Page 13 of Found Treasure Bride

I came out redressed in the clothes I’d taken off to find he’d stripped the bed. He’d put his pants back on but was shirtless, the vest hanging off the back of the chair at the table. The hatch to the lower level was also open.

“Grakchn?”

“Yeah, it’s all clear, dude,” Jakrah said.

Grorsch came up and began telling Jakrah something.

“Yeah, so, the whole strut, huh? Damn. Well, I guess it can’t be helped.”

“What’s wrong?” I asked, understanding that the Frellian was upset about some structural damage.

“Huh?” he asked, looking over at me. “Oh, nothing much. Just one of the struts needs replacing as soon as we get a chance. It looks like we damaged a bit more than our docking clamps when we took off.”

I felt terrible about that. If it wasn’t for me, they might have been able to find a way to get out of there without literally tearing themselves away.

“Right, I think after all that, I’ve worked up quite the appetite. Who’s hungry?”

My stomach gurgled. “I guess I could eat,” I admitted grudgingly.

“Mrawnhhh. Grakikmlgh mrundhhh.”

“Yeah, sure. I know you can’t wait to get out of those clothes.”

“Gragh,” Grorsch replied, scratching idly at his chest as he made his way to the fresher.

“I’ll have it ready by the time you get out,” Jakrah called after him.

Noticing the Frellian had not taken any clothes with him, and Jakrah had mentioned him getting out of those clothes, I asked, “Um, what’s he going to out n after?”

All I got as a reply from Jakrah was a laugh.

12

Jakrah

Over the next two days, the itching in my arm became so bad, I injected myself with a light local anesthetic. The pattern was even more pronounced, the lines going from an irritated red to a sort of purple. Great, I was developing a bruise or something on top of everything else.

After changing the sheets as she requested, I decided my best course of action was to cram myself onto the two-seater sofa to sleep. So I had a terrible crick in my neck, legs, and back afterward? At least I didn’t accidentally end up kissing her or rubbing my bare skin against her as she slept, accelerating whatever this was.

Mate, my traitorous brain whispered at me.

That might well be true, but I just had to hope that we could part ways before the bond settled if she was. No way could it work out. Our careers and dreams just didn’t mesh. In fact, she probably wasn’t my mate at all. It was probably just a hormonal imbalance brought on by stress. After all, it had happened while I at my most frantic, right? Just having confessed all to my best friend and business partner, desperately praying for a miracle to fall into our lap so we could pay Rando and getting the hell out of there with our skins intact, without getting roped into whatever quasi-illegal scheme he’d targeted us for.

I stretched, feeling a bit bored as I looked out at the expanse. Lots and lots of empty space, pretty much. I rolled my neck, wondering if maybe I could talk Nancy into another roll in the sheets before we arrived tomorrow. I’d have thought we’d be fucking like rabbits, but no. I reckoned the mottled appearance of my arm was putting her off.

What was that?

I turned my head, peering at the section of the screen where I thought I’d spotted movement. I tapped on the console, magnifying that part of the screen. Nothing.

Wait, there it is again.

“Grorsch, get your fuzzy butt up here,” I called out. “Professor Sweetcheeks, you need to hold on tight. We; ’ve got company!”

Grorsch huffed in discontent., his massive hands delicately fastening himself in before pulling his console towards him. I knew he’d be attempting a long-range sensor sweep.

“Grachghhh rah harsnggg.”

“Shit? Really?”