Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 105936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
I took it uncertainly and he pulled me to my feet.
“All right—good.” He nodded. “Now dry your eyes and come with me.”
“Wait…” I held back, tugging at his grip. “I…I need to get my clothes on,” I said, when he gave me an uncertain look. “I can’t go around the ship naked.”
“We’ll get your clothes in a minute. Here—put this on.”
He took off his shirt, which was still hanging loose around his muscular frame, and handed it to me.
I turned my back to him to preserve what little modesty I had left and slipped into the shirt. As I buttoned it, I was glad that it was too loose on me to show the curves of my breasts. It smelled like him too—warm and spicy and comforting. Just inhaling his scent made me feel better and I found I was able to stop crying completely.
When I turned back around, Turk looked me up and down with an appraising expression.
“I guess you do look like a Catamite,” he murmured. “Or at least you look like you come from Cata Prime.” He shook his head. “And here I was thinking you looked familiar because you resemble someone I know.”
“I do?” My heart jumped into my throat. Oh Goddess, if he found out who I really was and that I’d been fooling him…
“You do.” He frowned. “Are you sure you don’t have any ancestry from Cata Prime?”
“Maybe,” I said cautiously. If I could give him a different reason to think I looked familiar, that would be good. “But even if I did have some Catamite blood in my veins, that doesn’t mean I’d want to be treated like one,” I added quickly.
“No, of course not.” Turk shook his head. “Come on—we can talk about it later. Right now I need to get to the bottom of this.”
And he led me down the metal corridor.
17
TURK
Iled the boy down the corridor and back to my private lift. His clear amber eyes were bloodshot from weeping but he seemed calmer now.
It was a damn good thing for him that I’d come back down to the crew deck when I had. Though to be honest, I still couldn’t say why I had done it.
It was the strangest fucking thing—I’d been getting dressed in my quarters when suddenly a feeling of almost panic had come over me. A feeling that something terrible and irrevocable was about to happen if I didn’t quickly get back below decks.
I hadn’t stopped to question the feeling. After years of captaining a smuggling ship, I’d learned to trust my instincts and I’d never had such a strong one before. I couldn’t even wait to take my lift—I went straight down the tube because it was faster.
The minute I’d climbed down the Gensen’s tube, I heard someone shrieking. To be honest, it almost sounded like a female voice—which was impossible because we didn’t have any women on board. The feeling had gotten even stronger and I had run as fast as I could towards the ominous sound.
I’d gotten back to the shower room just in time to stop a rape in progress. I felt a surge of rage when I remembered the sight that had met my eyes. The huge, hairy Jerx—that fucking animal—pressing the helpless boy to the wall with his dick in one hand, trying to shove it in.
My hands curled into fists—I didn’t tolerate such things on my ship! Rape and abuse might be standard on other deep space vessels, but not aboard The Illyrian. What the fuck made Jerx think he had the right to treat a fellow crewmember that way? He was definitely in for a rude awakening—as was Gurflug, if he really had perpetuated the rumor that Cass was a Catamite and there for the crew’s pleasure to use whenever they wanted.
It occurred to me that I was feeling extremely protective—even possessive—of the slim boy I’d hired to navigate. Which didn’t make any sense—I didn’t even know him and besides, I’m no lover of males, as I believe I mentioned before. Still, the feelings persisted. Even though I didn’t know the boy, I wanted to take care of him—to protect him.
Enough. I told myself I was just upset about what had almost happened and the insubordination I now had to punish. The boy really didn’t have anything to do with it—he was just a victim in all this, that was all.
But I still couldn’t understand why I’d had such a deep, visceral feeling that I had to get down below decks and rescue him…
My thoughts were interrupted when we crossed through the bridge and entered my Ready Room. I cast a grim look at the whipping cross and coiled pain whip in the corner of the room and then looked back at Cass, who was staring at me with wide, frightened eyes.