by Sonia Nova
Slipping past a speeder still radiating heat as it cooled down from a recent flight, Naomi accidentally walked straight into a wall.
“Oof,” she mumbled, wondering what she had bumped into.
She took a step back and looked up. Her heart nearly jumped to her throat as her gaze was met a pair of pitch-black eyes that were trained on her from a face displaying a deep scowl. This man was no wall, but rather a hulking mass of muscle at least a foot taller than her, if not more.
“I-I’m sorry,” she breathed after a moment, her cheeks turning hot and red with embarrassment. “Excuse me.”
She tried to step around him, but he stood as still as a rock and continued to stare down at her. The intensity of his gaze caused an involuntary shiver to run down her spine. His eyes were bottomless pits of darkness and his thin lips were turned downward in obvious distaste. With his dark gray skin, pitch-black eyes, and massive horns growing from his head, the man looked like a demon from the depths of hell.
There was no mistaking it. He was an Ezak-X. And an Alliance soldier, judging by his uniform.
The appearance of aliens hardly ever shook her up – she’d lived on Inea, one of the Alliance main planets, for a year after all. But somehow, the intense look this man was giving her made her feel uneasy. It wasn’t his beastly appearance; it was those deep, black eyes that seemed to bore into her own and sear to the back of her skull.
Naomi quickly looked down, shifting her gaze away from his eyes. It landed on his chest instead, and she couldn’t help but notice how the contours of his muscles were visible through his dark gray regulation T-shirt. She noted it was only slightly darker than his skin tone.
Naomi took a deep breath and looked back up at his face. He still hadn’t moved out of her way and she didn’t know what to do or say. He clearly wasn’t acting like a man familiar with human customs. He didn’t just say, “Don’t worry about it” and move on. It was like he wanted something from her, but she had no idea what.
“I’m… sorry…?” she said again, her voice quieter than before. She hadn’t intended to make it a question, but truthfully, she was at a loss.
She was well aware that every culture and alien race was different. Their reactions to situations weren’t always compatible with those of humans. She also knew that the Ezak-X were less human than most. But still, she couldn’t help but expect some kind of reaction other than glaring.
Naomi started to feel foolish on top of being embarrassed. The feeling wasn’t a usual one for her. She was the serious, composed Alliance Ambassador. Not an embarrassed girl who bumps into people without thinking and then can’t figure out how to apologize correctly.
But here she was.
The man’s nostrils flared and his dark gaze didn’t waver. It was like he was trying to stare her down until she backed away.
She didn’t. She just stood there, because somehow, she felt like leaving now would mean admitting defeat.
And she never admitted defeat.
His nostrils flared again, like he was trying to smell her fear. Then, something flickered in his expression for a split second. Naomi was about to say something else, just to fill the silence, when a familiar voice called out to her from nearby.
“Naomi!”
The Ezak-X male shifted his eyes toward the sound, and then looked Naomi up and down slowly, before resting on her gaze again. He revealed a perfect row of white, needle-sharp teeth in a strange smile before pushing past her and disappearing between a row of speeders.
Naomi let out a breath she hadn’t even realized she’d been holding.
Okay. That was weird.
She couldn’t let the experience distract her though. She had an emergency meeting to get to.
Following the sound of the voice that had called her name, Naomi saw the unmistakable red skin and boyish grin of Mareb, one of the Agari representatives, standing in front of a shuttle with a couple of other Agari people.
“Hey,” Naomi said as she walked up to him with a smile, her strange encounter with the Ezak-X already fading into a memory.
“Hello, beautiful,” Mareb replied, returning the smile. He looked a little more tired than usual, but that was to be expected under the circumstances. Honestly, Naomi was surprised he didn’t look more stressed. But she knew he was pretty resilient. Before the Krezlians had sieged the planet, they had worked together on several agreements between Earth and Agaria – all the negotiations which were now on hold due to the current situation – and she considered him a friend.
“Has everyone else left already?” Naomi asked, looking around. There were only two passenger shuttles left behind Mareb, both small ones. Her journey from the other side of the station must have taken longer than she thought. Or maybe it was the stare down with that solider. She ignored the thought.
“The Va’ii and Ekrin just left, so it’s only us,” Mareb said, gesturing at Naomi and back toward the four other Agari representatives behind him. “This shuttle is actually full though,” he added apologetically. “There’s only room to take the five of us to the planet.”
“Oh,” Naomi said, glancing at the second shuttle on the platform. It was empty. “I guess I’ll just have to head there by myself then. See you all in a few!”
She smiled at Mareb and started to turn toward the other shuttle, but Mareb stopped her with a gentle hand on her shoulder.
“Want me to join you? So you don’t have to fly alone?”
Naomi almost laughed. Sometimes Mareb’s gentlemanly manners were too much.
“No, I’m fine. Go with the rest of the Agari reps. I’m not actually going to be alone anyway. There will be a pilot. Plus, I should be able to last a fifteen-minute trip by myself.”
Mareb hesitated still, but nodded a moment later. “If you’re sure.” He smiled. “I’ll see you there then.”
