Stevr (The Mating Games Book 5) (2 page)

Malix looked at him with no surprise. “I’m guessing you were woke by the alarm? It was just a small piece of space junk. Tellar removed it and we will send it out with the next load of trash.” They generally dumped the trash when they came within a certain distance from a star. The chute shot the contents out at a high speed so it would continue on until it hit burning itself up completely. Many things were recycled and the Mazlans didn’t like to waste anything but they also liked to keep things clean and orderly.

“Did you scan it first? You remember the Earthers have that story about the Trojan horse. They would know we would remove an obstacle that could be dangerous if hit from a space pathway.”

“I’ll do a deeper scan.” A beep sounded. “Tellar, jettison it and change.” Malix yelled into the com.

A second later there was a loud noise and more lights and alarms flashed. Stevr ran from the room and to the lift. He was down to the chute in two and a half minutes. Tellar had gotten it out the chute but the object had exploded before it was clear of the ship. Luckily he had shifted to his demon or he would be dead. “Get medical down here.” Stevr yelled into his com.

Danad and his mate Gilian rushed in with a bag to begin assessing and assisting him immediately. Gilian scanned him and instructed her mate on what to do. “We are lucky. In human form he would have been charred. Even in demon form he will require a week or more to heal in a submersion tank.”

Tellar moaned. No one wanted to be in a submersion tank. It wasn’t new technology so they were all familiar with it. When they lifted him on the gurney so they could take him to medical he stifled the scream of pain when they touched his burns. Stevr felt his pain as did the other Mazlans near him. Fury rolled over him but he tried not to let the others, especially Tellar feel it since it could upset him. This had gone on long enough and these people needed to be tracked down and exterminated if need be. The problem was they had no idea who they were.

There were many drug companies they competed with. That seemed the most obvious place to start. Drugs R Us was the largest Earth based company. Of course even while they competed on some levels they were also the Mazlans number one customer. They bought the raw product, processed it, and made a fortune. It made little sense that they would kill their golden goose unless they knew that they were considering processing and selling some of their own product for themselves. The fact that this was supposed to be a secret but maybe someone had let the cat out of the bag.

Stevr loved the colorful sayings his sister in laws used and he had picked up many of them. When he used them other Mazlans gave him blank stares. They might as well learn before they mated so they would understand their females. He loved his new sisters, the mates of his brothers, but he would be the first to admit they were very different from Mazlans. Some Mazlan males might have to adjust to them but he had no doubt once they did they would love them.

Two attacks in less than a day wasn’t acceptable. It was time to figure out a way to track down these merciless saboteurs. Maybe even infiltrate the company to find out exactly who was ordering these attacks if indeed it was Drugs R Us. Once he finished helping deliver Tellar to medical, the medics had him hooked up to a breathing tube, and in the submersion tank, he left. Heading to the command deck to check in and then having been assured everything had turned out to be fine, he went to his office.

His office was fully secure and anything coming from there would reach its recipient safely. He sent Razar a video message containing all the information about what had happened plus what he suggested doing about it. Having a crewmember injured especially when he could have been killed was unacceptable. Normally he wasn’t violent but right now his inner demon wanted to tear someone limb from limb. The satisfaction of rending their enemy to shreds would please him to no end.

Stevr barely held him in check telling him that their enemy was probably far away right now plotting the next attack. If one fell into his hands, he couldn’t say if he would be able to prevent their demise. Soon there would be females, some with children, to protect. Somehow he had a feeling that wouldn’t slow these people down one bit. If their enemy came from Earth, they wouldn’t mind killing females, grown ones or children. Except for Lista’s brothers, no male children had ever been allowed to leave Earth. They had made an exception for them because they were unclaimed. To Stevr, that said everything about the males of Earth.

He found the attitude sickening even if he and his fellow Mazlan males were benefitting from it. Lista’s mother had been in a relationship with a male that wanted a son. When he had died before knowing she was pregnant, the boys were considered unclaimed when the male’s brother had claimed his wealth but denied the boys. The man who had fathered the boys refused to claim her until he was sure she could give him sons. Even though the doctor’s report said she wasn’t effected with the mutation that prevented male offspring she had only had girls before. He was hedging his bets but died without ever knowing he had not one but two sons.

Once Stevr sent the report to Razar, he headed back to the command deck. There he made some notes for whoever was in charge for the coming night shift. They were to bring nothing aboard, run hourly scans on the ship, cargo, surrounding space, and wake him if anything seemed off. Security was also to set up and monitor as many cameras in the cargo hold and other rarely accessed areas as they could. If they had paid one saboteur, who was to say they didn’t have a backup?

Setting those safeguards and a few others in place made him feel better. Razar would have the now deceased saboteur investigated with the hope of tracing his involvement through the money or anyone that knew anything that was associated with the guy. Someone somewhere knew something they only had to find them. Stevr finished out his shift grateful for the quiet he had once considered boring. It was his hope that they would lay low until he had his trip completed. No, he didn’t think that would be the case but it didn’t hurt to hope.

Finishing his shift it was a relief when the night passed without any alarms going off. Stevr felt more rested in the morning than he had been the day before. When he started his shift he was happy that no unusual activity was reported. In the back of his mind he knew something was coming and he feared that it would be on the way back when they had an opportunity to turn one of the crew or sneak something onboard. The next few days passed with no cause for concern and they were about halfway through the trip.

He still worried every time they passed near a planet, another ship, or even a piece of floating space trash. Since he was on guard, his crew was also nervous and watchful. Not just the command crew but the nervousness had wormed its way down until everyone on the ship was jumpy. The difference was his command crew knew why they should be worried the others just sensed something was wrong. In an attempt to appease the whole crew, he had a special meal cooked for everyone.

