“You know I haven’t, Zevris, but that’s beside the point.”
“No, it is not. Until you have, you cannot truly understand. She is my mate. I know that there is data to be collected, but I will not allow her to be treated like a test subject.”
Khelvar’s features softened infinitesimally. “I mean you no disrespect, althicar. What you’ve managed may well be the hope we need for the survival of our race. But we cannot afford any attachment to this female. It’s too important that we know what’s possible so we may replicate it.”
“You knew when you sent us on this mission that we’d grow attached to the females we eventually bonded with, Khelvar. She is my lifemate. And her life is here on Earth, her place is here on Earth. She will not have it unreasonably disrupted, and she will not be taken from it. Nor will she be taken from me.”
The ultricar’s expression darkened. “It’s not your place to make demands, althicar.”
“It is, ultricar. And should it not be enough to know that it is possible? Forcing these females to become little more to us than wombs will only provoke their hatred, will only make them fight us. Should we not be treating them as our most treasured possessions rather than merely wombs? Let them make the choice to stay or go. After all my years of service, after all our years of friendship, after all I have done, you can allow me this much.”
Khelvar dropped his gaze, lifted a hand, and raked his claws over his cheek. Dexter made a barely audible whimper in response to the sound of Khelvar’s rasping claws.
“I cannot promise you anything, Zevris,” Khelvar said after a long while, “but I will do what I can.”
“I know you will, Khelvar. And you know that I will do what I can to keep her safe if I disagree with the response from Command.”
For several tense seconds, Zevris and Khelvar stared one another in the eye, neither blinking, neither speaking, neither wavering.
“Mind your comms,” Khelvar finally said, looking away. “I will be in touch soon.”
The hologram disappeared, plunging the room into sudden darkness that left Zevris blind for a moment.
Something thick and heavy sank in Zevris’s gut, and his chest was tight, making his breaths short. He’d never wanted it to come to this. He’d never intended to essentially threaten his commanding officer, his friend, his surrogate father—a threat that basically extended to his entire race. He was gambling the hope of his species on the safety and happiness of a single human female.
Dexter crawled across Zevris’s lap, planting the majority of his weight on the faloran, and leaned his head forward the lick Zevris’s hand.
Zevris smiled down at the dog and absently petted him. He had no doubt that Khelvar understood the situation—if they did not do as asked, Zevris would withhold Tabitha and all related data from them. He would take that hope away from them if they could not meet his simple demands.
And he refused to feel guilt for it.
He would always choose Tabitha first, no matter the situation.
Twenty-Six
“These are some of my favorites,” Tabitha said as she placed the soap bars into the paper shopping bag. “Though my favorite seems to change every day.”
“Oh, I can imagine,” the woman replied. “You have so many that look and smell so good, it was hard to choose.”
Chuckling, Tabitha slid the bag across the folding table that served as her sales counter. “We’re out of so many bars, too. The fair’s been so busy that we can barely keep up. But if you check the website, you can find a full list of what we have available, and order whatever you like.”
“Oh, I will definitely be doing that”—the woman picked up the bag—“and my husband will just have to deal with it.”
“Any wise man would,” Zevris said from behind Tabitha, brushing his hand down her arm. She barely suppressed a delighted shiver.
“You two are the cutest couple.” The woman leaned a little closer to Tabitha and whispered, “Even if I’m totally jealous of you.”
Tabitha laughed along with the woman. No matter how much she’d smiled over the last two months—and it had been a lot—she still managed to smile enough to make her cheeks hurt just about every day. “Thank you.”
“And thank you. Have a great night.” The woman’s eyes flicked toward Zevris. “I know I would.”
Tabitha smiled. “You, too. And have a happy Halloween!”
By now, she’d become used to women—and even some men—ogling Zevris, and she’d learned to ignore the little flares of jealousy it caused her and focus instead on her pride. Because he was hers, without question.
She turned toward Zevris and grinned up at him. He’d moved to lean against one of the display tables, one hand braced upon it and the other with its thumb tucked behind his belt. His jeans were faded, fitting him snugly in all the right places, and his black vest and boots had just enough wear on them. The green bandanna around his neck was almost the exact shade of her natural eye color. He had the sleeves of his white, button-down work shirt rolled up to reveal those strong, toned forearms.
Tabitha stepped up to him and lifted a hand, tipping his cowboy hat backward. “Have I told you yet that you make one fine ass cowboy?”
She’d been surprised when he’d chosen this as his costume for Halloween, but apparently one of the random movies they’d watched—an old spaghetti western with a grizzled, loner hero—had resonated with him.
She’d never been into cowboys until she’d seen him step out of the bathroom in his current attire.
