Lerix didn’t look convinced but he flagged down the waitress. The same cotton candy Kadesh pulled up beside them.
“How are you enjoying your meal?”
Cara moaned her approval. “This is the best stuff ever,” she informed the waitress. “Thank you so much for recommending it.”
The female brightened with pleasure before turning her attention to Lerix. Immediately she became flirty.
“And is there anything you desire?” she asked, a small purr rattling in her throat.
Lerix frowned and addressed the waitress. “Don’t you know not to give rovinrik to offworlders? It can make them sick.”
The waitress paled. “Are you certain? I have never heard of that.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Cara said around another mouthful of food. “I’m feeling fine.” The waitress looked relieved and waited expectantly for Lerix to order.
Cara grinned at Lerix as he sighed and rattled off what he wanted. After that, Cara for the most part ignored him as she watched the passing of some of the most beautiful scenery that she ever remembered seeing. Miles of soft pale pink sand stretched out in front of them as the orangey-red water of the sea rolled in gentle crests. Silvery-purple trees dotted the landscape beyond the coastal stretch of beach, and bushes thick with flowers grew everywhere.
“I was asleep for a good while. I wonder if we’re getting close to Birol?”
Lerix looked out the window and nodded his head.
“Yes, I recognize this stretch of the coast. We should be arriving there in probably twenty or thirty minutes by my estimation.” He smiled his thanks as the waitress set his food in front of him and turned the whole of his attention to his plate.
She shoved another chunk of meat into her mouth and chewed it thoughtfully before speaking again. “You’re familiar with Birol?”
He grunted, which she guessed was an affirmative. Cara rolled her eyes. Since he wasn’t interested in answering her, she sat staring at him until she had his attention again. After several minutes he looked up, scowling.
She raised her eyebrows at him.
Lerix grunted again. “Yes, my family estate is here. While you slept, I commed my sire to make arrangements for us to stay at the estate until the next train departs.”
“Really? You grew up around here? It’s beautiful. No wonder you left. It’s obviously far too beautiful for a big tough guy,” she teased.
Lerix’s lips quirked into a grin. “Finally, someone understands.”
He fidgeted before continuing. “Since the laws forbid males from returning to the planet after registering for a mating journey, we will need to maintain the ruse in front of my father that we are a mated couple. After I get you back to your Ben as we bargained, I will tell my father that we parted ways.”
Cara sat back in her seat and considered his words. A little pretending couldn’t hurt. Lerix was being kind enough to help her out and travel further out than he had bargained on. It was the least she could do for him.
She nodded. “Fair enough.”
***
Lerix watched the small female stuff more of the tangy meat into her mouth, looking like a long-tailed lylyx who stuffed its cheeks with the thick nuts that grew on several trees. He’d never seen an offworlder able to eat more than several bites. This female, from what he could tell, put away two plates.
She ate the last morsel and paused to lick her fingers, the action sending a flare of lust barreling down to his cock. He blinked at the first twitch of interest he had felt down there in quite some time. He turned his eyes away so that she wouldn’t see the intense way he was looking at her. If he was looking at her anything like how he was feeling—well, he felt like eating her up.
His eyes happened to fall upon a dull red Kadesh male staring in their direction, his tail twitching on his seat beside him. Every bit of his instinct had his muscles tensed beneath his scales. He lowered his head slightly, directing his fierce horns competitively toward the male.
Not that he cared if the male was interested in this female. Of course not. However, she’d asked for his help and he wasn’t going to turn her over to anyone but her male.
Lerix tapped Cara lightly on the back of her hand.
“I will return. There is something I need to deal with.”
Cara gave him a quizzical look as he pushed up from the table and stalked over to the other male. He glared down at him and growled low in his throat.”
“Is there a reason you are looking at my female?” he snarled.
At this point, she was technically his because she was under his protection, but he didn’t need to confess any distinction. The male bared his teeth, his tail moving into an aggressive whip, lightly cracking the air.
