At her side Lerix breathed deeply, his chest expanding before he released it with a hum of pleasure. He grabbed her elbow to steer her through the thick crowd of aliens—every race she’d ever heard of and then some—and a fair number of lean Kadesh males and females. His ropey tail flicked in the air in a tranquil rhythm behind him.
The sight of female and male Kadesh side-by-side was jarring. It confirmed that female Kadesh were in fact about the same size as human women—well, if all human women stood about six feet tall. The Kadesh women had pixie-shaped faces with the same long and pointed ears, tiny waists, free-floating hair, and perfect pouty features.
Cara felt a bubble of dread swell in her stomach. She had to compete against this?
Lerix seemed completely oblivious of her distress. Typical man, she grumbled.
“You said your male… what is his name?”
“Ben,” she supplied, gasping for breath as she struggled to keep up with his long-limbed gait.
He curled his lip. “Ben? That can’t really be his name. It sounds ridiculous.”
“Some might say that Lerix sounds ridiculous. Like some kind of insect or disease,” she scoffed.
He stopped dead in his tracks and glared down at her.
“Lerix is a good, traditional Kadesh name. I was named for my grandsire.”
Cara rolled her eyes but held her tongue. The male was annoying, but he was helping her. She could at least try not to antagonize him. “Sorry. I just mean that on Earth his name isn’t seen as silly. It’s a short form of his full name, Benjamin.”
He snorted. “Not much better.”
He craned his head trying to see around a rather girthy alien.
“Anyway, this Benjamin, you say he is at the Resort Efkalad?”
Cara nodded her head until she realized he wasn’t even looking at her. Since he wouldn’t be able to hear her brains rattling around in her head, she said, “Yes, that’s the last place he commed me from.”
“So we will need to travel a bit,” he stated with a small shrug.
Cara paused mid-step and looked up at him. “What?”
He raised a brow at her, since her lack of forward movement had pulled him to a stop as well.
“You obviously don’t know your way around Kaidava at all. We are in the capital city, Orug, on the Western continent. Efkalad is in Sashalat, about two days’ journey from the capital.”
“But his meeting was here in Orug. I didn’t make any plans for traveling further than this.” Part of her wanted to hyperventilate.
He made a dismissive noise. “Do not worry. It is easy to get to Sashalat. We will merely catch the next train.”
He forged ahead, giving her the choice to either walk or be dragged, and steered her through the thickening crowds toward what looked like a raised marble platform in the distance.
The press of the crowd was nearly suffocating. Cara barely felt like she had enough room to breathe, much less walk in any direction. If she’d been by herself, she would’ve been swept away by the tide of bodies. Lerix wasn’t above pushing his way through the crowd, pulling her ruthlessly with him.
Cara squeaked as a male rammed into her, pulling sharply at her shoulder. Lerix immediately turned and his other hand shot out to grip the male by the neck. He growled and shook the male until he choked out an apology and returned the bag that she hadn’t even noticed he’d snatched.
She frowned and wrapped both arms securely around her bag as Lerix threw him off to the side, back into the crowd. It was like catch and release during fishing season.
“Shouldn’t we have turned him into the authorities?” she asked.
He shook his head. “It won’t do any good. Besides, I gave that youngling a good scare, so there is a good chance he won’t try it again right away,” he said with a wink.
“Youngling? He looked like he was full grown.”
Lerix chuckled. “Physically yes, but he was probably no more than twenty revolutions. Still young enough to be stupid.”
“Uh-huh. And how old are you, oh aged and wise one?”
He shot her another grin. “I am thirty-seven.”
She nodded solemnly. “Old indeed.”
Lerix snorted.
***
Lerix grinned down at the little female. Cara was an entertaining—if somewhat annoying—human. All that nonsense about love and weird human concepts on relationships. She was smart in that bookish way, like his younger brother. But she definitely didn’t possess a lick of street smarts.
He flicked his tail and picked her up. Her arms instantly went around him as she let out a shrill squeak.
“What do you think you’re doing?” she hissed.
He shifted her in his arms to where he could carry her comfortably.
“Seeing how easy you get in trouble, I decided it would be more expedient to just carry you the last few yards to the platform.”
Cara shrugged her shoulders and leaned comfortably back in his embrace like a luxuriating queen.
“If you insist,” she yielded with a beautiful smile.
That smile made him falter in his stride for a moment before he caught himself. Okay, so humans weren’t an entirely unfortunate species. She looked odd, but her smile lit up her face in something of an appealing way. He took a deep breath, once again drawing her scent into his olfactory receptors.
Okay, she smelled good too. Really good.
Nonetheless, he was thankful when they reached the platform and he could safely put her down and step away from the pull of her rich smell and soft body that wasn’t unpleasant to hold in his arms.
The heavy petals of the nazdrid flowers hung down over the edge of one side of the platform, their smell drowning out most of her natural perfume. His eyes drifted in his customary distrustful manner over the platform, looking at the couples patiently waiting for the train. No one looked out of place or threatening. Just happy tourists holding hands. One female leaned to the side to smell a pale yellow nazdrid bloom that was right beside her while her mate smiled down at her indulgently.
