by C J Cade
His face softened, his eyes gleaming at her. "Topaz," he said. "Golden topaz, to match her eyes."
"Oh, yeah, I see that," Burl agreed. "Although we'll have to take whatever they have in the shops here."
"We're not that far from Bryght," Chaz said, still holding Roxie's gaze with his. "Have some couriered in if you have to."
Roxie blushed, she could feel the tide of heat rising under her skin.
He smiled, tenderness edging his gaze, and for an instant it was as if the two of them were alone in the room.
Then Ives opened the door, and she remembered the truth of what was happening here, and the warmth flooding her hardened into cold resolve again.
She tore her gaze from Chaz' and backed away.
"Roxie," he said, reaching out.
"Not now," she said. "So much to do, right?" And walked away before she did something stupid like kiss him.
This wasn't real, none of it was. And she'd best remember that.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The Cosmic Cabaret was a large space, and with the lights focused on the big, round stage, only tiny glowlamps to marking the aisles and exits, the seats crammed full of beings from across the galaxy, the air crackling with hushed expectancy, it seemed even larger.
Oh, the elite passengers and crew of the Quantum were in for such a treat.
Chaz Jaguari himself was aboard.
And the mega star had graciously agreed to perform a few songs with Lorena McKitt in her scheduled show.
The orchestra was assembled in the pit down in front of the stage, Barillians blowing soft notes through the tall, purple tubes atop their heads, the other beings tuning up their instruments.
Lorena McKitt appeared first, gliding onto the stage, lovely and statuesque in blazing red glitter, her blonde hair a bouffant mass around her shoulders.
She gave her famous smile and launched into her latest hit, 'To the Stars and Back'.
And of course it was so good, everyone forgot for a few moments they were waiting for another, more glittering musical icon.
Her next number, however, was something new.
'No matter where you go, or how long you are gone
My love will follow you, to the stars and beyond.'
'So, take care my love, and don't be gone too long
For I'll be waiting here, watching for your return.'
Her lovely contralto faded on the last note of the chorus, and the orchestra paused with her.
Then they started up again, and a new, and deeper voice swelled from the shadows.
'You don't believe me now, but this I swear is true
Although we've only met, my heart sees only you.
To me your lovely face, is brighter than the stars
And I dream of the time, that you will love me too.'
Chaz Jaguari strolled into the golden spotlight, facing Lorena, and the audience went wild, applauding so loudly the two had to wait before singing the next chorus.
Smiling, Chaz held up his hands, and everyone quieted. He and Lorena began to sing again.
'Go on your way, my love, in search of all your dreams
And when you catch your star, bask in its brightest beams.
But when you turn back toward home, let me guide your way
All my love for you, cast out in golden streams.
They sang one more chorus, and then clasped hands and bowed together while applause thundered around them.
When it was quiet enough to hear her, Lorena gave Chaz a coquettish smile.
"So, Chaz, you wrote that song, and thank you for letting me sing with you. Is it too much to hope you wrote it for me?"
She put a slender hand to her heart and batted her lashes, and the audience chuckled appreciatively.
Chaz gave her a look of regret. Then he shook his head.
"Lorena, I'm so sorry. Though I'm incredibly honored that you allowed me to perform it with you, I did not write that song for you. I wrote it for another, very special lady."
The audience gasped, and Lorena did as well, playing to them like the pro she was.
"But Chaz, who is she? And is it too much to hope that she might even be in the audience tonight?"
He smiled, waited a beat, and then nodded. "Yes, Lorena, she is."
To the sound of another, louder chorus of gasps, he motioned to one of the tables in premier seating nearest the stage.
A spotlight followed the motion, and everyone watched as a young female rose from her chair, and accepting the hand of an usher, picked up her long skirts in her other hand and ascended the steps to Chaz, who waited for her, still beaming like a man watching his dreams come to him.
She was lovely, a young Tygean in a filmy golden evening gown that drifted from one shoulder and skimmed her curves, baring her arms, one shoulder and her deep cleavage before skimming her small waist and falling in sheets around her feet.
