The Alien Pirates' Treasure (Star Pirates Book 1) Read online

  “Hmm. They are in close proximity to each other. That could work,” Ca’lek agrees, nodding his head. “Her own kind should take care of her. It’s better than the alternative at least.”

  My jaw drops to the floor. Are they out of their damn minds or did the reelu gas damage their brains?

  “I wouldn't be so sure of that. The Rissa system isn't exactly the most law-abiding part of the universe. She might end up on an auction block as soon as we leave her,” I reply, receiving an annoyed glare from my primary when he turns to face me.

  I don’t know why he’s in such a rush to get rid of her, it’s not like she’s an inconvenience.

  “What do you expect us to do then?” he asks, pounding his fist on the console.

  I roll my eyes at his bitter mood. Obviously brain damaged, I think. There’s no other explanation for his sudden irritation. Battling the Viktoids should have soothed any aggressive urges he had, even after discovering their abattoir.

  “Humans are welcome on Mephida. We could take her home with us if she wants.”

  “And do what with her?” he asks, looking appalled at my suggestion. “She’s not a pet.”

  “Of course she’s not a pet! Why would you even think that?” I ask, arching my brows.

  “The human embassy can help her,” Duresh interrupts, waving his hand like our conversation is distracting him from his work. “We’re leveling into the slipstream. You can unstrap and take the female to Ha’dir now. Your bickering is becoming rather annoying.”

  “You and Messa can deal with the human. See to it that she is comfortable, but keep her out of my way. I need to contact Nuular and negotiate terms of our trade,” Ca’lek says, unhooking his jump mesh and prowling down the corridor to his cabin. He doesn’t even look at the human as he walks past her.

  “Don’t forget to see Ha’dir,” I shout back at him before he disappears.

  Shaking my head at my grumpy primary, I stand and turn towards the females in the back. Messa spares me a guilty look, then stands up and hurries away.

  Strange. So much for Messa assisting me with the human, I snort.

  On approach, I notice something isn’t right. The human female looks pale and ill. Her body curls forward with her arms wrapping protectively over her belly. She jumps, startled at my touch on her shoulder. I shoot a quick glance over my shoulder to ask Messa what happened, but she’s already gone.

  Reaching to unlock her restraints I speak in a low, soft voice. “Come, let’s take you to the medic. We need to make sure you haven’t been damaged by those chitinous bastards.”

  She nods, looking up at me with forlorn eyes and I’m stunned at how green they are. In the dash to escape, I hadn’t noticed just how pretty she is. Her hair is a thick mane of silver white which cascades down her back. Hidden in her tresses, I spot streaks of lavender and blue. The soft lavender hue reminds me of home and the spongy moss which covers most of the landscape around the settlements. Clear, pale skin reveals a light smattering of tiny tan spots on her nose. She’s rather beautiful despite her fur-less skin. Clearing my head with a shake, I gently urge her to stand and walk with me.

  The trip down to medbay is quiet, and I can’t help but wonder what happened to the feisty female we found. Her feet practically drag across the floor, slowing us down. What in Vren’s name is going on?

  “I hope you aren’t anxious about seeing Ha’dir. He is an excellent medic. There’s nothing to worry over and afterward, we can get you something to eat and decide where you want us to take you.”

  My attempt to reassure her doesn't go as well as I’d planned. She bites her lower lip while her hands move nervously over her bump. My instincts tell me there’s something she wishes to say, but she’s too afraid to speak up. I continue walking, giving her time to decide what to say.

  It takes me a moment to realize she’s not keeping up with me. I turn to check and find her shuffling along. She stops when I do and looks up. The sight of tears in her eyes is alarming and I rush back to her.

  “Are you alright?” I ask, stroking her shoulder. Her breath hitches. Suddenly, she’s sobbing and her arms wrap around me in a desperate embrace.

