Page 41 of Taken to Kor
“Whatever she may think, however long it takes for you to make her accept her place, we have already acknowledged her as your mate. The others will understand, even the young, impulsive ones. And together, the two of you can set a new sort of precedence that the rest of us can only hope to emulate.”
And my heart lifts up out of my chest and floats away. I swallow down the lump in my throat and tilt my head forward towards the other pirates crowded in the space. All but Erobu are smiling my way. Erobu still looks uncomfortable. He shifts from foot-to-foot and offers, “Maybe some of the females will even be taught our customs, too.”
I nod. “Some may be willing to participate in shekurr. We won’t know that they’re truly willing, though, until we find an adequate base for them where we can approach them…” The lift slides to a graceful stop, cutting me off before I can finish what I was going to say. And what I was going to say was,as equals.
“Come on! This way,” Gerannu shouts, leading the group.
We run down the ramp towards a room guarding a cluster of tanks just as another voice fires in through our tokens. All of them at once. “Orono here. Um…Rhorkanterannu you better get to level twelve. A few pirates are trying to open some of the tanks.”
“We know, Orono,” I shout.
“Oh good. Do you know that Deena is trying to shoot them?”
“Ontte, we know that, too.”
“Good good. What about the breach on level eighteen?”
“Level eighteen?” I give Herannathon a look as we register Orono’s words and he grits his teeth, looking past the tanks as we approach a yeeyar wall leading to another room, this one where the backup cannon controls can be found. A few tanks are stored in here, too, but this isn’t where Deena is holding up my pirates. We have three more rooms and another ramp to go before we arrive at the sight.And I can’t shroving wait.
Orono shouts over the sound of chaos behind him, “Ontte. I think we’ve got some clingers trying to board.”
“Trying to board?” Gerannu,Quintenanrret, Tevbarannos, Erobu, Herannathon and I all shout in perfect unison. The audacity.
“Ontte. I’m not sure, but it looks kind of like a Sky signature.”
I throw my head back and howl out a laugh. “The audacity! Gerannu, Erobu, Tevbarannos — to level eighteen. Herannathon, you come with me and we’ll join Deena in controlling the problem up ahead.”
The three ordered pirates peel off with mirrored grins as they begin extracting swords from their belts and blasters from the slings hanging off of their tines. The Sky are cyber-genetically enhanced warriors of all species and make for compelling opponents. We’ve lost handfuls of pirates to Sky warriors. To have them here, now, when we truly have something to defend? Shrov, it’s exciting.
Herannathon starts to pull his own blaster off his back, but I counsel him against it. “We’ll try a more subtle approach than Deena’s.”
He grins. “More subtle than Deena shouldn’t be hard.”
“Centare. But maybe we can redirect her focus.”
“Shroving comets, Rhork,” Herannathon laughs, “What are you thinking? To let her lead the charge and fight the Sky?”
“That’s exactly what I’m thinking.” I start to laugh again as I realize that, not once, but twice in as many solars, I’ll be able to experience my mate in the way every Niahhorru dreams of most — fighting a battle side-by-side.
9
Deena
“You did well.” His hand is on the back of my neck and is turning my legs to soup.
Okay, not my legs. The thing at their juncture. And I’m too hopped up right now to remember that he might think I’m the most disgusting creature on this side of the galaxy. Or that he might not think that at all and might be in love with me.
Both options seem equally implausible, or plausible. Both options seem freaking crazy.
So instead, I just stare up at him with a sloppy grin while I lean back into his grip. I’ve got less blood on me than I did after our last battle against the rug people, but I’ve still got some blood on me and I like it. I think that might make me deranged or sick or something, but I don’t care about that either. Mainly because none of these other people around me do either.
Wait, not people. Pirates.
But what’s weird is that they are starting to feel a lot more like people to me than all the people I lived with on the colony. Or maybe, I’m just starting to feel more like a pirate. I feel like I’m home.
The thought hits me like a freaking asteroid plummeting into a too-small planet. In one clean sweep, I’m obliterated.
Oh shrov. I’m gonna start crying. I can feel it. The tears are creeping up the backs of my arms, moving slowly and sluggishly as they head toward my eyes. Up over my shoulders they climb, causing my shoulders to jolt a little and to make Rhork’s face twist into a frown.
