by Liz Paffel
Had she been paired with an officer in the short time since he’d seen her last? His brow fell at the thought. It was the only explanation as to why she’d be dining in the officer’s quarters. He gave a brief glance behind him, expecting to see her mate coming to join her. Why did the expectation make his face feel hot? In fact, his entire body felt warm. Perhaps he needed nourishment, after all. Something was off, and he had too much to do to feel out of sorts.
Priya set down her fork with a loud clank and crossed her arms on the table. “See, this is why I’ve been given the uber-exciting task of making you more tolerable. King Tryllin accompanied me, and then left me to wait for you so I can begin showing you how to be nice.”
A servant hurried over and set down two mugs of steaming hot neuyay, a steeped drink made from fermented leaves, similar to the human’s black tea. Quixx took the mug and downed a gulp, ignoring the scalding heat. His throat was suddenly parched.
“You are to be my teacher?”
“I hadn’t thought of it that way. But I guess. Yeah.” She grimaced as he downed the rest of his drink and then reached for hers and chugged half of it. “I think we’d better start with table manners.”
Quixx grunted and poked a slice of meat with his fork. He felt awkward, as if he needed to occupy his hands.
“So, what’s so special about this woman you’re supposed to bring back here?”
Unsure how much she knew; he chose brevity to be on the safe side. “She has made an agreement with the King.”
He allowed silence to fall between them, ignoring the eyebrow she arched as if waiting for him to say more. He steered away from the topic. “What exactly did my King ask you to do for me?”
Priya reached across the table and snagged the handle of her mug with two fingers and pulled it back to her side. She eyed the remaining fluid within and wrinkled her nose.
“His exact words were, “follow him and observe his behavior. Be insistent in getting his attention, because he’s going to dismiss you repeatedly. Show him how to interact without causing offense.”
Quixx chewed his meat, took another piece, eyeing her as he ate. “You are to follow me around at every step, begging for my attention so I might be redirected to do your bidding. Is this correct?”
“Um, sure. That sounds kind of correct.”
He huffed a laugh and grabbed the mug back from her. “Are you my teacher, or my pet?”
“Excuse me?”
“Does not a pet follow its master’s heels, always begging for a moment it might be spared some attention in which it can interject its own wants and needs? Perhaps I shall pat you on the head as humans are fond of doing to their dogs.”
She thrust a finger at him. “Did you just call me a dog?”
Her cheeks flushed a deep pink, her eyes glistening with challenge. His groin stirred, shocking him, but he couldn’t look away. He was enjoying this play of wills.
“Ah,” he grinned. “Perhaps you are also not in the mood to decipher what I mean when I speak to you.”
“Whatever. I’m telling you right now that you sure as hell won’t win over a woman by insulting her.”
He finished his meal and shoved his tray to the side. Priya hadn’t touched hers. She needed her strength if she thought she was going to keep up with him.
“I thought dogs were highly regarded in human culture. It is hardly an insult. Dogs are beautiful, intelligent creatures. Obedient. Loyal. All desirable traits in a female.”
She leaned forward and the neckline of her shirt plunged, showing off the crevice between her full breasts. He had a difficult time looking back to her eyes.
“So… did you insult me, or give me a compliment?”
He didn’t respond.
Her forehead wrinkled. Sparks of annoyance radiated off her and lightly touched his skin. Normally, he ignored his sympathic ability which allowed him to feel and to some extent, manipulate the energy of others. All Axxeon had the ability and could block and unblock it at will. He kept his sympaths firmly under control. He did not have it in him to absorb the feelings of others. Not anymore. How had Priya’s annoyance and budding anger got through his barriers?
He gestured to her meal. “Will you consume that, or waste it?
“Answer my question.”
“I’ve been told that human women are quick to anger when they assume their pride is being bruised. I suggest that you consume your meal, now.”
She rolled her eyes. “I don’t care what you were told about human women. I want to know what you meant.”
He grinned wider. “See? You are already begging. Just like a pet.”
With a cursory shake of her head, she leaned back in her chair and put her hands up. “If it weren’t for Alora, I’d tell the King to shove it. This is going to be an impossible task.”
Quixx tapped her tray, and made a swirling motion with his finger, indicating she should eat. “You will address her as Queen Alora. You are a servant of the Axxeon, and you will show her the same respect as any true blooded would.”
“She’s not my Queen. She’s my friend.”
“She will be once you are mated.”
“That’s not happening, by order of the King.”
Quixx raised his brows. She speared a potato slice and popped it in her mouth, her eyes sparkling as if she was enjoying his surprise. “Once I’m done with you, I’m leaving with Alora’s brother back to the city. You all are going to fly away to your new home in the sky and with luck, I never have to lay eyes on you again.”
He dropped his fork onto the table, a sudden restlessness nearly making him burst from his seat. Tempering himself, he waved the servant back over and indicated for more tea. He gulped it down as soon as his mug was full. Aware that the female watched him, he slowly set down his mug. It should not affect him that she was leaving with the human male. Yet… it did.
“What’s got you so riled up, big guy?”