“Mighty kind of you, ma’am,” he said, tipping his hat back into place. He looped an arm around her and drew her against him, leaning down to whisper in her ear, “And I can’t wait to devour this sexy little pussy.”
“I’m a pussy cat,” she giggled, her sex clenching in anticipation of what she knew would come the moment they got home—if they even made it home before he started.
“I know what I said,” he replied with that sly grin. His hands spanned her hips, fingers flexing. Though they were unseen, but Tabitha could feel his claws teasing her flesh through her black bodysuit and tutu skirt.
“Mmm, this kitty could go for a little cream herself,” Tabitha whispered back, grazing over the bulge in his pants with her fingers.
Zevris shuddered, drawing her even closer against him. That bulge grew beneath her touch.
Okay, so maybe it wasn’t a matter of whether they’d make it home before starting—it was whether they’d even make it out of this booth.
“Hey, Logan, got a question for you,” said Hank, the man from the neighboring booth.
Zevris tensed, and a low, rolling chuckle vibrated in his chest.
Tabitha’s face heated. She’d forgotten they weren’t alone. But that seemed to happen often while she was with Zevris; all the world simply fell away when she was in his arms.
Zevris placed a kiss atop her head and drew in a slow, deep breath through his nostrils. “To be continued, Nykasha.”
He stepped back, trailing those claws as he withdrew his hands, creating delicious tingles across her hips that stoked the fire in her core. It took most of Tabitha’s willpower to keep from squeezing her thighs together and bunching her skirt in her hands; it wouldn’t have helped that ache at all.
“What do you need, Hank?” Zevris asked as he walked to the other side of the booth.
Hank was standing at the tables between the two booths, his handmade wallets, belts, and other leather items on one side and Tabitha and Zevris’s candles, soaps, and woodworks on the other. Zevris had kept his stock to what he’d deemed relevant to Tabitha’s business—candle and soap holders, towel racks, a few wooden bowls and platters, and a few keepsake and jewelry boxes. He’d made many of the items over the last few weeks.
“Well, Tabitha gave me that printout she had of the other stuff you make,” Hank said, holding up the stapled sheets of paper in one hand.
As simple as it was, that printout had already garnered Zevris some business
. It had been the best they could do on short notice, as neither of them had thought about it until they were loading up their goods on the first morning of the fair, two days ago.
“Anything you like?” Zevris asked.
Hank smiled and turned the paper toward Zevris, pointing to a photo. “Well, yeah. I think my wife would really like a table like this, but I was wondering if you could do some custom etching on it.”
“What’d you have in mind?” Zevris braced an arm on the table and leaned down as Hank held the paper forward.
“It’s our fortieth anniversary coming up, so I was hoping maybe to get something to commemorate that.”
Tabitha couldn’t help but smile herself as the two men talked. Though she’d been out with Zevris many, many times over their two months together, though she’d seen him interact with other people smoothly and naturally so often, it was still a wonder to her that he could do so at all. Yeah, he worded things strangely sometimes, and he didn’t understand many cultural references, but most people never would’ve noticed during those brief, everyday conversations.
After a few moments, she turned her attention toward the rest of the fair.
Music played somewhere in the distance, and she could faintly hear the mechanical sound of rides accompanied, of course, by delighted screams from adults and children alike. There were black, orange, and yellow ribbons tied to posts, and bunches of dried cornstalks, hay bales, and pumpkins decorated the wide walkway. Though it was close to closing time, people still milled about, browsing sellers’ booths and playing games.
Halloween was a couple days away, but it had come to the fair early—kids dressed in costumes were making their rounds to fill their bags and buckets with candy, several of them carrying huge caramel apples or giant bags of cotton candy.
The sky was painted with splashes of pink, purple, and orange as the sun set. Tabitha picked up her phone and tapped the screen. It was nearly five-thirty. The vendor portion of the fair was set to close at six, and the food and rides would close an hour later.
Movement drew Tabitha’s attention up. Two little girls had stopped in front of her table. The younger of the pair, who looked about six years old, was dressed in a soft, pink, poofy dress with glittery wings and a tiara, and the other, who was maybe eight or nine, was dressed as a ninja with plastic sais sheathed at her waist.
“Can we have a piece of candy?” the ninja girl asked, pointing to the big bowl sitting on Tabitha’s table.
Tabitha smiled. “Of course!”
The princess turned to the other girl and whispered, “Supposed to say trick or treat.”
Tabitha chuckled and picked up the bowl, which was only about a quarter full, casting a glance at the girls’ parents standing a short distance away. “That’s okay. Here.” She held the bowl out to the girls, and they both gazed inside. “Tell you what. Since we’re closing soon, you can each take a handful.”
“Really?” the ninja asked.