Her hair was caught high on her head and fell in a mass of coffee-hued waves down her back. Huge topaz hung at her ears, around her throat and on her wrists.
She looked out at the audience and flushed, her eyes wide as she smiled hesitantly.
Chaz Jaguari beamed down at her and pulled her close, his arm around her waist. “Lorena, beings of the audience, I’d like you to meet my lovely Rouge.”
* * *
Roxie stiffened in his embrace. His Rouge.
Right, he was using a name that wasn't real, just like none of the rest of this was real.
The beautiful, heart-melting song, the way he'd seemed to sing it straight to her, and the way he was looking at her now, as if she was the most precious thing he'd ever held... it was all for show.
To create a barrier between him and his fans. His adoration was on loan, like the glittering gems she wore.
At least she'd get to keep her new undies--a topaz set that was even prettier than her red set.
"Yes, we're in love," he told the audience. "We'll be betrothed soon. And as everyone knows, Tygers are monogamous once mated."
"Oh, Chaz, say it isn't so!" a female called from the audience.
"You're breaking my heart!" wailed another.
Chaz grinned at them, and the audience gave a roar of laughter and applause.
"How 'bout a kiss for your lady?" yelled one of the males. "Convince these females!"
Chaz gave Roxie a questioning look, and she nodded.
He bent his head and kissed her...and the instant his lips met hers, the crowd, the spotlights and everything else fell away. His lips were warm, tender and electric, sending a surge of longing through her so strong she nearly melted at his feet.
Her skin prickled, heat and power surging through her in a heady mix she'd never experienced anywhere but in his arms.
His grip tightened, and he kissed her more deeply, a low growl vibrating under her palm on his chest.
Then slowly he lifted his head, and gave her a look smoldering with desire and other turbulent emotions she couldn't name, and dared not try.
Not when she felt so edgy, so volatile--ready to weep, or scream with fury. Her fingertips flexed in his sleek jacket. She wanted to claw it off of him.
Then someone hooted at them from the audience, and she remembered her plan. It didn't include any more sex with him, no matter how intoxicating his kisses, how his scent filled her senses and make her mouth water, her pussy contract with near pain to feel his touch again.
"Hot! Better get married quick, Chaz!" someone called.
Chaz chuckled. "No need to rush things. We plan to take our time, enjoy each other."
He didn't want to know her, not really. He didn't like the 'her' he knew, he'd made sure she knew that.
Roxie smiled, letting her lower lip quiver just a touch, and touched a hand lightly to her abdomen as she gazed up at him. Then she looked shyly away.
"Anything to say, Rouge?" called someone.
Roxie batted her lashes, facing the audience. "Oh, I...I'm just so in love with my tyger," she said. "And I'm so happy h
e loves me too."
She smiled up at Chaz, and then drew away, touching her abdomen again. "But now, I'm sure you'd rather hear him sing."
To a collective sigh from the audience, Chaz let her go. However, not until he'd handed her off carefully to the usher.
She trod back down the stairs and into the shadows of the seating area.
"You did good," Burl approved, patting her leg.
Ives gave her an odd look. "You have a gut ache or something?" he asked. "You kept touching your belly, there."
Roxie gave him an innocent look. "No, why?"
Then Chaz and Lorena launched into another song, one of his biggest hits, called 'The Eye of the Tyger', and Roxie forgot the tangle she was in, and lost herself in the music, like every other being in the audience.
But after two more songs, Chaz spoke again, and Roxie shook herself out of the stupor of enjoyment caused by his meltingly beautiful voice.
Wait, he was through? That meant it was time for her to go.
She'd played her part, with a little extra, if any of the gossips in the audience were intuitive enough to catch on. And perhaps that would teach him to be more cautious with his fake betrothals.
She gathered the stole that went with her gown, and slipped from her chair.
"Where you going?" Ives asked. "Chaz is coming to sit, watch Ms McKitt with you."
