Stevr (The Mating Games Book 5) by Catty Diva Page A

work and video conferences. In fact, just now, only a few days into the journey he had just completed his fifth video conference. A sound vibrated throughout the ship. Stevr headed to the bridge.
    “What’s going on Harn?” The male was his first navigator.
    “It’s not a navigation problem.”
    “Krivec?”
    “I’m trying to run it down but we may have an incendiary device in the cargo hold.”
    “What do you need?” he asked. Of course his first question was how the hell had that happened but this was not the time for that.
    “I need someone to go to the cargo bay to check things out or take my place so I can.”
    “You stay here. I’ll go.” It was Stevr’s place to be in charge but he wasn’t a hands off kind of guy. He smiled as the unbidden thought came to mind that his mate would soon discover that. The next thought was only if he survived this.
    Hurrying down the hallway the crew he met moved out of his way recognizing his urgency. The lift doors opened as if by magic and he knew he had one of his crew to thank. Hopping in he didn’t have to do a thing as the doors closed and the lift dropped so fast he left his stomach behind or at least it felt that way. Once he hit the lowest level the lift jerked to a stop, the doors opened, and he got out. Now he was in the hold of the ship which was a huge space.
    He hit his com button. “Krivec, I’m down here. Now which way do I go?” A map of the hold with x marking the spot in it appeared. He moved to the right at supernatural speed.
    It wasn’t hard to find the device. It sat on a shelf in a maintenance closet and he imagined it had looked pretty harmless before it had been activated. Now with a digital timer that told him he had less than five minutes and lights flashing in an alarming manner on it; it looked anything but harmless. Stevr wasn’t an explosives expert and he had no time to learn. Picking up the device, he was a blur as he moved to the trash disposal room.
    Once he was in there. He slid the item to the jettison chute and pushed the button. “Get us the hell out of here!” He felt the ship accelerate but they got the tail end of the blast. Stevr picked himself up off the floor. It took a lot to knock him off his feet. Thank the gods the females weren’t on the ship yet. They might have gotten banged up but it would have also scared them. Some might even have questioned their choice in getting on the ship or their ability to protect them.
    The bomb had been placed by an insider. One of the crew they had hired had betrayed them. It wasn’t hard to discover who. As soon as he made it back to the command deck, Krivec, his second in command notified him a life pod had been launched just before the bomb was sent down the chute. Whoever was missing among the crew would be the traitor. Stevr wanted to rip him to shreds but he couldn’t. It seems the bomb had landed next to the life pod and completely destroyed it and its occupant.
    Justice had found its own way to be delivered even including Stevr’s hand. The gods had surely looked out for them today ensuring their safety while dealing swiftly and in a deadly fashion with their enemies. Stevr’s gums itched as his long fangs threatened to break free but he fought them back. While it was true his command crew were all loyal Mazlans that hid his secret since it was theirs too, he needed to let his inner demon know who was in control. It was his greatest hope that nothing more would go amiss, but if there was more foul play in the future, he could only hope it would happen before they reached Earth rather than on the way back where females and children could be placed in harm’s way.
    Mazlans valued children, not just theirs but any child. They also worshipped their mates doing almost anything to please them. It was sometimes hard for Earth females to believe that they were for real , as Lista often commented. Stevr had watched four of his brothers fall in love and claim their mates.