That left him to pace his room while listening for either Semeera to enter the common room or the food to arrive. He truly was acting like a prepubescent lad courting his first female—nervous, anxious, overeager to please, and distractingly horny. He needed to curb the last emotion lest it bleed through in his actions and spook Semeera.
He vetoed the idea of taking a shower of his own to see to his arousal. A warrior shouldn’t be so undisciplined. Hadn’t he indulged himself enough that morning? The obvious answer was no, but he wouldn’t repeat his earlier actions.
Now that Semeera was sharing space with him, he had to control his urges, not give in to them. Courting her successfully depended on it. Females didn’t favor a male too preoccupied with the end goal of sex to properly woo them.
The chime at his door brought him out of his room at the same time Semeera exited hers. She gave him a shy smile, and Kader couldn’t remember seeing a more alluring sight than this tiny brown alien female wearing his shirt. It reached her knees. That both aroused and upset him. He wanted to see more of her legs, her thighs especially, and what lay between them.
Desist, warrior!
He answered the door and took the offered food with a gruff gratitude and then carried the tray to the table.
Semeera had already climbed onto her seat without his aid, eyeing the tray he carried hungrily. “It smells good.”
Kader set her plate in front of her and then placed his plate before sitting across from her to watch her eat. She cut up and chewed each piece of meat. He’d been smart to request knives be included for her convenience. His people tore off small chunks and swallowed them. He didn’t do that now, opting to mimic her in cutting up his food. “Is it to your liking?”
“It’s not fantastic, but I’m not complaining.”
“I had the cook forego the usual spices until they are tested to ensure they will not harm you. When you visit the infirmary tomorrow, I shall have Doctor Gyan make that his focus for the day, determining what you can and cannot eat.”
“Yeah, that conversation stalled when they asked me why I eat poison, meaning chocolate.”
“I caught the end of that discussion.” Which reminded him of a topic that needed addressing. “Be mindful of my earlier words concerning the doctors and your time in the infirmary. All they do is at your discretion. You lead their studies, not the other way around. Do not allow them to overstep.”
“They haven’t.”
“Then removing your pants was your idea?”
“Oh.” She let out a soft chuckle. “No. Doctor Gyan asked.”
Kader hissed, his tail thrashing behind him. The doctor dared much when Kader wasn’t there to stop the male.
Semeera waved calming hands at him. “I didn’t mind or else I wouldn’t have done it. And that was all I took off. I told him I wouldn’t remove more, and he didn’t press the issue.”
“As well he shouldn’t. Don’t ever let him pressure you.”
“I won’t. Tomorrow will be all about food and adding more variety to my approved menu. Believe me, I’m not in the mood to eat more of those fruit-flavored bricks they fed me. Yuck.”
“Fruit-flavored bricks?” He thought about the description a moment and then hit upon the answer. “Ration bars. Their composition is various fruits and nuts as well as a few grains. All chosen for their nutritional value, not their taste.”
“I could tell.” She made a disgusted expression with her tongue out.
Her flat tongue. Not forked. Wide and pink. Different but not off-putting. How would it feel running over his scales? Or his rod?
To the burning pits of the nearest star!
Why couldn’t he stop thinking of copulation? He applied himself to his food, forcing himself to focus on the conversation.
Semeera said with a chuckle, “Health food the universe over sucks the same.”
“I have found that to be true.”
“Oh? How many planets have you visited?”
“All within the Domain.”
“The Domain?”
“The four planets inhabited by my people.”
“Four?”
He didn’t know why that surprised her. “Yes. Is that strange?”
“For me, yeah. Humans are only on one planet… as far as I know. Abductions aside. That means you have to use spaceships to get from planet to planet, right?”
He nodded.
“That must be amazing, flying in space. I wonder what that’s like.”
“You know already. We are in space now.”
Semeera’s eyes grew wide. “What?” She looked around and then back to him. “This is a spaceship?”
“Yes. Under my command.”
“Wait.” She sat back, staring at him. “You’re the captain of this ship. The highest ranking individual? The one in charge of everything?”
“Everyone and everything on this ship is under my command. My duty is to protect them.”
“I… But you… I thought…” She stopped talking to take a breath and appeared to collect her thoughts. “My apologies, Captain Kader. You were the one who coaxed me out and stood beside me, so I thought you were a guard. Even when Doctor Gyan told me your title, I figured that was just a military rank and there was some general or something around somewhere giving orders that you were following.”
After the computer finished its explanation, he said, “General is a rank we do not have. There is only cadet, fighter, warrior, captain, and superior. There is no superior on this ship, as no superior would be given such an assignment, thus I am the highest ranking.”
“Does that mean Doctor Gyan has to follow your orders?”
“He does.”
She nodded with a smirk. “That would explain it then.”
“What?”
“Nothing.” She waved away his question and gave him a big smile. “Don’t worry about it. The Domain has four planets now, but which one did you start on?”
“Home World.”
“Yeah, which is your home world?”
Kader smiled and said, “You misunderstand and do not realize I answer your question. Home World is our planet of origin.”
