Page 12

Garnet

“T anin!” Garnet yelled after the captain, but he was already gone. Off to fight pirates. Because he was in a business where he needed to fight pirates. Like a cargo ship on rough seas, only there was no convenient navy to radio for help. He had to do it himself.

“ Garnet, ” Alred spoke to her, his light form flickering like he was having trouble maintaining it. “ This way, if you please. I’ve already alerted Rok and Goldie to go to the shelter. It’s an armored, sealed part of the ship, impervious to most attacks and shielded against scanning. I am the only one who can lock and unlock it. Even the ship’s actual AI cannot override that lock. No one can detect life signs from outside. You’ll be safe there. ”

“What about everyone else?”

“ What? ” He cocked his head, like he was confused about what she was even asking.

“The others! There’s half a dozen other people on this ship. What is everyone doing? Are they going to be okay?”

Alred didn't answer her immediately. Even on his faceless head, she could read the surprise that she’d inquire as to everyone else’s wellbeing.

“ They’ll be fine, ” he finally said. “ The shelter -”

“That’s it? They’ll be fine?! What’s happening? Where is everyone? What are the pirates doing?”

“ If you get to the shelter -”

Garnet turned, snatching up the mop. She ripped off the mophead and tossed it away. With the other hand, she grabbed the cleaning fluid. It was a nozzle, like the kind used for an airbrush gun. The force of the spray wasn’t particularly high, but there was a warning on the bottle about spraying directly into the eyes, and that was good enough for her.

“Tell me what’s happening, Alred,” she ordered, pointing at him with her mop handle like the sturdy metal was a staff. “Or I go looking for myself. Where’s my sister?”

He flickered again before answering. “ Rok has already met up with her. They’re locking themselves in the shelter now. He’ll look after her in the worst case scenario. They’re just waiting for you to arrive, and I will unlock the door and let you in with them. ”

“What about-agh!”

She fell forward, right through Alred, barely managing to get her legs under control before she went falling into the opposite wall. The entire ship had started rocking.

“ They’ve opened fire, ” Alred explained, his light form blinking in and out. “ I cannot stay. I have to focus on the fight. Garnet, please, at the end of this hall, take a left. Go down halfway and take a right. The shelter is the only door there. Knock three times. Rok will alert me to let you in. ”

He spoke quickly and vanished. He was a computer, but he was still one person. It must be hard to focus on everything he had to be doing right now. Which meant Garnet was unsupervised.

But she wasn’t weak! And she wasn’t going to go and hide. She’d never hidden from anything in her life, she certainly wasn’t going to start now.

Turning, she ran through the ship. She didn't know where the others had gone, but she just spent five days learning the layout and room locations. She knew there was a room on the second floor, deep in the ship away from the exterior walls, that was used as a secondary, protected bridge in the event of attack. Alred told her that when she first found the door, after telling her he couldn’t let her in to clean it without someone supervising to make sure she didn't touch anything.

That was where she headed.

It wasn’t an easy journey. Though she couldn’t feel the ship’s movements usually thanks to the artificial gravity, she could apparently still feel it whenever the ship suddenly pitched to one side or another from some outside force hitting it. They were taking fire. Would the ship be ripped apart? How many hits could it take? She didn't know and now she wished she’d asked Alred more questions.

The door to the inner bridge was already open when she rushed in. She expected Tanin to be there, but he wasn’t. Instead, Sorbet, Tebros, and Trove were all inside. They were all at different seats, operating what appeared to be turrets on the outside. They didn't have 3D holos floating in the air, but flat screens more like what she was used to. There were still light holos projected up off the console and they weren’t totally flat, but curved around their heads, giving them a greater field of visibility. They also came with targeting information, warnings, and a great deal of other data she didn't recognize.

Not one of them turned her way as she came inside. They were all focused on the ship she could see in all three curved screens.

Garnet didn't really have anything to compare their ship to. She knew what human spaceships looked like. She knew what the ship that brought the aliens to Earth before looked like. However, she didn't know if either of those were similar to what she was seeing. She also had no scale for what she was looking at.

But it looked big. The general shape was like three claws, all attached at a central base. The point of each claw was a weapon that was firing at them even as she watched. The ship itself was gray and a muted, ugly green – though the paint was peeling and scuffed in many places. There was writing on one side, but it wasn’t written in Standard, so she couldn’t read it. There were also a few, flashing exterior lights.

