“Son of a…” muttered Maya Broward to herself as she struggled to disengage the chunk of scrap metal she was cutting from the hull of the derelict ship. It was being particularly stubborn, but she wanted the panel if she could get it to come off since it contained several rare metals that comprised the alloys used to make this model of freighter.

“Did you say something?” asked Swish.

Maya glanced away from the cutting, not bothering to remove the shielding option of her visor on the E-suit, since she would be back to looking at the laser cutting again in a moment. “Nothing, Swish. I was just talking to myself.”

The CAP—computerized autonomous pet—jumped higher onto a spot on the hull. Since Swish was a mechanized organism, “she” required no protection against the space around them. “It’s a sign of insanity to talk to yourself.”

In spite of her irritation with the job ahead of her, Maya laughed. “It’s only insane if you also answer. Besides, I talk to you. Does that make me crazy?”

Swish tilted her head, staring at Maya with her catlike eyes set in the feline-shaped configuration Maya had chosen when she purchased the CAP solar cycles ago. “There’s an argument to be made that you are, and you aren’t. It’s perfectly normal for people to talk to pets, but I suppose one could consider me an inanimate object.”

Maya laughed and shook her head again as she returned her attention to cutting the hull. “If you’re inanimate, so am I. You talk more than I do.”

“I’m simply responding to the program settings you chose.” With a sniff and a stretch that was entirely catlike, Swish climbed a little higher on the hull, clinging easily with the magnetic option built into her paws. She observed in silent judgment as Maya continued to struggle with the piece of metal, finally getting it to cut loose and peel away once she hit it with an ultrasonic charge that briefly disrupted its molecules.

It was a heavy piece of hull, but since they were in space, with no atmosphere, it was easy enough to move from the hull to her skid nearby using the thrusters in her E-suit. Maya put it on the skid, glad to see her pile was growing.

The CAP’s eyes flashed red for a second. “Computer is indicating there’s a ship approaching,” said Swish, looking completely alert and no longer languid. She knew how Maya felt about visitors or any type of social interaction.

Maya froze, her first instinct to panic and run for her ship, Eve’s Sacrifice. If she took the skid, they could be back in less than five minutes. If she abandoned it, she could be at her ship in two minutes and ready to take off within five minutes more.

It took every bit of strength she had to quell the instinct to run. If she took off without so much as a piece of the scrap metal she had spent most the morning salvaging, she’d be leaving with a virtually empty hold. That wouldn’t even cover the cost of fuel to travel to the Antares Belt, not to mention losing out on all the wreckage around them. Far too many people had recklessly considered themselves capable enough pilots to tackle the Antares Asteroid Belt, and a great number of them had found out to their detriment they were wrong.

These days, travel through the belt was restricted, but there was a veritable ships’ graveyard around from the previous travelers. It was a source of income she desperately needed.

Maya used her thrusters to climb on top of the pile of scrap metal in case she decided she needed to beat a hasty retreat after all. “Swish, have the computer signal the newcomer.”

“Yes, Maya.” The CAP was silent for a moment, clearly communing with the computer on Eve’s Sacrifice. She nodded at Maya a moment later. Maya took a deep breath and brought up her wrist comm so she could view whoever awaited her.

She caught her breath when a handsome face filled her screen. She couldn’t be certain without seeing all of his body but judging from the broadness of his shoulders and the sheer perfection of his features, coupled with the long black hair and warm brown eyes that provided the only touch of softness in his face, she suspected he was an Alpha.

A shudder went through her, and her hand automatically dropped to the discreet pump on her hip, reminding herself it was there and fully functioning. He wouldn’t know what she was.

He smiled at her, and it was a devastating grin. It caused her heart to race, and Maya felt the first stirrings of arousal in years. Rather than please her, that left her mouth dry and her palms sweating. Fortunately, the E-suit wicked away the moisture for recycling, and she was able to maintain what she hoped was a calm exterior when she started speaking. “I’ve already placed a claim on this sector.”

“As did I when I arrived. I’m sure you’re aware that per Coalition regulations, you can only claim salvage ships which you are actively engaged in salvaging.”

She glared at him. “I was here first.”

His eyes widened, and he seemed surprised at her response. “Surely, there are plenty for both of us.”

