Stevr (The Mating Games Book 5) by Catty Diva

Stevr
     
    Chapter 1
     
    Bon Voyage
     
    He watched unmoving as Oison grew smaller and smaller in the view screen until even his exceptional vision couldn’t distinguish it from the space all around it. All his journeys started like this but other than the very first one he’d never felt this level of excitement. This trip held that same hope for something important and new in his life as that first trip had. The first one had been fully realized with all the excitement of unknown space and planets as different from his as he could ever have imagined. This trip he hoped would bring him the female that he hoped would make his life complete.
    After a dozen or more trips it still amazed him that his crew eyed him nervously as if he’d tear them to shreds at the slightest provocation. Stevr was the biggest of his brothers and when he’d been young he had been easily angered. It wasn’t a trait he cherished and he’d fought hard for the control he exercised daily. Everyone had assumed he’d go into a military position or law enforcement, but he had shown an aptitude for deal making. His large size and bulging muscles intimidated many negotiators into settling before they would get their normal asking price.
    Right now they had two weeks in space to deal with, but this part of space wasn’t known to be dangerous. If needed the fighting skills that he was well known for would also come in handy if anyone were so foolish as to attack them. Time on the planet could be treacherous but they wouldn’t stay long as the Earthers didn’t want them there and Stevr was anxious to return home. They would unload and reload as quickly as possible before setting out on their return trip.
    The time between Oison and Earth varied depending on the route and the ship. Faster routes had more potential dangers to navigate and older ships were slower. They were lucky that they had no need to hurry in their new Trailblazer Space Cruiser. It was top of the line and one of the largest ships from Carryon an old earth company that had changed names and owners many times. Carryon was started as one of the first companies that built cars in the United States.
    What he loved the most about his ship was its ability to defend itself. It had come with a wide array of lasers and other tech but being paranoid, especially when many Earthers resented if not downright hated them, Mazlans had upgraded the weaponry to include a state of the art defensive shield. One of the main added weaponry systems worked with sounds and was a new and exciting line of weaponry not available to the general public. His people knew that there was no amount of force too great to exhibit to others if you wanted to avoid a fight. Enemies would always look for weaknesses and try to exploit them. Stevr had heard that it was human nature to do so and it was humans they were dealing with the most.
    It seemed everyone resented a world that was successful and rich. Right now as they headed out into space was the most exciting time he expected to have until they fell into orbit around Earth. This massive ship would never touch planet side as Earth had a space station in orbit and cargo haulers that ran back and forth between the planet and the station nonstop. Stevr only wished he himself could remain on the station but the Earth politicians didn’t want to risk their delicate asses by going into space or stepping foot on the space station which was the territory of the working females of their race. He had no respect for human males. It was females with situations similar to his brother Maxar’s mate, Ernie that filled the station doing all the jobs needed.
    The trip there would go slowly but the facilities aboard ship were unmatchable. He and the crew would work out in the gym, indulge in some of the games in the rec room like pool and air hockey, watch movies in the theater, and of course everyone would have their shifts to work. His duties included processing large amounts of paper