by Heather Karn
“I don’t mean that. Just...like we did in the Courtship building. That is how mates would kiss. It’s nothing more than that. I give you my word.”
“So, like making out?” He closed his eyes and groaned. “Let me guess, you don’t know what that means?”
“Yes.”
Lifting one side of my mouth in a sly grin, confidence entered my bloodstream as I stepped closer to him. “Then let me show you.”
Ki’s interest piqued as he opened his eyes. They were already burning with a hunger I was recognizing as his need for touch. He may have told me he was willing to wait, but he wasn’t liking it, and he’d take any mate affection I’d give him.
Keeping my hand on his chest, I pushed him back until his legs met the cushion. When I kept pushing, his eyes widened until he sat down before he fell over. With my heart pounding in my chest, I straddled his lap, making Ki’s breath catch in his throat, and when he closed his eyes, I could’ve sworn I heard a purring sound rising up from his throat. He was enjoying this. Meanwhile, my confidence was waning and I was a nervous wreck.
Kilani seemed to sense this as he rested his hands on my hips. “You don’t have to.”
“I know, but I want to. I’ve just never done this before.”
He chuckled, the deep sound rumbling in his chest. “That makes two of us. Listen, Cammie, trust your instincts. They haven’t led you wrong yet.”
Taking a deep breath, I nodded. Kilani was right. All I had to do was follow my instincts, or in this case, my hormones, which were driving me to want to get as close to him as was physically possible. However, right now that was a bad idea, so instead, I wrapped my arms around his neck and let my eyes flutter shut as our lips met.
While my body craved for me to open my mouth to him, I again refused it, choosing instead to tease his lips with soft, gentle kisses. Ki let me, kissing me back and letting me lead. By the time I flicked my tongue across the seam of his mouth, my body was on fire and craved more of him. A soft sound escaped him as our tongues entangled, and my heart melted again for him that he never knew what real touch was until he’d met me. Now he couldn’t get enough, and right now, neither could I.
My tongue continued to stroke and play with his as my hands drifted over his chest to the bottom hem of his shirt. When they slid underneath, to the fur of his abs, a pained sound escaped him, which only fueled our kiss. In turn, his hands move from my hips and up under the back of my shirt to stroke across my back, the soft fur of his hands tingling against my skin.
I had no idea what my body had planned next, but I didn’t get a chance to find out as a furious, feral growl ripped up Ki’s throat as he pulled back, ending our kiss. The next second I found myself being tossed behind him as he stood, crouching, his gaze fixated on the door. My body trembled, and not with the hormonal stimulation of seconds before.
“Easy, Captain,” a familiar voice called from outside. “It’s just us.”
“Who’s us?” Even Ki’s husky voice was feral and nearly unintelligible past his growl.
“Let us in and we’ll tell you.”
“Fine.”
The next second, in walked Maltak, the owner of the familiar voice, Mortan, and Yulaki. When no one else followed, Ki growled again and sat down hard on the cushion. He pulled me close beside him, clutching my hand as he took deep, steady breaths to calm the racing heart I could feel through his hand as his blood pulsed hard through his body.
“Please tell me that there’s a good reason the three of you are here,” Ki hissed, keeping his voice down like someone was close enough to hear. For all I knew, they were.
“There is,” Maltak stated first, obviously the spokesmen of the group as the three men found seats in the surrounding chairs while I moved closer to Ki. “Yulaki had some extra blood from Cammie that he froze after her Mate Level testing. On a whim he tested it against the virus.”
“And?” Ki asked, and I held my breath.
Maltak looked to the young scientist, who was all jitters from nerves and contained excitement. “It worked.”
“Worked how?” Ki asked, his tone apprehensive as his body stiffened beside me.
Yulaki rubbed his temples before answering. “It destroyed the virus. There’s something in her blood that worked to destroy it, something that wasn’t in the male’s blood.”
All eyes turned on me for an explanation.