She looked around, biting her lip for a moment. Technically, he was right. They were surrounded by dozens of wrecks, and since the Antares Belt was so far away from the central Coalition planets, just at the edge of known space, not many salvagers made it this way. With a sigh of defeat, she nodded her head just once. “Very well. Just stay out of my way.”

He seemed surprised again, and she imagined he wasn’t used to women being so abrupt with him. No doubt, he had every Beta female throwing herself at his feet, and probably even a few Alphas. If he could find an Omega, she would be his slavering slave—unless she were Maya, who had no intention of being any Alpha’s Omega.

“I’m sorry if I’ve offended you. If we work together, we could probably accomplish the task much faster and split the proceeds?”

She maintained her stony expression. “As I said, just stay out of my way.” Without another word, she pressed the button to disconnect the communication, and his face disappeared from her wrist comm. Once he could no longer see her, she let out a heavy sigh and trembled a little. Then she let out a startled screech when Swish rubbed against her leg in a soothing fashion. She hadn’t realized she’d made the trip from the salvage ship to the skid. “Warn a lady.”

Swish looked up at her with concern. “You’re all right, Maya?” The CAP had no snark in her tone. She was clearly worried about her mistress.

With a sigh, Maya nodded and bent down, scratching the CAP behind the ear. Swish was programmed to respond to reward behavior and stimuli just like a normal pet would, and her purr vibrated Maya’s hand through the E-suit.

Still feeling somewhat shaken by the encounter, Maya forced herself to return to the ship. She put Swish on guard duty, ensuring she would warn her if the man with whom she shared the space tried to approach. So far, he had remained a respectable distance away, engaging artificial orbit, but keeping space between his ship, the Raven, and Eve’s Sacrifice. She liked it that way, and it allowed her to relax enough to finish working.

Three hours later, she’d stripped all she could for now as she neared the point of exhaustion, and Maya decided to call it a day. She had enough to partially fill the cargo hold now, and with what she’d recovered, if she got a fair price, she could pay her expenses for another few months.

It wasn’t all that she’d hoped to acquire while she was here, since it’d taken her a while to save enough money for the fuel and ionospace boost gate fees. It was supposed to be a big haul, but if she had to make a hasty retreat, at least she wasn’t leaving empty-handed now.

After guiding the skid back to her ship and using the automated system aboard to unload it, she parked it for the evening and ensured the hold was locked tight with her biometric print before walking through the ship. Eve’s Sacrifice was small by most standards, but that allowed her to easily pilot it with the help of the state-of-the-art A.I. autopilot system. She’d put quite a lot into ensuring the ship could function with just her, since she wanted no companion or copilot. Swish was as close as she got to sharing her space, and that was plenty for her.

She went to her quarters and stripped off, intent on a shower before eating. The E-suit did a good job of wicking away perspiration and keeping her cool, but she still felt grimy, so it was a relief to step into the cool shower, and she shivered as the water chilled her before slowly warming to her preferred temperature. It was a defect in the shower that she had to fix someday, but it was a low priority.

As she washed, Maya couldn’t help thinking about the Alpha sharing her space. She couldn’t be certain he was until she saw him and confirmed he had the hard muscles and larger build of the typical Alpha, but from what she’d seen, she wouldn’t be surprised to discover he was. It was bad enough somebody had disturbed her solitude, but to discover she had to share space with an Alpha left her feeling slightly nauseated.

Her nausea only increased when she recalled her physical response at the sight of him. It wasn’t like Maya to feel attraction for anyone, but particularly Alphas. After her experience in the past, she couldn’t imagine a situation where she would ever willingly submit to an Alpha, so she steered clear of them. That, combined with her suppressant, let her lead a relatively normal, if mostly asexual, life that contented her.

So why had she responded to him? It was upsetting, and as soon as she was out of the shower, Maya wrapped a towel around herself and went into the bedroom attached to the bathroom, opening a drawer to take out a handheld scanner. She used it to check the state of her pump, finding it was functioning at nominal levels. The dosage of suppressant hadn’t lessened, so there was no good explanation for why she was drawn to the Alpha, however reluctantly. She reinforced her resolve to steer clear of him as much as possible.