Page 12 of A Redemption for Ulrek

Smart.

She must be staying in the temporary housing they offered to newcomers who fled Dominion rule with nothing but bad memories in their possession. Ulrek made a note to check the building out tomorrow.

She’d mentioned in her application that she worked for the greenhouses here on the colony, but with someone like her soon-to-be-ex-mate sniffing around, they wouldn’t be a safe place for her to continue working.

Ulrek remembered the tiny luggage she’d been dragging behind her today. Was that all she had? She’d mentioned him ripping up and breaking her things. Maybe Ulrek should take her shopping before they left Reka 5.

Because theywouldleave Reka 5. This whole contract nonsense was only delaying the inevitable.

Tuhror guffawed and slapped his hand on the table, and Ulrek forced himself to drag his attention back to the discussion around him. What he really wanted to do now that Delaney was gone was return to his ship, or failing that, follow her home, but he didn’t want his interest to be too apparent, so he stayed around to listen to another one of Jakkan’s stories.

Ulia was hitting it off with Gavin, which might anger Tahra if she found out. Tuhror’s sister technically had no claim on the human male, but everyone on the ship knew she’d been trying very hard to get him into her quarters, just as hard as he’d been trying to avoid her advances.

If he was smart, he’d bring Ulia to one of the nicely furnished rooms for rent at the docks instead of to the ship. While theRevenge, or rather, theNew Horizon, was an impressive ship with all its armor and weapons, the inside of a warship wasn’t really the place to charm a female, even with all the upgrades Ulrek had added.

Gavin wasn’t as tall as Ulrek or as wide as Tuhror, but he was still a big male, especially for a human. Tallean females were not built the same as Tallean males; they were tall and slender, and didn’t have as many curves as most human females did. The human males on his ship always said Tallean females looked like exotic supermodels.

That was fine by Ulrek. The stars were always brighter on another planet. Let them lust after the Tallean females all they wanted. He would find himself a fiery human one.

Human females were one of his weak spots and had been since his days with the Dominion. They were so similar to his own kind, yet different. Softer. Sweeter. But still full of fire. A tender thing that could turn vicious in the blink of an eye. Delightful!

Back at the Dominion, females had flocked to him, offering themselves to him left and right. Few had ever challenged him or dared to disagree with him, even when he was clearly wrong. It was tiresome. The humans he’d nabbed for the Dominion? They were different. They had brains and daring.

Not the spineless ones the Dominion gifted him as slaves. They’d had their wills broken. He recalled one female in particular. By the time Lori was gifted to him, Ulrek had uncovered the Dominion’s plot to murder him and use his death to motivate a new generation of recruits. He was already planning his imminent defection to the other side.

He’d left a weapon out on purpose to see if Lori had any fight left. It was at a port in New Rhea. She could’ve escaped and made it to Reka 5. Ulrek had given her several perfect opportunities that trip, even left valuables out so she could take them along and trade them for safe passage. She hadn’t taken a single one of them.

Delaney, however,shewould’ve recognized and taken any opportunity he’d given her. Probably even stabbed him in the back for good measure. She’d made it to Reka 5 after all. She was a female who would walk beside him, not behind him.

And once he had Delaney back on his ship, she’d be all his.

Chapter 7

Delaney

“I’m sorry your new job fell through,” said Chara, the Tallean woman who ran the greenhouse Delaney used to work at. “We’d love to have you back, but as you know we filled your position already. You’ll be top pick when another spot opens up, though. I’ll ask the other greenhouses if they need help in the meantime?”

“Thanks, Chara.” Delaney rubbed her temple as her headache grew.

She’d known this would be the case. She’d trained her own replacement, for goodness’ sake. It had been worth a call, anyway; at least now they knew she was looking.

She hung up, picked up her glass of nuri leaf tea, and downed it in several large gulps, hoping to chase her hangover away. It didn’t work. The tea was supposed to help with the post-indulgence funk, but she was pretty sure it only worked because it got people to drink more liquids. Her head still pounded.

This was exactly why she didn’t normally drink much. Tallean booze tended to mess with her head way more than any hooch on Earth ever had.

Job hunting with a hangover wasn’t much fun, especially when the choices were zero to none. But she still wanted to put out feelers just in case she was in fact released from the contract with Ulrek the Dangerously Sexy, if Horrible.

There was one last option she hadn’t tried, which were the local retail plant nurseries and flower shops. It wasn’t at all what she’d trained so hard to do, and Craig might find and harass her, but it was still work in a related field…right? It was the end of summer and the least busy time, but still, it was worth a try.

She made her way to the bathroom to rinse her mouth with the teeth cleaning wash before opening her luggage and rummaging through it dismally. She’d packed for a job in the greenroom of a ship, not for job interviews out in the colony. Everything else she owned was back at her—no…she shook her head…it wasCraig’sapartment now. She’d planned on just forfeiting them all and buying a whole new wardrobe when she got back from her year-long stint with all the credit she’d have made.

She regretted the decision now. What was she going to do with a bunch of overalls, gloves, and pruning tools? The only non-work-related clothing she’d taken from her wardrobe was a few pieces of comfortable loungewear since she doubted she’d need to dress up in a spaceship full of men who hadn’t showered in weeks.

There was no way in hell she was going back to pick up her clothes, so that meant she needed to go shopping. On a very tight budget, of course. But really, she didn’t need more than one other set of normal clothes aside from the one she was wearing.

She sniffed her shirt. Ugh. It still smelled faintly of The Hideout, and the bit of amberberry wine she’d spilled on it. She’d fallen asleep last night in her clothes. That Rhean spirit was strong stuff.

Delaney rubbed her temples. She couldn’t believe she’d stolen and downed Ulrek’s drink. It’d felt likesucha good idea at the time. Craig had pissed her off royally, and she’d hoped the drink would help her forget the stressful ordeal. Welp, it had. And for bonus points, she’d ended up in Ulrek’s lap, in front of everyone.

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