But she was mostly surprised by how dark it was.

The ship wasn’t brightly illuminated like on TV. It wasn’t glowing by itself out there in the darkness. The exterior flashing lights and what little they illuminated were the most she could see.

Because there wasn’t any light out there, she realized. They were out in space, far from any star. There was nothing at all to illuminate this enemy ship except its own lights. The lines defining its shape that she could see on the screens weren’t from the ship itself, they were put there artificially so that the twins and Trove could see what they were returning fire at.

A chill went down her spine. She didn't know why it was so much more disturbing knowing that it was just black out there. She was used to seeing the spaceships on TV, but those were always perfectly visible, like they were shining from nose to tail. But they weren’t near anything that would light them up out here. It was like they were at the bottom of the ocean and a monster was stalking them out of the abyss.

The ship pitched again, and she caught herself on the door frame as Trove cursed.

“ Harpoon impact, rear stowage, ” Alred said, his voice sounding more robotic than usual.

“We’re getting pulled in,” Trove cursed.

The twins didn't respond, focused as they were on returning fire.

Garnet’s eyes moved between them, watching as the enemy ship got closer. Closer.

Trove cursed, turning. “You two, go back up Tanin. I’ll cover guns.”

The twins still didn’t respond verbally, but they both closed their consoles before standing. They gave her a look as they rushed past, jogging down the hall.

Back up Tanin? What did that mean…

“ Breech to the rear stowage door. Five persons within rear stowage, moving to the first-floor main hallway, ” Alred sounded really robotic now. All the personality and, for lack of a better term, humanity had been replaced with the tinny, fake, even timber of a machine.

“You sticking around, pretty thing?” Trove asked, his console expanding as he took over Sorbet and Tebros’ job.

“You going to tell me to hide too?” She asked, stepping further into the room.

“Was going to ask you what you planned to do with a mop handle,” he laughed.

Before she could answer, he pulled something from his belt and tossed it at her. She caught it with her other hand, looking at the stick curiously. It was like a bat but made at three-quarter scale. Shiny and black, with a rubber grip just a bit too big for her hand to comfortably hold.

“That’s a shock stick,” Trove said, back to trying to shoot at the ship that had already connected to them. “Twist the handle to the right to turn it on. A few quick whacks with that will have most drooling on themselves. I would suggest you go for the smaller guys though. Unless you think you can be faster than the big ones. Would only take one shot to lay out a little thing like you.”

Garnet grinned, setting the mop handle aside. “Got any suggestions for a place to hit?”

“Well,” he chuckled, giving her a three-eyed look over his shoulder. “Never met a male who could take a shock stick to the cock. Why don’t you give that a try?”

She snickered. “Isn’t that a dirty tactic?”

“What’s dirty? Your life is on the line. No such thing. Rear stowage is that way if you want to fight. Shelter is back that way if you don’t.”

With that, he re-focused on his task. Garnet didn’t want to keep distracting him, so she stepped back, looking down at the shock stick. It didn’t seem particularly threatening. Even when she grabbed the handle as he instructed and twisted, turning it on. She felt it begin to hum in her hands, though it didn’t look any different.

But it was getting warm as she tested the weight.

To fight or hide…

It wasn’t even really a choice. Garnet wasn’t afraid of a fight. She had a lot to protect, and she never let any bully, no matter how big and bad, keep her down.

She’d fought all her life, and she’d come to like the battle. She enjoyed proving herself. She craved the feeling of power it brought her when she overcame another obstacle. She never wanted the challenge to end; she only wanted to rise to meet the next one.

She turned and ran towards rear stowage.

The large storage area probably accounted for about half of the size of the ship – if Garnet were to guess based on what she had seen thus far. It was three stories high – alien stories, not human ones – taking up pretty much the entire back half of the vessel.

The door leading onto the second story landing opened as she came running in. Pained grunts and meaty thuds reached her ears before she stepped onto the metal grate, running to the edge and looking over into main storage, her hand tight on the shock stick.

