Rescuing Ash

Chapter Ten

Laying still was almost impossible for Ash. He’d heard Sadie exit her room and now he wondered where she went. Except it was more than just wondering. His mind conjured a number of scenarios that were utterly ridiculous. There was no chance that she was in Jax’s bedroom. Why would she be? She didn’t know him. She knew Ash better than she knew Jax. Damn it, but Jax had made his interest in her clear. It frightened him to think of how interested he was in the pale pink female. Interested enough that his body reacted when she was near and when he thought about her.

He almost contacted his crew via telepathy but decided not to voice his concern and possibly wake them up. He’d never hear the end of it.

Ugh. Perhaps she’d grown hungry again. It would do her good to eat more. She was slender but had curved hips and breasts that were enticing despite how different her shape was in comparison to Trevorian females. He couldn’t help but wonder what the function of large breasts was on humans. He was fairly sure that they were there to feed their offspring but why were they there all the time? Even when Trevorian females nursed, their breasts did not grow to the size Sadie’s were.

To his utter horror he realized he was unable to stop thinking about her. It was bad enough that she was in the room next to him. So close. Now he couldn’t stand not knowing where she was. What if Lore was berating her? What if Jax was… He couldn’t think about it any longer.

Ash shot up from the bed and snagged the tablet off of his small table. With a few taps he brought up the security cameras. After entering his passcode he checked room by room. The hallways were clear. Lore sat in Ash’s chair in the control room. His arms were folded across his chest, one ankle crossed over his knee. To anyone else it looked like he was staring intently out at space. To Ash, he knew Lore finally passed out. He understood his friend had a difficult time sleeping but eventually he was unable to keep his body from clocking out.

He dreaded checking Jax’s room but did anyway. He generally didn’t breach his crew’s privacy. In fact, he’d never done it before but the security cameras were important if they were ever boarded by someone not invited.

His finger tapped the smooth surface pulling up Jax’s room. Much to Ash’s relief, Jax was splayed out across his bed, thankfully with the blanket draped around his hips. He cut to the mess hall and found no one. Where the frux is she?

Perhaps she wasn’t feeling well and went to get help. Why wouldn’t she come to me? The thought of her turning to someone else ruffled him a bit. Sure enough when he looked at the med bay that doubled as Doc’s lab, he saw Sadie near Doc.

Too close to Doc.

His chest rumbled and his grip tightened on the screen. Stop. He’d always had an issue with his anger and though he was able to channel it in other ways, he’d never grown angry over a female before. Especially one that was so new to him.

Sadie hugged the blanket around her snuggly and it covered the majority of her body. It didn’t appear that she was trying to entice Doc in any way not like a Trevorian woman would if she wanted to control him. Sadly that is what it had become on his planet. The few females that were of childbearing years now used their rarity to control males. Somehow they had become selfish and interested in power. Never before had females of his species played the mind games that they were now. Some males chose to stay away, as he did. And others, well, they fell right into the trap. Fights broke out between males that left entire homes destroyed. Not even homes. Lives. Murders were happening because of the situation. The worst of it all was that so few of the women were even able to conceive a live child no matter what they did. All of the anguish was for naught.

It was more than pissing him off that he now was acting similar to those who fought over women on his homeworld. He saw Sadie smile and it nearly broke him in two. It was the first absolutely real smile he’d seen from her and it wasn’t directed toward him. Why do you want it to be? Because he wanted her. Ash felt a connection with her...to her. It sounded so foolish.