“Okay, something in my blood that wouldn’t be in his. That’s a long shot. There’s a lot of stuff in everyone’s blood that may not be in another’s, like antibodies, but I doubt those are it since I’ve never come into contact with this virus before you took me. The only thing is I had strep thro-.” I stopped talking, my thoughts halting on an idea. Clasping my hands together, I faced Yulaki. “Okay, in the translation I get from you, you all call it a virus.”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“What if that’s not the proper translation? What if it’s still close enough to give a translation instead of weird sounds, but it’s not right? What if this disease, if you will, is bacterial? Is that a better translation?”
Yulaki thought about it a moment, and slowly nodded. “The way it translates is also foreign to me, but it makes sense. A living organism, is that correct?”
“Close enough. I’m not exactly sure how the whole bacterial thing goes, but I think that’s as close to accurate as we’re going to get right now.”
Ki squeezed my hand. “What are you saying? What does this have to do with your blood?”
I turned to him, barely containing my excitement. “Because, when you took me, I was just getting over a case of strep throat. It’s a bacterial infection, so I was on antibiotics. It’s a medicine we have to fight it. That should still have been in my bloodstream when you took me.”
“Do you have any of this antibiotics with you?” Yulaki asked, stumbling over the foreign word.
Shaking my head, I cringed. “No, and it wasn’t in my bathroom on the ship, so it must not transfer or I’d find a way to get you some.”
“And you don’t know how to recreate it?”
“No. I don’t have any idea how it’s made or even where to start.”
Mortan groaned and rested his chin on his intertwined fingers. “So, what do we do? We know we have a potential solution that could be exactly what we’re looking for, but we don’t have any and we’re all grounded.”
“It’s more than a potential,” Yulaki murmured. “I saw it destroy the virus before my own eyes.”
“But what if it’s not this anti, whatever it’s called?”
I shrugged when Mortan’s eyes met mine. “It’s all I can think of. There really shouldn’t be anything that drastic between my blood and Mike’s that would be the solution. I doubt he’s had any real medications like that in a long time.”
“Which still leaves us with a solution and no way of getting it,” Maltak muttered, rubbing his hands up and down his face.
Groaning, I almost copied his move. “You all have no imagination, or I’m just too much of a rule breaker.”
When I didn’t expound on my meaning, Ki poked me in the side. “Go on. You have our attention.”
“We’ll all get into really big trouble.” I met his gaze so he’d understand how serious this was. “Even me. Maybe especially me since I’m thinking of it.”
“Go on.”
“We need to steal our ship back.”
The room went dead silent. If this planet had crickets, their chirping would’ve been the only sound to be heard for nearly a minute as each of the men digested this piece of information. From the way Yulaki paled and Mortan covered his face, this was a huge no-no. Maltak met Kilani’s gaze and held it as they started up a silent conversation with looks alone.
Finally, Maltak sighed, sitting straighter. “If we do this, we have to be successful or we’re all going to face the council, and it won’t be pretty. We’ll be lucky if they don’t hang us.”
“Not to mention we’ll have to actual
ly get off the planet,” Yulaki stated, his words barely audible to me.
Ki shook his head. “That shouldn’t be too hard. Is the crew still onboard?”
Mortan nodded. “They are, and they’re not happy that the council chose to demote you. They have a soft spot for Cammie and were looking forward to having her onboard with you. Rumor has it, Hilgal has requested to be reassigned to your ship.”
“That’s crap!” I squawked, drawing all eyes to me, so I shrugged. “Well, it is.”
Chuckling, Mortan grinned at me. “I like these Earth sayings.”
Kilani brought us back on topic. “So, what you’re saying is that the crew would be more than willing to help us out?”
Maltak nodded. “They’d willingly follow you anywhere, Sir. If Hilgal takes over…” He shuddered. “I’d rather rot in prison than work under him.”
“If we succeed, hopefully no one will rot in prison,” Ki stated, rubbing his neck. “Okay, we can’t do this in daylight, and we need to be prepared. Has the food and energy been recharged?”
