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Tanin

F eisty little thing.

They both were. The one in the pink checkered dress was pounding on the storage door, trying to get back to main storage – and blocked by Alred who had the doors locked. He had to give her credit for her effort though. She was hitting, kicking, and pulling at everything in reach.

But it was the one in his arms now that really held his attention. She was the distraction. She was trying to attack him, to give her sister a chance to secure their exit. Brave little female.

He assumed they were sisters, of course. He supposed they could be relatives that just happened to be identical, but he figured the odds of that were low. Aside from their fashion choices, they were copies of each other in every way but one. The one in the dress had her hair cut shorter over her face, allowing a fringe of it to cover her forehead.

The one in his arms did not.

Tanin knew about human females. Everyone did. They were famous for not only being the female half of the most sensual, sexual species in the known universe, but their females had the unique ability of producing hybrid young with every other species. They weren’t considered true members of the Coalition – the many species that worked together to form one united group. It was for the simple reason that they weren’t capable of deep space travel on their own yet.

However, the desire for their ability to mate and breed outside of their species meant that it wasn’t unheard of for humans to find their mates off Earth.

Somehow, Tanin didn’t think that’s what happened here.

The feisty little female staring back up at him was beautiful in a way that didn’t seem wholly real. In a way that shot straight to his belly and threated to raise his cock, especially as she wiggled against him in her attempt at a struggle.

They had brown toned skin, typical of humans, in a rich, tawny sort of shade. All but the speckles that were dusted across her nose which were a reddish sort of brown. It was a cute nose, like a button, slightly upturned and set over a pair of plush, soft, inviting lips.

But it was a false invitation, because those bright, stunning blue eyes were full of warning. Daring him not to come closer. Promising retribution if he tried. But it was hard to be intimidated when he held such control over her. When even her hardest strikes bounced harmlessly off his skin.

He liked that she didn’t have shorter hair on her forehead, unlike her sister. It kept her face open, her expressions free. Her hair was auburn, more brown than red, and was full of large, sloping waves that she barely kept contained within a messy tail at the back of her head. Those big slopes, just as wild as she was, tempted him in further, daring him to ignore that warning in her eyes.

He’d never seen a human in person. He knew they were beautiful. Soft and small. They had replaced his own species, the s’skree, as the smallest species on average in the Coalition. He stood a full head over her. Completely dominating her space. Yet, somehow, she felt exactly right in his hands. Like she was just the perfect size for a male to hold. Those plump lips begged for a kiss. That curved body, so hot and soft against his, pleaded to be held.

Vekt , he was holding her open against him like he intended to fuck her right here.

His cock throbbed, trying to rise again, but he gritted his teeth and clenched his abdomen, refusing to let it happen. Tanin could be accused of many things, but molesting a female was not among them. He certainly wasn’t starting now.

But it was a battle. She was so vekting soft, so hot…

“Alred, how long until the download is complete?” He barked, angered by his own lack of control.

“ Almost there, captain, ” the computerized male assured him. “ It’s taking a while considering how many communication relays I have to go through. ”

These females didn’t speak Standard – the common tongue for the entire Coalition. The only language Tanin and his crew spoke since they’d all been raised on a space station and not on the home planets of their various species.

Getting Standard – or their mate’s mother tongue – imprinted was mandatory for humans leaving their planet. It was a requirement, because how else would they communicate?

But these females were only spitting and hissing at him in their human language.

Because they weren’t taken legally. And because Gissrn didn’t care whether they could understand him or not.

Beautiful treasures didn’t need to speak, they need only obey.

The collar locked so tightly around her neck caught Tanin’s eye, not for the first time. It was definitely metallic, but the way it moved with her seemed more like fabric. It took the shape of her throat in a way that was outright eerie.

Collared females. Disgusting. Tanin could tolerate a lot of things, but violence against females made him sick. He just pictured his mother, shaking and helpless…

Slowly, he released the grip he had on her thigh, letting her leg drop back to the ground. Closing her off to him. Though that did little because he still had his legs between hers. Her pussy was pressed right against his thigh, and he was forcing her up on her toes, making sure she didn’t have the angle she needed to knee him in the cock.

Feisty. Brave. So tempting.

She watched him cautiously, baring her teeth like a beast about to strike, as he reached for the collar around her neck. She tried to pull back but couldn’t get very far. Tanin just kept moving until his fingers could brush against the metal.

