Adrenaline thrummed through Joyce’s veins, pummeling her from inside out and threatening to burst every vein in her body.
Dear God in Heaven he’d almost lopped a man’s—Doshan’s—head off. Okay, maybe not the head. Definitely an arm. Or at least a finger.
And then he’d allowed himself to get hurt.
She grumbled as she slowly stomped her way back to Kede’s quarters. “Stupid, dumbass, barbarian aliens with their spaceships and their Ginsu knives and acting like some weird Fruit Ninja come to life.”
“What, my harae?” Kede sounded so concerned.
Concerned my ass.
“I,” she wagged a finger at him. “I am not your anything. I’m my own, remember? Me, myself, and I, bucko.” She didn’t stop walking. She may have slowed a little, but dammit was a long trek from the dining hall to the unit she shared with Kede. Asshole. That was his fault, too.
A Doshan male, tall as hell—though weren’t they all?—with one red eye and one blue, she wondered why he hadn’t been sent to Terra. He had the whole American patriotism thing going on. Plus, with that dark tan and blond hair… They would get a crap-ton more volunteers if they showed him off.
“Commander? This Terran female is unclaimed?”
“She is Doshan,” Kede growled.
“I’m Terran.” She spun to face the blade-wielding jerk.
“Genetically, you are now Doshan. You are a citizen of Dosha, Joyce.”
She glared at him. “I am—”
“Yet, the female named Joyce is unclaimed?” Mr. America piped up.
“No one is claiming me,” she snapped back.
“Commander, I petition for the Right of—”
Hell no. Him, too?
Joyce held up a hand, halting his blah, blah, blah-ing. “I am not claimed. I shall not be claimed. I am the unclaimed of the unclaimable in the land of Unclaimed.” She slowly panned her attention back to the blond haired soon-to-be God of America. “So, fuck off.”
His eyes flared brightly, red and blue seeming to glow. “Yes, please.”
“Oh my fuck.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Kede, gimme one of your knife things. I’m gonna stab him a little bit and he can pass the message along to his buddies.”
Joyce reached for Kede’s big knife, but suddenly he wasn’t there. No, one second in front of her and next second— A low “oomph” drew her attention around to Mr. America. Mr. America being held a foot off the ground by Kede with one hand while the other pointed his blade at blondie.
“Hey,” she growled at Kede and blazed through this newest potentially bloody fun. These aliens were entirely too violent. How the hell had they lived this long if they were constantly hammering at each other.
Oh. Wait. Terra was still kicking, wasn’t it?
“Kede, you can’t beat up one of your little guys.” She tugged on his arm, unsurprised when he didn’t budge.
His head, however, did turn until he was glaring at her. “Little guys?”
“Fine,” she huffed. “Warriors. You can’t beat up on one of your warriors. This isn’t one of those Carrie things. I’m pretty sure this isn’t allowed.”
“Carrie things? You call the Kero—” He took a slow, deep breath. “I am the commander of this vessel and punishment is doled out at my discretion.”
“He’s turning purple.” She wiggled her finger in the direction of Mr. America.
Kede didn’t move a muscle. “He will live.”
“You know, just because no one on your ship gets the fact that ‘fuck’ doesn’t mean ‘yes, please’ doesn’t mean you can beat up on them.”
“Yes, it does. Not only that, he attempted to claim a mated harae—”
Blondie gasped.
Joyce glared.
Kede ignored her.
“It would be helpful if you acted like a mated harae.”
“It would be helpful if you told me what the fuck a harae is.” The heavy thump of boots on metal announced someone nearing their small group from behind her. Without tearing her gaze from Kede, she raised her hand toward the newcomer, palm out. “That is not an invitation so keep your alien peen over there.”
“I have told you this, Joyce. You are mine.”
“I’m not yours, I’m mine, and that guy is turning almost black now. I really think you should let him go.”
Kede glared at her one last time and finally released the male.
Joyce glared back, but waved her hands at the gasping male. “Leave fast like an alien ninja before he calls for another Carrie thingy. Shoo.”
“That is what I’m talking about!” Kede roared and both men nearby scrambled down the hallway. “You are speaking to them and you deny my claim and then I shall have to kill them all!”
Oh, his voice kept getting louder. Good thing she learned the fine art of arguing in the Enner household before she was shipped off to foster care.
“Hell yes, I’m speaking to them, you big bastard!” They stood toe to toe and she tilted her head way back, but she wasn’t giving up. “And I’ll deny your claim forever because I don’t know what it means!”
“It means you are mine! I found you, I converted you, and I claimed you. No male has the right to speak to you, no man has the right to look at you, and they do not have the right to accept your invitations which you throw around as if they were treats for children!”
“You’re joking, right?” she snorted, he still looked pissed. “You’re not joking. We’ll forget you’re calling me a whore with that last bit and roll it back to the beginning.” She kept her tone even, fighting the urge to stab him more than a little with his own Ginsu fucking knives. “You didn’t find me, I ran into you because you were standing like a fucking tree in the middle of the sidewalk. I did not ask you to convert me though I’m damned sure glad I’m alive. But giving me a transfusion does not mean you’re suddenly my lord, master, and primary fuck partner!” Joyce sucked in a breath, lungs burning from the lack of oxygen. “God, that felt good.”
