Page 23 of Relyn
Ketle pivoted again and this time managed to grab a hold on Relyn’s head. His claws dug into his Relyn’s scalp with a sting. Ketle’s reach was his advantage, but he couldn’t put enough strength into his hold to do fatal damage unless he brought Relyn in closer, where he could kick and punch. Ketle had to keep Relyn out at arm’s length, and had he been a true Sangrin, that probably would have been the end of the battle. A quick twist, and his neck would have snapped. But like a Georgun, Relyn didn’t have an actual spine to snap. He couldn’t kill Relyn, but Ketle could ruin his cover. He took a risk and jack-knifed his legs and kicked, landing straight into Ketle’s ballsack. He let out a howling whimper and let go to cover his injury with his hands. Relyn landed flat on his back and quickly rolled to his feet.
Relyn could still feel the sting of his claws, which should have immediately sealed up and offered no more pain. Instead, the area was growing. Ketle had treated his claws with some sort of poison. So much for a friendly fight.
Ketle swung another wild punch, claws out, confirming that he was more interested in delivering more poison than landing a blow. Relyn easily ducked under and behind him, landing a punch as hard as he could right between Ketle’s shoulder blades. The punch landed true and essentially paralyzed hisarms. Ketle was now defenseless and he knew it. Relyn didn’t let him complain. Instead, he circled back around and punched him in the face, giving him a shove back so the awkward weight distribution caused Ketle to tumble onto his back. Without the use of his arms, he flopped on the floor like a sea creature stranded on the beach. Relyn punched him in the face repeatedly until he stopped moving.
He shook the blood from his fists and turned toward Rutra, who nodded.
“You know he intended to kill you,” Rutra said. Xeron quickly began collecting on bets around the circle.
“Yeah, I figured that out,” Relyn said.
“You are well within your rights to kill him,” Rutra stated, looking down at the bloody drooling mess he’d left.
Relyn shrugged. “Good muscle is hard to find.”
The poison was working its way through his system, and he could feel himself losing cohesion. Not letting anyone else argue, he scooped up Nora and strode as fast as he could toward his quarters.
“I’m not sure what you think is gonna happen here, buster.”
“My name is Relyn, and I am keeping you safe.”
“So you’re saying Wendy and Bright are not safe?” He assumed she was speaking of the other two females.
“They are safe for now. But you are safer.”
“Riiight.”
Relyn entered his quarters and laid her gently down on his bed. He’d gotten blood all over her pretty white gown. None of it was his, though, he didn’t exactly have blood. He’d have to worry about that later. He closed the door and put five layers of encryption commands on it. No one was coming through that door any time soon. Hopefully that would give his body time to heal.
Relyn turned toward Nora, who scrambled back off the bed.
“I’m sorry. None of this is how I imagined it,” Relyn admitted. He hadn’t imagined much about finding a mate, but this definitely wasn’t it.
“This? I still don’t have any idea what this is. I- Holy cow, you’re melting!”
“He poisoned me. The claws. I- Don’t go out the door. Don’t open the door to anyone. Just stay here until I wake up. I promise I will explain when I wake.”
He couldn’t wait for a response, a promise from her not to try to leave him, because his form lost its integrity, and he felt himself sink into his natural self, hibernating until he had time to fight the poison and heal himself.
Chapter 11
Nora
Nora sat on the bed and stared at the black puddle on the floor. What the absolute fuck had happened to her life? It had only been a week ago, as far as Nora could figure, that she’d been standing in front of a class of bored kids trying to explain Mr. Bennet’s sarcasm to her students. It was hard to keep track of days and hours when planetary rotation was not a constant.
What would Mr. Bennet say now? He’d probably keep his mouth shut while his wife complained that her daughters and husband were so ungrateful. They’d been presented with a prime hunk of male who, the way he just threw out a bet of ten thousand credits, must have quite a nest egg. And he was young and handsome and sexy as hell.
But then he’d melted. She touched the puddle with her big toe. It jiggled, like gelatin that hadn’t quite finished setting. He said poison? What if he never rematerialized? What if she was stuck in this room with a puddle of black pudding forever?
It was a common fantasy, to be fought over, and if she’d not been completely horrified at the thought of the other guy winning, she might have enjoyed it more. His opponent looked like someone had cut off the head of a warthog and glued it ontoa mangy gorilla. That thing had been huge, but Relyn had faced it confidently and competently.
How the hell had they gotten captured so easily? Nora was pretty sure she hadn’t slept through any engine noises that would have alerted her to a chase in progress. There were no alarms, and Bright had just let her sleep through being boarded? Something wasn’t adding up. Bright’s previous comments about pirates were seeming very suspicious to Nora right now. Well, that and the fact that Bright had whispered in her ear while everyone was watching the fight.
“I think we can trust him.”
Nora had thought she could trust Bright, but she seemed to be wrong about that. Every instinct told her that Relyn was also worthy of that trust, but her brain was keeping her heart and her gut in check. Perhaps it was that she’d never met a guy on Earth that had ever looked at her that way. There were some sloppy experiments in college, but no one had ever lasted. She wasn’t the sexy teacher that guys crushed on. She was the smart geeky one that laughed at her own jokes when no one else in the room got them.
Nora stood up from the bed and walked into the bathroom. Her robe was now splattered with blood. It wasn’t quite the same color as human blood either. It looked a little darker, more purple. Either way, she needed to get it off. Her nighty was clear, thank goodness. Nora put the robe in what she hoped was a sonic washer. None of these things came with labels. The sonic shower looked familiar. Clover had the same type aboard her ship and while it was efficient, Nora still preferred good old hot water. In space, hot water was a precious commodity that didn’t get wasted in showers.