He finally turned toward the original shuttle, and Naomi waved him goodbye. She approached the entrance to the last shuttle. The door slid open to let her in, and she climbed into the front seat in the cockpit. She turned to the pilot, about to tell him that she needed to be dropped off at the palace. Instead, she froze, her eyes turning wide.
Seriously?
It seemed like whatever powers controlled the universe were not in her favor, because the pilot sitting in the cockpit of this shuttle was the very same Ezak-X soldier she had just bumped into and was trying to forget about.
Great. Here goes an awkward ride…
Naomi took a deep breath and composed herself. Her diplomatic training always came in handy when she least expected it.
“Hi again,” she said with a pleasant smile. “I’m Naomi, the Earth Ambassador.” She leaned toward the man, offering her hand in a handshake.
He just stared at her for a long moment, making no move to return the gesture. Just when she was about to retract her hand and try another strategy, he leaned toward her. His hulking size basically filled up the entire cockpit.
Having nowhere else to go, Naomi shrunk back into her seat. He was only inches from her when she heard him take in a deep breath.
Um. What?
Was he smelling her?
“Excuse me?” she asked, her annoyance at his behavior probably obvious but she no longer cared.
“Your smell…” he said, his first words to her. Then, he straightened and returned to the controls. A deep frown marred his features, as if he was annoyed. Naomi just stared at him in disbelief. He started up the shuttle and they began to lift off, the autopilot soon kicking in.
So, she really was going to be stuck with him for the next fifteen minutes. He wasn’t just strange or unfamiliar with human customs. He honestly struck her as a bit rude. Not that she expected anything else from an Ezak-X. They had a reputation for social interactions that were… rough.
Although, knowing their history, Naomi could hardly blame them.
“I’m going to the palace,” she said finally, realizing he wasn’t going to ask.
“I figured,” he
said, his gravelly low voice even. She couldn’t tell if he was being mocking, playful, or just matter of fact. “You’re an Ambassador.”
Naomi decided not to respond to that and just tried to get comfortable in her seat.
“I’m Arez,” he said after a long moment of silence, but he didn’t elaborate or continue his introduction.
“Nice to meet you, Arez,” she replied automatically, letting out a quiet sigh of relief that he apparently did know at least the basics of a human introduction. She looked out of the window next to her and down toward the rapidly shrinking platform beneath them as they rose into the thin atmosphere around Eifan.
The quiet and warmth of the shuttle started to make her sleepy again and she wished she had made it to the canteen before Lady Eneria’s message had come through.
Hopefully they’d have coffee in the palace.
This meeting was going to need her full attention.
CHAPTER 3
AREZ
So that’s why the message had been marked as of high importance. Arez wasn’t just supposed to keep an eye on the shuttle’s autopilot. He was there to ensure that the Earth Ambassador – Naomi or whatever her name was – made it to the palace safely.
It was a simple enough job, but he felt on edge and could barely focus.
It was her fault.
The human woman’s strange, cloying scent overpowered the entire cockpit and he could do nothing to escape it. She smelled sweet, like sugar, but mixed with something… rich. Darker. It was a scent that he couldn’t get enough of, but at the same time, it disturbed him.
His discomfort only grew as he recalled how she had reached out her hand toward him. Of course he recognized the gesture as a human greeting custom. She had wanted him to take her hand in response.
But why?
She was an Alliance Ambassador and he was just here as her pilot for the next few minutes. There was no reason she should show him politeness, let alone offer him a hand in such a friendly manner. Like an equal. Arez couldn’t remember the last time an Alliance higher-up had paid him any attention like that. Usually they just ignored him whenever he was around, like he was invisible.
That’s what he was used to, and the fact that this female hadn’t acted like that… it made him feel uncomfortable. He couldn’t describe why, but even now, he could feel her eyes turn to him as he stared out the window of the shuttle, trying to block her out.
“So… How long have you been assigned to Agaria?” Her friendly, casual tone broke the silence.
Arez snapped his gaze toward her and frowned. Why was she still trying to make conversation? Silence had been perfectly fine with him. It made it easier for him to keep himself in check and hide how strongly her scent was affecting him. It kept wafting into his nostrils, even when he tried not to inhale it. It was making him all wound up like a spring.
He didn’t know whether he should reply. It had been a question, he knew that, but why did she care? He figured responding might be the better way to get her to shut up again though.
“Since construction of the station was completed,” he said shortly, tearing his gaze away from her and back to the front window of the shuttle in an attempt to end the conversation.
There really was no need to watch where they were going. The autopilot sensors were much stronger and more reliable than any biological organism’s eyes – even his – but the Ambassador didn’t need to know that.
He tried to focus on the space before them, but the uninteresting view of the mottled brown and red planet of Agaria didn’t help him expel the female from his mind. Not only was her scent intoxicating, but her looks were like no human he had ever seen. Her skin was pale, almost as pale as the Va’ii, and her hair was a bright orange.
Her body was tiny, and he remembered bumping into her. He had barely seen her coming because her height only came up to his chest. She looked weak to him, but then again, all humans did, even the ones he’d met in the military.
