| |
Six months later on the starship Elemi heading for the Erkek home planet of Volvode
With narrowed eyes, Chloe studied the worthy opponent slouching in a chair across from her. Yeah, the fool was goin’ down. Didn’t matter what the interfering companion on his shoulder said. Loser was gonna cry for his mama before she was finished.
“So, gargantuan man.” She moved the long, thin spool she was chomping on to the other side of her mouth. “You know you want to give it to me. So quit dickin’ around and give it up.”
“Dude!” The arthropod-shaped Spybot named JR10 waved a tiny foreleg from his perch on Aylzrunth’s broad shoulder. “You gonna let that stand?”
The neon blue of Aylzrunth’s eyes didn’t blink. “I may not know what ‘dickin’ around’ means, however, I surmise the intent. Female, I assure you, I will ‘give it up’ at the appropriate moment.” A minuscule smile. “When I deem you are worthy.”
Oh, hell, no. He did not just say that. Chloe clamped her teeth on the defenseless eating spool. The long cylinder was thin as a plastic stir stick but made of a pliable material more like edible cotton. The utensil wasn’t made to chew on, it was made to transform into a spoon, a fork, or a knife by holding it a certain way. Right now it was collapsed into the thin form she stuck in her mouth to chew on. She liked chewing on it. Finding a cigarette in space was a bitch.
She eyed her massive adversary from the top of his platinum-white hair brushing rock-solid shoulders to the naked six-pack abs that flexed with every breath. Her face expressionless, she goaded him. “If you’re not going to give me what I want, then I believe we’re done.”
Damn fool sat back and smirked. A smirk! Heat burned her ears. That man was going to be sorry before this night was over.
“Oh, I will give it to you.”
The promise was real in his silky tone.
“Yeah, you tell her, bro.” JR10’s unhelpful encouragement came from Aylzrunth’s shoulder. The AI Spybot resembled an Earth spider, in a mechanical, robotic way. His silver two-pronged body gleamed in the light as the matte-black bottoms of his twelve legs remained muted.
Chloe ground the hapless spool between her back molars. “You were obviously dropped on your head as a baby one too many times to think you can threaten me, bub.” She glared at the Spybot. “And you stay out of it.” She waved her hand between her and her adversary. “This is just between me and pretty boy here.”
JR10 tucked his razor-thin legs underneath him. The large multifaceted eyes twinkled in a colorful rainbow. “Okay, it’s your funeral.”
The tendons in Aylzrunth’s thick neck stiffened when he leaned forward.
Chloe admired the deep black of his skin, similar to a panther’s. The dangerous muscles of his polished exterior cause something to burn low and hot inside her. Wetness seeped between her legs as her nipples tightened. She squirmed in a vain attempt to stop the building pressure. No such luck. Her obsession with her constant companion was getting stronger by the day.
With a slight smile, he spoke quietly. “Now, if I understand you correctly, you have to pay me for what you want.”
His insinuation made Chloe’s heart thump a hard tattoo. No surprise it took a few minutes before her befuddled brain kicked in. Her eyes widened. First at him, then at the cards in her hand. A quick glance at the pot in the middle of the round table. Son of a bitch, he was right. She was losing focus here. To stay in the game, she had to put her treasures in the kitty. Her gaze narrowed on the cards. Only one more, just one more pretty lady to make her hand complete. That’s all she needed to show him how it was done. It was a matter of pride. She hadn’t been South Chicago’s poker champion two years running for nothing.
But holy crapoly, why did he have to sit there without a shirt on all the time? How was a girl supposed to concentrate? Would it kill him to cover up all that massive rolling dark goodness once in a while? The only thing he ever wore were those black pants tucked in knee-high black biker boots. All that exposed skin might make her forget she had complete control of herself and was the instructor here. No matter, today was the day she was gonna school the man in more ways than one.
“So right, my man. So right.” She tossed two cards facedown to the side of the growing pot. She slid the remaining bounty to the middle of the table to buy in. “Give me two.”
“Hey, Chloe!” JR10’s deep voice interrupted. “Turn BóBó back on. Your Mama is callin’ again.”
She ignored JR10 and eyed the pot. No alien man was going to take that coveted prize from her. It didn’t matter how hot he was. She stared at all those gleaming twigs of various colors, wishing they captured her attention more than he did. The stack piled in the middle of the table was a sugar addict’s wet dream. When placed in the mouth, the twigs melted like powdered snow with a burst of flavors that reminded her of decadent candies from Earth. The myriad of tastes ranged from succulent chocolate to bittersweet lemon pancakes. If a nicotine fix was out, then munching on some sweets had to be the next best thing.
