“I’ll talk to her. It’s unlikely, Dez. Cyra is a new captain, and this is a high-risk request.” The tiny brown doctor had backed completely away.
A wave of inevitability stole through him, taking his energy. He knelt by Queen’s kennel, trying to coax the female into allowing him to pet her. “She would not consider it high risk if she knew me better.”
Chapter15
Cyra pacedthe length of the bridge, surrounded by tech decks and display screens. Rhysa had left to work her magic to secure discounts on food and fuel. Blaize was probably buried deep in the bowels of the engines tweaking every last bit of efficiency she could get. And Veda was with him. Dezmuhnd.
A visual of the huge male, deep gray with dark striped lines that made Cyra’s mouth water. Her reaction to his hard body, planes of muscles, and deep, foreboding gaze confounded her. She didn’t care for big, burly types. Auvi had been muscular, but it had been hidden underneath his rubbery flesh. And Varik was lean and long like her. Dez was a predator by design. Her insides clenched. Her libido bubbled a willingness to be his prey. She was so lit up, she could probably launch the ship with no additional effort. She dragged a finger across the panel where she and Auvi launched the ship so many times. She’d loved her captain in a respectful way. He’d known her body well enough to use it, but she’d never experienced such a primal reaction to a male before she’d seen Dez, with his sinuous stride, enterThe Treasure. How many cycles had it been? Her life had been complete chaos from practically that moment on, but the first time she’d gazed into his piercing yellow eyes was burned into her brain. Every time she’d been around him since, her reaction only got stronger. And when he managed the terrifying thuringies, her core had fluttered. Fluttered, for fuck’s sake. She should not be reacting to him.
He was cargo.
She was contracted to deliver him like so much crated goods. Her crew, her ship, and her future all depended on her, keeping her focus on her head and not on her heated pussy. Water. She should cool off before the crew met for last meal. The tank would center her, and she wasn’t accomplishing anything by pacing the bridge and imagining Dezmuhnd helping her shootThe Treasureinto space. With a curse, she spun and raced to the one place she could wash away those crazy feelings of attraction for a beast of a man who likely found her unattractive anyway.
Hours later, the crew met for last meal as usual, and the food didn’t suck as much as usual. Because Dez had cooked it. She sucked in the noodle with a hint of spice, resentful that it was one more way he was affecting her body.
“This planet sucks.” Rhysa dropped her fork onto her half-finished plate. “I can’t get anyone to give me a discount on fuel. It’s like no one here has ever heard of a fucking blow job. They seem to only get off on money. Sex is an unknown concept.”
Blaize and Cyra laughed. “The food and medical situation is just as bad. This place is expensive.” Cyra offered after she quit laughing at Rhysa’s antics.
“We might have a way around it?” Veda’s voice was low and hesitant.
All eyes focused on Veda.
She blinked up at them. “Dez made a request that could solve all our problems.”
Cyra darted her gaze to the silent male who was seemingly fascinated by his food. She turned back to Veda. “Explain.”
“Excuse me, Captain.” Dez stood. “I will let you discuss this plan privately with your partners.”
“Dez, wait,” Veda said, but he left. She briefly laid out his offer.
“Absolutely not.” Cyra didn’t even look up to see if anyone had a different opinion and continued to suck down her food despite the guilt that choked her.
“Now wait just a second,” Rhysa spoke up. “This is a reasonable request. It benefits both us and him. Is there a risk, sure? But what is the risk compared to the reward?”
“Don’t know.” That sexy…cargowas messing with her plans. “Not willing to take the risk.”
“You’re willing to risk us being stuck in the middle of space with no food or no fuel, but you’re not willing to risk losing the cargo?” Blaize jumped in on Rhysa’s side earning her a surprised look from Rhysa.
“She has a point, Captain,” Rhysa said.
Blaize continued as if Rhysa hadn’t said a word. “If we stock up here at these inflated prices, the greater risk is that we won’t have sufficient credits when we get to Cassan and if we try to make the run to Kolben, we could run out of both food and fuel. Varik won’t have to steal our ship, he can just come collect it and eject our dead bodies into space.”
Veda nodded.
“First of all, Varik is not a real threat.” Cyra glared at her crew, daring them to call her out for the lie she spewed. She should tell them about the penalty for not delivering Dez on time. But if she admitted the ridiculous timeline, they would insist on traveling through ER bridges. She stifled the shudder of dread.
“You’re dreaming if you believe Varik would give up so easily,” Blaize interrupted.
“Second, how is stocking up on Din’Gale going to be better than stocking up here?” Cyra stood and dropped her empty bowl in the recycle bin to keep from licking the residual sauce.
“We can’t fully provision here.” Rhysa leaned forward locking her gaze to Cyra’s “We don’t have enough funds even with your ridiculously high deposit. Apparently, we underestimated just how much more everything would cost here.”
“Fuck.” Cyra dragged her fingers through her hair, uncovering her gills. Her partners were right. Stubbornness could get them killed. But Dezmuhnd, while nice and a decent cook, was an unknown. She cursed Auvi for dying before she was ready to be the captain. “I’m not agreeing to this until I talk to him.”
Cyra banged on the door to Dez’s quarters. A low rumble reached her ears before the door slid open.
Dez stepped back, allowing her to enter.