It was warm. Not from her body; it was producing its own heat. More than that, it seemed attached to her skin. He couldn’t slide it down or to the side at all as he put pressure on it.

Whatever it was, it wasn’t just a collar. It was a device of some kind. If he had to guess, probably something to keep her subdued and under control.

The idea of a shock collar being form fitted and attached to her skin like that, making her helpless to Gissrn’s every desire, made him furious.

The feisty female’s eyes darted over his shoulder.

That was Tanin’s only warning.

He pulled on her, turning them out of the way. Avoiding the one in pink grabbing his tail and pulling again.

Now, that had hurt. More than that, it had taken everything in him not to sting her with it. The barb at the end of his tail wasn’t venomous or anything like that, but it was deceptively strong, and he could leave a good-sized hole in a person. Especially a person as small as her.

He’d hate to do that to such delicate little females.

The feisty one was thrashing against him again, so he let her go. She wasn’t ready and barely kept herself from falling as she stumbled away.

“Alred,” Tanin called without looking away.

“ Not done yet. ”

“What is taking so vekting long?”

“ You ever try to download and implement an entirely new language through seven communication relays? No? I didn’t think so. Give me another moment. ”

The females were backing away from him. Glaring hotly. His feisty one was blocking the other, literally pushing her behind her with both hands, snarling at him. The pink one had turned and was smacking her little hands against the metal of the cargo door, still trying to find a way out. The sharp echo of it echoed loudly in the small room.

She was going to hurt herself doing that.

“Alred, unlock the door.”

“ You sure, captain? ”

“We can’t do anything until you install their language. They’re getting more anxious the longer they’re in here. Contact the others on comms, let them know to watch out for them, and don’t let them in anywhere they could hurt themselves. But let’s give them some freedom.”

“ As you wish, captain. ”

The door beeped before whooshing open – sliding up from the bottom. The girl in pink made a startled sound, but the feisty, brave one didn’t hesitate.

She grabbed the other girl by the wrist and ducked down, tugging her through before the door even finished opening. They both took off running.

Tanin imagined it was quite the fright to suddenly wake up in an unknown place.

Just a little bit of freedom. A little bit of trust. They couldn’t go anywhere. The Humility was a decently sized starship, but it wasn’t massive. And with Alred controlling the doors, there were only so many places the two of them could hide.

But maybe giving them that freedom to run, to get away, would buy just enough trust that they’d at least be able to have a conversation.

And they could figure out what to do next.

“What was that collar around their necks?” Tanin asked.

Alred’s head flickered as he turned. He was trying to be in too many places at once. He was a fantastic AI, but he was still a singular being with one consciousness. It wasn’t particularly easy for him to split his attention in so many different ways at the same time.

“ I didn’t scan the collar. Apologies. ”

“It’s fine. We can figure it out once we catch up to them. How’s the download?”

“ Completed. I’m installing it now. ”

“Can we imprint Standard in our med bay?”

“ Probably? We spent a good amount of credz on that mediring, so it better be able to do something like that. ”

“You haven’t gone inside to check?”

“ The healing sciences were never really my area of expertise. ” Alred’s faceless expression still somehow managed to be sarcastic. “ Shockingly, just looking at the codes for various healing programs doesn’t actually give me any knowledge of healing. ”

“Fine. Just make sure you can translate into their tongue so we can at least calm them down. Where are they n-”

A loud scream cut him off and he frowned, moving out of the room. “What was that?”

“ They just encountered Rok. ”

“Oh, vekt .” Tanin groaned as he heard a roar of fear. They’d scared him. And almost certainly scared themselves in the process. Tanin’s head rolled back in annoyance. Rokwol would be the last of his crew he’d want them to run into. Not so much for them, but for Rok. “The others?”

“ They’re coming. They’ll try to calm them down. ”

Tanin thought about his crew. Rokwol, Sorbet, Tebros, Trove. Vytln! Probably the worst person they could come across would be Vytln. His crew didn’t scare him, but he also wasn’t a helpless female suddenly waking up in a new, strange environment unable to communicate.

“Alred, tell the others to-”

Twin screams rang out this time.

“ They’ve met Vytln. ”

“Of course, they did.”

“ He’s unhappy about it. ”

“Shocker.”

“ Language download successfully installed. ”

“Good. Try to calm them down. I’ll catch up to them myself. Where are they?”

“ Head down the main corridor. I’ll tell you when to turn. ”

Tanin took off at a jog. This was not how he hoped this job would go. And now, he definitely wasn’t getting the other half of this payment.