StarSet (The Warrior Prince's Claim - BBW Science Fiction Romance) Read Free

of his musculature.
    They were inappropriate thoughts to be sure, but gods he was marvelous, wasn't he? And not nearly as rude as one might assume he would be for a Teleran. Even given the green light to

leave her interview, he'd offered her what she'd wanted. It wasn't enough for a robust report, but she'd be able to enter each section of the data into the main drive, now.
    Drawing a sip of her bubbling Keska, she smiled to herself. It was silly to be daydreaming about how hot an alien prince was when he probably saw her as little more than a nuisance. It wouldn't ever work with a Teleran, anyways. Too many rules and customs for Shala's taste.
    She'd never been a strict traditionalist. Never wanted to be.
    Eyes roaming the promenade for a distraction from the wrong sorts of thoughts, Shala inhaled the remaining slosh of her drink. She couldn't remember the last time she'd gotten good and drunk, lost control, and awoke with a roaring hangover fitting an allied officer.
    She deserved that, didn't she?
    Even needed it, maybe.
    Sighing, Shala soon tired of the usuals on the promenade. None of the liver characters were here tonight. Maybe news of the attack had reached them, and they'd decided to duck their heads in case there was trouble. One acquisitioner attack typically always signaled more. As adaptive as they were, some of their... traits remained predictable.
    The only reason Shala wasn't obsessing over the potential dangers to come was because she knew better. Recoiling in fear or becoming hyper-defensive would throw off her advantage when the red-eyed bastards did actually return. It wouldn't pay to attempt a prediction as to what they had in mind.
    They were scavengers. Anything on the ship could be the target of their aims. As far as she was concerned, they'd find out when they found out.
    What did concern her was the dead thing that might possibly be a remade-woman. That she'd keep beats on. It would sting a little too close to home if Tana came back with an affirmative report. Shala had a cousin out there that most of the family had written off as kidnapped and done for. But Shala hadn't written her off at all. She still held tight to the sliver of hope that she'd find her roaming the various sectors, and if the acquisitioners had her, free her. No matter the amount of corrupted blood she might have to spill in the process.
    Her jaw clenched, but she bat the thoughts away as soon as they came.
    “Fancy meeting you here.”
    Blinking up, Shala beamed when her eyes set on Heren, and she perked up instantly.
    Her old partner in crime. Of a sort. In university, he and the other members of their guerrilla activism group had done their fair share setting the lab animals free, in the most assholish ways possible.
    Stars, she missed that.
    Heren was a deck guard now, usually assigned to the more common portions of the various allied, city ships. She hadn't noticed him on Telera one's roster, though. Stars, how long had it been? What, a year or two after university the last time they saw one another?
    “Heren, buddy! Flippin' good to see you. How've you been?”
    His dusty, violet brows rising with a resigned sense of defeat, Heren shrugged, familiar, neon-green eyes setting on her.
    “The common areas of this ship aren't anything to brag about, but it's work.”
Offering him an understanding nod, Shala tried to keep sympathy from rising to her face. Zerens were a prideful bunch, if nothing else, and she had no desire to ruin his night. It was bad enough he got the shit jobs because of his luminous eyes and coiling horns. He might have a professor-grade mind, but the allied forces were still a little antiquated where ship placement was concerned. If you looked scary enough to keep an alien race that needed coaxing in line, you'd be assigned to that job, and that job alone.
    “I'll be glad when we're planetside, myself. Then, I'm going on vacation.”

 
    Heren nodded and grinned, his attention flickering to the bar menu