Page 9 of Stealing the Lorgor's Heart

He grew quiet for a moment and his lips parted as if to say something more but the comm chimed again, drawing a heavy sigh from him as his gaze flicked impatiently to it. “Unfortunately, I am needed on the flight deck.” He paused, his eyes lighting with a question. “Do you require an escort back to the pleasure deck?”

Stacey’s skin crawled. She hated that it was called that, and at the moment it was the last place she wanted to go. “No. I think I will remain here for a while longer yet.” She waved toward the viewing port. “I’m going to enjoy the view a little more before I turn back. We don’t get many sights like this in the females’ quarters.”

He nodded. “Would that I had the time. It would give me great pleasure to enjoy this sight with you for as long as the stars burned.”

Warmth fluttered deep within her as her cheeks warmed with a blush. “I would like that, too. But I certainly understand that your time is perhaps highly demanded. I do hope that it is not Gaix,” she teased.

The corner of his mouth turned up in a genuine smile that shook her. “Fortunately, not. I believe I have seen more than I ever wanted to of that Calysii.”

Stacey muffled a laugh behind her hand in sympathy. The timing had really been terrible. She couldn’t imagine being a virtual stranger and being forced to get an eyeful of someone’s junk. Once she was certain that she wouldn’t burst into undignified giggles, she lowered her hand and grinned at him.

“I can’t say I blame you. Thank you, Varik for keeping me company. I hope to have the pleasure of your company again.”

He paused as he regarded her, his expression shutting down. Panic stirred within her. Had she offended him by taking him up the offer of his name. Was it is a test? His eyes closed for a moment and then opened, shimmering with a heat that slammed into her.

“You can expect it,” he growled. He paused. “For what it is worth, I am pleased to see that my esteem was not misplaced.”

Tailing twitching, he departed, leaving her staring after him as he disappeared down the corridor. His esteem of her? Her heart thudded a rapid tempo within her chest. Her fingertips brushed over it and she blew out a gusty breath.Damn, what was that?!

ChapterSeven

The flight deck’s comm channel lit up drawing Varik’s attention as the deck officer opened the line to his audio device. Varik walked nearer, his gaze fastening on the channel. An interior comm—from the prince’s pleasure deck no doubt. His gaze flicked down expectantly toward the officer. The male listened for a moment, his head slightly cocked, before lifting his gaze to meet Varik’s with a grimace.

“Yes, of course gonsi. I will inform the captain immediately,” the officer replied, confirming Varik’s suspicion, before terminating the uplink.

“A request from Prince Gaix, I presume?” Varik commented and the male nodded.

“Yes. The prince requires a half dozen steamed towels brought to him immediately, and he asked specifically for you to bring them as he does not want any of us filthy, treacherous common Lorgor to spy upon his mates.”

His smirk held no amusement and Varik’s jaw tightened. This was getting ridiculous, but he was not going to get any sympathy from his crew. Not when the prince was doing a fine job of reminding everyone of the fact that Varik’s family was not only favored, but obviously in the pocket of the royal house of Caysta. Blood-traitors they were called among the rebels—those who would sell their own people to the enemy for their comfortable position in Calysii society. For revolutions he managed to run his starship as nothing more than a Lorgor captain. He ate with his crew and toiled with them. His crew worked as a well-oiled machine and Gaix was single-handedly trying to destroy everything. It was his greater misfortune that he could not reveal the truth of his sympathies and loyalties without risking everything prematurely. He gritted his teeth in annoyance but inclined his head in a cool nod.

“Thank you, Officer Lhagrex. I will see to it and remind the prince that the crew ofAcasai Horinthiserves him loyally. There is no difference between me and any other stationed onboard.”

Lhagrex’s brow went up but some of the tension eased out of the male as his expression relaxed as a small amount of amusement flooded his expression. “I do not know how much that will help. I was speaking to the gonsi but it was Gaix screaming in the background. He sounded… highly aggravated.”

Highly aggravated and steamed towels… the prince was going into rut. Varik sighed heavily. He expected that the demands for provisions would be a constant flow for the next few days until the symptoms were relieved. He would have to make certain that at very least the gonsi understood the situation. He simply could not run supplies personally at any hour of the day or night cycle. The crew would have to be fully utilized and hopefully within reason.

“Ah,” he rumbled and gave another short nod to convey his understanding. “I will see to this and set a plan of action with the gonsi for managing this… situation.”

A look of relief flickered across the male’s face, but he nodded. The rut was something that Calysii and Lorgor shared in common, like many other things. Data indicated that the two planets at an early point in their formation were one but were split apart from a cosmic event, creating two distinct masses circling their shared star within a very close orbit of each other and a number of moons. Space debris on either of the two planets and their matching minerals to those of Caysta and Lorgoon acted as further supportive evidence of what happened and an explanation for the parallel life forms found on the two planets. Despite the physical differences that were expected of two different species that evolved on two very different planets, they shared a lot of evolutionary commonalities, and the rut was something that all males of both species had a degree of sympathy towards, and expressed delicateness when speaking of it. No male enjoyed being reminded of it. Especially not among the unmated who had little relief beyond artificial equipment to help them cope.

Fortunately, being in space made it easy for Lorgor to artificially regulate their hormones with regular inoculations that kept their ruts properly spaced regardless of changes onboard the starship. This was not always the case with the Calysii, many of whom refused to take inoculations out of stubborn pride in their virility. Naturally, they then immediately risked being thrown into rut if they were accompanied by females in an enclosed spaces with recirculated air. Which seemed to be exactly what was happening to the prince.

Battling back a resigned sigh, Varik left the flight deck, made a stop in the provisions bay, and headed down to Gaix’s private deck a short time later with a stack of steamed towels in hand. Shifting the towels in his grip, he freed a hand and pressed it against the security keypad outside the deck entrance to verify his identity. He waited stoically as his credentials cleared and the door slid open. He was not surprised to see Athdar blocking the way, but it was only for a moment. The male’s eyes dropped down to the towels and flicked back up again before narrowing.

“Anything you see in here you did not see. Is that clear, captain?”

Varik bristled at the male’s tone and nodded. “So long as it is clear that my crew act as an extension of me. The Shining Star must make allowances, however his preference may be otherwise, that allows us to serve him in a way that is minimally disruptive to the operation of this starship.”

The gonsi’s face settled in hard lines but the male nodded stiffly. “I will see to it. The prince is… not himself.”

“Understood.”

They stood there for a long moment like two predators getting the measure of each other before the gonsi grunted and stepped back to admit him. Varik promptly followed him inside, aware of the door immediately sliding shut behind him, and froze.

It was chaos. Furniture was overturned and various blankets provided for the comfort of humans tossed about along with the pillows that had once graced the benches. A number of the females were scattered around the room, hiding behind furnishings, as the prince circled the cluster of females pressed tightly together in the center of the room. In their center—Stacey.

Varik’s vibinum began to lift in alarm and he made as to step forward and intervene but was blocked when Athdar immediately stepped in front of him.

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