They didn’t generally encourage feasting for the crew because overindulging of any kind could impair senses and decision making but he’d made an exception for one meal. All the crew, even the Mazlans seemed to enjoy it although his inner circle didn’t indulge as the others did. Stevr kept a close eye on things and they made it through with only a few mishaps and a couple of the human crewmembers getting sick. It did seem to have the intended result of relaxing the crew and ending the jumpiness.

It finally came time that arrival on the space station was imminent. When he took his place on the command deck in the morning, the space station would be in sight then or soon after. Before his shift ended he would video chat with the ambassador who was in charge of the program that provided the mates and collected the payment. He was a greedy and cold male. The females he traded were held in the highest contempt by that man and others like him yet he was eager to collect what he called fees.

That alone was reason enough to dislike the weasel, as Lista called him. According to Lista the male had traded his own daughter to the program because he was embarrassed that he had daughters and no sons. Stevr would be thrilled with whatever child the gods granted him. That a male could throw away such a perfect gift made no sense to him or any Mazlans. Secretly he wished males like that wouldn’t be gifted with any children at all. They didn’t deserve them but it seemed males like that benefitted when they should be deprived.

He made the call sitting at his desk with just a little time left of his shift. This made the Earth time around ten in the morning which was the time Ambassador Crumph preferred to be called. “Ambassador Crumph’s office. May I help you?”

“Yes, Marley. I have an appointment to speak to the Ambassador at this time.” Stevr smiled brightly. He liked Marley who was the ambassador’s long suffering personal assistant. She was young, sweet and very unhappy to have to work with that man.

“Stevr! It’s nice to hear from you. I’ll put you right through since he’s expecting you.”

She did just that. “Stevr? Is that you?” Crumph hesitated and looked surprised to see him. “You’re on time I take it?” He asked recovering from his shock. That was a man they needed to look into.

“Yes, Ambassador. We will arrive in the afternoon.” Stevr lied knowing they would arrive this time in the morning or earlier. It wouldn’t slow anything down since all the females were already on the space station and had been told to be packed to leave as early as eight in the morning.

Stevr was hoping for an advantage if they didn’t expect them until later. An organized professional would be prepared at any time but many of the humans in politics weren’t organized or professional. “We look forward to seeing you. All is ready with your brides.” Crumph said with an oily smile. Dealing with this human politician made his skin crawl and made him feel dirty.

“Thank you. I look forward to our arrival tomorrow.” Stevr said honestly.

“As do I. We will be waiting for you.” Crumph replied and Stevr knew it was a threat hid behind diplomacy. This male was involved somehow even if he’d only passed on information in exchange for a bribe. It would give them another link to follow in the hopes of getting to the person who had begun this.

The line went dead as Crumph’s ugly face stayed frozen on the screen. Sick of looking at it Stevr turned the screen off than back on. He sent Razar another report with the suggestion of digging into Crumph. Sure they had looked into him before when he’d been put in charge of the bride program but they hadn’t dug deep. There had been no need at the time but things had changed. This time they would even hire someone to bug his office and follow him indefinitely. They had too few potential clues not to pull out all the stops in order to get to the bottom of things.

Once the report was sent to Razar, he was done for the day. Tonight he went to the private dining room for the command crew. In here there was alcohol and good company. The alcohol didn’t affect him but he liked the burn when it went down and the strong flavor. Tellar was usually his choice of companion to play a game of cards or reminisce about when they grew up, but he was still in the submersion tank. The good doctor had put him in a coma because he couldn’t stay still and that was probably for the best. It was quiet in here without Tellar or one of his other males. They were probably resting hoping to be up to no good on the space station.

It was something he had considered doing himself until he’d found out he would be in the hunt this upcoming cycle. That was when he decided since he’d waited this long to experience that side of life, he would wait for his mate. With her the discovery of love and sensual delights would mean the most. They would share it together. The decision felt right so he would stick with it. Besides, under the current circumstances he would feel better if they unloaded the weed, loaded the brides, and got the hell out of Dodge. That was another old Earth saying Lista liked.

Stevr knew his males would be disappointed but they would live to complain about it this way. If they ran loose on the station they might not survive it. Whatever happened would be blamed on them and swept under the carpet. He downed another large glass of what Lista called rotgut whiskey then slammed the glass on the table. All the needed decisions were now made and he would retire to his room. There was a warmth in his belly from the whiskey that gave him comfort.

Moving down the hall he saw that all the off duty males seem to have turned in. He sighed thinking about how disappointed and pissed off they’d all be. That was part of the unfortunate responsibility of being in command. All of them would deal with the disappointment in their own way some of them by blaming him. This would be the case especially with the human crew members who had no idea what was going on. They would think him harsh and unfair depriving them of their fun just to rush back home.

Once he made it to his room he prepared for bed turning in with all the worries of the day roaring through his brain. Stevr knew others of his kind had this problem and humans had it even worse. They’d given is a name, insomnia. If he’d been on Oison he’d have turned to his demon form and run for miles until he was drained of even the energy to think. There was only one other way he could think of to take some of the excess energy away that might tire him enough to sleep.

Trying to focus his thoughts on what his future mate might look like he could only come up with a shadowy female form. Pulling back the blankets, he uncovered his naked body. His hand moved down to his sack which he cupped and squeezed gently a few times before he moved up to his now rock hard shaft. He began to stroke it all the way to the base and back to the tip a few times before his strokes got faster and shorter. Stroking from about halfway to the end, his speed got faster until his hand was a blur. The friction increased as he thought of nothing but how good his mate’s hand would feel. It only took a few minutes before he stiffened, groaned, and squirted ropes of warm white fluid all over his belly. He wiped his cum off with a nearby shirt then rolled over and went to sleep.