Page 44 of Sway's Peace
“You have not,” he assured her with a soft chuckle. “Believe me, I am happy to have you here. Unpack. Use whatever you like. You can throw my clothes on the ground. I’ll come get them later. After I show Loyalty where he’ll stay, and take these to the galley, of course.”
He bent over, scooping up the trays. Ashamed that he’d shown her the slovenly side of himself so quickly after meeting her. It wasn’t that he liked being dirty, or even that he didn’t know how to clean, he just didn’t do it.
He should. Hewould. He wouldn’t let her think him a slob.
Before Sway left, he switched ownership of the door on the console to Grace, so that she could control when it locked andunlocked. With her set as the owner, it wouldn’t even let him in without her permission.
She gave him a smile before the door shut behind her. Her luggage was in there with her. He imagined she was going to take the time to get comfortable. He was glad for it.
This was good. This was right. His female belonged in his space. He immediately felt calmer just for having her there, even despite being technically separated from her now. With Grace in his room, he knew she was safe. No one could hurt her in there.
She was close to him now. She would be staying with him. Even if he told himself it was only temporary until she found where she wanted to go – as he assured her – he knew he didn’t actually think that. He wanted her here. He wanted her to stay here. And now that shewashere, he had a chance to make it permanent.
For now, however, it was enough that she was safely ensconced in his room. He could be satisfied with that as he left her to continue onto his next task, Loyalty trailing just a few steps behind. He didn’t even realize how tense he had become since he originally got called out of his ship until just now, when it started fading away.
His female was safe. She was with him. Things were okay again.
Oh, maybethatwas why he was so on edge. So quick to use violence. Even the farasie, for all that they were considered the most peaceful species in the universe, would still resort to violence when it came to protecting their mates and families. It wasn’t exactly encouraged, but it wasn’t unheard of either.
And he might have only shared a single meal with Grace, but she already meant more to him than anyone in his memory. Of course, he would be protective of her.
Thinking of it that way, he actually felt a lot better. Maybe he wasn’t completely hopeless after all. He couldn’t be condemned for violence against another when it was performed for the sake of those most precious to him. Even the farasie would agree with that. Right?
Feeling much better about things, Sway walked into the new galley and put the trays in the dish cleaner of the brand new synthesizer. Loyalty was still there, looking around curiously. Sway was glad he hadn’t decided to relinquish the machine now that Grace was here. The last thing he wanted was to offer her terrible food.
“You will be staying in Goldie’s room,” Sway said to Loyalty, focusing back on him for a moment. “She will need a chance to get her belongings from it first. I’m sure the captain already told her to come back. He’s very good about details like that.”
Loyalty inclined his head. “That’s fine. I want to go to my ship anyway. In case thatskaktdidn’t already destroy it, I want to see if I can salvage what little I do have there.”
“Very well,” Sway said. “I’ll wait for you. Tell Vytln, the lvtl male, out front to comm me when you return.”
Loyalty grunted in agreement before turning and walking off. He had a ratchi’s nose, so he could probably just follow Sway’s scent when he came back. He certainly didn’t need help following their trail back to main stowage.
Sway watched him go before frowning, looking at the ground.
Grace was here. And he was glad for it! And even more grateful that, technically, he hadn’t ended his streak of non-violence – at least, not in a way that he thought counted.
But now what…
He’d been so focused on getting her here, on making sure she was safe, he hadn’t actually considered what he would do about her next. Would a female even be open to his advances after such a drastic upheaval in her life?
He wanted her. Did she still want him?
***
The next day went smoothly. Absolutely no problems at all. Sway didn’t really expect any. Tanin had put the twins – Sorbet and Tebros – onto the station master’s trail to make absolutely sure he kept to their contract. Those two males were quite terrifying. If he was dumb enough to try something, they would deal with it immediately, and in ways much more devious than Sway could imagine.
Their only rule was that they couldn’tkillwithout permission. Everything up to that point was absolutely still an option. A loophole they never hesitated to take advantage of. Sway rather thought they had made a fun game of it.
And it always amazed Sway just how much people could live through.
Even when they begged not to.
But it didn’t get that far. The twins reported that Covor had locked himself in his home and was refusing to come to work. They’d made sure to break in, to show themselves, and prove that he wasn’t safe even behind a lock door. But they didn’t actually hurt him. There was no need. According to them, he might have had his body healed, but being so drastically hurt had left him too terrified of them to even face the outside.
Crude, and not always effective. Some people didn’t break when they were driven to the brink. But a great many would, andCovor was no exception. The twins would keep an eye on him until it was time for them to leave.
The new subspace crystals were delivered that morning, right on schedule, with nothing about the dock workers to suggest that they’d heard anything happened. Grace was hiding in his room, not wanting any of them to see her and set any rumors flying. Sway wasn’t sure who was acting dock master at the moment, but there were no problems as the crystals were installed, the last of the services were provided, and the leftover mess cleaned up.
