by A. G. Wilde
“I can’t see it. I need you to release me—”
“Ah, apologies.” M’Agunt let her go, his tentacle sliding from around her waist, and she was able to touch the material. It had an intricate design that made it look like it had butterflies painted on it.
It was beautiful.
Running her hand along the design, she took a few moments to decide. “I’ll take this.”
M’Agunt’s grin widened, no doubt happy about the sale, as he turned to pull out the rest of the bale.
“How much do you need?”
“About five yards,” Evren answered.
M’Agunt just turned and blinked at her, his large eyes fully closing and opening dramatically.
“She needs two lengths.” Kyro’s voice was so close behind her she almost jumped. God. How did someone so large move so quietly?
He was standing so near; she could almost feel his chest moving with each breath. And, she didn’t know why, but a part of her wanted to lean back a little, just a little, so she could feel his chest against her back.
This was what isolation was doing to her.
She was making friends with an octopus-man and she was craving the touch of the first male who had been nice to her in a while.
Don’t get her wrong. There wasn’t anything wrong with Kyro. He was tall. Handsome. Strange, but not in a threatening way. And he was incredibly interesting to speak to when he did speak.
But he had never shown any interest in her...at least, not romantically. Their acquaintance was completely platonic.
He was hot. But they were acquaintances.
She was sure he felt the same way.
Daring to tilt her head and look up at him, she found his eyes focused on hers. As she swallowed hard, he watched her throat move and a heat she hadn’t felt in years filled her. All his talk about copulation came flooding back.
Snapping her eyes away, she found M’Agunt stretching a wrapped-up package in her direction.
He seemed to have been watching them the entire time and the smile he put on his face when she’d finally looked in his direction made her uneasy.
Was he just a creep?
He seemed to really like sex stuff. That was probably what that look he was giving her was. He was probably imagining her riding Kyro’s dick.
The heat within her grew at the thought.
Wrong thought. Wrooong thought.
Now, she was imagining riding Kyro’s dick.
Shaking her head to clear her mind, she smiled and took the package.
“By chance, do you have any needles or thread?”
M’Agunt’s gaze was running down her body slowly and it was clear he hadn’t heard her question.
Yup. He was definitely into freaky sex stuff. The way he was eyeing her was like how the chitin-dude, Shive, had been looking at her and she didn’t like it at all.
He better watch out. His eyes were larger than Shive’s and she wouldn’t hesitate to poke them out.
Trying not to squirm under his gaze, Evren opened her mouth to repeat the question when a rumble from behind her made her twist her head to look up at Kyro.
His narrowed gaze was on M’Agunt and he was...growling?
As soon as their eyes met, the growling stopped and Kyro was looking back at her as if the sound had surprised him as much as it had surprised her.
M’Agunt must have heard the sound too because he seemed to zone back into the present as suddenly as the growl had penetrated the air.
“What did you say sweet, sweet human?” M’Agunt asked, his voice like syrup but his gaze icy as he glanced at Kyro. This time, Evren was certain there was definite annoyance in his gaze.
“Needles? Thread? Do you sell any?”
She spent the next few moments having to describe the two items to the two aliens and after all her efforts, it turned out that there was no such thing on the base.
Apparently, no one sewed clothes. They all just bought them ready-made.
Well, she wouldn’t be doing that. The whole purpose of getting the cloth was so she would have something to do so she could preoccupy her mind and not go crazy.
Reaching into her basket, she pulled out her datapad, which held her digital credits. M’Agunt raised a tentacle in the air.
“No need to pay. This time it is free.” He smiled.
“Oh...that’s nice of you but I can pay—”
M’Agunt’s grin widened. “Ah, sweet human,” he said. “You will pay me later.”
Evren frowned slightly but the alien’s smile didn’t seem malicious.
With a grunt from Kyro, she felt his hand at her back as he steered her from the store, almost as if he couldn’t wait to get her out of there and away from the saggy alien.
“Thank you, M’Agunt,” she managed to say before they exited the stall.
As they reentered the market, she was sure she heard M’Agunt’s reply: “The pleasure was all mine.”
7
They walked in silence, the hustle and bustle of the market enveloping them once more.
Kyro couldn’t help the frown that was bunching the skin on his forehead.
The Dini known as M’Agunt disturbed him.
Logic told him there was nothing to be disturbed about, but he didn’t trust the slimy Dini for as high as he could lift him.
Swallowing hard, he told himself it was not because of the small human walking by his side.
He would have to go back home and do some research on Vorti mating rituals but as far as his current knowledge went, they had been doing nothing to illicit the primitive growl that had forced itself from within him.
And she had heard it, too. How embarrassing.
Glancing down at her now, her package of cloth tucked into her basket, he willed himself to think clearly.