“Chloe, she’s being real persistent. Something about Jazlyn ditching school and hanging out with that gang called the Why’yos again.”
Chloe clutched her cards, cursing under her breath. Dammit...she was doing something important here. She was busy trying to ignore that fine...fine...fine man and pretending she wasn’t. Besides, what did her mama expect her to do from thousands of light-years away? Why did she hook up BóBó so mama could call whenever she wanted? She should’ve known better. Angela had been a young teen, all alone, when she gave birth to Chloe. They’d been as close as sisters as Chloe grew up. When her baby sister, Jazlyn, came along fifteen years later, she had no choice but to help her mother raise the unruly child. Especially when her abusive stepfather split.
With a practiced eye, she watched Aylzrunth shuffle two top cards from the deck and deal them facedown in front of her. He tilted his head as JR10 whispered into his ear, then nodded. With a grunt, the onyx-colored alien matched the number of twigs she’d put in the kitty and discarded four cards before taking replacements. When he added the cards to his hand, his neon pupilless eyes narrowed and his full mouth thinned.
Chloe’s chest puffed out. Yeah, that’s what she was talking about. He must’ve gotten a crappy hand. It was up to her to make sure all those lovely delicacies came home. Served the know-it-all right for thinking he was an expert on everything. A tinge of guilt made her frown. She shouldn’t be so hard on him. It wasn’t his fault she craved his touch all the time.
She glanced at the two cards dealt to her. Time to finish the game. First card retrieved, a deuce of clubs. No worries, one more to go. With fingers barely shaking, she grasped the corner of the remaining card and slipped it between the others. Keeping an eye on Aylzrunth, she stretched out the suspense for a few more seconds. With squinted eyes, sucking on her lip, she checked out the new card she clutched.
Yeah, mama those pretty ladies had come home where they belonged. Look at that line-up—four beauties—two in black and two in sexy red. Smoothing the muscles in her face, she glanced at her main obsession. His frown told her everything she needed to know. The boy was gonna lose. She ought to be big enough not rub it in.
“Chloe!”
JR10’s baritone made her jump.
“Talk to your mama now!”
Son of a bitch! Freakin’ spider scared her. “All right, hang on. Don’t get your panties in a twist, sweetheart.” She pulled the rock-like object looped in a leather thong around her neck out from under her shirt. With a warning glare at the Spybot, she lightly pushed the center jewel on BóBó to activate the communicator. White noise buzzed in her ear before her mother’s voice came through loud and clear.
“Chloe, girl, you’d better answer me right now!”
Damn...Mama was in a snit today. “I’m here, Mama.” She tried to keep the sigh out of her voice. Really, she did.
“Don’t you sass me, girl.”
Her mother’s no-nonsense tone was loud and clear.
“I need you to talk some sense into your sister. She’s hanging around those hoodlums again, and I won’t have it!”
“Mama, no one uses the word hoodlum anymore. Geez, you not even fifty, and you act like you’re a hundred.” How many times had they had this argument? Her mother behaved like someone in her eighties most of the time. The woman was a young, vibrant person and should act like it.
“Chloe LaShaun Reid, I did not call you to disrespect me.”
That dignified huff could be heard across the galaxy.
“Here. Talk to your sister.”
“What?”
The petulant tone that replaced her mother’s voice could only belong to her fifteen-year-old sister. She swore the girl was going on thirty. A dull throb started at the base of her neck. “Jazlyn, what did we talk about you hangin’ out with those no-good bitches?”
“So?”
Chloe could see the mulish shrug from here. “Jazlyn Marie, you know it’s your job to take care of Mama while I’m gone. How you gonna do that if you get busted and sent to juvie, eh?”
The teenage snort told Chloe she was being an unreasonable adult.
“Ain’t no one going to catch us.”
“Jazlyn...” The child had better get the hint before she spelled out what would happen if she didn’t.
“So what? You ain’t here and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
The headache slithered up to pinch both temples. “Now you listen to what I say real good.” Chloe spoke low and mean. “If I hear about you hanging out with those bitches again, I’ll make sure you never, I mean ever, have access to any smart phone, tablet, or computer. Understand?”
“Chloe!”