“She doesn’t carry your scent,” the male snarled. “She is not your mate and that makes her available to any other male to attempt to lure away. I wouldn’t mind having the female as my mate. I hear the female flower on humans is delicious. I wouldn’t mind finding out,” he said with an obscene lick of his lips as he stared at Cara.
Lerix felt his anger thunder through him and reactively shot his hand forward, wrapping his hand around the throat of the other Kadesh. Tightening his grip along the male’s larynx to make his point, Lerix hauled him forward and hissed in his ear.
“I do not care if she carries my mating scent or not. She is under my protection. She is mine. If you have any sense of self-preservation, you will not look at her, nor will you approach her or speak to her.” He dug his claws in between the thick scales. “Are we clear?”
The male twisted in his chair, gurgling until Lerix smiled and released him.
“Better?” he asked with an innocent smile and raised brows.
The male snarled at him, but when Lerix narrowed his eyes on him, he stood up so quickly he knocked his chair over. Lerix stepped forward, about two inches away from pounding the other male into the floor when a low moan drew his attention.
“Lerix?” Cara moaned out again, her face pressed against the table. In the space of minutes, her pale skin had taken on a waxy, sweaty sheen. Lerix shoved the male aside and drew up beside her.
“What’s wrong with you?” he demanded, his nose wrinkling as a strange odor began to seep up from her skin.
“Ohmygods… I think I’m having a bad reaction to that meat.”
His eyes widened. “Here, maybe some bread will settle your stomach.”
She slapped it away from her face and glared up at him.
“Can’t you see that I’m over here dying? And you want me to eat bread. What is wrong with you? I can feel it coming. I’m all sweaty. My stomach is rolling. And… cramps!” she wailed. Her back arched as she dug her fingers into the seat, her breath coming out in harsh pants.
Lerix jumped back in alarm as she shot up from her seat, thrust her credit chip at him, and ran back to their private cabin. Lerix frowned in confusion. Surely it couldn’t be that bad. He rolled his eyes at the female tendency to overexaggerate and paid the waitress.
The waitress stared at the door to the dining car. “I hope she is okay.”
Lerix laughed and shrugged. “I am sure she is fine. Seems her stomach is a bit sensitive to the food, but I am sure it is not nearly as bad as she is making it. Most offworlders I’ve seen react to it just were a bit nauseated at worse. Females!” He shook his head.
The waitress didn’t look convinced but nodded her head as she pulled back to attend to her duties at another table as Lerix left the dining compartment.
Chapter 6
When he opened the door to their cabin, Lerix recoiled as the stench assaulted him. The miserable form of the human female sat huddled around a waste receptacle, groaning and heaving. The sound of wet splashes at every heave and the assault of stench on his olfactory system made his stomach curdle.
“What are you doing, human?” he snarled, trying to not breathe through his nose or draw air in through his olfactory ridges.
She lifted her face up and looked at him with glaz
ed eyes. Her skin was still waxy pale but her cheeks were flushed a bright red, and she had some foul mucus and bits of food clinging to her lip and chin. She glared at him.
“Would you please let me die in peace?”
“You are not dying, female, but you are making a horrible stench.” He wrinkled his nose and peered at the basket filled with sludge. His scales shuddered. Humans appeared to be among those species who expel food from their stomachs when sickened… How disgusting.
“How can such a small being create such foulness?” he asked, his face screwing up in disgust. He closed his mouth, as he swore that he could almost taste the foulness on the air.
“Not. Helping,” she groaned. Her head once more fell over the receptacle and her body wracked with heave after loathsome heave.
Putting a hand over his nose, he asked, “Is there anything I can do to help?”
Cara groaned pitifully and heaved some more.
Lerix was certain that his olfactory system was just shy of getting burned out from the awful stench. When he informed her of such, she was hardly apologetic. Instead she lifted her head, her face a horrific mask speckled with bright red splotches where tiny blood vessels had broken along her delicate skin. She swiped the back of her hand over her mouth, and he cringed hoping he would not inadvertently come into contact with it. Her eyes narrowed lethally.
