Page 22 of Healing Creek
The Dogs greeted him with a soft chorus of barks, and he returned the greeting.
Jupiter smiled, wide mouthed and showing his deadly canines—an odd expression to see after weeks of the man’s scowls in the slave hold. Jupiter’s human mate, Feeona, was also in the room with the Dogs. The woman looked very different than when they’d met. Her sexy black dress and thigh high boots had been replaced with serviceable black pants and a pullover. With her thick mahogany braid, caramel skin and warm brown eyes she didn’t need the fancy clothes and exotic makeup to draw the eye.
It was good to see that these men had mates they could trust. Despite having been enslaved by humans at Roma, Creek had no particular hatred of the species. They were all part human after all, or so he’d been told. It was humans from the resistance who’d freed him from Roma. And after his experience at Haven, the resistance base, he knew he no more belonged among his own kind than with the humans. He fit in nowhere. He wondered if these Dogs and their mates would fit in at Haven better than he had.
All the Arena Dog males were present. Most sat around a table in sturdy mismatched chairs that had been dragged in from all over the ship. Jupiter sat next to Feeona and on his other side, Seneca, the most exotic of the bunch, sat loose limbed as if he’d been poured into his chair.
Mercury, their steely-eyed leader, stood at the de facto head of the table. Diablo, his second, leaned a hip against a control panel along one wall. Carn, the largest of all of them, sat relaxed at the opposite side of the table. All three had the typical look of Dogs from House Owens, with shoulder length dark hair and bronze skin.
Mercury spoke first. “You’re looking more rested. How is the female?”
He was really asking how his task to get her to reveal her secrets was going. “I left her in the med-bay.”
“That could be useful,” Jupiter offered.
Creek shrugged. “She hopes to leave the ship as soon as possible, so don’t count on it lasting.”
Mercury frowned. Disappointed that her skills would be lost or that he had no more information to give?
“I will speak with her again soon.” Creek held Mercury’s gaze. “But I still feel she is no danger to us.”
“Come and sit, brother. We have much to discuss.” Mercury clasped his shoulder.
Creek was grateful for the strength of the Dog’s grasp, despite the flash of pain in the abused joint. The jolt of it covered his stunned longing at being called brother. They had no way of knowing it was his first time hearing it.
Feeona stood to empty a chair for him. “I need to go prep theHawley.” TheHawleywas her ship. She smoothed a hand over Jupiter’s recently shorn hair as she moved away.
With Feeona’s departure, that left him alone with the five males of Mercury’s pack. Knots twisted in his stomach. What did they want to speak with him about? As Creek sat, Mercury settled into the seat at the head of the table and Diablo took the chair to his right.
“First,” said Mercury. “I want to thank you for your help communicating with the Dreat. Their cooperation has been critical in making this ship a safe place for all our mates.”
Creek dipped his head to the pack leader in acknowledgement. Such a small thing needed no thanks.
“The humans that were prisoners alongside you and Jupiter are also a big help, but most of them wish to leave the ship as soon as possible. We’ve asked them to help with the port authorities when the slaver’s crew are offloaded at Chromocan Station. We’ll need them since none of us have any standing with the Alliance government.”
Creek frowned. “Your mates—”
Mercury shook his head. “Grand Owens managed to undermine both Samantha and Feeona’s standing with Earth Alliance. Legally, we are still property of Roma,” he spat the last words, full of disgust. “So, we will all need to stay well out of sight.”
“And leave the vicinity of the station as quickly as possible,” Diablo added.
Mercury huffed a sound of agreement. “We won’t even be docking with the station. We have plenty of fuel. And fortunately, the shuttle we used to board this ship will be adequate to transport all the prisoners and the other humans in one trip.”
Mercury leaned forward and tilted his head. “We’d like you to speak to the Dreat and encourage them to stay aboard until we can get them across the border. They’re no safer in Alliance territory than we are.”
“I’m sure they’ll agree.” The Dreat he’d been traveling with had no homes to return to.
The alpha leaned back. “Good. We could use their continued help keeping an eye on the remaining crew until we can replace them.”
“Replace them?” It sounded like a good idea though he had no idea how they could go about it.
“Yes, Samantha has some connections, but we are also hoping the resistance will be able to help.”
Creek’s gut twisted.
“Jupiter tells me you have some experience with the resistance.”
“I don’t recall ever saying that.” His gaze slid to his old slave hold companion.