“Yes,” Maltak responded. “The ship is ready to depart at any moment, but without a captain, we’re still grounded. They aren’t set to announce the new captain for another few days. If we can rally the men today and finish preparations, we should be clear to take off tonight.”
Ki nodded. “It would be better if few people knew about it. Those that don’t can claim ignorance, and I’ll back that up. Maltak, make sure everything is ready, including any engine repairs. Mortan, spread the word to those you trust to keep their mouths shut. I want some of our people to know what’s planned. If they want out, let them, but make them promise to keep silent. This is for our people, and it may be our only chance. Yulaki, make sure you have any supplies you need to test this...medicine that Cammie mentioned. I don’t want any excuses for not being prepared.”
Each of the three men nodded and stood, sensing they’d been excused.
“Wait, Yulaki,” I stated, halting the man. “There’s only so much I can get...mostly what I have at home. Is there any way you can duplicate it in the amount that you’ll need?”
“I will be bringing everything I can to try to do so, and I’ll try to do more studying of it in what little blood I have left to see if I can get a start on doing so now that I know what’s causing the reaction. I’ll still need a clean specimen to be certain I have it correct.”
“Okay. Thanks.” There would be nothing like getting back to Earth and realizing we’d have to break into every pharmacy across the eastern half of the United States to steal whatever antibiotics they had. We’d be caught for sure.
Yulaki followed the other two men out, leaving Ki and I alone once again, but from the serious expression on his face, Ki wasn’t interested in starting back up where we’d left off. I couldn’t blame him. Tonight, he’d be making one more decision that could cost him, and this time, it could cost him everything. Us everything.
Reaching between us, I turned his face toward mine and placed a tender kiss against his lips. “Remember, my mate, this was my idea, so you don’t get to take the fall for it this time. I get some of the credit.” Ki returned my smile, and my kiss, though he kept it as simple as I had.
“I will stand by your side, Cammie. We are in this together.”
Taking Ki into my arms, I hugged him tight. “I just have one request.”
“Anything.”
Since I would yet again have access to my room on the ship, I didn’t bother packing any of my clothes, though I did strap the uniform controls back onto my wrist. Kilani also had one he’d kept at home, which became our means to enter the ship unexpected. Apparently, it wasn’t unheard of to wear a full uniform, including helmet, when it rained, and as it was supposed to rain tonight...we had our way in. We just had to trust that the others would be ready for us.
I spent the rest of the overly long day trying not to be jittery. Kilani and I hid out at home for all of it, and since we were newly mated and still in the “honeymoon phase” no one would question it or disturb us. I wanted to question Ki’s logic on that second part because we’d already been disturbed twice in the first twelve or so hours.
Though I was filled with nervous and excited energy, Ki showed no signs of it. Instead, he finished showing me the house, which included a second and third smaller bedroom, and another bathroom the two could share. He didn’t have much food available since he’d been gone for so long, so he took me to the lake to find fresh food.
The lake was even more beautiful than I’d expected, shimmering in the morning sun. A light breeze blew around us, chasing away the day’s higher humidity so it wasn’t claustrophobic and clinging to us. It was the perfect beach day, and I wished I’d thought to change into my bathing suit before we’d come here, but I’d been too focused on the idea of finding food.
When Kilani started stripping out of his loose-fitting pants and shirt, my eyes widened and face heated to ten times the burning of the sun. I couldn’t avert my gaze fast enough, even though I desperately wanted to know what he looked like underneath. Still furry? Peach fuzz?
Ki’s chuckle near my ear only served to heat my body more. His hands took mine, startling me into looking at him as he pressed my palms against his fur coated chest. The fur continued down his body, turning into a light peach fuzz near his navel and abs, and returned to fur as it moved down his legs. I was more than happy to note that he’d stayed modest enough in a form of their clothing that compared to men’s briefs on Earth. That still didn’t mean that I didn’t skim past them at a rapid rate.
“Is my mate not pleased with how I look, or is she still trying to avoid any talk or ideas of our mating,” Ki snickered in my ear, stepping closer. He knew which one it was, so he was playing with me.