Returning his attention to his food, he began to eat quickly. He needed to leave the cruex and get to work, to occupy his mind with something other than the surprisingly unpleasant image of Priya in the arms of his Queen’s blonde-haired brother. He did not enjoy the angry sensation the image gave him. And he really did not like that Priya had noticed his reaction.
“I have many tasks to complete. Enough talking. If you intend to follow me around like my pet today, I suggest you hurry up with your meal.”
“Let’s make this clear right now. I am not your pet.”
The flash of annoyance was back, pushing right into his solarderm and causing little sparks to crackle over his skin.
“Perhaps not yet.” Quixx stood. Glancing down at her wrists, he realized she wasn’t wearing a comlet. And that she was sitting very tense, her expression hard, lips pulled to one side. He’d said the words partly in jest-- they’d just popped out of his mouth. But now that he’d said it, he wondered what it would be like to have her on her knees at his feet, his hand in her hair...
He shook off the thought with a start. “Did the King state you may have free roam of the compound?”
She glared at him. “The only place I can enter without you is my room, and here at mealtime. Otherwise, I need you or someone else to access entry for me.”
“What did he say about the neural cuffs?”
“He didn’t say anything.” Priya rose and picked up her still full tray. “But I’m telling you, don’t even think about it.”
Quixx grinned and turned, walking away. “We will see how obedient you are.”
She made an angry sound as she hurried behind him, setting her tray down and taking long strides until she caught up to him. They walked in silence for a few minutes as he strode down the long halls and took several turns. Her scent wafted around him, soft and floral and sweet. He had a flashing image of the waterfall on Axxeon 8 and how sweet the redella flowers had been. Almost the same as the scent of Priya’s hair.
“How about this,” she said. “Maybe tonight we can have dinne
r and I can give you some pointers. You know, talk about what I can help you with and how you can do things differently and we can get this over with.”
His jaw tightened; the memory of his home slow to fade. “I do not wish to talk.”
“Then… how about I give you a few pointers while you eat? You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to.”
“I would find that annoying.”
“Damn it, Quixx. I have to help you. If I don’t, I’ll never get to leave. The King said this woman may be ready to be picked up in a few days, so we need to get to it.”
“Very well. We will have the evening meal together and you can give me these pointers.”
Her energy lightened, sparking him less aggressively. His acceptance of her offer had pleased her. She was eager to get this task over with.
“Okay, so, we’ll consider it a date. You’ll need to wear… not that.” She swept a hand in the air the length of his torso. “Do you have any human clothes?”
His close-fitting black leather pants with thigh pockets and the wide waistband for storing weapons were broken in and so comfortable, he sometimes forgot he was even wearing them. The metafabric of his gray shirt stretched with a fine mesh-like quality over his torso, making it easy to move. To fight, if he had to. His weapons belt and across-body strap holding his fighting knife were like second skin to him. Human clothing could not possibly offer such fluidity and comfort.
“I will not lower myself to wear human male clothing. I saw my King wear something called flannel and it was insulting.”
Priya laughed, the sound genuine and joyful. The back of his neck tingled, and he found himself smiling. “Okay, well, this get up makes you look like you’re expecting battle at any moment. Women like to feel protected, but they don’t want the impression that you’ll be launching heavy artillery during the appetizers and hand-to-hand combat over cheesecake.”
“A man who cannot protect his mate is not worthy of her.”
“Sure. But if you scare the lady off before you even get started, you won’t have anything to protect, will you?”
They reached the Comm and Quixx stopped outside the door. He faced her, realizing just how much smaller she was than him. He recalled throwing her over his shoulder to cart her off down the prisoner’s hall, how firm yet soft her lithe body was.
“I understand. I will consider what else I have to wear which may not frighten females.”
Priya gave a little shrug. “Okay. Good.”
Quixx pushed the button next to the door lightly, opening it just enough that he could slip through. She opened her mouth, but he held up a finger.
“You will wait for me out here.”
She frowned. “I’m supposed to observe you all day, or something.”
Quixx pointed to the glass panels on either side of the door. “Clear panels. I believe humans call them windows. You may observe all you like.”
Priya tried to follow him but pointed to where she should stand by the windows. Her shoulders stiffened but she went to the spot and slumped a hip against the wall, her arms crossed.
“Good girl. Now, stay.” Quixx couldn’t help the jab as the door closed between them. Her eyes sparked with shaded humor as she glared at him.
This might not be so bad after all.
Chapter Six
She couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
Leaning against the thick glass, Priya observed Quixx inside the Comm room, her gaze straying to the huge screen commanding his attention. A multitude of smaller screens filled the larger one, each showing a separate area of the city. There were riots everywhere. People looting, fires raging. Cars gridlocked in the streets. Police presence appeared to be scarce. She was used to seeing things like this on the news, but it never really sank in.
It never seemed real because it was always happening somewhere else. Not in the city she grew up in and loved. She pressed her fingertips to her lips and took a deep breath through her nose to quell the anxiety bubbling inside her. Her life had changed so fast. She was trying to adjust for the sake of her own sanity, but there wasn’t a fast way to acclimate having been plucked from her world and deposited into an alien compound. There was no good way to stand back and watch everything you’ve ever known fall apart in a myriad of little screens playing out humanity’s downfall.