Good. That whine told her Jazlyn got the message. It didn’t matter how far out in space she ended up, it was easy enough for her to make her little sister’s online presence disappear. The threat of being cut off from social media should do the trick.
“Understand, Jazzy?” She used the old nickname to show she wasn’t mad, only determined.
A watery sniffle. “Yeah, I got it.”
“Do you need help pullin’ out?” If Jazlyn was in too deep, the gang might not let her go without bloodshed being spilled.
“Nah, I wasn’t really with them. I was just talking to Marilee about a job Mr. Smithers had at the corner store. It’s all good.”
Chloe doubted that story. Mama wouldn’t have called in a panic otherwise. But she let it go for now. “Okay, then. You mind Mama, you hear?”
“When you coming back?”
Chloe eyed the massive onyx alien watching her with those eerie bright-blue eyes devoid of a pupil or an iris. She shivered as his intense expression made her heart squeeze. “Not yet. I’ll tell you when things change. Let me talk to Mama.”
“Chloe?”
Her mother’s tone came back smooth and calm. She always did that when she got her way. “Yeah, it’s all good, Mama. Jazlyn won’t be hanging around those girls again. Just keep an eye on her, okay?”
She watched Ay stroke the cards with a forefinger. She shivered and imagined it was her skin he caressed. Ooh-whee, she sure had it bad. “Listen, I gotta go. I’m right in the middle of teaching someone a lesson in humility. Love you!” She clicked off. Heart thudding, she now could focus on all that male goodness...er...the game in front of them.
“Well, whatcha’ got there big boy?” She leaned in with a wide smile. “Anything good?”
The answer was a manly grunt is he flipped the cards upside down and crossed his arms over his massive chest. “I do not think so.”
JR10 hopped up. “Bro...”
Aylzrunth shrugged as he raised a finger to cut off whatever the Spybot was going to say. With those shoulders moving, the bot had to scramble to remain upright.
“That’s too bad.” Chloe ignored the Spybot and twisted her cards to expose her magnificent display of four queens. “These lovely ladies and I are all set to clean you out.”
A platinum eyebrow rose with a frown. “It seems you are correct.” He flipped his cards over. “Apparently, I do not have the advantage here.”
A bitter tang coated Chloe’s mouth as she stared at four kings strutting their arrogant selves. Them boys mocked her, teased her to do the right thing. Well, hell. The big galoot didn’t know four kings beat four queens. Damn her sense of fairness. She really wanted them twigs. Her mouth watered for a nibble. No telling when she’d get more. Replicated ones just weren’t the same. With an exaggerated sigh, she pushed the pile toward him.
“Chee-hoo, my man!” JR10 did a happy dance and wiggled his tail end. “That’s what I’m talkin’ about.”
“Well, crap.” She said that with an undignified huff and crossed arms. “You won fair and square. They’re all yours.”
His frown deepened. “I do not understand. How can this be? Females are superior to males.”
Chloe smirked and winked. “True dat, big boy. But not in poker.”
How weird it was that he came from a strict matriarchal culture. For God’s sake, the man was huge! In fact, the few Runihura females she’d met were tall, but not much different from humans. How that society evolved with women in charge was a complete mystery.
Aylzrunth’s bright eyes narrowed before his deep purple lips curved into a tiny smile. “Ah, I had forgotten this game was invented by your primitive civilization of Earth.” He nodded as if that made sense. “Very well, I will accept this winning pan.”
“Pan?” She watched him wrap his thick arms around the small mound of twigs and pull them to the edge of the table in front of him. “I think you mean pot.”
“I do not believe there is much difference.”
JR10 snickered.
Sometimes Chloe had a hard time understanding the man. His formal speech patterns along with his innate way of looking at things made her stop and analyze what he said more often than not. Her heart melted.
Whenever he talked to her, his thoughtful, careful manner warmed her as he went out of his way to understand her in return. Even though they came from different worlds, their outlook on life meshed more often than not.
Case in point, it was easy to figure out he was making fun of her now with that twinkle in his eyes and his deep lips twisted in a slight smile. Ha! Maybe she deserved a training fee. Reaching across the table, she seized a handful of twigs and shoved them in her mouth.
“Why did you take that which did not belong to you?”