“Get. Out!” she bellowed.
Lerix hastily removed himself from the cabin, thankful for a breath of fresh air. He glared at the door. What an ungrateful female! He didn’t have to check up on her and attempt to assist her. It was not his fault that the smells she was exuding were enough to fell a morek beast at sixty paces. Maybe he should inform her of that so she would feel a little gratitude.
He considered and thought better of it. No, females did not like hearing such things. He looked around helplessly, uncertain of what to do with himself now he was blocked from their cabin. Shifting a bit from foot to foot, he grunted and returned to the dining car in hope of finding something to make him forget that horrendous smell.
It was not until the train pulled to a stop along the platform at Birol that Lerix chanced returning to their cabin. Hesitantly, he tapped his knuckles on the door and waited for any response. A muffled curse sounded beyond the door. Finally, it slid open and Cara squinted out at him.
“Yeah?” she mumbled. She still didn’t look well but her skin was picking up something of a healthy pigment again. Unfortunately, being within paces of her still assaulted his delicate scent receptors.
“The train has pulled up in Birol. Time to go,” he said with a forced smile as he leaned against the edge of the door.
Cara screwed her face up and peered at him, one hand pushed through the mess of golden hair that had fallen loose from its knot, loose strands drifted all around her face.
“Birol? Oh, that’s good,” she said. Lerix watched in alarm at how weak she appeared as she hunted out her bag. Without a word of complaint, she picked up her bag and followed him off the train onto the heavy wooden platform. Lerix immediately plucked it out of her hand. It wouldn’t do if they did not appear like any other properly mated couple.
Unlike the marble platform at Orug, the one at Birol was not set apart from the crowd. Instead, it was a narrow strip around which shops had competed for the choicest real estate.
Dining establishments sat side by side with souvenir shops and clothing boutiques. Everything was set up in a way to appeal to tourists shuffling on and off the train. Case in point—as they stepped onto the platform, a small crowd of giggling females, their arms laden with gifts, loaded onto the train with their male escorts.
Lush flowers grew in abundance along the perimeter of the platform and hung in colorful displays from wire baskets. Cara’s mouth had dropped open as she stared in wonder at their town, formed around the platform at its heart.
“This place,” she stated with a smile, “is absolutely gorgeous.”
Birol had always been a beautiful place, but that was not what had his attention. He searched the crowd for his brother, who he had commed when they departed Orug. Lerix frowned, thinking perhaps his brother had decided not to come for him when he saw the burly male exit a diner patting his stomach.
The male was enormous, even by Kadesh standards, and had packed on more muscle than three males put together without an ounce of fat on him. It was his good disposition that made him the perfect person to run their family’s resort, despite his deceptively intimidating size. Even his voice was big as he boomed out a greeting to them.
“Lerix! Look at you, returning with a mate, and a human at that!” he chuckled as he neared them. His deep-colored scales barely reflected any of the afternoon sunlight.
Lerix stilled with dread as his brother swept him up into a suffocating hug. He patted at one thick arm, signaling that he required air. Cara at his side snickered, the first positive sound he’d heard her from since she had fallen ill. That made him feel a little better at being mauled by his younger sibling. The male chuckled and released him. He then frowned down at him.
“Well, aren’t you going to introduce me to your mate?” he growled playfully.
Lerix sighed. “Cara, this is my younger brother, Gordix. Gordix, this is my mate, Cara. This is her first time to Kaidava, so be nice.”
Gordix placed a heavy hand on his chest and his eyes went wide. Surely, he could smell the stench that still clung to her, but he ruined it by winking playfully at Cara. Lerix grit his teeth, uncertain of why it bothered him. He should be grateful his brother was willing to distract her. Yes, grateful. Lerix snarled low in his chest. It did not go unnoticed by his brother, who let out a loud laugh. Cara stared at him quizzically.