Absently nibbling on her thumb nail, she moved her hand with a disgusted sigh when she realized what she was doing. This was silly. Why wasn’t the military stepping in to help get the city under control? Why wasn’t anyone doing anything to stop the alien life form—the degarzee—that were creating the fires and driving all this chaos?
The Axxeon stated they didn’t have a weapon that would stop the little fireballs. If aliens with advanced technology couldn’t stop them, what hope did they have? She needed to get back in the lab and continue her experiments with the degarzee tissue. She’d come up with something. She always did. The more she stared at the unrest in her beloved city, the stronger the urge to do something became. Going back to the city and finding meaningful work to help people recover from this madness was the right thing to do. Once this mini apocalypse was over, humans would need medicine and healthcare. The faster she could get out of this compound, the better. In the meantime, she needed to do something more useful than teach a grumpy alien about women.
She tapped wildly on the glass. No one responded. The Axxeon inside were looking at computer-type devices and smaller observation screens scattered throughout the room, completely absorbed with what they were doing.
“Quixx!” She rapped on the glass with both hands. “Hey!”
He turned slowly, his expression clearly displeased. She waved him over. Ignoring her, he went back to what he was doing.
What the? “Hey! I know you saw me.” She banged on the glass harder this time.
Quixx finally strode over, his eyes flashing a rim of white she hadn’t seen before. With a swish of the heavy door, he came out into the hall.
“Why do you disturb me?”
“I need you to beep me into my lab. It’s silly that I have to stand here and do nothing all day when there’s work to be done.”
He sneered. “Your work is to do as the King instructed.”
She pointed to the screens inside. “Do you see that? That’s my city. Those people are my neighbors, co-workers. My friends. I knew it was bad out there, but I had no idea it was like this. I am not going to babysit a seven-foot, green alien with an ego complex all day when I could be doing something useful for my own kind. I want to go back to the lab and continue working with the tissue samples.”
Searching his face for any sign of understanding, her frustration flamed when his oddly attractive face didn’t change from a look of unadulterated kiss-my-ass irritation.
“I am also red.”
He said the words so deadpan that it took her off guard. “What?”
“My solarderm is green and red. You made an incorrect statement and I am correcting you.”
She ran her hands over her cheeks and composed herself. He was precise to a fault, apparently. “My mistake. Quixx, please. I can’t sit here and do nothing.”
His eyes flickered. “I admire your dedication to being useful.”
“Is it true that the Axxeon have no way of stopping the animal causing the fires?”
“At this moment, it is true. However, the King’s orders are that you stay with me.”
She ran the information she had through her mind. “We know it’s biological and I’m sure I can find a way to kill it. I have to before it causes more tragedy. While working with the sample earlier, I noticed that the skin cells are dying. I don’t have much more time. If you felt confident that you could stop something terrible from happening, would you want to try? Even if that meant breaking the rules a little?”
His entire body stiffened. His shoulders squared and he stood even taller and more imposing than before, like a battle-ready warrior who’d just been poked with a sharp stick b
y his opponent. Her belly fluttered. Clearly, she’d touched a nerve. His chin tipped up as he looked down his nose at her.
“We will soon have a weapon in our possession that is capable of stopping the degarzee. Therefore, your scientific research is no longer required.”
She squared up to the glass and put her hands on the pane, looking at the screens. A handful of kids were running in the street as fire raged behind them. An elderly man busted the door on a small pharmacy wedged between a payday loan office and a corner market.
“How soon will you have the weapon?”
“I will be informed as soon as it is ready to be retrieved. You do not need to worry about it.”
She shook her head, a wave of helplessness washing over her. “That’s not good enough. I do need to worry. My friends are out there.”
He reached to touch her so quickly, she didn’t have time to react before he cupped her shoulder with his hand. Heat streaked from his palm and rolled down her arm. It was pleasant yet shocking in its intensity. He pulled back as if she’d burned him, glancing at his hand as if he expected to see something that shouldn’t be there and took a step back.
“I understand your despair.”
Catching his eyes, she startled a little to see empathy there as if he really did understand how she was feeling. He’d lost his family, too, or so she’d heard. Their women and their planet, all destroyed within a short time.
“Quixx.”
They both turned to see King Tryllin and Brandon Church approaching. Priya’s mood immediately lifted to see Brandon’s familiar face. She’d met him multiple times through her work with his sister Alora. He’d been healing after being abducted by the Nozing and she hadn’t seen him yet since his rescue two weeks ago.
“Priya.” His eyes lit up. “Good to see you. I hear you’re accompanying me back to the city.”
“You, too. Yes.”
As he grew closer, her enthusiasm at seeing a familiar human waned. There were deep shadows beneath his eyes and his face was gaunt and pale. His gait was off, as if it took great effort to keep up with Tryllin. The Brandon she knew was a fit, active firefighter. Healthy and robust with enviable energy levels. The man before her was a sallow, sunken replica.