“Your home planet is called Home World?”
He didn’t know why she found that strange. “Yes. Why?”
“I was expecting some exotic name I couldn’t pronounce.”
“What is your planet called?”
She opened her mouth, but stopped and heat flushed her dark brown skin. In a sheepish voice, she said, “Earth.”
Kader cocked his head to the side with an amused snort. “Not exotic either.”
She chuckled and shook her head. “Okay, so on Earth—” she chuckled more with a roll of her eyes “—we have this saying: People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. It means a person shouldn’t criticize others when they have similar faults.”
“Your house is indeed made of glass.”
“Giving planets unimaginative names—another universal standard.”
He chuckled with her. The first real amusement he’d felt since being burdened with this assignment. Not so much of a burden now with Semeera at his side. Very soon, he hoped to have her in his bed.
Chapter 7
Semeera sat patiently on her bed in the infirmary. Her bed. She’d claimed it because it was the one she always used. No matter who else was in the infirmary to be treated at the time or how many patients were there, the bed she used was always empty and waiting for her arrival. Which, she was happy to say, was only for a few hours each day since Kader had sprung her.
For the past week, which for the khartarns was eight days long, and she didn’t know how that converted to Earth time, she’d split her days—half in the infirmary, and the other half in Kader’s suite, learning about his culture from the audio and video files he’d supplied when she asked for them. History, current events, laws, codes of conduct, and so on. It was a lot to take in, but her survival on Home World—she still giggled about that name—depe
nded on it.
“Here you are, Artist Sssemeera,” Doctor Gyan said, heading toward her with his hand out. “Captain Kader’s spare comm can be returned to him, while you use this instead.”
She took the earpiece sitting on his palm. It had a thin plastic-like band that went around her ear and a small bud that settled inside her ear canal. It was a perfect fit because they’d taken a mold of her ear to create it. “Thank you. This is much better.”
“Of course it is. You do not have to worry about getting it wet. And should it break or become lost, you only need let us know and we will fabricate a new one.”
“If that’s the case, you may as well make me a spare now just so I have it.”
“A wise suggestion.” He made notes on his tablet.
Semeera peered over his arm. “I can’t get over how simplistic and yet complicated your language is.” Their seventeen-letter alphabet was all wavy and zigzag lines. Numbers were circles placed inside each other or overlapping with boxes appearing for anything over one thousand and triangles for millions.
Gyan moved closer and held the tablet so she could see it better. “Have you been studying how to read it? Do you recognize this letter?” He pointed to a set of three wavy lines.
“Not even. I’ve seen several instances of your language, but haven’t started studying it yet. Not really.” And even if she was, she wouldn’t tell him. She didn’t want her studying becoming yet another of the things they recorded about her.
A low annoyed hiss came from Doctor Quagid. “You shouldn’t show her that, Doctor Gyan. It is classified information for no one’s eyes but yours.”
Doctor Gyan gave the male a wry look. “As she is unable to read it, the confidentiality is not compromised.” He tapped the letter he’d pointed at earlier and said to her, “This is G.”
“Doctor Gyan,” Doctor Quagid snapped. “Would you teach her to read from the very thing she should not be reading?”
“Enough!” Doctor Gyan smacked his tail on the floor then winced while trying to appear he hadn’t winced. “You overstep yourself, Doctor Quagid. I determine the confidentiality of this tablet and who may read it.” He handed it to Semeera while staring down the other male, daring him to say more.
Doctor Quagid shot her a look of annoyance before leaving the room.
“Insufferable,” Doctor Gyan grumbled, shaking his head. “If he weren’t at the top of his class…”
Semeera held his tablet out to him. “Arrogant and smart are never a good combination.”
He took back the tablet with a smirk. “They aren’t, which is why I shall have you hold my tablet whenever he is around, simply to irk him.”
She laughed while wagging a finger at him. “Naughty.”
“I am in a position to be so.” He winced as he curled his tail around his side. After tapping something into the examination probe, he touched it to his tail. A relieved sigh left his lips.
“Does tail smacking hurt?”
“It does. Our tails are sensitive, as the scales there are not as thick, especially the underside, which is the side that hits the ground.”
“You didn’t even do it that hard, though. I’ve seen Captain Kader do it twice now, and he left a dent in the floor both times.” She pointed at the dent that was still in the metal flooring from the day he’d escorted her out of the infirmary.
Doctor Gyan snorted with a roll of his eyes. “Captain Kader is a warrior, which means his tolerance for pain is ridiculously high. That also means his dominance display is so much more effective because he can abuse his tail in such a way. To be able to do that to himself without showing pain implies a promise to do far worse to his challenger.”
“Dominance display?”
“A holdover from our less civilized days. Males would beat their tails against the ground to show their strength and warn of coming violence should the challenger not back down.”
“You were going to hurt Doctor Quagid?” She couldn’t keep the disbelief out of her voice. Doctor Gyan didn’t strike her as the physical type. And from the disdainful tone he always took when talking about Captain Kader, she doubted he would stoop to doing anything that would put him on the captain’s level.
