Page 45 of Savage Union

“Right—come on, then.”

He led the way out of his quarters but I couldn’t help wondering what he’d been smelling. Surely it wasn’t me, was it?

But maybe it was. I thought guiltily of how I’d been touching myself—would he have smelled my scent? And if so, would he be able to tell I was a woman just from the scent alone?

I’d better not take any more chances,I thought as I followed his broad back to his private lift. I knew that Brute Clansmen had incredibly keen senses, especially when it came to their Fated Mates. I didn’t dare risk touching myself again—at least, not in Turk’s cabin.

I just hoped that the two of us living in such close conditions didn’t trigger something somehow. What, I wasn’t exactly sure, but I’d heard rumors of Fated Mates who began to crave each other when they were in close physical proximity for a period of time. How long it took for that to happen, I didn’t know but I couldn’t risk it happening with Turk. If he started to suspect what I was to him…what we were to each other…

The disastrous scenario that would follow if that happened didn’t bear thinking of, so I did my best to push it out of my head. I would just have to keep my distance from my Fated Mate from now on, I told myself.

There was no other way to be safe.

22

JESSINA

But keeping my distance from Turk was no easy task. He stayed close to me as we walked through The Illyrian’s narrow white corridors and made me sit at his right-hand during breakfast—which waspoyenberrry porridge and buttered breadloaf.

I washed it down with a cup of hot tea that helped cut through the gluey texture of the porridge. I couldn’t tell if Cookie was a really bad cook or just aggressively disinterested in doing his job, but either way I had yet to get a decent meal here, though nothing was as bad as the greasestain we’d been served the first night.

I knew I ought to feel irritated that Turk felt the need to show I was under his protection—I should be able to fend for myself. But the near-rape in the shower the night before proved that I couldn’t. I would just have to swallow my pride and admit I was too weak to make it on my own.

As if to make my point for me, I noticed Jerx shooting me murderous glances from across the Mess Hall. Also, Gurflug was taking up one whole side of a table, though at least he was sitting with his back to me. When he rose to dump his tray, though, heturned and gave me a look that was pure hatred from his bulging purple eyes.

I shifted on my bench, but refused to look away as he glared at me. Maybe I should take Turk up on his offer of combat training, I thought uneasily. It was clear I had made two very serious lifelong enemies last night—I was really going to have to watch my back.

Turk seemed to think the same thing. When he saw Jerx looking my way, he stared at the Crewman until Jerx dropped his eyes and looked away. He was talking to Snuffy about something, so he missed the staring contest between me and the big Galafruxian, but his presence by my side was enough to send a message to the whole Crew—back off.

I noticed that none of the Crewmembers besides Snuffy and Yorrin would talk to me. They acted like I wasn’t there, though plenty of them shot me dark looks when they were sure Turk wasn’t looking.

Things were worse than I had supposed, I realized uneasily. Jerx and Gurflug must have spread the news about how both of them had been flogged with the pain whip because of me. Now the rest of the Crew disliked me—that wasn’t good at all. How could they trust me to navigate for them if they hated me?

I had no answers for that and the porridge seemed to stick in my throat. I gave up on trying to eat it and just stirred the grayish-purple gloop with my spoon until Turk announced that he was ready to leave.

“Come on, navvie—we need to get this ship through the next worm hole,” he said to me.

I rose along with him and the two of us dumped our trays in the garbage slots so Cookie and his assistant could scrape them clean and run them through the sanitizer for the next meal. Then, we left the Mess Hall together.

But as we went, I felt an itching between my shoulder blades. Turning my head, I saw that every single eye was directed at me and not a single Crewman had a friendly look on their face.

This wasn’t good…not good at all. But I had no idea what I could do about it.

23

TURK

As I settled myself in my chair and surveyed the Bridge, I considered the state of the Crew, which wasn’t good—especially this early in our mission. Cass had been drawing plenty of unfriendly looks from the rest of the men in the Mess Hall—not just from Jerx and Gurflug. The two of them had probably spread the story of their whippings, no doubt making it sound like they were some kind of fucking martyrs who had been punished for no reason.

It wasn’t good to have the rest of the Crew distrustful and resentful of the navigator and I considered what I could do about it. For now the situation seemed under control, though no doubt the other Crew members felt like I was giving Cass preferential treatment.

What Ioughtto do was let the boy fend for himself. Ship life is tough—it teaches a lot of hard lessons. I ought to let the boy learn those lessons on his own—he’d never be able to stand on his own two feet if I kept protecting him.

But something inside me just wouldn’t let me do it. I couldn’t stand the thought of Jerx cornering him again or a group of the other Crew roughing him up. I couldn’t just let Cass get raped and beaten—which was what I felt was certain to happen if Ididn’t keep him close. I didn’t allow that kind of thing on my ship.

It went deeper than that, though, I admitted to myself. I wasn’t just trying to keep the rules of The Illyrian intact. I had a powerful urge to protect the boy for some reason. It was irrational—I had only met him the other day, he was nothing to me except a brilliant navigator. But I couldn’t fight with my heart, which demanded that he be protected at all costs.

I hadn’t even been angry when I woke up with him draped all over me that morning—though it would have pissed me off if it had happened with any other Crewmember. I’m no lover of men, as I’ve said before. Being so close to another male—especially when I was vulnerable in bed—should have made me angry. But I’d felt nothing but affection when I looked down and found him wrapped around me, his head on my chest and his long lashes fluttering on his cheeks as he dreamed.

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