Lerix curled his lip. He could barely stomach such saccharine displays of love. Couples who senselessly believe that all that is in their world is contained within their lovers. Settling for that rather than wait for a mate.
Foolishness.
He’d left as a young male to get away from such things. He certainly hadn’t wanted to look at it every day at his sire’s private resort. His brother could deal with that mess. He would just be happy retiring in peace and quiet at the estate and help his father with the burden of maintaining it.
“What’s your problem?” Cara asked from his elbow.
He shook his head.
She peered around him at the couple at the far end of the platform. “They look like a cute couple.”
“They are not mated. Just another pair of lovers wasting time.”
Cara frowned. “You think being in love is a waste of time?”
“Love is inconsequential. Thinking that you will find a great romantic love to spend your life with is a childish dream. What matters is your mate when you find them and be happy that you are blessed with a mate and progeny. If you grow to love them that is good, but all of this,” he waved his hand dismissively, “is ridiculous.”
“Kinda harsh from a guy who comes from a planet that turns a good profit on marketing romance to pad your tourism industry,” Cara observed dryly. “Did a cupid crap on your Pop-Tart?”
“I have no idea what you just said.”
She giggled. “I only meant to ask what soured you on love and romance if your planet thrives on it culturally to the point of it being your greatest commodity.”
He sneered. “Commodity, yes. Our culture? Not so much. We market the hell out of it to offworlders, but the Kadesh are a pragmatic species. Our drive is usually restrained to look for our mates, who we cherish and adore. While we may engage in sex for pleasure every once in a while, we don’t develop romantic relationships.”
“That sounds so odd to me. I can’t imagine not wanting to share affection with someone I cared about and wanted to spend my life with. So what happened? You grew up in a town that went overboard on the whole thing?”
Lerix snorted, his lips twitching in amusement. “Worse. My father ran a private resort and rented out space in our estate gardens for mating ceremonies. It was romance from sunup to sundown.” He scowled. “It is no wonder that being surrounded by all that foolishness that my mother decided to run away with another male visiting our planet. All of this nonsense makes females think that mating requires nothing other than excessive shows of their male’s affections.”
Cara’s eyes widened. “Your mother left you?”
He shrugged to convey that discussing it was inconsequential and fell silent. He was grateful that Cara did not press the subject further. They stood in silence, aside from the quick intake of breath from Cara as the train sped up.
Lerix gripped her arm to keep her steady when the wind kicked up as the train slid up beside the platform. He glanced down at her and smiled.
“Well, this is it. Let’s get out of here.”
Chapter 5
In the first “car,” they paid their passage to Sashalat. Cara handed her credit chip to the Kadesh male at the front and he scanned it to verify funds were available.
“Do you want to purchase seats in one of the regular compartments, or do you want a private compartment room?” he asked, with a bored and expectant look.
Lerix leaned forward and whispered in her ear, his hot breath fanning her skin.
“As far as we are going, you will be more comfortable in the private compartment. They only charge fifty credits for the upgrade. It is worth having the space to relax—trust me.”
Cara looked over into the first compartment and saw the crowd of people sitting in seats practically on top of each other and shuddered. He had a point. She smiled at the attendant.
“We’ll take a private compartment, please.”
The male nodded and scanned her credit chip once more before returning it to her.
“Please be aware that you will be switching trains in Birol. There will be a two-day wait before the next train comes to take you on to Sashalat,” he droned on as he handed her a ticket stamp printed out from his handheld device.
Cara’s heart sank. “Two days?”
The male nodded and lifted the portal, allowing Cara and Lerix to pass through.
“Essentially. Approximately thirty-five hours,” he confirmed and turned his attention to the next couple behind them.
Cara worried her lip as they made their way through the cars, passing through the dining car just before they arrived at the car with the private rooms. Cara glanced down at her ticket stamp, flipping it up to show Lerix at his request, and muttered to herself about overpriced everything on Kaidava and long-ass layovers as they made their way down to their room.
Even though she was speaking under her breath, she had an idea that Lerix heard every word from the way his long ear turned slightly toward her and the barely restrained laughter on his face.
Lerix stopped in front of their cabin and gestured her inside with a smirk. Cara slid past him into the room. It was small, but comfortable enough. There were two benches that with a press on the sensor pad would unfold and make a singular large bed.
Her brain stuttered to a full stop.
A. Single. Bed.
No, that wasn’t going to work. She turned to tell him so when she tripped over the leg of a side table and fell right against him. A pair of warm arms encircled her and a long tail wrapped around her waist. Once she regained her balance, Cara eased away from Lerix. She was pretty aware of the fact that she was likely scarlet.
“Female, you are almost red enough to pass for Kadesh,” Lerix chuckled.
Cara brushed her fingers through her hair and smiled sheepishly at him.
“Sorry about that.” She pulled her face into a stern look. “Look, Lerix, we have a problem here. This room isn’t big enough for the two of us, and there aren’t enough beds either.”