“Don’t worry, brother. I won’t move in on your mate!” Gordix said. “Not that you aren’t a perfectly beautiful little creature, but our sire would chase after us and threaten us with a tail whip if we started fighting not ten minutes after getting back together again.”
Cara laughed more at Gordix’s jokes than she even bothered to smile for Lerix. Not that it mattered, he told himself, resisting the urge to punch his brother in the face.
Soon he would return her to her male and his duty would be done. What did it matter if Gordix flirted with and charmed her? He certainly didn’t care.
***
Cara smiled at the male who’d been introduced as Lerix’s younger brother, Gordix. Lerix thought he was charming, but it was plain to see who inherited the actual charm in the family. Unlike Lerix, who tended to be sneaky and snide, Gordix had an air of open honesty about him.
He grinned down at her as he tucked her hand companionably in his arm.
“I don’t have a mate myself. Got close a couple of times with a lovely tourist. The problem with living on a planet that caters toward romance tourism is that there aren’t a lot of single females visiting, despite the high number of single males who come hoping to get lucky—sexually and monetarily—in our pleasure districts.”
“I didn’t realize that ‘getting lucky’ was a universal euphemism.”
He let out a bark of laughter. Even Lerix snickered from behind them, his tail whipping with amusement.
“But of course! Anyone with a drop of common sense knows that any time you get to fuck is a lucky occasion.”
Cara giggled. That was so wrong but at the same time hilariously logical.
They piled into a levitating transport vehicle and raced along acreage of what had been fields of flowers and various crops. Cara sat back and inhaled the citrus-sweet air, feeling a hundred times better now that she was out of the train and breathing in fresh air. That whole episode had been miserable, and she couldn’t help but feel embarrassed that Lerix had witnessed it.
The vehicle wound its way down to a long beach. At one end, she could see a grand resort, sparkling the palest hue of pink beside the crash of the orange waves. Their transport headed away from it, following the coastline until an elegant white residence came into view.
The white resort seemed like it was made of marble, with ornate architecture that reminded her of photographs she’d seen of ancient structures in the Mediterranean. It sat back further from the beach, nestled up against the base of a cliff dripping with flowering vines in all the hues of the rainbow. Cara’s eyes widened in awe. Only the wealthiest on Earth could afford such luxury.
Was Lerix a rich boy playing pauper?
Lerix, seeming to interpret her thoughts, raised his palms in surrender.
“Hey now, everything may look fancy, but most of that is years of an aesthetic well cared for. Our family is hardly wealthy.”
Gordix grinned cheekily. “That is for sure. It takes some doing to get a few credits to rub together to get into some hot action on the town.”
The front door opened as they approached, and an elder Kadesh male walked out, his body still lithe and strong despite his advancing years, though his orangey-red coral scales were faded with age and his dark hair had become silver. The male slapped his leg and let out a loud bark of laughter.
“Never thought I would see the day when my grumpy Lerix returned home with a mate,” he said as his arms swept around them both, squeezing them together in a tight hug. Cara glanced up and stifled a laugh at the long-suffering look on Lerix’s face.
Lerix smiled and patted his father’s arm until the male released them. Lerix straightened his tunic and vest. “It is good to see you as well, sire. I am very glad to be home.”
“Eh, but not enough to be home for all that long. What is this about only staying for two days?” his father demanded.
“Just for a few days,” Lerix said. “Before you know it, I will be back home and making you crazy again.”
“Except you will be coming home with a beautiful mate and hopefully filling our home with younglings to keep me company in my old age,” he said with a crafty grin. His hand gripped hers. “Excuse my son’s manners. You may call me Mokav.”
“It’s a pleasure. I’m Cara,” she said warmly.
Mokav was a kindly man, and she spent the rest of the evening entertained by their stories, many of which featured a young Lerix rebelling against everyone and everything on Kaidava. Lerix sat quietly across from her, seldom joining in, but often laughing or darting covert glances at her. Mokav waved off the latest embarrassing tale Gordix told with a stern look at his youngest boy.
A Kiss on Kaidava Page 4