Cravr (The Mating Games Book 8) (4 page)

Cravr laughed now. Her expression was so fierce, his sweet Annie. “You are adorable.”

“You don’t know much about women do you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Adorable I ain’t. Some of us hold a grudge.”

“What does that mean?”

“I’d be checking all my food and drink carefully for a long time, if I were you.”

“You wouldn’t do anything to my food. Would you?”

“Hmpf!”

Cravr would never admit it, but now he was worried. It was true, he knew little about females and nothing about human ones. He only hoped Annie was teasing about her desire to get even. Maybe laughing at her wasn’t such a good idea. The male looked at Annie as she drank and obviously enjoyed, the instant coffee.

“Is it true you rarely got coffee at your former home?”

“Yes, prices were too high. Most of it is either exported or bought by the men.”

“You’ll have access to it here. Lista loves it, all the mates do, and they’ve even converted my mother to drinking it.”

“I’m sure she was happy to have something that wasn’t bitter for a change.”

“Maybe?” Cravr wasn’t sure what to say. It was true their females didn’t enjoy the crue as much as the males did but there had been no other choice for them. Annie, normally good natured, wasn’t acting like her usual self either.

Annie laughed, probably because Cravr was so unsure of how to handle her. Either that, or she was just laughing at him, he didn’t like that. He remembered that other Earth saying,
now you know how I feel
. Maybe he shouldn’t have laughed at her, he would be more careful in the future.

“Not maybe, definitely.” Annie confirmed.

Things were quiet between them now as they scanned the screens and looked out of the windows hoping for something to do to kill the boredom and uncomfortable silence. Cravr turned the screen slightly.

“What was that?”

“What?” He asked.

“That flash of heat.”

“I don’t see anything.” He admitted staring at the screen. Then he saw it, a brief flash of heated air. “There it is. They must be hiding their heat signature but someone opened a door or there’s a leak.” As they watched, the puff of hot air showed up every five minutes or so. “Good job seeing that. I might have missed it.” Annie smiled at him, clearly pleased with the praise. Hopefully, she would forget she’d been angry with him.

Since it was obvious someone was trying to hide and there was no good reason for it, Cravr called in a strike team to hit the target. They would be there in an hour, maybe less. That meant there was nothing to do, but sit and wait. Waiting was never fun and with a gorgeous female that you had to walk on eggshells with, yes, another Earth saying, it was twice as hard. Cravr found his attention constantly drawn back to Annie. He’d even caught her watching him a few times. Maybe it was time to bring this thing between them out in the open. It wasn’t like he had much time before the games to explore his attraction to her and convince her to accompany him to the Temple.

Cravr’s thoughts were interrupted when Annie spoke. “Someone is here.”

He looked around until he saw a hover car pulling up near them. His people would have tracking that would locate the van immediately and lead them right to it. Two males got out and walked to the door. Inkus and Illicus were brothers. Their dad had been a lordling, a minor lord somewhat like a governor, on Mazlan. He’d been unable to turn a blind eye to the cruelty and unfair treatment received by many on their home planet. When he had protested, his whole family had been sent here with him.

Those of noble birth, had simply been banished to the planet, those of common stock had been placed in the prisons, and forced to labor. Their family, as Cravr also had, were banished to Oison, but not jailed. There lands and possessions stripped from them to enrich the emperors coffers. Their sister had also been taken, only mated females or those that were infants, were sent here.

The door opened and the two males came inside. “Greetings, Inkus and Illicus. This is my personal assistant, Annie. She will be working with us on this case and some others.”

Their attention turned to her, and their appreciation was obvious. Cravr didn’t like it. A low growl forced its way from his mouth. Both males immediately averted their gazes in deference to his claim. He was thankful Annie didn’t hear or if she did, understand, what had just happened.

“Nice to meet you both. Will you be doing the takedown?”

Both males looked at Cravr for guidance. “They will, but I was expecting more males.”