His response in the shop wasn’t new.
When he’d seen Shive invade her space, he’d felt the same strange feeling that had made itself known with the merchant’s shop. There was no logical reason for the surge of protection that had gone through him.
Whatever it was, it had to be something to do with her being human. Clearly, whatever malady was affecting his brothers was also affecting him.
He didn’t need to hover over her. She’d almost taken one of Shive’s eyes out all on her own.
The memory amused him greatly. She’d used her tiny pointy finger as a weapon.
There was silence between them now and he noticed her face was composed. He didn’t know what she was thinking, but he didn’t like it.
He much preferred the way she had looked when she’d laughed at his joke.
Her face had taken on a youthfulness that wasn’t there now.
Now, she looked serene thinking some troubled thoughts as they walked together.
Was she contemplating M’Agunt?
It was clear the Dini’s interest in her went beyond the fact that she was human. There was something else behind M’Agunt’s eyes when he looked at her and the thought made his blood pulse where his chets once were.
M’Agunt and qrakking Shive.
There it was again. That feeling.
He and the human were only...acquaintances. He’d helped rescue her and that was the basis of their relationship. It would be nothing more.
It could be nothing more.
Did he want it to be something more?
His heart stopped for a second before resuming.
The thought had never occurred to him. But as soon as it began taking root, Kyro brushed it away.
It would be punishment to bring someone into his personal hell. To subject someone he claimed to love to the life he had to live...he would only do such a thing to his enemies.
Still, as he told himself this, he didn’t want the little time he’d spent in her presence to be over. Following her to the market had been an unexpectedly pleasurable experience if he forgot about the merchant and the other rebel.
“So, you watch our comedy shows, huh?” she asked suddenly, pullin
g him from his thoughts once more.
“I read them.”
“Oh. Read any you like?” She glanced up at him, reading him.
“There was one. Star Expedition. I found it quite entertaining.”
“Star Expedition, don’t think I know that one.” A pause. “Do you mean Star Trek?”
“Star Expedition. Star Trek. My translator says those names are the same.”
“Ah.” She cracked a smile and his eyes glued on to it. Why was she smiling? Did he inadvertently tell her a joke?
“I like Star Trek too.” She sighed and her delicate shoulders rose and fell. “I envy you.”
He was about to tell her he was the last person in the world she should envy when she continued speaking. “I wish I could at least read the language spoken here. It would be nice to at least be able to read on the datapad that came with my apartment.”
The corners of her mouth drooped a little and that same look that had moved into her eyes before came back again.
Sadness.
She was sad.
And he didn’t think it was only the fact that she couldn’t read books that was causing her sadness.
It was a look of sadness stemming from deep, deep down. The type that seeped into your gaze when you weren’t aware of it.
The type that people saw but didn’t mention.
“There are many languages spoken here. And many written ones,” he offered.
“Really?” She paused. “Of course. I don’t know why I assumed that everyone spoke the same thing.” She paused again. “Then how do people read here? Do they have to learn all the written languages? Or is there a common language or something?”
“I can update your translator for you, or arrange to have it changed, depending on the model. It would then connect with your ocular nerves to translate words you see into a language you understand.”
He spoke before he even considered what he was saying.
To update her translator, he’d have to most likely visit her private quarters.
“Could you really?”
How could he say no when she was looking up at him with such hope?
“Yes. I could visit your quarters tomorrow with the update.”
The corner of his eye twitched.
He shouldn’t be doing this.
But he did want to spend more time around her.
She was interesting, and not like the other human women. She was interesting in a different sort of way.
Maybe it was the fact that he saw more going on behind her eyes...something behind her gaze caught his attention.
Or maybe it was just the sadness he saw lurking there.
Whatever it was, he would take the opportunity to study her. She would be his new project.
And it would help him pass the time while he waited for his brothers to come off their “break.”
He’d help her and she’d unwittingly help him.
It was a win-win situation, as her kind would put it.
That is, if she decided to say yes to his offer.
Visiting her private quarters to update her translator. He was pushing it.
Waiting with bated breath, he finally exhaled when he heard her reply.
“I would really like that.”
She was going to get to read!
With the cloth in tow and books to read, she’d have more than enough things to do to fill her time.
Smiling, she glanced up at Kyro and found him watching her.
“You know, you’re a bit different from the other guys in your unit. Reku5 they call your team?”
She saw the skin on his forehead move as if he was raising his eyebrows.
“Yes.” He paused. “You think I am different?” Even with the noise of the market around them, she was sure she heard a note of caution in his voice.
“I don’t know. Were you always a member of the Restitution?”
He raised his gaze then, looking out into the crowd of shoppers with a look as if he was seeing something far, far away behind his eyes where she couldn’t see.