Up here, she could see the three closed doors leading to the smaller storage rooms. The huge bay doors at the very back that she imagined would be used if they had to transport something big. And off to the left, the smaller door that was currently standing open that she knew was on an exterior wall. The other side didn’t lead to the vacuum of space, however, but to a grimy, dirty hallway she didn’t recognize.

As Alred said, there were five people down there that weren’t from their crew. They all seemed to be from the same species, though it wasn’t one that she recognized. They had four arms like Rok, but otherwise they were completely different. They were covered in velvety fur with a ruff around their heads. They had muzzles, like lions, with broad chests. At first, she thought they all had fluffy, large fanny packs on their sides, but she realized after one came loose that it was their tails, they had just tucked the ends at the front of their pants to keep them from flying around.

Apparently, it was a tactical decision, because as Garnet watched, one of the twins grabbed that tail while it was loose and yanked, making the person he grabbed roar in pain as he threw them against the metal wall with a disturbingly hard thud and crunch.

There had been five people. Now, three of them were unconscious, one in a pool of blood, and four more had run in to replace them.

Six on three didn’t seem fair, but it became clear very quickly that she didn’t have to worry.

Tanin was down there, as were Tebros and Sorbet. And they were decimating the pirates that were trying to rush through the small, one-person door. The bottleneck kept them from being overwhelmed all at once and put the invaders in extra danger.

Because those three were dominating. It wasn’t even close.

Sorbet and Tebros fought like they were one person. Moving around and reacting like they were reading each other’s minds. As she watched, Tebros punched someone into Sorbet’s fist, who knocked him right back to Tebros, who kicked the back of their knee, dropping them in front of Sorbet, who grabbed their head and slammed it into his knee. A crunch and gush of blood accompanied a roar of pain as his nose/muzzle was, doubtlessly, broken.

They were rather hypnotizing to watch. And eerie. Their expressions were usually so closed off and calm, but they had transformed. Sorbet’s face was icy cold and full of hatred, while Tebros’ was snarling, exuding rage from every little scale on his body.

But then, there was Tanin.

His expression was calm, just as untouchable as it ever was. And that might have been unnerving, if she wasn’t absolutely entranced by the way he moved.

Tanin was tall compared to her, but he was shorter than everyone down there. And he still somehow managed to not only stand his ground but completely own it.

Someone came at him with a rather large knife – like a machete made for a ten-foot man. Her breath caught in her throat as it came down, right where Tanin’s neck met his shoulder-

-only to stop dead in the air as Tanin caught it.

With a ribbon?

Strung between his hands was definitely a ribbon – shiny like silk and gleaming red like his eyes. It wrapped partially around his wrist, the trailing end held in his other hand. It looked pretty, like the kind of ribbon Goldie would use to tie back her hair.

And it caught that massive machete like it was a steel cable. More than that, Tanin wasn’t even jarred in catching it. Like that downswing had no power behind it. He blocked the blow, then dropped his arms, making the guy stumble forward. Tanin’s hands twisted and suddenly the ribbon was caught around the guy’s wrist. Tanin yanked like he was on a leash – turning and flipping him over his back and onto the floor.

The male hit hard metal with a loud, grunting thud, the giant machete clattering to the ground. Tanin twisted the ribbon around his wrist, then jerked the two ends, hard, in opposite direction. Garnet didn’t hear the snap over the scream, but the way his hand suddenly flopped told her that Tanin had to have just shattered his wrist.

With a ribbon. He was kicking ass with a ribbon.

Why was that sexy?

Garnet covered her mouth. Not because she was shocked, but because she was trying to keep herself from smiling dreamily. She’d always had a weakness for a guy who wasn’t afraid of actually getting into a fight, but this level of violence didn’t have any right doing things for her.

But even as she was chastising herself about that, he had to go and make it worse.

His downed opponent had three more arms. He tried to strike out at Tanin with his claws, to force him off. Tanin wasn’t even bothered. He moved quickly, tying two more hands up into the ribbon. He then grabbed the fourth and final wrist. Garnet’s jaw dropped as he jerked the guy up, then dropped him right back down, slamming him against the hard metal floor. Then, he turned, throwing his limp body at some other guy that was trying to rush forward and help his buddy. Both of them went down with a painful clatter.

Tanin stood straight, one end of the ribbon still around his wrist, the rest of it trailing down, like a beautiful whip.