About that time another hover car pulled up. This time four males exited it, the rest of the team had arrived. They came in filling the inside of the van to it’s limit. “This is Annie, my personal assistant. Annie, this is Coran, Silvan, Rug’n, and Mian. They are brothers and cousins, all good field officers. Now that you are here, let me show you what we have.”

He fast forwarded the recordings on the screen from their arrival until now. The team would have no trouble seeing what they needed to with their faster reflexes and better senses. Time was of the essence. They needed to get in fast, take the enemy out, and give them no time to retreat. All of them had coms and they would keep in contact. Once they were all in position, Cravr called them. “Go, go now.”

It occurred to him that the males were moving at superhuman speed and Annie watched, mouth open in amazement. How would he explain this? His attention was riveted on the action on the screen, other concerns left his mind. It was a spaceship, but only a small two passenger ship. He’d expected a larger group of saboteurs. It occurred to him that more than one pair of miscreants might be harbored nearby. If it was him, he would have sent in more than one team to assure success. Once these saboteurs were restrained and imprisoned, they would look for more spaceships, just to be sure.

Rug’n and Mian came out carrying a prisoner with Incus and illicus following carrying another. The other two must have stayed with the ship that soon became visible. The shocking part came when the two other males came back to the van carrying an abused female between them.

Cravr’s ire was clear to see and the two prisoners trembled as they looked up at him and the other Mazlans, all of who were clearly upset. Annie looked ready to cry as she dropped to her knees beside the young female speaking softly to reassure her.

“She agreed to come along and she knew what we wanted her for.” The stupider of the two prisoners explained.

“The female knew you would starve and abuse her?” Annie asked.

“Hey, we didn’t treat her bad.” The other guy insisted.

“Did you know what would happen if you were caught here spying and sabotaging equipment?” Annie sked.

“We aint no spies.” One of them insisted.

“You were hidden, you were here without permission. If we check, I bet you were monitoring communications. Anyone would call that spying.” Annie pointed out. The prisoners looked beyond terrified. The young women was passed out, too tired and starved to care anymore. “Let’s get her to my house.” Annie suggested.

“Take those two to jail. The ship needs to be safeguarded and carefully searched. Look for any bombs or safeguards that might be tripped.” Cravr added. “We need to take her to the doctor first.”

“You have a doctor nearby? I didn’t know.” Annie admitted.

“We’ve been getting modern necessities and even conveniences as quickly as we can. Our people and families, deserve everything other planets take for granted.”

“Yes, of course you do. I just didn’t know.”

Cravr just headed straight there without stopping. The young woman had been unexpected. He reflected on the desperation that must have spurred her to go along with those two males. Cowardly and disreputable, her need must have been great to accept their terms. He was sure, however, that she never thought her life would be risked. She would survive, he was sure of it, but she was in bad shape. Had they not found them, they would have let her die. He was sure of that, too.

It made him wonder if there were any decent honorable males left on Annie’s home planet. There must be, but they had to be hiding since he’d not found a single one yet. He looked up to see the medical building come into view. The patient was still out, it was a blessing. As soon as they stopped, Annie was in motion. Cravr got out and went around to the outside to get the abused woman out. As he carried her into the building, Annie opened doors and made sure the way was clear.

Once they were to the secretary’s desk, the female ran for the doctor. She came out to lead Cravr into a room with a bed. “You’ll have to go now. We will be removing her clothes.”

Cravr turned blood red and nodded. “Do you want me to help?” Annie asked as he headed out the door. He didn’t hear the doctor’s answer.

It wasn’t easy sitting there waiting, but after what seemed like a long time, Annie came back out. “Her name is Sylvia and she is from the space station Argosy, it’s near Jupiter. There’s overcrowding issues and most of them have no way off the station. She says there is a shortage of food, water, and medicine. People are dying and Earth doesn’t care. The woman was desperate or she would never have agreed to go with them, but she was already half starved when they got her.”

“That doesn’t absolve them of their crime.”

“Nor should it. But there are hundreds of people, mostly females, looking for a way off that station.”

