Page 72 of Savage Union

I took a shower and thoroughly cleaned the wound in my arm where the implant had been. Then I bandaged it and put on my pink-flowered pajamas. They were my only clean clothes since my uniform was cut up and covered in blood and dirt. I didn’t bother with the compression tank—why should I? The jig was up—at least as far as Turk was concerned. So there was no point in binding my breasts and being uncomfortable. Then I sat on his bed and waited.

After a little while, I felt the ship begin to move and breathed a sigh of relief. Good, at least the Salashions hadn’t been able to keep The Illyrian on the planet’s surface! She was a fast ship—I was betting she could outrun anything they sent after us.

It seemed to take forever but finally Turk came back in. But any hopes I’d had that he might have cooled down in the time we were apart were instantly dashed by the expression on his face. He looked like a thundercloud about to burst as he came to stand across from the bed where I was sitting. Legs apart and arms crossed over his broad chest, he stared down at me.

“All right—what the Hell do you think you’re doing here? How dare you stow away aboard my ship pretending to be something you’re not?” he growled.

“I didn’t stow away,” I pointed out. “Youhiredme!”

“Only because I thought you were male!” he exclaimed. “How could you do this? Sneaking off like this—your brother is worried sick!”

“I know he is, but I couldn’t risk telling him what I was doing!” I said. “I couldn’t tell anyone—not even you. Because I knew if I did, you’d just return me to my father and stepmother and the horrible old man she picked out for me to get Bound to!” I leaned forward, trying to appeal to him. “Please, Turk! They already had the Binding Contract signed, without even asking me. And he’s old enough to be my GrandSire!”

“Goddess of the Four Faces!” He ran a hand over his curling horns distractedly. “They already have a Binding Contract?”

“Yes!” I nodded emphatically. “So you can see why Ihadto get away!”

“All I see is that you used me and my ship to run away from a legally authorized Binding with a man that your father—the Chieftain of Clan Cruel—set up for you!” he exclaimed. “Do you have any fucking idea what he’s going to do to me when he finds out his daughter was on my ship the whole time they thought you were kidnapped?”

“He doesn’t have to find out! We don’t have to tell him!” I protested.

“Oh, yes we do!” Turk growled. “I can’t keep you here with me. What do you think will happen if the Chieftain of my Clan finds out I basically fucking kidnapped the Princess of another Clan and took her on a Cross-Dimensional flight?”

“TechnicallyItookyousince I did most of the navigating,” I pointed out coolly. Which turned out to be the wrong thing to say.

“That’s another thing!” Turk growled, his face going even darker. “What the fuck were you thinking, playing like you’re a Cross-Dimensional Navigator? You could have gotten us all killed!”

“I wasn’t playing, Iama Cross-Dimensional Navigator!” I snapped, as pride overtook the fear I felt. “I took lessons when Slade did and then Grr. Horstauf asked me to come back and take more. He told me I’m the best pupil he’s ever had—and the only one with no blind spots.”

Turk shook his head.

“Come on—you know Goddess-damned well that a woman can’t be a navigator!”

“Why not?” I demanded, getting really angry now. “Because you have this ridiculous idea that women belong in the home or out shopping instead of navigating a ship? Well I have news for you, Turk—a brain and a vagina aren’t mutually exclusive body parts!”

He looked taken aback by my vehemence for a moment, but he still wasn’t backing down.

“Stop acting like I said you were stupid—I know you’re not. Hell, you had me completely fooled—I’mthe stupid one. But youcan’tbe a navigator, Jessina—you’re a Clan Princess. Your father would never allow it.”

“Why does he get to say how I spend my life?” I shot back. “Why does he get to say who I get Bound to? I don’t care if I’m a Princess—I’m a person too! I have the brains and ability tonavigate a ship all around the known universe and that’s what I want to do.” I leaned forward again. “And Turk…you’rewho I want to do it with,” I added, in a lower voice.

His eyes widened and he shook his head.

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that I’m your Fated Mate—and you’re mine,” I said earnestly. “Can’t you feel it? The way we’ve been drawn together these last few weeks?”

“Goddess of the Four Faces!” He scrubbed his hand over his face, making a sandpapery sound when his palm ran over his whiskers.

“It’s true—you can’t deny it!” I exclaimed. “Ever since we started sleeping in the same bed together and you let me, you know, start sucking you?—”

“Stop!” Turk looked really upset now. “Don’t remind me! Do you know what Slade would do to me if he knew that I’ve been letting his little sister suck me off multiple times every night? Goddess, he’d want to kill me and I wouldn’t fucking blame him!”

“What does it matter what he thinks?” I demanded. First my father and now my big brother—why should the men in my family have more say about how I lived my life than I did?

“Because you’re hislittle sister!”Turk snarled. “Youknowthat makes you off limits to me! It always has!”

“But that time at the club—” I began.

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