Page 3 of Claim
Kinsley snapped her fingers.“Mag, you should stay and have June do you next.”
June and the apex both swiveled to stare at Kinsley with identical consternation.
“Do him?”June sputtered at the same time that Mag rumbled, “Do me?”
“Do your…” Kinsley gestured vaguely.“Okay, well, yeah, you don’t have hair.But there’s a lot of the rest of you to play with.”
June shuddered.Play with the apex?
With his antennae as stiff as two toilet bowl brushes, Mag looked equally perturbed.“An apex doesn’t…play.”
Adeline arched one eyebrow.“If we want to be big players at the Luster, we need to start by looking the part.”
After a moment, he let out a grunt.“Then we will start with my crusher.”
Adeline shook her head.“Teq is rebuilding part of theDeepWanderfor the hatching chamber,” she reminded the apex.“And he’s still in charge of ore processing.As important as appearances are, we’ll also need something to actually sell.”
“And Sil is singing up a storm to present at the Luster,” Kinsley said.“So he can’t do it either.Mag, you know your brother would say that the apex must be first.And that is true in fashion as well as force.”
June slanted a glance at the apex, noting the flat blackness of his large, faceted eyes.“I wouldn’t want—”
“This is so,” Mag interrupted.“I am apex.”
As if that said it all.
And June thought that to him it probably did.
Chapter 2
An apex was always in charge of his ship.He kept watch over his people to safeguard their survival.When he ate and drank, it was to test for spoilage.If he rested, it was to stay strong to do whatever needed to be done.An apex must never lose focus or forget his place—and his place was always at the top.
Yet still, somehow, two of the Earthers managed to vanish from Mag’s awareness while he glowered at the remaining female who would “do him”, whatever that meant.The chime of the closing door told him they’d gone, but all his attention was on the little one.
June.
It was a strong orc name, but she was neither of those things.He knew all the Earthers, of course, since he’d read their IDA profiles before approving their presence on theDeepWander.He would never allow the ship to be endangered by strangers.
Except a sentient rock had been brought aboard.And one of his crew had tried to steal it.And then his own brotherhadstolen it.So clearly not all dangers came from beyond.
But he’d already known that.
Some threats were as close as the scarred glyph on his thorax.
He prowled the edge of the room.The quarters designated for the Earther females had been downsized somewhat to better fit their more petite parameters while still accommodating their future orc mates.But he was much too large to be comfortable here.
Even the lingering scent was too…delicate.The unfamiliar smells of the unguents June had been using on the other females faded with their departure, but the remaining fragrance whispered through his antennae, alien and yet strangely enticing…
“Sit down.”
He pivoted to face the little female.“What?”
“You stomping around is making me nervous.”
Mid-step, he froze, then slowly lowered his foot.“An orc would never admit such a thing.”
When she lifted her chin, both her gaze and the precarious knot of keratin high on her head wavered, but neither fell.“That must be nice for you.Sit down while I finish sweeping.”
Ah.Nervous, perhaps, but not cowed.His ichor surged at the perceived challenge, a ridiculous overreaction.