  My eyes sweep the halls, checking to see if anyone is watching. Seeing no one, I ignore my hesitation and circle my arms around her, then hold her close. The comfort I’m offering won’t affect my future mating to Sa’rin. There is absolutely nothing inappropriate or intimate about this, but it does feel good to hold her and offer comfort. She fits against me like a missing piece. It feels right and...oddly relaxing.

  “Shhh, it’s going to be alright,” I murmur, patting her back. Her fingers clench in the fur of my mane, tight enough to make me wince a little. Tears soak through the fabric of my vest and into my fur while she cries.

  “I can’t let them take me again!”

  “That’s not going to happen. They never retaliate, it’s too big a risk for them. The Alliance would destroy them.”

  “How can you be sure?” She tilts her head up, her puffy red eyes are filled with questions. “They already grabbed me once without me knowing. How? How did they kidnap me? I was in my bed! And look at me, they must’ve kept me for months. You don’t get this pregnant overnight. The worst part is, I don’t even remember any of it,” she babbles the words out uncontrollably.

  I find myself at a loss for words, stunned into silence. What could I possibly say that would make things right? I fumble for something, anything to say, but my comm beeps and interrupts me.

  “Va’naar, come to my quarters. I need to speak with you,” Ca’lek orders abruptly.

  “Not now,” I bark back, hoping my primary doesn’t take offense to the disrespect. As the Alpha in our pair bond his role is to lead, and mine is to follow.

  Ca’lek’s door opens down the hall and he storms out. Spotting us, he glares at me, his eyes widening at the sight of the female in my arms. “What is the meaning of this?”

  My ears flatten against my head at the judgmental tone he uses. The female hears it too and stiffens, pulling away to wipe her face.

  “Why were you embracing that female?”

  “That female has a name,” she snaps, all traces of her fear gone. “It’s Polly Parote, since you never asked.”

  A deep frown forms on Ca’lek face. No one has challenged his authority before. “What matters is that you are not Sa’rin Bel’faun, and he should not be touching a female who is not our intended!”

  “For your information, I hugged him and he was nice enough to not push me away. There's nothing wrong with that! You’re just being a jerk.”

  “It is wrong. We do not share embraces with females we are not intending to mate. My secondary forgets that.” He turns his head to glare at me.

  My primary is right and I bow my head in embarrassment. There is a reason he is the dominant in our bond. I am too emotional at times.

  “And what’s the difference between now and when either of you were carrying me?”

  “Well..." He huffs for a moment. "It is different. That was necessity, not an embrace. Do not do so again!" Storming off, he leaves the female and I standing there awkwardly in the hall.

  Polly rubs her upper arms briefly, then looks at me with a little quirk to her mouth. “Soooo, you guys are engaged to the same woman?”

  “Yes,” I sigh, motioning for her to walk again. “My people mate in groups of three. Two bonded males, a dominant primary with a submissive secondary, and a female. Sa’rin is our intended. We are to bond with her when we return to Mephida.”

  “Ca’lek must care about her to get so worked up like that. I’m sorry if I got you in trouble.”

  I laugh bitterly, rubbing the thick fur at the nape of my neck. “No, Ca’lek worries about our honor and what could happen to our families if we fail to honor our contract. We do not care for Sa’rin. Not that we have not tried, but she is a selfish female who cares only for herself.”

  “Why are you bonding with her then?” she asks, tilting her head a
fraction.

  “When male pairs reach a certain age without finding a mate, their families arrange a mating for them. It is tradition to ensure the family lines continue. Unfortunately for us, we have run out of time...”

  “Don’t you get a say?”

  My claws dig into my palms at the idea of mating with Sa’rin. “Why would males get any say? We are responsible for her care and safety, but she will bear our young. Males take very little risk in a mating whereas a female risks her health whenever she carries pups.

  “We may be considered pirates by some offworlders, and our family lines are humble, but at home we are viewed as very successful traders. Our families chose an attractive female who can give us beautiful pups. Sa’rin agreed to the match because of the riches she will gain as our mate.”

  Polly opens her mouth to comment again, but I gently nudge her towards the medbay wishing not to discuss the matter further. It is unfortunate that my primary and I are to be paired with Sa’rin, but what’s done is done. She has already planned the mating ceremony and it will commence soon after we land back home.