“No. I spent some time at the Intergalactic Hub, working with the research unit there.”
Evren blinked, a sliver of excitement growing within her.
What luck. She’d been meaning to find someone to talk to about the port city.
“Really? What’s it like there?”
“Busy,” Kyro said then paused, his eyes still with that faraway look. “Free.”
Sounded like her paradise.
“I have a secret,” she whispered, loud enough for him to hear, but not loud enough for the aliens around them to catch her words.
They were in the street leading back to her apartment now and though it wasn’t as crowded as in the market itself, there were still several aliens moving about.
“A secret?” His gaze focused and zeroed in on her suddenly, his pupils contracting.
“Yea.” Evren swallowed. She hadn’t told any of the other women about her thoughts of possibly leaving. She hadn’t told anyone yet, but somehow, she felt she could tell Kyro. Something inside her told her she wouldn’t be judged.
“I’m thinking of moving there, if I can. Find something to do. Find,” she glanced at him nervously, “find some employment maybe. Just...a purpose I guess.”
Without even looking at him, she knew he was studying her.
“Do you think going there will make you happy?” he finally asked.
That was a strange question to ask, but it made her reflect on her reason for wanting to leave.
“I don’t know. I guess... I just need to know at least. I could always return here if it doesn’t work out, right?”
Despite the noise in the street, she was sure he heard her. After all, they’d been speaking fine all along. But when more than a few moments passed and Kyro didn’t reply, Evren tilted her head to look up at him.
Again, it seemed as if he was deep in thought.
“Kyro?”
Still, he didn’t respond.
He had completely zoned out.
He was so strange. Different from his brothers, she was sure.
It was intriguing and maddening all at once.
In other circumstances, she’d have taken the time to study him as she would other organisms, noting his behavior and the way he responded and interacted with the world around him.
It was something she’d often done just for fun back on Earth. Some people were more interesting than novel strains of bacteria, and though studying bacteria was her specialty, she still found humans to be particularly remarkable.
The same could be said for aliens.
Kyro specifically.
She guessed it couldn’t hurt. She’d study him for the remainder of time she had at the base.
She already enjoyed his company so much; it would give her a reason to seek more of his presence.
“Kyro?” He was still zoned out and didn’t seem to snap out of it until she touched his arm lightly.
“Kyro?”
His eyes zoned in on her. “Yes?”
She offered him a smile and his eyes softened a bit but something in his gaze had changed. The way he was looking at her, she could swear there was disappointment there.
“So, tell me, what sort of research happens there, at the Hub.”
“Biological. Military. Social. It is the galaxy’s largest terminal. Thousands of species pass through the terminal daily. The research is needed to prevent diseases, diffuse conflict, form alliances, and the like. The Interplanetary Union funds the research, so they are always seeking scientists, researchers, and volunteers from different worlds.”
“Do you think, um, a human, would be able to get in there?”
“I do not doubt it.”
His confirmation made her grin.
To think she’d been nervous about heading to the market today. So much good had come of it.
She finally had something to look forward to.
The Intergalactic Hub—it was possibly the
place where she needed to be all along.
8
Somewhere on the base
The comm screen lit up, words passing over the smooth surface in bright green.
“SECURE CONNECTION ESTABLISHED. CALL ENCRYPTION ENABLED.”
The comm clicked as the other line opened.
“Status.” The voice was low and, in the silence on both ends of the line, the command came out clear and clipped.
“I have located one of the humans, oh great one.”
“Only one?”
“It appears four of the other humans have found pairings within Reku5.”
A sound of annoyance bordering on anger came through the comm device.
“What do you mean pairings?”
“It appears four humans have formed...relationships with the captain and members of the Reku5.”
Silence.
“Should I have them neutralized, your excellence?”
“No. Refrain from such activity. We cannot risk you revealing your true allegiance. Killing those humans mated to the team will raise suspicion. We will find some other way to punish them.”
“Yes, great one.”
A pause.
“And what about the white-haired human, my excellence? I smelled no other scent upon her. She is not mated.”
A deep inhale sounded on the other line.
“Vulnerable.” The word was drawn out long and low in a deep exhale that sounded like it vibrated the air around it.
“Yes, my excellence. She can be easily extracted.”
“Retrieve her. Bring her to me unharmed.”
“Yes, my excellence.”
9
For the first time in a long while, Evren found that her night was restless for another reason apart from the after-effects of being taken from Earth.
Excitement for what the future had in store had her emotions all wrapped up.
When she awoke the next morning, she had something to look forward to as she pulled the fabric from the package the vendor had wrapped for her.
It was as soft as cotton and had almost the same thread count.
Lifting it out of the package, she spread it over the table and gave it a critical eye.