“Not at all. Only warriors and security follow through with violence after such a display. For myself and those like me, the display is merely a warning of pulling rank and impending punishment. If Doctor Quagid had persisted, I could have him replaced.”
“Effective, but so is a fist in the mouth. Just saying. Not that I condone workplace violence, but…” She shrugged.
“I would not think a female as intelligent as you would resort to harm.”
She smiled wide. “That just proves you don’t know that much about me or humans in general. Some of the smartest people I knew could kick ass with the best of them. They had to learn to protect themselves from being bullied for being smart.”
“Bullied for being smart? That’s barbaric.”
“I agree. Intelligence should be celebrated. But in some places, it’s the quickest way to a beatdown from jealous people who feel inferior.” She thought for a second and then added, “And in other places, the males feel only males should be smart and beat on any female who tries to learn.”
Now Doctor Gyan appeared horrified. “Beat a female for learning? That… That… My teachers were all female. Most doctors tend to be. It is the males who have to put in extra effort to prove themselves up to the task of handling such delicate and detailed work.”
Semeera didn’t want to debate the matter with him because she couldn’t. She agreed. It was disgusting and small-minded to deny someone the chance to learn for any reason. If someone had an aptitude for something, teach them. It wasn’t hard. But gender, race, and status impeded certain things. And explaining all that so Doctor Gyan could understand and write it down for his study was something she just really didn’t want to get into right then.
She hopped down from the bed and smoothed her T-shirt dress down. Not a real T-shirt but close enough. She’d ordered quite a few long shirts from the catalog Captain Kader had gotten for her and some pants. The pants had been a bad idea because they weren’t shaped for her legs, having a built-in bend so the pants wouldn’t be under stress from the way khartarns stood. They were also too long.
With no seamstress on the ship and no desire to bug Captain Kader about it, Semeera had abandoned the pants and turned her shirts into makeshift dresses. And one perk of living with a ship full of cold-blooded lizard people was that they kept the place pretty warm. She loved the temperate climate of the ship.
“You leave already?” Doctor Gyan checked his tablet and pouted.
Semeera gave him a bright smile. “Yup. That’s it for today. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She walked out before he could argue like he always did when she decided to leave. Her guard—the security female Captain Kader had promised—shadowed her all the way back to the suite and then stood sentry at the door. She would leave when Captain Kader came home. Until then, she was there if Semeera wanted to go anywhere, which she never did.
Her life was this suite and the infirmary. She mentioned this to Captain Kader that night over dinner—a lightly spiced roasted something with steamed vegetables. They ate dinner together every night. He was usually gone already by the time she woke up for breakfast and she had lunch in the infirmary. Dinner always consisted of cooked red meat and a side. She’d already made Captain Kader promise not to tell her about the origin of the meat. She would find out soon enough on her own and was putting it off so she could enjoy tastes-like-beef as long as possible.
Captain Kader said, “The ship is free for you to roam as you please with only a few sections off-limits for safety reasons. You need only request your guard give you a tour. I thought you had.”
She poked at her food. “I know, and no, I hadn’t. Nothing against my guard, she’s doing a wonderful job, but the idea of wandering around the ship just makes me nervous.”
“
I see.”
“Too many people staring, I guess.” She shrugged.
A partial truth, because she really wanted Captain Kader to be her guide, not the female he’d assigned to guard her. After so long in his company, speaking with him and laughing with him, she’d stopped seeing him as a lizardman and now only noticed he was male.
He was tall, strong, and attentive, and his voice made her knees weak. Thankfully, she was always sitting when they spoke, or else she might topple over. He made her think naughty thoughts when she was alone, wondering if that really was interest she saw in his gaze or just her wishful thinking.
And then her logical side had to point out that she was simply seeking an emotional—and possibly physical—connection with the most powerful person around to protect herself. Even before she realized Captain Kader was the one in charge, she’d felt an attraction to him. But the male exuded authority, so maybe she’d realized on a primal level that he was more than a mere grunt.
Whatever the case, part of her worried that her attraction was simply her self-preservation instinct kicking in. She’d heard too many anecdotes of people doing stupid stuff while out of the country that they would have never done at home. Culture shock had a way of making people act in strange ways. But was that the cause of her attraction, or did she feel something genuine for the captain that would last past her acclimation period?
Captain Kader asked, “Would you like me to be your guide?”
Yes!
She hushed the excited voice in her head and said, “You don’t have to. As captain of the ship, you probably have better things to do.”
He sat back in his seat with an amused expression on his face. “You overestimate the extent of my tasks for the day, which consists mostly of sitting on the bridge and breathing down the necks of my subordinates.”
She giggled at that imagery.
“We currently orbit Home World with only minor course changes from time to time. There is nothing that needs my full attention and cannot be ignored for the time it takes to acquaint you with my ship. I had planned to suggest this very activity to you once I felt you were more relaxed.”
Alien Mate Experiment Page 8