Instead of taking the bait, I focused in on his fur. It was a bit coarser under my fingers as I ran them over his chest, but the further I moved toward his stomach, the softer the fur became. His muscles twitched under my fingertips, especially when they slid across his abs. He let me finish my explorations before grinning again.
“I take it this means you aren’t embarrassed by me,” he murmured, and I shook my head.
“Only curious.”
“Do men of your kind not dress in such a way to go into the water, or is it unapproved of?”
“Oh, they do. And in some parts of the world wear far less than you are, but everywhere I’ve been, what you’ve got on is the minimum allowed for men to wear.”
“I see. What about the women?”
My eyes flashed to his, panic chilling my blood. “What about them?”
“What do they wear to go into the water?”
“A bathing suit. I like full covering one pieces, thanks, not bikinis.”
He arched an eyebrow at me. “Now you have me curious. What is a bikini?” His mouth stumbled over the word a little as he tried to recreate it since there was obviously not a proper translation.
I leaned forward and let my head fall to his chest. “Basically it’s just a bra and underwear made for the water. It covers little more than the men.” I’d never been comfortable enough with my body to be willing to show off that much skin, but as Ki’s chest purred, I could tell he was hoping.
“I want you to help me catch our meal, to learn how to do it. Will you join me in the water?”
Sighing, I pressed a kiss to his chest and leaned back. His startled, wide-eyed expression didn’t make sense until he ran a hand over where I’d placed the kiss. Instead of focusing on that reaction, I stared out across the lake. It was so beautiful. However, my stomach decided to take that exact moment of peace and remind me of why we were out here in the first place as it gurgled its displeasure at being left empty.
“Fine,” I squeaked, reaching for the hem of my shirt. “But don’t you dare say anything. Nothing. And don’t touch me.”
Any other man probably would’ve argued with my rules, but once Ki nodded, I pulled the shirt over my head, grateful I’d chosen to wear
my black bra and underwear today as opposed to my regular white. Next came the pants, and with both off, and me nearly fully exposed, wrapping my arms around myself, I refused to look at Kilani.
He was quiet for nearly a minute before he stepped into my line of sight, a grin on his face. “Are you ready to fish?”
“Yes.” I’d never been more ready to hide underwater.
“Cammie.” His use of my name stopped me as I almost ran into the water. Ki moved closer until he stood so close his fur almost touched my skin. He weaved his fingers into my hair and rested his forehead against mine, closing his eyes. “Thank you for trusting me.”
All the tension left my body. That was all he’d been asking, that I trust him as he’d trusted me. He’d laughed it off and made a joke, but had he been seriously curious as to what I thought of him? That I could be embarrassed by the way he looked? By our differences?
My voice was soft when I spoke, my hands resting against his furry chest. “I’m not sure what your people consider as good looking or beautiful, and I don’t want to know right now. But, Ki, I think you’re beautiful.” It wasn’t exactly a masculine term, but it was an accurate description. He was beautiful.
He leaned back enough to meet my gaze, the warmth in his eyes a sign of his relief instead of sensual. “And to me you are beautiful, even though I too don’t know what your kind considers as beauty. I’m sorry, I know you told me not to say anything, but I need you to know that I’m proud to be called your mate and to be at the side of the most beautiful creation your world has ever had. I don’t believe anyone could be more beautiful than you, and I mean that with all the sincerity in me. Inside and out...you amaze me.”
“I’m not that wonderful,” I murmured, but he was already shaking his head.
“You are, and you are also hungry, so let’s teach you how to hunt your food.” Without asking and without warning, Ki scooped me up in his arms and took off toward the water. Even my yelp didn’t make him hesitate. If anything, it encouraged his behavior.
I braced myself for the plunge, but was more than mildly surprised and relieved at the water’s warmth. While not bathwater hot, it was warm enough not to be shocking when it enveloped me. Though we didn’t go under the water, our entrance splashed up enough water so that my hair was soaking wet by the time Ki slowed our momentum to a gentle flow through the water.
