Page 7 of Brute's Mate

“Scream if you’d like. The guards wouldn’t dare touch me.” I pause for a moment, allowing this revelation to sink in. “Now, Jenny, I intend to escort you to your destination, and I would appreciate your cooperation. If you refuse to accept my escort, I will return you to your quarters and make sure you stay there. I’ll stand in front of thefluxxingdoor all night if I must.”

She retreats a step. The outrage contorting her face fades, and her eyes gradually fill with confusion. “How do you know my name?”

“You are Captain Warren’s niece. As an advisor to the captain, it is my job to learn the names of important people on the human worldship.” I don’t tell her that her sister is married to Admiral Tornn. I don’t tell her that Admiral Tornn ordered me to keep an eye on her and her mother, Margo, as well as all the other relatives of the thirty females who were recently surrendered to my people. Until today, I’ve only watched Jenny from a distance. I never expected her to smell so sweet and enticing.

“I might be the captain’s niece,” she eventually says, “but I’m no one important.” She gives me a hesitant look. “Well? What’syourname?”

“Brute,” I say. “Security Officer Brute of theHaxxal, the lead ship in the Darrvason fleet.”

“Security officer? I thought you were an advisor.”

“Only while I’m aboard theJansonna. I serve the Darrvason Empire in any way I can.” ‘Security Officer’ is my official title, and it’s the only one I’ll give her. I won’t tell her I’m a skilled spymaster. I also won’t tell her I’m a sought-after interrogator, that the secrets I’ve extracted by means of torture from our enemies are legendary among my people. In my quest to wash away the sins of my father, I’ve devoted my very life to the Darrvason Empire.

“Well, Officer Brute, I really must be on my way.” When she walks around me, I don’t block her path this time. But I’m quick to follow, and I trail the lovely female down the corridor, remaining a few steps behind.

She peers over her shoulder with a sharp glare. After she turns around and hastens her pace, my gaze drops to her shapely buttocks. She’s wearing pants that hug her curves. A strange custom, I think, for a female to wear pants, though I’ve noticed most of the women on theJansonnaprefer pants to dresses or skirts.

If she were my mate, I would commission a full wardrobe of beautiful silk Darrvason gowns for her to wear.

I push the thought aside with an internal growl. Even if she will be among the next group of human females surrendered to my people, I cannot claim her today. If any of the Darrvasons visiting theJansonnawere to snatch a woman out of the corridors and carry her off, myself included, it would be a direct violation of the treaty.

Jenny practically runs into the next corridor and enters a large room the humans call agym. A place they exercise on strange machines rather than honing their bodies by fighting their comrades in a training ring. There’s a large window near the door, and I stand watch as Jenny walks around the gym. She keeps shooting annoyed glances at me.

How old is she? Is she between the ages of nineteen and twenty-five? She appears young, early twenties perhaps, but I’m not an expert on humans so I can’t be sure.

Star Gods how I pray she’ll be in the next wave of females given to my people. Perhaps I can request her by name.

Need burns through me, and a spell of dizziness descends as my shafts grow painfully hard in my pants. A growl leaves my throat, and several passing humans cast nervous looks in my direction.

Jenny selects a machine that allows her to jog in place. She remains on this contraption for a while, working up a sweat, until she finally slows to a walk and gets off. She grabs a towel from a rack and dabs perspiration from her brow.

A puny human male walks out from behind a counter and approaches her, and the urge to maim and kill surges in my blood. But I quickly realize the male is an attendant. He sprays a mist over the machine Jenny just used and wipes it down, then moves on to clean other recently vacated apparatuses.

Jenny glances toward me and frowns. She’s clearly not happy I’m still here, butfluxxif I’m going anywhere. I fully intend to escort her back to her quarters as soon as she’s finished. I take comfort in the fact that Darrvason engineers don’t often frequent Deck Twenty-Two where she lives. Today was an exception, as there were repairs to make in the water filtration system. That was what brought the group to the nearby mess hall, and I’d decided to join them since I happened to be in the vicinity.

I hope no other Darrvason male walks close enough to detect the heady essence of her femininity.

Another growl rumbles from my chest.

Fluxx. What is wrong with me? I’m supposed to keep watch over Jenny, not lust after her. Not envision holding her down as I pound her with my cocks, one after the other, until she’s sore and dripping with my seed.

My wrist comm buzzes, and Admiral Tornn’s identification number flashes on the small screen. I move into an alcove and accept his call, careful to answer in the dialect of our village.

“Any updates?” he asks.

“There is continued violence on theJansonna, as well as acts of vandalism in the corridors and repeated attempts to sabotage computer systems,” I say. “Someone also keeps sending the captain anonymous death threats.”

“What else?”

“Captain Warren is currently passed out drunk in his quarters. He keeps drinking heavily, though I believe he’s trying to hide it from his command team. When I’m in the room, he usually speaks to his command team in English, completely unaware that I can understand him.” I gloat inwardly. Though everyone aboard theJansonnaspeaks Galactic Common, I started studying several human languages the night Admiral Tornn informed me I would be stationed on the worldship, thinking the skill might come in handy.

“Has he mentioned anything about Sheila or a virus?” the admiral asks.

“No, he hasn’t,” I reply. “Like you, I don’t believe the captain or his command team possess any knowledge about Sheila’s attack on Paddax. They typically discuss suspected rebel plots on theJansonna, whether the beastly Darrvasons will betray them and steal all their females, how to best break the news about the discovery of a habitable planet and the recent modification to the alliance—that they’ll be sharing 58-Z with us—and the daily special in the command team’s private dining room.”

“Any evidence Captain Warren has tried harming the family or friends of the thirty females we recently acquired?”

I scan the gym for Jenny and see she’s still walking around, presumably searching for another exercise machine to use. I return my attention to my wrist comm and say, “I check the computer systems multiple times a day, and thus far, no citizens aboard theJansonnahave had rations reduced or access to medical care denied. I’ve also kept an eye on your mate’s mother and sister, and the captain has left them untouched. The two females remain in their upper deck quarters with the wealthiest occupants of the worldship. Their rations were recently increased along with the entire ship when we delivered food and supplies, and their access to medical care remains unchanged. The sister is still working alongside her mother, and an armed security officer was appointed by the captain to escort the two females to and from their classroom on Deck Fourteen each day, though the guard doesn’t follow them anywhere else.”

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