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)
It went deeper than that, though, I admitted to myself. I wasn’t just trying to keep the rules of The Illyrian intact. I had a powerful urge to protect the boy for some reason. It was irrational—I had only met him the other day, he was nothing to me except a brilliant navigator. But I couldn’t fight with my heart, which demanded that he be protected at all costs.
I hadn’t even been angry when I woke up with him draped all over me that morning—though it would have pissed me off if it had happened with any other Crewmember. I’m no lover of men, as I’ve said before. Being so close to another male—especially when I was vulnerable in bed—should have made me angry. But I’d felt nothing but affection when I looked down and found him wrapped around me, his head on my chest and his long lashes fluttering on his cheeks as he dreamed.
Why was that? What was happening to me? Why did I feel so protective and yes, possessive of a boy I’d never met before two days ago?
I had no answers for any of those questions. I would just have to keep an eye on the Crew and ask Snuffy to take their temperature often to let me know if there was anything brewing. The long-nosed cabin boy was universally liked because he often ran errands for busy Crewmembers. He would be able to let me know if there was something bad coming down the line. He—
“Captain, I must protest this nonsense!”
The strident, nasal voice was all too familiar. I looked up to see Frux standing by my chair, looking down his long, bony nose at me. There was an expression of self-righteous anger on his long face.
Inwardly, I sighed. Couldn’t one day go by without the Union Rep complaining about something? But I knew the answer to that—it was almost always “No.”
“And what ‘nonsense’ are you protesting this time, Frux?” I asked, glaring up at him. I was in no mood to put up with him today. Not with so much on my mind.
“I’m talking about the favoritism you’re showing to the second navigator you hired for some reason—though I’m beginning to doubt you hired him to navigate at all!” Frux announced.
Of course, every Crewmember on the Bridge heard him. I thought of taking him into my Ready Room for some privacy, but it was too late. I was going to have to address this in public, because that was where he had started it.
“What exactly do you mean by that, Frux?” I asked, letting my voice drop to a menacing growl. “What favoritism?”
“Why, you’re letting him share your quarters!” Frux exclaimed. “While I—a ranking officer—am forced to sleep in the same cabin as the lowly regular Crew! If anyone gets to share the Captain’s Quarters it should be me—the Union Rep!”
“I’m not fucking sharing my quarters with you, Frux!” I growled. Just the thought of having to share a bed with the irritating bastard was enough to make me want to fucking break his bony nose for him.
“They why are you letting that boy sleep with you when he has a perfectly good berth in the navigators’ bunk?” Frux demanded. “Or is what the Crew is whispering true?”
“I don’t know—what is the Crew whispering?” I growled. I was really beginning to lose my patience now!
“They’re saying you got them a Catamite but then changed your mind and decide to keep him for yourself, Captain. So they are, so they are,” Snuffy said helpfully. “Sorry,” he added apologetically. “I thought you should know—though I was going to tell you later, in private. Yes, I was. Yes, I was.”
“Yes, well—there’s no need to be private about it,” I said calmly. “I’m allowing Cass to stay with me because he and our other navigator weren’t getting along. It’s important to keep the peace between two of our most important Crewmates.”
I could have said something about how I feared for Cass’s life—or at least his virtue—if I had left him where he was. But he was already perceived as weak and vulnerable by the rest of the Crew—I didn’t want to make things worse.
Speaking of Cass, I was aware that he was standing on the other side of my chair, blushing helplessly and keeping silent. Gurflug, on the other hand, had turned in the navigator’s chair and was eyeing the whole scene with a triumphant look on his flat face, obviously enjoying the scene that the Union Rep was making.
“So you moved the boy in with you to ‘keep the peace?” Frux sneered. “Riiight. Rest assured, Captain, all of this will be going into my report for our Chieftain at the end of this trip!”
At last, I lost my temper. If this skinny shit thought he could disrespect me in front of my Bridge Crew, he was going to learn otherwise the hard way!