How did he do that? How was he so damn strong? He didn’t even look like he’d put effort into throwing that other, bigger, guy around like a ragdoll. Even now, he didn’t take a second to catch his breath; he just made for the door where others were still coming in.

The rattling of the metal walkway tore her focus away from him. She had to look both ways because there were small, metal stairs – steep enough to almost be called ladders – on either side. The walkway was thinner on the wings, with a wider space in the middle that could be used as overflow storage stretching back to the second-floor doorway. She was standing dead center, right on the rails, so she could go any direction if needed.

She spotted the guy ascending the ladder when she looked in the second direction, the one furthest from the door that had been forcefully locked on to the pirate ship. She wasn’t sure how this pirate got to the other side of the room without being caught, but he had taken that opportunity to chase after her – the obviously weaker pray.

He snarled, muzzle pulling back, as he hit the landing.

Garnet raised her shock stick, and he stopped, blinking at it. He threw back his head, laughing, as her cheeks burned. Okay, so it wasn’t anything like a gun – in fact, none of them were using guns, which she found weird – but it was still a weapon. She didn’t see anything in his four hands.

Okay, yes, each of his fingers was tipped with a sharp, black claw, but that wasn’t in his hands.

“Can’t believe these fools brought a female here, much less a human one,” he laughed darkly. “You’ll fetch a pretty price. Even if we all get a taste of you first.”

“Big words from a guy who’s about to be a few teeth short of a full smile,” she countered, proud of how steady her hand was on her shock stick.

He laughed at her again. “You’re going to squeal so pretty.”

“I was just thinking the same thing.”

He charged. Grinning wide, fangs on full display. Four arms reached for her, like a trap coming to wrap around from all sides.

Garnet turned, bringing up the nozzle of the cleaning spray gun. She pulled the trigger, sending a fragrant blast of cleaning chemicals straight into his eyes, his nose, his open mouth. She’d gotten some into her mouth by accident while cleaning. It might have a delicate fragrance, but the effect on the moist skin of the mouth and nose was more akin to pepper spray or bleach. It wasn’t quite that painful, but it was similar, and the guy rushing for her let out a roar of agony as he stumbled back, wiping desperately at his face.

Garnet took that moment to swing the club down and back, then up in a low arc.

The stun stick cracked right into his balls, totally unprotected since he was only focused on his face. The resulting scream was super high pitched considering his size. He fell to his knees, thighs clenched together, glaring at her through now unnaturally bright red, irritated eyes.

“You… vekting …” He snarled, drooling through his agony. “I’m going to rape you until your cunt is ripped and bleeding.”

Garnet snarled, disgusted, as she brought the bat back again. “You just said the magic words. I believe I promised to take a few of your teeth.”

Dropping the spray nozzle, she grabbed the shock stick with both hands. She pulled it back over her shoulder like she was in the batting cages, trying for a home run. She picked up a foot and put her whole body into the second swing.

He tried to fall back, but he couldn’t get away far enough with his legs still jelly from taking a shock bat straight to the nuts. The stick cracked right across his muzzle. She didn’t see the teeth come out, but she heard them clicking against the metal grate before blood began mixing with the drool dripping from his muzzle.

She kicked him in the chest, and he was so stunned, it was easy to knock him back against the railing. He didn’t even try to resist her as she closed the space between them. She brought the bat up again as she glared.

He was a little too comfortable with his rape threats for this to be his first time. And he was a pirate clearly comfortable with stealing and probably murder too.

She didn’t have a single hang up about bringing the bat straight across his face. He grunted weakly, slumping to the side. Garnet brought the bat back again, snarling at the piece of shit. He was limp, but his eyes were fluttering, like he was trying to hold onto his consciousness.

Garnet started to swing-

-only to find her wrists caught.

She gasped, looking up. Surprised to see a bright, crimson red ribbon somehow twisted around both her wrists, keeping her from bringing her hands down. The fabric was soft, like silk, but it was strong like a steel cord, the end of it surprisingly heavy as it dangled down.

She only had to turn her eyes as Tanin walked up behind her. As she watched, he carefully pulled the shock stick from her hands. She let it go without a fight. He used his thumb to twist part of the handle, turning it off, before stowing it in one of his pockets.