Chloe shrugged. “Why not? You don’t like ‘em anyway.” She closed her eyes at the sweet gooey flavor that painted the inside of her mouth with a rambling mixture of tastes. Blueberry, milk chocolate, lemon meringue pie, banana, and if she wasn’t mistaken, pineapple, all mixed to make a unique blend of ecstasy. Even better, the twigs were made of some type of plant comparable to kale, full of nutrients while low on calories. Thank God this stuff didn’t taste bitter like kale. And they were sweet enough to take care of her sugar cravings. Yeah, all the sin but none of the guilt.
“He should give them all to you, Chloe dearest,” Elemi decreed with a huff. “It’s not like he appreciates them as much as you do.”
At the sound of a feminine voice, Chloe jerked. She’d forgotten all about Elemi. Elemi was the sentient spaceship loaned to them by acting-Chancellor D’zia to help rescue Aylzrunth’s kidnapped sister, Inocenci. Her friend Lora had warned Chloe that Elemi would develop a crush on the male captain of the ship. Just her luck, the crazy female ship focused all of her attention on Chloe and not her male companion.
“Elemi is correct.” Aylzrunth swiped the stack of twigs into one large scoop and deposited them in a storage bag. “I do not care for them as they are too sharp and bitter for my liking. I’d rather eat a pile of eztli shit.”
Ah, right, she’d forgotten. The Runihura had an acute sense of taste that went along with their exceptional hearing. Out of curiosity, she once asked for a bite of his meal and was disappointed at the bland flavor. He explained that because of his hypersensitive ability to distinguish individual tastes, he was careful about what he ate. That wouldn’t work for her. She liked to sprinkle hot sauce on just about everything.
While Chloe might not know what an eztli was, she did know she didn’t want to eat anything’s shit. “Then why did you agree to use them to play poker with me?” With a quick grab, she took the bag he dangled over the middle of the table. Clasping the treasure against her burnt-orange billowy top, she resisted the urge to rip it open and shove a handful into her mouth to savor.
“You explained the rules to me and how we had to wager something of value.” He nodded at the package she held in a tight grip.
With a sheepish grin, she placed it on the table and brushed her sticky palms over her stretchy yoga pants.
“Even though I do not particularly care for the Promentine Tubes the way you do, I surmise they have value to you.” His dark tongue moistened his lips as his eyes narrowed.
A loud snort came from Elemi. “Don’t trust anything that male tells you. He’s only trying to get into your pants.”
The wide-eyes and open mouth on Aylzrunth’s onyx face was priceless. “What an unreasonable thing for you to say. Why would I want to wear her pants?”
Chloe’s bark of laughter joined JR10’s as the big alien’s lips slid into a frown. Man, she needed that laugh. The tension between her shoulders melted.
“I fail to see why that is amusing.”
“Never mind, gargantuan man. Never mind.” Chloe waved her hand. One of these days, the lummox was going to find a sense of humor. “Elemi, leave him alone.”
“Fine.” The ship’s inner lights blinked.
A sure sign the vessel was annoyed.
“I’m ready to activate the wormhole to the outer reaches of Volvode. Upon your order, of course, Chloe dearest.”
Chloe’s heart dropped. Where did the time go? Aylzrunth promised that once they found his sister, he would devote his time to finding Chloe a suitable mate. She’d hoped this trip would give them a chance to get closer. Like skin-to-skin close. The last six months, she’d come to appreciate his calm, no-nonsense demeanor that balanced her wild inclinations. She twirled an errant curl around her forefinger and glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. There were times when she was convinced he was attracted to her. He picked her up often enough when she couldn’t keep up with him. Dammit! She wanted to stay with him.
Ever since he rescued her from her own alien abduction, she’d been awfully fond of the big galoot.
For the first time in her life, Chloe found herself afraid to share how she felt with someone.
AYLZRUNTH EYED THE human female sitting next to him in the cockpit. Chloe appeared to be absorbed in the floating computer displays in front of her, indifferent to everything else. Including him.
A slight smile curved his lips. Only...he knew better. As with all Runihura, he had an accelerated sense of hearing and taste. Whenever Chloe’s heart thundered, he heard it. When her arousal perfumed the surrounding air, the flavor covered his tongue.
Never had he met a female who completed him as she did. Where he was ice, she was fire. Where he was guarded, she was open. She was fearless, a woman with a wealth of courage that was coded into every fiber of her being. What a worthy female...one he was dying to woo as his mate, his Aruu. The only thing he needed was for her to issue such a command to him, then he’d be free to be hers. He swallowed a moan.
Until she initiated a directive, the only thing he could do was wait.