  ∞∞∞

  Ca’lek

  I can’t stop pacing the halls. There are many things that require my attention, but I’m furious. To catch Va’naar embracing a female that isn’t our intended was the last thing I expected from him when he ignored my comm. I should punish him for the disrespect alone, but factoring in his offensive behavior...I find myself unable to imagine a suitable consequence.

  I clutch my mane fiercely, unable to control my emotions. Why is my secondary being so foolish? Does he not realize the risk he brings upon himself by allowing the human female to become close to him like that?

  Sa’rin might have the coldest heart of all the females I’ve ever met, but betraying her goes against the contract our parents signed on our behalf. Her family is powerful enough to cause problems should we abandon our mating. He knows that.

  And the human is so careless in her mannerisms. It’s nothing to her to touch another without a thought of the problems it could cause. What if Va’naar and I were lorians? Simple physical contact with the opposite gender sends lorians into an immediate mating frenzy. Their gender lines are strictly enforced to prevent very public, very aggressive orgies.

  This female will cause havoc and ruin on my ship. She could drive a wedge between Va’naar and I without even realizing it. He’s too empathetic, too caring. Her delicate vulnerability will draw him in like krillin to nectar. I can resist her, but he will bond with her easily, which could ruin us.

  After my first smashes against the wall, someone clears their throat behind me. I turn and find Kuma, who looks surprised.

  “The Vindi serum has been secured. It will take time to finish the inventory for the rest of the cargo, but based on how much we have in the hold, I’d say this was one of our most successful raids to date.”

  “Good. I need an exact count on the serum so I can negotiate a reasonable trade with the colonists. It’s too expensive to make deliveries out that way with all the pirates. I want to at least get my expenses out of this.”

  Kuma’s lip curls up in a smile. “Pirates, pirating pirates. There is something so beautifully ironic about that.”

  “Funny. Now, get back to work,” I order and shake my head.

  As soon as he leaves, I forget about the bounty sitting in my cargo hold. No matter how many times Va’naar voices his displeasure with our upcoming match, there is no treasure that we can steal that would appease Sa’rin’s family if we break the mating agreement. None.

  I know without a doubt that Sa’rin is extremely vindictive. If we renege, it could cost us much of our hard earned credits and status to make reparations. Additionally, a broken contract is a mark of dishonor on a family. We will have a harder time securing a new mating, if we aren’t exiled.

  My comm beeps, indicating I have a message. I sigh irritably and tap my wrist unit to bring it up. It’s from Sa’rin. Despite our determination to ignore her, she still messages us on occasion to make demands. They’re badly disguised demands, but demands nonetheless.

  What does she want this time?

  Tapping it again, I play the message.

  “Good greetings, Intended,” she says, her voice ringing cheerfully. I growl under my breath. It was never good when she sounded that happy. “I hope this message finds you and Va’nir well.”

  My ears flatten at her words. We were to mate the female in less than a lunar cycle and she still couldn’t bother to remember Va’naar’s name properly.

  “I just wanted to let you know, I found the perfect house in the Skyland Park area. It’s absolutely beautiful and I just know it would make the best bonding gift for you to present to me at our mating ceremony.”

  I wince. Skyland Park is the most expensive community to live in. It’s also the furthest from our families without moving to another region. Sa’rin wasn’t shy about making demands on our wealth.

  “I’ll send you all the information and don’t worry about losing the house to another buyer. I’ve already contacted the seller and told them you would be putting a deposit on it in a few cycles. You’re welc—”

  With a hiss of disgust, I delete the rest of the message, cutting her off. How could my parents agree to such a mating? They knew how we felt about Sa’rin, but still signed the contract without even consulting us first. Most families at least ask their males if they have a preference.

  I don’t feel bad about deleting it without showing Va’naar either. The first few messages made it so obvious that she still didn’t care to learn his name. It was damaging to his self esteem and I refused to subject him to that repeatedly. It would be bad enough when we were mated to her and living together.