“I will inform Razar. We will send some food so they will be able to live if they choose to stay.”

“It was what I expected from you. I just knew you would do what was right.” Their eyes met and held, emotion throbbed in the air between them. Maybe it was time to talk and explain things to her.

Someone cleared their throat. “Sylvia is doing fine and as long as she gets fed regularly, there’s no reason she can’t leave here. She wants to go and not too many people like staying at hospitals.”

“I’ll take her home with me.” Annie said quickly. Another opportunity gone.

“She’s still a little weak, she’ll need someone strong to lean on.” The doctor looked at him.

“I would be honored to assist.” Cravr followed the doctor and listened as she gave more instructions. “Annie has children and is a nurturer. Sylvia will be taken care of.”

Annie stood on one side of Sylvia while he was on the other, as they guided her out the door and to the van. It would have been easier to just carry her, but Sylvia wanted to walk. Once at the van, they put her in what Annie called an easy chair. It leaned back and all chairs were attached to the floor so there was no danger of the chair falling over. Cravr was touched by Annie’s kindness but he feared she was a little naïve. She knew nothing of Sylvia and just because she’d been abused, didn’t mean she might not be dangerous. Although he didn’t get that feeling from her, he didn’t want Annie to be placed in any danger.

“As soon as she regains her strength, we will find her a place of her own and a job.”

“Thank you.” Annie said. Cravr saw that she misunderstood his concerns, but he let her. If he expressed them, he had a feeling she would be disappointed in him.

“It is nothing we don’t already do for many. She can find a good life here.” Her presence at Annie’s would interfere with any privacy he’d hoped to have. Wishing her to heal with speed, he might need a backup plan to get Annie alone. “What about you? How will you come to work?”

“I guess I can’t.”

“What if I find a teenager to stay at your house with Sylvia? Our teenagers do jobs like this often.”

“Do you really think you could find someone?” She looked up at him with hope in her eyes. He dared to hope she would miss him if she wasn’t able to see him at work.

“I’ll call to let you know who I find.” Cravr smiled reassuringly. A teenager would do this or he would turn loose his temper and no one wanted that.

Cravr left because he had no excuse to stay. They had maneuvered Sylvia into the guest bedroom and Annie intended to cook a meal for her and the kids. He would pick up her girls and drop them off, possibly finding a reason to linger then. It was a plan anyway. Using the communication system in the van, he updated Razar then ask him to find a teenager to assist with Sylvia. Children were taught responsibility early and a list of possible helpers were on hand for Razar’s use.

“I’ll find someone for her. Zanad is looking to make extra money right now and he works well on his studies without supervision. His number should be showing on your screen. Good luck and all that. If you run into trouble, don’t call me. Lista and I are having an evening at home alone.”

Cravr wasn’t stupid. Their parents must have the kids and this was the first time since their daughter was born, they would have a night without her present. Razar had explained how hard it was for Lista to let the kids go, even to someone she trusted. If he ran into trouble, he would call anyone but Razar. Hurrying, he stopped at the daycare to get Annie’s daughters. They had met him, but didn’t know him well. When he looked at them, he saw Annie at a young age full of excitement and sweet as she possibly could be.

“You taking us to Mama?” the oldest one asked.

“Yes, Sally, I’m taking you home to your Mama. She has a guest and can’t leave right now.”

“Who?” Sally asked while Molly her youngest, just watched with big eyes.

“I’ll let her tell you all about it when we get there. Is that alright?”

She nodded solemnly then grabbed her sister’s hand. They walked out the door that Cravr held open and he felt a tug at his heart strings. Those lovely little girls would be only too easy to love, just like their mother. Helping them into the van, they looked around with excited smiles. Sally was the boss, Molly as the younger sister did what she was told, but Cravr saw signs that might change someday. The younger one had spirit in her. Right now she was too young to make most decisions anyway.

They pulled up in front of the three bedroom house Annie had. As soon as he opened the door, the girls got out and ran to the house. He closed the door and followed them entering right behind them.

Chapter 5

Sylvia