The male’s gaze shifted from me to the two males trailing me.
“I hope you’re not looking at them for permission. Are you able to lead me, or should I ask someone else?”
The Zoshesh’s gaze returned to me. He nodded once and watched me closely as we approached.
“Human?” he rumbled.
“I am.”
His gaze dipped to my large middle.
“Youngling?”
“It is. If you help ensure my safety, I’ll let you feel my youngling kick when we’re done.”
His gaze flew to mine. He grunted his agreement, turned around, and started pushing the closest male out of the way.
This wasn’t the first time I’d roped some random male into being my muscle. Khorahn nearly had a heart attack the first time. He and his father were extremely overprotective now that I was carrying their next generation. But truthfully, so were ninety percent of the males in the systems.
Seeing a pregnant female on a void station was unheard of…a miracle, some might say. I used my status of walking miracle to my advantage and sashayed my way through the station.
“I’m really, really glad you got these foot coverings for me,” I said over my shoulder to Khorahn. “These floors are gross.”
“They aren’t meant to be traveled by females,” Khorahn Senior said. “Females are meant to stay on ships.”
“Not being able to go where I want when I want sounds like captivity to me. No thanks. Maybe more females would like to visit void stations if they were cleaner.”
A nearby male laughed, and the Zoshesh leading me thrust out one of his four arms to punch the male right in the face. The accosted male grunted in pain, glanced at me, and apologized.
I ignored him.
Bad behavior was ignored. Good behavior was rewarded. It was that simple with me, and a lot of males were catching onto that. Especially my bounties.
The Zoshesh stopped in front of a canteen. The mix of music and loud talking bled into the corridor as I peered into the dim interior. The music suddenly silenced. A few shouts sounded, and then those quieted, too.
Anticipation filled me, and I tried hard not to smile but failed as I looked at Khorahn and Khorahn Senior.
“Anything would be better than this,” Khorahn Senior said. “The grow bay has?—”
Khorahn hushed him. It wasn’t safe to talk about how they’d turned the grow bay into a mini replica of Earth for me. Grass. Vegetables. Pretty flowering fruit and nut trees.
“Don’t let anyone touch me without permission,” I said to the Zoshesh.
He nodded and stepped inside, clearing a path for me. I followed, very aware of how I had every male’s attention when I stopped in the center of the canteen.
“My name is Vya, the female bounty hunter from the Senwar system. I’m here for Vegetable Head, a Norwegian. If you’re here, Vegetable Head, surrender willingly, and I will take you to my ship.”
A male stood and pushed his way through the crowd toward me.
“You’re not a Norwegian,” I said.
“No, but I have a warrant. You can take me to your ship.”
Another male pushed his way through the crowd.
“Me too.”
The first time I’d walked onto a void station, I’d had a real target. When I’d demanded his surrender in a canteen like this one, I’d ended up with six other males eager to surrender too. After that, I’d stopped worrying about tracking and just started showing up at void stations to see what would happen. I never left with less than four bounties.