  Growling, I choose to ignore what lies ahead and focus on the immediate problems. Clearly, having an unmated female on board is trouble. While the human stirs my protective instincts, she also brings about Va’naar’s nurturing tendencies. I do not fault him, but I must protect us both.

  As primary, it is my responsibility to ensure our lines continue, even if we dislike our intended female. We only need to stay planetside with her until she breeds, then we can return to our ship and leave her with our mothers. It’s not like we would be abandoning her, we would return before she whelped in order to raise the pups. Perhaps we could learn to live with her and find some small measure of contentment.

  Knowing her though, once the pups are weaned, she will likely take them and return to her own parents. It would doom Va’naar and I to a lonely life without our mate, or our pups. It is maddening. Who will protect them during such a vulnerable time? Who will teach them to be strong, honorable individuals? Certainly not the female who would steal that right away from her mates. Would they grow into selfish individuals like Sa’rin and her family?

  I should speak with Va’naar in private after he settles the human, no...Polly, into her quarters. Perhaps I will assign him duties far from her so she can’t distract him further. What in the name of Vren am I thinking? I should have escorted Polly to medical myself.

  Irritation boils to the surface. Now who’s the fool? Va’naar for embracing Polly, or me for leaving him unattended with her after what I just witnessed?

  With that in mind, I turn back towards the medbay and quietly slip in through the side entry. I know I should simply announce my presence rather than lurk in the darkness snooping, but I can’t help myself, I want to watch without her knowing I’m there. I don’t need to interact with the female again, I just want to make sure she doesn’t disrupt my ship too much. There’s so much that can go wrong with an alluring female like her on board. Silent and tense, I watch as Ha’dir begins his exam of Polly.

  Chapter 3

  Polly

  Though walking into the medbay is nerve wracking, I pause and try not to hyperventilate. The last time I was in a medical room was when I woke up to find I’d been abducted and impregnated. It’s easy to tell myself that this is different, how I shouldn�
�t be frightened, but dealing with these fears so soon is easier said than done.

  This is all so new, unexpected, and scary. What if there’s something wrong with the baby? What if something’s wrong with me and I can’t carry it to term? How far along am I anyways?

  I need answers and I need them now. If not for me, then for my baby so I can better take care of her. Or is it a boy?

  My stomach rolls and I clutch my belly, fighting the urge to retch all over the floor.

  “Hold up, I have something for nausea,” the ship’s medic, Ha’dir says, with a quick scan of his medical device.

  “No, don’t...don’t worry about that.” I wave my hand, worried the medication might affect my unborn child. I’m unwilling to risk being drugged so soon after my rescue. “I’m okay. I just need to know if the baby is okay too.”

  “A few of your readings are elevated, no doubt from stress, but according to this data, your pregnancy appears healthy enough. Hop up on the table and we’ll take a closer look to make sure there’s nothing to worry about.”

  “Healthy?” I question, frowning. “How is any of this healthy? I woke up like this. I must have spent months in some kind of stasis, so there can’t be anything healthy about this at all!”

  I break out into a fit of uneven breaths. My heart races and I quickly realize I’m having a panic attack, and need to calm down before I make myself ill. “No, no, it’s okay, I’m okay. I can do this. We can figure this out.” I breath out, centering myself before waddling over to the exam table.

  There is an awkward moment when I try to figure out how to hoist myself onto it. Va’naar steps forward and helps me balance on a little step that pops out from the side of the table. Ha’dir encourages me to lay on my side, then pulls down a larger scanner and centers it over my torso. There is a brief flash of green light and data scrolls across the screen.

  “Is she okay? The baby too?” Va’naar asks, peering over Ha’dir’s shoulder. “The Viktoids pumped reelu into the ship while we were leaving.”

  “They are fine. I see no ill effects from the extended stasis or the reelu gas, though you and Ca’lek still need to be checked. Reelu can damage your sense of smell if you breathe too much of it in,” Ha’dir replies, shaking his head.