“You are overwrought from witnessing the Kerosa.” He jerked his head in a stiff nod. “I will see you to your quarters for a cup of soothing tea. My mother prefers it to—”
She yanked out of his grip. “Are you kidding? You have to be kidding. I don’t want tea, Kede. I want you to realize I’m a person. I’m not going to be ordered around and you’re definitely not making some proclamation that I belong to you. I may be genetically Doshan, but that doesn’t mean I’m a pushover. You can’t just change me and claim me.” He mumbled something. “What?”
Kede cleared his throat. “I claimed you before you became Doshan.”
Joyce took a step back. “You…” She shook her head. “I was Terran then. You can’t just claim someone with a quick ‘because I said so.’ It doesn’t work like that on Terra.” Another mumble. “No more of this bullshit, Kede. Tell me what the hell is going on.”
“This would be better discussed in our quarters.” He reached for her and she dodged his grip.
“No, it’s best discussed now. In public.” In public and with an ever-growing crowd, but she didn’t care. “You won’t answer my questions in private.”
She sensed Kede’s swelling anger. He was about to lose his shit in the middle of the ship, but this was the only way she got a word out of him. She’d been asking about this for days and no one would tell her.
“I brought you from the surface as an unmarked female. You did not carry the designation of your home planet nor the Planetary Collective and as such you could be claimed. It is part of the Planetary Coalition’s treaty.” His lips pressed together until they formed a white slash across his face.
“Claimed as what?”
“Property,” a low whisper floated to her. She didn’t recognize the voice but she didn’t need to. Not when Kede flinched.
“I,” she stumbled and leaned against the soft, biopad wall. Men reached for her and she hissed at them all. “Get the fuck away from me.”
As one, they jumped back.
“Property,” she whispered the word. “Slavery is outlawed on Terra. It has been for hundreds, thousands, of years. You can’t own someone, Kede. Just because I’m not wearing a dog tag doesn’t mean you can keep me as a pet.”
“Your planet agreed to the treaty.”
Her planet agreed to the treaty.
“So because you plucked me from Terra and chose to claim me, that’s it. It’s done. What would have happened if you didn’t want me? Would I have become someone else’s slave?” She met his stare, giving back a good dose of his own anger.
Kede’s gaze remained stuck to the gray wall. “No one would have claimed you. Resane would have given you the Collective’s mark, branding you as an ambassador. But I did not wish it.”
She closed her eyes for a moment, fighting for calm. “Didn’t wish it… So you didn’t even withhold the information for my own good or to save me from someone else. You were simply being a selfish asshole. Nice.” She shook her head. “I don’t even have a life of my own anymore, do I?”
Another whisper, “But you’re Doshan now.”
She waved a hand toward the speaker, the male lost in the sea of men. “Thank you, that’s right. I’m Doshan now. Are all of your females slaves? Or am I the lucky one? Should I bow and scrape and…” She wasn’t going to cry, she wasn’t.
She also wasn’t going to shoot herself out an airlock. She couldn’t go home, but she sure as hell wasn’t going to live as some man’s slave.
“You’re making this ugly, Joyce.”
“Ha!” She chuckled and ignored that it came out a sob. “I’m making it ugly? Your planet, your society made it ugly. The god damned mother fucking Planetary Collective made it ugly! Now, answer the question. Is this how you treat your precious females?”
“No, they are offered a choice. Their families—”
“So I’m the lucky one then. I have no family. Especially a Doshan one. This is perfect.” Her vision blurred and she fought to blink back her tears.
“When the female is of age, if she does not have a father or brother to help her choose, she is able to select for herself when she reaches the age of twenty-five.” Tension filled his body, muscles taut and straining against his skin.
“So your plan was what? Just keep the little Terran abomination half-breed whore ignorant until it was too late?” She released a hysterical laugh, unable to keep it hidden inside herself. “That’s what it was. You were just going to keep it quiet. You haven’t let Resane or Hassee tell me.” Another sob escaped. “Were you going to wait until you fucked me and then popped out with the ‘by the way you were a slave for a few weeks, but it’s okay because we’re married now’?”
“Joyce…” Beneath her continued rage, his expression softened and he reached for her, taking a step forward.
“Go fuck yourself, Kede.” She leaned against the biopad, letting her head bounce against the soft surface, and closed her eyes. She ignored the soft rustle of cloth, the creak of the metal beneath their feet, and the deep breathing of the gathered males. She ignored someone’s cough and another’s sniffle. “If it wouldn’t kill me, I’d return to Terra right now. But since I can’t, then I want my own quarters.” Kede’s quick inhale reached her and she stood straight as she leveled a glare on him. “My private quarters. I don’t want a single person to have access to my space. Not you, not your officers, no one. I was forced to come here, and I was forced to become Doshan, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to be easy access to any male who comes sniffing after me like a dog. I’m better than that. I deserve better than that. And if you don’t give it to me, I’m going to take it.” She did not break his stare. “And if you think, even for a moment, that you won’t grant me the rights of a Doshan citizen, I’d like to remind you that you’re a man like any other. And all men have to sleep.”