With his other hand, he took hold of her wrists. He lowered her hands, looking over them carefully. It wasn’t until she saw her own reddened palms that she felt the throbbing there and in her fingers. She might not have been shocked by the bat, but she’d still felt the full force of the blows.

Tanin lifted his gaze and locked eyes with her. She faced him confidently. Unafraid. Rather proud of herself. She hadn’t lifted and thrown her opponent, taking out two people at a time, but she’d still held her own.

Tanin looked away first. He began slowly unwinding the ribbon as he spoke, low and calm.

“There are three rules to being in my crew. Absolute rules that I do not let anyone break. Rule one: We always finish a job, no matter how difficult or dangerous it may be. Unless the client breaks their end, we do whatever we must to complete our missions.”

He finished unwinding the ribbon. He held it in his hands as he took hers and, again, inspected the reddened skin there. His fingers were gentle as they stroked her palms. They were a bit rough in places from her jobs, but his were rougher. And she didn’t mind it.

“Rule two: Nothing comes on my ship without my knowledge. And I mean nothing. I inspect every object and person on my ship personally. It’s how I found you. It’s how I’ve found other smuggled things in the past. I’m sure I will find similar things in the future.”

He finally released her hands, though she was reluctant to pull away. As she watched, he wound the ribbon around one of his wrists before tying it in a quick, messy knot. The kind that could come undone with a single tug of the trailing end.

“And Rule three: No killing without my express permission.”

She finally looked up, catching his gaze again. “I wasn’t trying to kill him.”

“Too many hits with a shock stick to the face or chest can do a lot of damage,” he said. “And I didn’t give you permission to kill.”

Garnet wanted to sass him back. To remind him that she wasn’t his crew, by his own denial, and so she wasn’t bound by his rules. Or maybe to ask him why he thought she needed his permission to do anything.

But she was spellbound by those scarlet eyes as he looked at her. So calm and confident. Like he knew very well that she was going to do exactly as he said, just because he said it.

And the realization that she actually would made her shiver. Garnet had never been the submissive type before. In fact, the harder a boyfriend tried to dominate her, the more likely she was to act exactly the opposite of what he wanted. Not even because she was trying to be a brat to earn a fun-ishment – though she wouldn’t say no to that. She just found their attempts funny and enjoyed bucking their authority, knowing they couldn’t actually control or stop her.

But the way Tanin looked down, the steady strength in his gaze, made her want to drop to her knees and do whatever he said. Any trace of feminist power drained away as she instead wondered if maybe he needed a cock sucker to play under his desk.

Then, his gaze turned away. The spell over her snapped and she felt like she could catch her breath again. Her heart was pounding, and she knew by the burn in her cheeks that her face must be bright red. How could he control her just that easily?!

“Take him back to their ship. Alred should be finishing his job soon,” Tanin was saying, giving an order to Sorbet and Tebros – who were right there while she was imagining sucking off their captain!

Garnet tried to gather herself as she moved aside, making way for the twins to each grab one of the downed guy’s arms and drag him over to the steep stairs. As she did so, she got to look down into stowage and noticed that it was conspicuously empty but for a few blood smears, all of them dragged back towards the hijacked door.

“What happened?” She asked, confused.

“We won,” Tanin said, coming up to her side. “They weren’t really that big of a threat. So, I’m going to let them leave.”

“Just like that? They’ve agreed to leave?” She asked, surprised.

Tanin shot her an amused glance. “Not really much to agree with. They’re leaving. Besides, pirates are cowards at the heart of it. They act big in a fight, but they only pick fights they’re sure they can win. My ship is registered as a delivery ship, so they probably assumed it would just be full of ordinary delivery workers. To their detriment. They’ll be eager to break the connection and get away the moment we seal our side of the door.”

As Garnet watched, Sorbet and Tebros literally threw the guy she’d knocked out through to the other side.

“ Sealing second stowage door, ” Alred said, some of his personality leaking back into his voice as the door shut. “ I’ve set their flight path to take them far away from here. And also made their ship uncomfortably hot for the duration. Because I can. ”

Even from here, Garnet heard the sound of something sealing. The vacuum of space, now safely locked away, was no longer a threat. The ship jostled a bit as something big moved outside.

