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

Sometimes it had been humorous to watch the tiny females put his big brothers in their place but he had been careful to not to laugh openly. The reason had been because he knew his time was coming.
    His brothers weren’t vicious, they were more mischievous. It was a game to torment one another and the one that did it the most and the best could expect to get it back from all of them whenever possible. Yet let anyone try to hurt one of them and they would have the whole group to deal with. That was what these traitors didn’t understand. Right now they weren’t just attacking Stevr and his family, they were attacking the livelihood of all Mazlans. On Oison when one prospered, they all did. Every person on Oison got a share of the profits and every single one was wealthy by Earth standards. They called it socialism, but why should one or a handful hoard wealth when everyone could have more than they needed? Once a citizen, you received a share of the common portion. Half the profit went to the government and half was divided among the citizens. The government’s portion paid for medical, roads, temples, education, and many other things. It was a fair and equitable system.
    Stevr stopped trying to figure out why traitors did what they did and just finished out his shift so he could rest. The problem was once he got to his room his mind wouldn’t let him rest for hours. At some point sleep refused to be denied. Tomorrow he needed to be at his best for whatever the enemy sent his way. He had no doubt that the setback he had just dealt them was just that, a setback. They would be back with a bigger, better plan once they regrouped.
    Opening his eyes one at a time he recognized the sound that had woke him. It was an alert for a possible impact. Someone or something had gotten too close either accidently or by design. After what had happened earlier he doubted it was a coincidence. He had faith in his crew but his alarm would be going off soon and he made it a habit to check in early so he was updated on his time not that of whatever male was in charge.
    Rising out of bed, he took a quick shower and got ready to face his day. Whatever the problem was he knew it had been dealt with because the alarm had quieted and there had been no impact. Once he was dressed he made his way to the command deck. It was calm so that was a good sign.
    Malix looked at him with no surprise. “I’m guessing you were woke by the alarm? It was just a small piece of space junk. Tellar removed it and we will send it out with the next load of trash.” They generally dumped the trash when they came within a certain distance from a star. The chute shot the contents out at a high speed so it would continue on until it hit burning itself up completely. Many things were recycled and the Mazlans didn’t like to waste anything but they also liked to keep things clean and orderly.
    “Did you scan it first? You remember the Earthers have that story about the Trojan horse. They would know we would remove an obstacle that could be dangerous if hit from a space pathway.”
    “I’ll do a deeper scan.” A beep sounded. “Tellar, jettison it and change.” Malix yelled into the com.
    A second later there was a loud noise and more lights and alarms flashed. Stevr ran from the room and to the lift. He was down to the chute in two and a half minutes. Tellar had gotten it out the chute but the object had exploded before it was clear of the ship. Luckily he had shifted to his demon or he would be dead. “Get medical down here.” Stevr yelled into his com.
    Danad and his mate Gilian rushed in with a bag to begin assessing and assisting him immediately. Gilian scanned him and instructed her mate on what to do. “We are lucky. In human form he would have been charred. Even in demon form he will require a week or more to heal in a submersion tank.”
    Tellar moaned. No one wanted to be in a submersion tank. It wasn’t new technology so they were all familiar with it.