Chapter 112: More Furs...
Midnight wrapped his thick, trunk-like arms around my waist and froze. "You—" he said a second time, still unable to say anything else.
"Me?" I asked, not sure what was going on. I turned to look at his first officer, who seemed to follow him everywhere. When Midnight realized that my attention was not on him but rather on his first officer, he turned to face the male and let out a low, threatening growl.
I smacked him on the muzzle, which drew his attention back to me and away from the poor male that looked like he was trying to sink into the floor. "Me, what?" I demanded. "And are you going to put me down any time soon?"
"You smell good," he grumbled before sticking his cold nose right behind my ear. Luckily, he chose the side that Night was not on; otherwise, I don’t think my little sidekick would have approved.
"Thank you?" I replied cautiously. I had no idea what he was talking about. But as long as I didn’t stink, I would take it as a compliment. "Now, about putting me down?"
"I’ll think about it. And see, I am just proving my point. Anyone can pick you up and abduct you," he said with a shrug of his massive shoulders as he transferred me to his left arm so I was sitting on his forearm like I weighed no more than Night.
Let me tell you. That was a massive boost to any girl’s ego. I don’t care who you were.
He walked out of the hanger bay, but not before I remembered to give the order to Sha Shou 2.0 to close and lock the doors. Maybe I would see if one of the AIs couldn’t develop a key fob system or something to make it easier on me.
As soon as he crossed the threshold, I was greeted by the loud, overwhelming sounds and smell of the Etune Galaxy space station. And if I never come back here again, it would be too soon. Wishing I could turn tail and run, I realized that I needed to give my Nightmares enough time to eat their full and make it back to the ship.
Fuck.
"Are you okay?" asked Midnight as he carried me through the crowds of people. I didn’t know if it was intentional or not, but everyone gave the male carrying me a wide birth.
"Peachy keen," I said through gritted teeth. "But this place is a lot more crowded than Thuzirus."
He let out a deep chuckle, and my body practically vibrated as a result. "Thuzirus is for the unsavory creatures such as us. This is an intergalactic space station that prides itself on catering to the wants and needs of all species. Did you want me to take you shopping?" he asked as we walked down a long hallway with stalls on both sides.
"I’m go—" I started to say, but then I saw a stall that was selling nothing but furs.
"Gotcha," grinned Midnight. "We’ll see what he has to offer and go from there."
"Why is there no one around his stall?" I asked, mildly concerned. I mean, as far as I could see, the furs were of exceptional quality, but if there was no one around, maybe I was missing something.
"Probably because he is a Saalistaja," shrugged Midnight as he pushed aside an innocent bystander with four arms. The Goro-looking alien swung one of his beefy upper fists at Midnight only to have the wolfman grab the offending appendage and snap it in two with just one hand.
It was almost like the pain woke the other male up, and he blinked at Midnight a few times before bowing his head and disappearing into the crowd.
"I didn’t know you were that scary," I said with a smirk. I mean, I was sure that some part of my brain processed that Midnight was not one of those ones you wanted to mess with, but after a little while, it just got pushed to the back of my brain.
Now every time I saw him, all I could see was a Bernese Mountain dog or a Newfoundland. He might be big, but I was in more danger of being slobbered to death than bitten.
"I try," replied the male with a smirk, and the crowds dispersed even further away from him. In fact, they practically created a path to the stall with the furs.
"I am sure you succeed," I assured him with a little pet to his head. Okay, I really couldn’t help myself. I had been holding back for the last ten minutes, not wanting to be insulting, but he was so cute and fluffy.
He only chuckled and tilted his head so I had better access to his ears sitting on top of his head. "If you don’t see what you want, let me know. I have tons of furs on my ship and the ability to get even more. Maybe you can even knock off a few Alliance gold bars off the price of the zmaj."
"Ha, nice try. I can more than afford my own furs with what you are paying me," I shot back. I was not going to take any money off the shit that almost killed me, not even for a friend.
I turned to take my first look at the Saalistaja in front of me, and I would have to say, for a being that was part of the scariest species in the known universe, he was a bit... not what I expected. I think that was the politically correct way of saying that.
He stood at a similar height to Midnight, if not an inch or two higher. He was also dressed head to toe in what looked to be very familiar armor. Yeah, it was probably a really good thing that I didn’t come here dressed in my armor. It would have been a dead giveaway that I had some of their stolen technology.
Okay, so I should probably be more honest. Although similar to mine, his armor was more brown and black, looking like a darker version of camouflage than I had seen before. He had the same metal plated on his body that I did, but they were a lot more solid, with spikes coming out of his shoulders, and his torso looked to have metal ribs encircling it.
He had metal encased dreadlocks, with almost brass bands at the bottom of two of the ones that hung down his front. He seemed to stare at me with bright red eyes coming from slits in his helmet. A series of white (ivory) horns seemed to protrude out the side of the helmet, giving him a distinctive look, and his mouth was covered by metal bars resembling teeth.
I would fully admit I could not stop staring.
He looked nothing like what I imagined the Saalistaja to look like. I expected to be scared, not attracted. But then again, I haven’t actually seen what the male looked like beneath the helmet.
