak of non-violence – at least, not in a way that he thought counted.

But now what…

He’d been so focused on getting her here, on making sure she was safe, he hadn’t actually considered what he would do about her next. Would a female even be open to his advances after such a drastic upheaval in her life?

He wanted her. Did she still want him?

***

The next day went smoothly. Absolutely no problems at all.

Sway didn’t really expect any. Tanin had put the twins – Sorbet and Tebros – onto the station master’s trail to make absolutely sure he kept to their contract.

Those two males were quite terrifying. If he was dumb enough to try something, they would deal with it immediately, and in ways much more devious than Sway could imagine.

Their only rule was that they couldn’t kill without permission. Everything up to that point was absolutely still an option. A loophole they never hesitated to take advantage of. Sway rather thought they had made a fun game of it.

And it always amazed Sway just how much people could live through.

Even when they begged not to.

But it didn’t get that far. The twins reported that Covor had locked himself in his home and was refusing to come to work.

They’d made sure to break in, to show themselves, and prove that he wasn’t safe even behind a lock door.

But they didn’t actually hurt him. There was no need.

According to them, he might have had his body healed, but being so drastically hurt had left him too terrified of them to even face the outside.

Crude, and not always effective. Some people didn’t break when they were driven to the brink. But a great many would, and Covor was no exception. The twins would keep an eye on him until it was time for them to leave.

The new subspace crystals were delivered that morning, right on schedule, with nothing about the dock workers to suggest that they’d heard anything happened.

Grace was hiding in his room, not wanting any of them to see her and set any rumors flying.

Sway wasn’t sure who was acting dock master at the moment, but there were no problems as the crystals were installed, the last of the services were provided, and the leftover mess cleaned up.

They weren’t planning on leaving the very day that they finished the upgrades, but now they had to get away from the station master and had a client paying by the day.

Loyalty didn’t appear to care how long it would take for them to get him back home, but Tanin was honorable.

He wasn’t going to purposefully draw out the time he was with them to force him to pay more.

The others were all summoned back to the ship as Sway was calibrating the new crystals.

It was a complex process he’d never actually done before.

He’d practiced, he knew how to do it theoretically, and he’d completed more than a few simulations.

But it was the first time he’d ever done it in real life.

It took longer, and required more focus, than he initially thought.

While he was busy doing that, he didn’t realize that the others were all coming back and getting ready to take off. Tanin came by as he was about halfway through to tell him that he’d gotten the swing data he’d eventually need from Loyalty, but that their other job came first.