"I have to use the lav," she told him. "I'll be right back."
"Oh. Well, take one of the guards with you, right? Chaz says you're not to go anywhere alone."
"Right."
Roxie had no intention of taking a guard with her. She slipped out while the two male guards were enthralled with Lorena McKitt's sultry new song, and slipped onto the next tram.
"Main lifts," she snarled, her voice rough. She sat, flexing her fingertips in her lap as the tram whisked along the passageway.
The Indigon seated across from her eyed her with chilly curiosity, and frowned. "Shouldn't you be cloistered somewhere?" the woman asked, her blue eyes uncomfortably penetrating.
"Mind your own business," Roxie growled, and flew out of her seat as the tram whirred to a stop.
She dashed onto the nearest lift, and turned to snarl at the human couple ready to follow her on. They backed up in a hurry, eyes wide, and gaped after her as Roxie ascended in the invisible lift.
She curled her lip at them and snarled again, louder. Anyone would think they'd never seen the lifts work before.
But when she rushed out onto the landing outside the platinum suites, she saw her reflection in the mirrored door, and froze.
No wonder those other beings had stared. She was shifting.
Her face was changing, her nose flattening, her eyes were larger, brighter, more slanted, her pupils long slits instead of round apertures.
She held out her hands before her and let out a mewl of despair. No wonder her skin prickled--she was sprouting a fine layer of silky fur.
And her hands were changing, the tendons strengthening, her nails lengthening into claws.
And under her long skirts, she could feel a sharp itching pain on her tail-bone. As if something were trying to burst from her skin.
She looked around her frantically.
She had nowhere to go. Why in Tygress' name had she come here? This was his suite, or one of the three was, anyway. The one on the left belonged to the obnoxious Serp female.
The suite on the right--it was empty, she remembered now.
And as PR, she had clearance to enter. She’d hide there.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Chaz walked down the stage steps with a last wave at the audience, and a smile for the woman awaiting him at their table.
Except that she wasn't there.
And when Burl and Ives told him she'd gone to the lav with a guard, Chaz looked pointedly at the guards lingering nearby, gazing fatuously at Lorena. "You mean those guards?" he snarled.
"Oh, quark," Ives muttered. "I knew that kitty was being too compliant."
"Yeah, you should have," Chaz said. "We've got to find her. I don't like that Lessurant is loose on this ship at the same time as Roxie."
Burl rose to alert the guards. One headed off to alert more of the guard team. The other stepped out of the theater to access the ship's holocam surveillance system.
He came back in a few secs. "She's headed up to the platinum suites, sir."
Chaz rose, already on his way to the nearest door. "I'm going after her."
"Wait, sir--I have intel you really should see." The Serpentian guard trotted along at Chaz side as he headed for the tram. Once on board, he showed Chaz the holovid.
Chaz' mouth dropped open as he watched Roxie stride onto the lift and sail upward through the air on the lift, like a warrior princess, scowling fiercely with her hair and skirts blowing about her. She was magnificent.
Then she reached the foyer outside his suite, and his breath froze in his throat as she halted abruptly, and then stared at herself.
He watched her peer into the mirrors and then let out a mrrowl of despair.
"Oh, Great Tygress," he breathed. "She's shifting." His Rouge was shifting.
She needed him.
"Do you want us to tranq her, sir?" the guard asked him. "Have her transported to Bryght?"
Chaz narrowed his eyes, his jaw set in utter determination. "Hells, no. In fact, anyone who touches her will answer to me. She's mine."
The Serp eyed him, the ghost of a smile passing over his face. Then he nodded. "Yes, sir. We'll see to it that you are not disturbed."
Chaz rode up in the lift by himself, his heart pounding in a fierce rhythm as if he'd been singing the InterGalactic Anthem, his body and mind straining toward the female waiting for him above.
His shift mate. He didn't know why she'd returned to his suite, but he intended to make very certain that she didn't regret it for a single sec.