“Me too,” she said, her tone chatty. “This is actually my first assignment as an Ambassador.” Arez just grunted. “Of course, it’s been complicated now that this planet is on the brink of war.”
His lips twisted in distaste at how casually she spoke of the Krezlian forces. As if she had no idea what that meant to him. She had to have been educated in the history of the Ezak-X as an Ambassador.
The war…
He suddenly realized that, as an Ambassador, this human could know details about the situation that no one would tell him as just a soldier.
“The stalemate,” he ventured, trying not to let the intensity of his hate for his makers affect the way he spoke. He wanted the woman to answer his questions, not distrust him. “Is that why you are going to the palace?”
He saw her smile from the corner of his eye. “I can’t tell you what the meeting is about, but I can say that we’re working as hard as we can to keep it a stalemate until we can reach some kind of a diplomatic solution.”
Arez scoffed, unable to stop himself. He looked back toward the Ambassador, dropping the ruse that he needed to watch where they were going. She raised an eyebrow.
“You don’t believe me?” Her tone was still casual, but a bit of the over-the-top friendliness was gone.
“I believe you,” Arez said, feeling his pulse accelerate. “What I don’t believe is that diplomacy will make the Krezlians go away.”
A look of seriousness flickered across her face, as if she had just realized why Arez might have a different view of the situation based on his history.
“You think we should just attack first?” Naomi asked, but it wasn’t really a question. “Part of my job is to save lives,” she continued, “and I wouldn’t want to lose any Alliance soldiers – like you – if there’s any other option.”
The female was trying to reason with him. Of course, that’s what she was trained to do. She still didn’t understand, but he didn’t care. There was no way she could. She hadn’t been tortured and trained to kill since birth by the Krezlians.
“A soldier knows death is always an option,” he said. “That’s not going to stop me from taking out as many of those fucking lizards as I can.”
It seemed the Ambassador didn’t have a diplomatic answer ready for that. They sat in silence for a minute or so and Arez cursed inwardly as her scent started to affect him again, making his senses go into overdrive. Talking had actually been a good distraction, as annoying as he found her point of view.
“Who knows what the situation will be like after this meeting,” she said finally, her voice quiet. Arez looked at her, but she was looking out of the window, away from him. He realized what he had been oblivious to before.
Despite all her training and experience, this human was afraid that the war would take place. He could smell the subtle hint of fear, the taste of it faintly sour on the back of his tongue as he breathed in.
So this meeting was not a routine gathering. Something in the situation had changed. Something was worrying her.
A minute later, Arez was at the controls again, landing the shuttle into the palace’s docking bay. He switched off the autopilot and navigated the shuttle next to the few others that were already sitting empty by the exit of the platform.
The doors of the shuttle rose automatically as they touched down.
“Thanks,” Naomi said, meeting his gaze with a smile. Her strange golden-brown eyes looked at him with kindness, even after their heated conversation, and Arez relaxed a little. This Ambassador truly wasn’t like the other higher-ups he’d had the misfortune to interact with. That she would still treat him with kindness after their disagreement…
He nodded in response.
She moved to climb out of the shuttle, and Arez watched as if in slow motion as her shoe slipped, catching on the bottom of the shuttle opening, and the female began to fall face-first toward the concrete floor of the platform.
Instinct kicking in, Arez leaned across the cockpit and easily grasped her by the waist,
pulling her back into shuttle.
An expression of surprise froze across the Ambassador’s face. Then, slowly, she looked down toward where Arez still firmly held her on each side of her rib cage. He could feel each quick breath she took press gently outward on his palms. The thump of her quickened heartbeat reverberated against his skin and made it prickle.
She felt so fragile within his hold. How was such a high-powered Alliance Ambassador so clumsy? How had she survived this long without breaking a bone or something?
“Watch your step,” Arez said with amusement, dropping his hold on her. He saw her exhale, deeply, as if she had been holding a breath. His palms still tingled with her heat where he had touched her, and he itched to wipe his hands on his legs to get rid of the feeling.
“I was fine,” she said shortly. “I would have caught myself.”
Arez shrugged. All his senses told him that wasn’t the case, but he wasn’t about to argue with her. Her cheeks were turning red and he could hear her heart beating quickly. She was clearly shaken up.
“I’ll see you when the meeting’s over,” he said. “Just come back here.”
Naomi blinked at him. Her diplomatic training wasn’t hiding the annoyance on her face any longer. He could guess her thoughts – she had been expecting a ride with someone else.
“Okay,” she said after a moment. Without another word, she swiftly jumped out of the shuttle and strode off toward the exit, as if to show that she truly would have been fine without him.
His gaze lingered on her slight figure – the curve of her ass as it bounced with every step – and the sight of it made him groan. He did wipe his hands on his legs now, to try to erase the memory of her on his palms. But just then, her lingering scent assaulted his senses again, making his cock hard, and he had to grip his legs tight to remain in control.
She disappeared through the exit a moment later, leaving Arez just as shaken – if not more so – as she had been a moment earlier.
