Page 12 of A Mate for Vasek
Vasek frowned. “You don’t need to follow any protocols with me.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I do not keep intelligent lives.” Then, as if the topic made him uncomfortable, he got up from the table and went to the navigational panel.
So did that mean Dawn was the first “intelligent life” thrust into his care? That was good, right? It could mean he was against slavery and would free her. Or did it mean he didn’t want to spend the credits and would drop her off at the first auction house they came across? She hoped it was the first option and that he’d treat her like a companion instead. She wouldn’t mind that.
This was the first good news since Bakum had kidnapped her into the wilds and dashed any hope of her participating in the big escape that several of the humans she knew had been plotting for months.
She just had to convince Vasek that she was worth keeping around. That way, she’d have plenty of freedom and be ready if there was another big escape back to Earth.
The interior of the shuttle was suddenly flooded with natural light as the front view screen turned transparent. They must still be somewhere on New Rhea, because outside was the most beautiful sunset. New Rhea had two suns, with one traveling just ahead of the other throughout the day. During the summers, the two suns were relatively close together and stayed in the sky for longer, making it blisteringly hot when both were high in the sky. In the winter, they traveled farther from each other, with the first and second sunrises being almost two hours apart. But winter wasn’t particularly cold on this part of the planet.
The rainy season had just passed, which Dawn always thought of as spring, since the weather often grew hot after the rains, and the suns were starting to come together again. Currently, one of the suns was just above the horizon, and the other was a bit above it. The pinks, purples, and oranges that filled the screen were so beautiful she couldn’t help but just stand and watch.
Vasek turned and glanced outside as well. “We are at one of my hideouts outside Port Number Two.”
No wonder they’d arrived so quickly. He’d said this wasoneof his hideouts; did that mean he had more than one? And hideout meant this was not his home. Was he hiding out because of what had happened with Bakum and Morad? It was probably a good idea, especially since they’d be coming after her once Morad realized she wasn’t with Kotch’s killer anymore.
Would they find their ship here? The side of the view screen showed jagged rock walls, and it looked like they were backed into a cave with a giant opening. It didn’t hide the gorgeous orange and pink sunset from streaming into the shuttle, but the rocks above would hopefully hide them from any scanning devices.
Except Kotch’s old crew wouldn’t be using any scanning devices from the air. They’d come on foot and on personal hover vehicles to search the forest the old-fashioned way, and the shuttle was a sitting duck against that. The only thing she could do was hope they wouldn’t find her.
Her eyes went to the mess left at the table, and out of habit, she started cleaning up.
Chapter 7
Vasek
Vasek returned to his desk to find that Dawn had already separated everything into little piles. There was a pile for anything that needed to be sanitized, a pile of tools, and the unused pieces of artificial skin were back in their packages. Everything else she didn’t recognize was lined up in a neat little row.
“Thank you. This is very helpful.”
Perhaps having an assistant wouldn’t be so bad after all. He immediately shoved the thought away. He couldn’t keep her as an assistant because he couldn’t be spraying down his environment with olfactinull for the rest of his life. Or could he? He wondered if there was any research done on the long-term effects. Was this perhaps the way to thwart the mating curse?
He could never lose his mate if he never developed a mate bond. And since a mate bond required him to recognize his mate by scent, removing his ability to smell would solve the problem. He’d never considered that option before since smell and sight were a Tallean’s best tools. But giving up such a vital component of his senses wouldn’t be so bad if it was reversible.
He quickly disinfected his tools and opened his cabinets to put his supplies back. He almost felt bad shoving the neatly corralled items back into the jumble of mess. He often took only what he needed to meet his clients. And while his field setup was relatively organized, his shuttle’s cabinets had become a dumping ground for all the equipment, supplies, and tools he'd ever collected.
It had never really bothered him before, but now he was a bit embarrassed that another living soul had to witness it.
“Hungry?” he asked.
Dawn nodded, then said, “Yes, sir.”
Which had him frowning. He didn’t like honorifics, but he understood that she probably did it out of habit.
“It’s just Vasek.” He opened another cabinet.
This one was much better organized. He kept pouches of water and other drinks lined up on one side and food bars on the other. He also had a fruit replicator and preferred to eat from that, but the food replicator reused the serving containers and utensils. He only had a few sets and he hadn’t gotten around to collecting and returning those to the unit for cleaning yet.
“Which one do you want?”
Dawn eyed the rows of boxes of bars. “I don’t know. I usually don’t get the normal bars.”
Vasek grabbed the one most favored by youngsters. It was still his favorite despite all these years. “You’ll like this one.”
They shared a dinner of meal bars and water. Vasek felt bad that this was all he could offer her this first evening, but Dawn seemed to enjoy her food. The setting sun and the parade ofcolors it provided must have helped. She couldn’t finish the whole bar, and Vasek was happy to eat the leftovers.
But it was clear that just helping him and sharing a meal was already tiring her out again.
Dawn yawned. “I’m sorry, I don’t know why I’m so tired again.”