“ They’ve detached, captain, ” Alred said, winking into place beside them, arms folded neatly behind his back, looking positively jovial. “ Their system was quite nice, actually. Recently updated. Very comfortable. ”

“You were in their system?” Garnet asked.

“ That’s my job during a fight. ” He inclined his head to her. “ Since they attached to us, they forged a connection I can use to go aboard and take control of their ship. I don’t do anything too bad. Usually just make sure that they can’t fire on us as they’re leaving and that they do, in fact, leave. ”

“Wow,” Garnet mumbled, surprised. “I didn’t know you could do that.”

“ Oh, I can do many things. And speaking of, ” he chuckled, his light form seemingly oddly, smugly amused, “ may I say, a wonderful showing from Garnet. Who knew a little human could pack such a mighty blow? I’ll enjoy rewatching that vid later. ”

“You recorded that?” She sputtered, laughing.

“ As if I’d miss it. I’m choosing it as my movie when it’s my turn to pick on our next vid night. The pirates are fleeing, by the way. I’ve sent notice to Rok that he and Goldie can emerge now. I’ll just go run diagnostics, make sure there’s no permanent damage. ”

“Good work,” Tanin said, inclining his head before Alred blinked away.

Garnet grinned, crossing her arms. “I just survived my first pirate attack. Cool.”

Tanin turned to face her. “Why didn’t you seek shelter with your sister?”

“I haven’t let someone stand in front of me for a long time,” she said, grinning. “And I promised I was never going to let it happen again. If there’s a fight, I’m going to fight it. And don’t think I didn’t see you down there pulling some impressive moves yourself. That guy you threw had to weigh twice what you do.”

Tanin grunted. “My species is small by Coalition standards, but we make up for it by being the strongest in relation to body mass.”

“ You’re considered small?” She grinned, looking him up and down. “Not by my measurement. You look just right to me.”

His eyes flashed as he turned to her. “Dangerous games you play, Garnet.”

She snickered, biting her tongue. “I told you. I don’t run, and I don’t hide. I go for what I want.”

He made a sound deep in his throat that made her shiver. He looked her over himself, though his gaze wasn’t really flirty. It was more clinical. Exacting. Like he was searching for something.

She held her head high. Not knowing what he was going to find, but not at all ashamed about what she had to offer.

“You really want to be part of my crew?” He asked at last.

She perked up, beaming. “Absolutely.”

“Are you willing to follow my rules?”

“Get the job done, let you inspect everything, and no killing.”

“No killing without permission,” he corrected.

She inclined her head. “Ah. My bad. No killing without permission . Although, now that you’re bringing it up again, if the pirates didn’t find just some ordinary, run of the mill, everyday delivery boys, who exactly did they stumble upon? Why does the no killing thing need to be expressly stated as a rule?”

Tanin leaned over her. Teasing her with his closeness. He was near enough that she could feel his body heat, but not his body, and it was a delicious kind of tease.

“You want to be on my crew or not?” He asked, whispering the words. Ghosting them over her lips as he tormented them both.

“Are you a crew of murderers?” She whispered back, a thrill going through her, because she honestly didn’t know the answer. But she also wasn’t afraid.

‘Without permission’ implied that there was killing, but only if sanctioned by Tanin. And she had no idea where he thought he got the authority to declare murder to be alright, but he was obviously comfortable wielding that power.

And that’s why she wasn’t afraid. Tanin might be a killer, but he was controlled. Like a gun – dangerous but focused, targeted. He wasn’t going to go out killing anyone for fun. Killing was only allowed with permission. And those pirate guys hadn’t earned that permission, even if they wouldn’t have extended that same courtesy in turn.

This was also the same guy that tried to deny her joining because his life was dangerous, and he didn’t want her to be involved in it. At least, until she proved herself equal to it.

Yeah, right. She wasn’t afraid of this guy. He’d given her no reason to be. Even now.

“Answer the question,” he returned, deliberately not answering her. Saying a lot by saying nothing at all. “You want to be in my crew, or no?”

“Yes, boss,” she mumbled, wondering what he would do if she stood up on her toes and kissed him right here and now. Would he go along with it or pull back?

“Will you obey my rules?” He asked, sending a thrill down her spine.

Obey was such a bad word. It had such bad connotations. If anyone else said that to her, she’d tell them to obey this and double flip them the bird while walking backwards.