“Are you worried about your virtue?” he asked with a playful leer.
Cara snorted a laugh.
“Don’t worry yourself, vonri. I will be on my best behavior.”
“What, a shade less than rotten?” she teased.
He looked startled for a moment and then let out a genuinely amused laugh.
“You have found me out, vonri. I will be good—I promise. I will stay on my own couch and my own side of the bed, and you won’t even notice I am there.”
Cara bit her lip. She really couldn’t afford to put him anywhere else. As she studied his face, he smiled innocently at her. Or at least he tried to look innocent. That was a fail.
She sucked on her teeth with a grunt.
“Okay, I guess we can share… on one condition.”
He raised his brow.
“Since I don’t even know if you’re insulting me in your language, you have to tell me the meaning of any word I ask about. For instance, what does vonri mean?”
Lerix grinned. “Done. Vonri is a pet name usually given to children. Refers to a mischievous legendary being that is tiny and delicate.”
Great. I just got called an alien pixie.
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Is that because I’m short or because I get into trouble?”
Lerix grinned and settled himself on the couch, not deigning to answer her. Cara felt the corner of her lips twitch even as she tried to glare a hole through his head. Annoying male.
She moved to the other couch and reclined on her own plush padded bench. Staring at the ceiling, she felt like getting to Sashalat would be the longest trip of her life.
She looked over at Lerix, jealous of the way he’d dozed off so easily. Obviously, nothing interrupted his shut-eye. Cara took in his features relaxed in sleep, intrigued by the pattern of the delicate scales on his face. She leaned forward to get a better look but yelped when she slid off the slippery material on the bench and landed in the floor with a loud thud.
“Do you need assistance with that?”
Cara froze and closed her eyes with a mortified groan. Of course he woke up. She cracked one eye open and looked up at him. Lerix was leaning forward, his hair floating down around his face in soft dark tendrils from where he was still reclined along his bench, propped up on his elbow. He had one brow arched and a smile tugging at his lips.
She scrambled to her feet, cursing under her breath. “I’m fine,” she muttered.
“What were you doing?”
“Nothing. I just slipped off.”
He shook his head but said nothing more before he lay back down on the bench and turned his back to her. His tail twitched on the couch. Fascinated by the slender dark red tail, it inadvertently drew her attention to his ass. She swallowed and flung herself back on her own bench and gave him her back. Determined, she closed her eyes and waited until she finally drifted off.
Cara woke sometime later to find herself alone in the cabin and her stomach growling in protest. She debated whether she should wait for Lerix to return but after several minutes threw her hands up.
“I’m going. My stomach isn’t going to wait any longer. He can catch up,” she informed the empty room like she actually accomplished something.
Cara exited the cabin and immediately headed to the dining car. Their cabin had been close enough to the front of the private compartment that it took her little time to step from it into the dining area. Famished, she slid into a booth without hesitation and picked up a menu.
She wanted to groan when she noticed that she couldn’t read a single thing on the menu. She’d forgotten that the translators didn’t do anything for being able to read the language. But at least the Vazith hooked her up with a translator so she couldn’t complain too much.
As she attempted to discern some idea of what might be on the menu from the pictures on it, a young waitress paused beside her table. Cara glanced up at th
e female. The cotton candy pink Kadesh was grinning down at her.
“I imagine you can’t read that,” she said with a giggle. “Is there something you have in mind that you would like to eat?”
Cara folded the menu and returned it to its resting place.
“Yep, that didn’t do a thing for me. Actually, I’m not sure what I want. I’ve never eaten Kadesh food. Perhaps you have a recommendation?”
The female’s eyes widened, and she appeared to give it some thought.
“If it is your first time eating Kadesh food, I would have to highly recommend to rovinrik. It is one of my favorites and a very popular meal,” she said with a bright smile.
“Sounds perfect. I’ll try that,” she said and handed over her credit chip.
It was promptly scanned and returned to her.
“I will get that right out!” the Kadesh called as she moved on to another table.
Twenty minutes later, she was eating the most delicious spiced meat platter with various peppers served with a thick, sweet flatbread and a kind of gravy. She couldn’t get enough of it. She piled the meat onto piece after piece of bread. She had eaten so little since Ben had left that she felt absolutely ravenous.
She was in the process of swallowing down her second helping when Lerix stalked into the cabin, looking around with a fierce scowl on his face. She sat in her little corner, observing him, until he noticed her. His expression cleared and he made his way over to her.
“There you are,” he sighed and sank down across from her.
She smiled around a mouth full of food. “Yep, here I am.”
He leaned forward, inhaling. “Is that rovinrik?”
“Yep. It’s delicious. I can’t seem to get enough of it.”
A small frown creased his face. “Be careful with that. It has spices that are not suitable for weak stomachs not used to the dish. It has made offworlders sick before.”
Cara pshawed. “I have a cast iron stomach. The only complaint coming from it is that I’m not shoveling food in fast enough.” She took another huge bite to punctuate her point.
A Kiss on Kaidava Page 3