In fact, he intended to be the best shift-mate she'd ever had.
Unfortunately, when he stepped out of the lift onto the landing before the cluster of three suites, the door that opened was the wrong one.
He froze, staring in revulsion at the repellant vision of a Serpentian quazillionairess with her creepy gaze fixed on him, and her forked tongue flickering out to touch her thin, glossy lips.
The hackles raised on the back of his neck.
"Ms Lessurant," he said. "What in the seven hells are you doing here?"
Turned out that was the wrong thing to say.
He'd had years of training in fan diplomacy and evasion, and he quarked it up immediately.
She stepped aside, and two of her minions rushed out, guiding a phalanx of small airbots--all of which had very shiny hypodermic needles protruding from them.
Fine, there were only four of the things, but they were as scary as flying serpents. God only knew what sort of crap she'd loaded those needles with.
"Guards!" he roared, whipping off his jacket and using it to swat one of the bots from the air. "Guards!"
He ducked another bot and then whipped his jacket around to catch a third.
Now there was only one on the loose, and he whirled to keep an eye on it, just as the door of the suite on the other side of his opened.
A deadly snarl split the air, over-coming the whine of the bot. Chaz dared one glance away from the bot, which hovered just out of his reach. His eyes widened, and his heart nearly stopped.
Great God beyond, his Rouge was in full shift, and she was the most gorgeous thing he'd ever seen. Her hair curled wildly about her head and shoulders like a mane, and the rest of her, from her lovely face to the tip of her toes, was covered in the finest silk fur imaginable, just a tracing of it, enhancing her golden skin, and every curve and hollow of her naked body.
Lashing about her legs as she prowled toward him, flexing her claws in rage, was a slender, beautiful, sexy tail.
O Great Tiger, a tail!
Not every Tyger female grew one when she shifted, and those who did... oh, yeah. He shuddere
d with delight, already feeling it stroking across his bare skin.
But first he had to keep her alive.
"Rouge," he ordered. "Get back inside."
She hardly spared him a glance. Glaring ferociously at the Serpentian in the other open doorway, she drew back her lips, revealing glittering fangs, and snarled again.
The two Serp minions paled. One scuttled backward into the suite. The other simply fainted, falling limp to the floor.
"Go away!" Lessurat hissed. "Jaguari is mine. I saw him first."
"No, no, I'm not," Chaz gritted, gaze on the bot as it hovered in mid air.
Then, realizing its handler was gone, or unconscious, he flung his jacket at it.
The jacket dropped, the bot caught in its folds with the others. He stepped away from the door. "Now, both of you, back away," he ordered.
Both females ignored him. "I'll have him, or I'll kill him to keep him from you," Lessurat promised Roxie.
Lessurat drew from the folds of her orange draperies a small, but unmistakable laser weapon. "I'll kill you too, you hell-cat."
Rouge didn't waste time with threats. She simply shot forward, low to the floor as a cat would, and hit Lessurat at the knees, bearing her backward into the suite behind her.
Chaz dashed after them, and then ducked as the laser fired, blasting the edge of the open portal beside his head.
"Roxie!" he roared. "Get away from her--she'll laser you!"
As he leapt for them, a female's scream rang out. Chaz heart nearly stopped.
Then Lessurat sagged back onto the carpet, hands to her face. Her face was a mask of shock and pain, four deep gashes across it from one temple to her jaw on the other side. Bright blood welled from the streaks.
And Roxie was drawing back her other arm for another blow.
Chaz grabbed her just in time, and pulled her back, kicking and struggling, in his arms.
"Rouge," he crooned into her hair, a wary eye on Lessurat. "Rouge, I have you. I'm safe now. Stop, kitten."
He kicked the laser weapon out of Lessurat's reach, just in case. Although she had both hands to her face, moaning and hissing.
Chaz glared at the attendants, hovering in the shrubbery. "See to your mistress," he ordered. "And if any of you so much as think of loosing any more of her filthy weapons, I'll laser you myself."