But coming from him, she liked it. She wanted to hear it again. She wanted him to praise her for being a good girl and obeying him.

“Yes, boss,” she said again, a soft moan in the words.

He didn’t miss it at all. His gaze darted down to her lips, then back up. Silence stretched between them, so painfully tense, as she waited to see what he would do. If he’d close that last distance and claim the kiss that she was clearly offering.

But he pulled back, and she very nearly whined her disappointment out loud.

“Then, I’ll be your sponsor,” he said plainly.

She blinked, coming back to herself with some breathing room. “Really? You will? Me and Goldie both? ‘Cause we’re a package deal. And I get that’s double the load on you, and it will be more expensive, but we’ll both work hard and-”

“Don’t worry about it,” he cut her off, smirking as he hooked his thumbs in the pockets of his pants. “As it happens, you’ve already been paid for.”

“Huh? By who?”

“The guy who had you abducted in the first place. He sent you along with a bunch of pretty gems that will do well taking care of you.”

Garnet blinked, surprised. “You’re stealing from the guy who hired you?”

“You think he’ll report me for it?” He countered, smirking with one corner of his mouth. Because no, he absolutely would not. Only an idiot would try to go to the authorities claiming theft when the humans he’d trafficked were in the same box as the stones that were ‘stolen’.

Garnet laughed, doubling over, holding onto her belly. “Oh, my gosh! I can’t believe we’re being funded by the guy who stole us in the first place. That’s rich!”

“Yes, you are,” Tanin chuckled along with her. “We’ll sell those stones off, and it will be more than enough to pay for any supplies the two of you might use. We’ll be able to get you some more clothing, and whatever else you need. Don’t worry. Not a financial strain at all.”

Garnet laughed, jumping forward.

He was surprised by the hug, but didn’t resist her. Nor did he stop her when she stood up on her toes and kissed his cheek.

And in so doing, she got to see a little burst of light, like a tiny firework, on his skin.

She came back down on her heels, blinking in surprise. “What was that?”

“Seemed like a kiss to me,” Tanin said, his hands resting comfortably on her hips, neither of them making any move to step away. “Missed my lips though.”

“Not that,” she laughed. “Your skin. It looked like you lit up when I kissed you.”

“I did.”

He lifted his arms and rolled up his sleeves. Totally derailing her thoughts as she focused on the muscles of his arms now being exposed. And the swirling designs on his skin. Not like tattoos. They weren’t different colors, they were just raised designs. More like scars, but they weren’t traumatic. They looked like they were part of him and, when he held out his arms for her to inspect, they were the same texture as the skin around them.

“The whirls are marks of adults in my species.” Tanin explained. “And the lights… Well, they attract our mates to us.”

As she ran her finger down the whirling lines, more sparks, little bursts of white fireworks just under his skin, followed her touch. They weren’t super bright. In fact, if it weren’t for the dimness of the overflow storage space, she might not have seen them at all.

But she did see them, and they were really pretty. Kind of hypnotizing.

Tanin didn’t say anything, just held his arms out. Waiting for her to finish. Which she didn’t realize until several, long seconds later as she stood there, poking and stroking him with her fingers just to see the lights follow and bloom around her touch.

She came back to herself with a sheepish laugh, pulling her hands to her chest. Holding them tight to try to keep herself from touching him again.

“That’s nice. They’re… nice,” she finished lamely, somehow breathless from that.

Tanin dropped his arms, letting the sleeves of his jumpsuit stay rolled up. Which she wholeheartedly approved of. She hoped he stayed that way. It was a great look for him.

“You’re mine now.”

“Huh?” She jumped. Surprised, but not really unwilling. It was fast, but-

“My crew,” he clarified. “You’ve offered; I’ve accepted. So, you’re my crew now.”

“Crew! Right. Crew,” she laughed nervously. “T-Thank you, captain. Boss man. I promise, we’ll work hard and earn our keep and everything.”

He inclined his head. “We still have to make our appointment with the keepers though.”

“Wha-Why? I don’t want to go back home.”

“I know. And you won’t have to. As long as they get permission for you to stay. And if we don’t show up after telling them you’re here, they’ll come find us. And believe me, they’re not going to run off like a bunch of cowardly pirates.”