Chapter 2
“It was a rat!” She waved her hands at Rayna and Trixie as she recounted the horror. “Huge. Hairy. Except the skinny-ass little naked tail. Did I mention huge? Also, six legs. I think I left that part out.”
“You mentioned.” Rayna sounded sympathetic although most of her attention was on the landing pad where a large shuttle was landing.
“It was a larf,” Trixie said, splitting herfocus between Lishelle and the shuttle. “Nor told me about them. He had to scrape them off the outsides of ships when he was indentured to that pirate crew when he was little.”
“Off the…outside.” Lishelle blinked at the smaller blonde.
Trixie nodded. “They’ll chew right through a hull. Not pirates, I mean, larfs.”
Lishelle shuddered. “This one was inside. Will it try to eat out into space?”That would explain the cold breeze she’d felt. She’d make a note for a technician to check that corridor.
Trixie shrugged. “I’ll have to ask Nor.” She hopped off the crate of pixberry tea where they’d been sitting while they waited for the shuttle and darted around the baffle protecting them from the backwash. “In fact, I’ll go ask him right now.”
She ran across the landing bay, kicking up theslightly too-long hem off her bronze gown with every step. The tall, dishwater-blond male who emerged from the shuttle caught her when she launched herself with rocket aim toward him. He whirled her around, the two of them like a large golden sun and a smaller golden moon. They’d make a lovely poster couple for the space resort.
Lishelle pursed her lips as if all the pixberries under her butthad gone sour.
Nor reached into his coat and handed Trixie something. Her muffled squeal of excitement was audible even across the bay. Rayna, who’d approached at a more decorous, duchess-y pace, leaned in and made anawwwwnoise too.
Reluctant curiosity drew Lishelle toward them. The duke strode out of the shuttle, speaking to two junior officers beside him, but then joined the gathered foursome.He directed a friendly smile at Lishelle as she approached.
“It’s a mishkeet,” Nor was saying.
Lishelle peered at the bundle of striated orange and cream fur in Trixie’s arms. “You got an alien stuffed animal?”
The slow blink of five red eyes told her it was alive. A plethora of furry legs unfolded around Trixie’s hands. Sweet Jesus, it was like three-quarters of a giant tabby-tarantula.
“Ooh, it’s purring,” Trixie cooed.
“It’s a yearling,” Nor said. “So it’ll get bigger.”
Lishelle wrinkled her nose. A bigger tabby-tarantula?
Trixie stroked the thing under its jutting muzzle, and four of the five eyes closed in what seemed to be pleasure. “Does it have a name?”
“That’ll be up to you,” Nor said. “It’s been on a hunting farm until now.”
“You people hunt these things?” Lishellecouldn’t imagine wearing a tabby skin coat, even if these Thorkons did like their bright colors. The spurt of sympathy went through her for the strange creature with its too many legs and odd number of eyes.
But Nor shook his head. “Not hunting them. Teachingthemto hunt. They’re trained to go after vermin on farms. And on space stations.”
Suddenly feeling better about the little beast, Lishelleasked, “Does it kill rats?
“Larfs,” Trixie clarified.
“This one’s still a little young,” Nor said. “But a full-grown mishkeet can clear out a nest of larfs in no time.”
Trixie snuggled the creature, now purring louder, under her chin. “This is the perfect space station-warming gift.”
“Well, since it’s going to be our home, it should be warm.” Nor’s smile at Trixie lacked the lecherous edgehe seemed to use defensively, and Lishelle glanced away from the intimate moment between them.
Find someone who looks at you like an ex-pirate spaceship captain looks at the little Earther girl who made a home for his heart.
Relationship goals. Lishelle snorted silently to herself. She’d given up on those even before she left Earth.
With the five of them helping—Trixie slightly hampered bythe mishkeet clinging like a fluffy orange scarf around her neck—the station crew quickly unpacked the shuttle. Crates large and small laden with staples and wedding supplies were slated for delivery to their proper departments.