As she began a heated discussion with the sentient ship and the Spybot JR10, he watched the rise and fall of her resplendent chest. It appeared that the three of them were discussing the merits of humans entering the Federation Consortium. One of the humans Chloe met on the Zerin ship journeying to the Exchange had trouble getting Earth ready to join the civilized galaxy.
Elemi argued humans were a waste of time, JR10 remained hopefully optimistic, while Chloe wasn’t sure humans would survive finding out they weren’t alone in the universe.
Frowning to keep a chuckle in check, he turned to monitor the ship’s progress. The discussion ended abruptly when Chloe yawned. It was so loud it made him twitch. He glanced at her as she stretched her fists above her head and arched backward.
The action caused her breasts to thrust upward and bounce with each breath. She squirmed before her hands flopped on her lap.
Aylzrunth’s cock jerked in appreciation.
“We almost there?” Another wide yawn.
He’d never seen anyone yawn before he met her. The first time she did it, he thought she was in pain. When he expressed concern, she laughed and told him it was something she normally did when she was tired. Thank the Lady of All Life he didn’t do that. It appeared uncomfortable.
“Elemi. Please take us to a solar day’s distance from the Volvode homeworld. From there we will analyze the best position to orbit the planet and monitor the communications. That way we can determine the next course of action.” Blessed silence ensued. For once, the ship didn’t hassle him.
Chloe swiveled her head back and forth as she massaged the back of her neck. A halo of black curls bobbed on rounded shoulders. “Are you sure your sister is there? I mean, as far as I know, you have no idea where she is.” She aimed a narrow stare at him with her hands folded on her lap.
He focused on the cockpit’s main display, ignoring the blackness of space with the scattering of distant stars zooming past on the main monitor. “It is the only logical conclusion. The Runihura blood found in Chancellor U’unk’s secret room was Inocenci’s. The only other DNA in there was the Chancellor’s and his equerry Fritjof’s. Who, we assume, escaped to his home planet of Volvode with her.” He refused to consider that Fritjof killed her before he fled. He gritted his teeth. He had to know one way or the other.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Chloe shrug.
“Why not just go to the head honcho and talk to him? Why all the secrecy?” She sounded puzzled.
“Because they’re real bad dudes, chica.”
JR10 perched on the console between him and Chloe. The bot turned multifaceted eyes her way.
“The Federation Consortium has strict sanctions against them, even though they are still a member.”
The metallic head swung to face him.
“Wanna bet their membership gets kiboshed like yesterday’s one-hit wonder?”
It was hard to understand the informal dialogue of the Spybot. The Zerin, acting-Chancellor D’zia, had warned him the android was programmed to speak in Earth’s slang. Why that was so, he never had the inclination to find out. When D’zia offered the android’s help along with the ship, Aylzrunth didn’t hesitate to accept. He’d use any advantage to locate his sister. His gut twisted at what she must have endured. All that blood splattered in the old Chancellor’s secret room...
“D’zia assured me you would have no trouble infiltrating their systems to locate Inocenci.” Aylzrunth’s voice rumbled from deep within. It took effort to push the words pass the hard knot in his throat. That knot hadn’t gone away since Inocenci disappeared. “It’s imperative we locate and retrieve her as soon as possible.”
“Dude, loosen up, will ya?”
JR10’s attention swung his way.
“Sheesh, you’d think this was our first rodeo or something.”
Aylzrunth cocked an eyebrow and glanced down. “I notice you did not answer the question.”
“I assure you, JR10’s infiltration capabilities are the best.”
Elemi’s snooty tone was back and left no doubt she considered his request redundant.
“Between the two of us, your sister will be rescued within a short time frame.”
“I appreciate that, Elemi my dove.” JR10 crooned. The reflection of his silver body shimmered in the light. “Elemi will find her by locating her DNA signature, and then we’ll go in. Once there, I’ll get in their system where they’re holding her and shut it down. Lickety-split, we’ll grab her...Elemi will transport us back and whammo! We’re outta there. Easy, peasy.”
“No offense, spidey,” Chloe interjected. “But nothing is ever that easy.”
“That normally may be true, my goddess.” JR10 turned his attention to her. “But we’ve got an ‘A’ team here. We can’t possibly miss.”
Chloe’s full, tempting lips twitched.
“Yeah, you keep livin’ the dream, little bot.”
She twisted in the seat and aimed those dark, alien eyes his way.
“So, gargantuan man. It seems we have to wait. What, pray tell, could we do to pass the time?”