“Yep. As big a handful as you can.”
With giant smiles on their faces, they each shoved a hand into the bowl, candy trickling from their grasps onto the table and ground as they attempted to stuff their goods into their buckets. Their mother stepped forward to help them pick up the candy.
“Thank you,” the mother said with a smile.
Before they left, the princess turned back to Tabitha. “I love your ears.”
Tabitha grinned and reached up to touch the fuzzy cat ears on her headband. “Aww, thank you. Do you love cats?”
The princess smiled bright. “I do!”
“Me too. And I love your dress.”
“Come on, Jessica,” the princess’s mother called.
“I have to go! Bye!” The little girl waved and ran off to join her family.
Tabitha watched them go and was suddenly struck with a sense of longing. What if she and Zevris had a little girl? A girl with long black hair, bright blue eyes, and an adorable little smile. Or a boy who was an exact replica of Zevris?
She turned her face toward Zevris to find him still talking with Hank. As though sensing Tabitha’s gaze, he glanced at her and sent her a smile that made her heart flutter and her breath quicken.
A few more people stopped by to browse, sniffing soaps and candles, picking up various woodworks and commenting on the beautiful designs carved into them. Tabitha and Zevris made a couple more sales before deciding it was time to start packing up.
She couldn’t wait to get home. After three days of working the booth and long hours of standing, her feet were killing her. She was also starving and wanted to hit one of the food trucks and maybe snag a bag of cotton candy before the fair closed.
Based on Zevris’s speed in getting everything put away in their boxes and containers, Tabitha guessed he was in a hurry to get going, too. Though he was more likely to skip right to dessert…
“Do we have everything packed?” Zevris asked as he placed a wooden tray in a box.
Tabitha cast another glance around the booth. The tables were bare, and she didn’t see anything on the grass beneath them. All that remained was the empty stack of plastic tubs that had been full of soaps and candles at the start of the fair. Only one full bin remained. “I think so.”
Zevris stacked the boxes and tubs together, managing to fit all of it on the dolly; it had taken them several loads to haul all their stuff to the booth on the first day. She and Nan had always done pretty well at these fairs, but sales over the last three days had exceeded all her expectations.
Tabitha folded up the tablecloths, stuffed them in one of the bins, and waved to Hank, who was packing his own wares. “Bye, Hank! See you next year!”
He raised his hand to wave back. “It was good to see you, Tabby. Miss your grandmother. Angie was a good lady.”
“She was the best,” Tabitha said with a smile. She held back the tears despite the sting in her eyes. It had been wonderful to see so many return customers from years past, many of whom had said kind things about Nan. Of course, she’d seen several of them last year, too, but it had been a little harder to take with Nan’s passing being so fresh at the time. Tabby was just happy her grandmother had been so loved.
She joined Zevris, walking alongside him back toward the truck. At her guidance, they took a detour down the fair food street, where you could find just about any food in its deep-fried form, along with countless other treats.
One of the first trailers they came to was selling a variety of sweets—cookies, deep-fried candy bars, candied apples, caramel popcorn, and beyond. Tabitha bought the big bag of pink cotton candy she’d been craving.
She opened the bag, pinched the top of the pink fluff, and pulled out a large piece. She brought it to her mouth, biting off a small portion. The sugary cotton melted on her tongue. “Mmm. I haven’t had this stuff in years.”
Zevris stared at the cotton candy she held with a lip curled. “This looks like the insulation installed in walls and attics. What is it made of?”
“Pure sugary deliciousness. Here.” She held the candy up to his mouth. “Try some.”
He eyed her with open skepticism for a moment before leaning his head forward. He caught a little piece between his teeth and tore it off, his tongue slipping out briefly to draw the candy inside. Immediately his brows went up.
“Good, huh?” she asked with a grin.
Before she could even guess what he meant to do, he snatched the bag from her.
“Hey!” She laughed and made a grab for it. “No hogging it!”
Grinning himself, he held the bag out of her reach. “You have plenty right there. This is my share.”
Tabitha lowered her arm and stepped back. “Fine. Enjoy your…dessert.” She popped the cotton candy stuck to her fingers in her mouth, licked them clean, then turned and walked away.
The boxes and tubs on the dolly rattled as Zevris hurriedly caught up with her.
“I’ve decided to be a magnanimous conqueror and return the spoils of war to their rightful ow
ner.” With a bit a flourish, he presented her the bag of cotton candy. “I am not so shortsighted as to believe this sweetness can compare to that which I truly desire.”
Tabitha laughed and took the bag. “I knew you’d see it my way.”
They shared the cotton candy as they walked along the paved street, though Tabitha stopped eating after a few more bites when a scent she couldn’t place wafted over to her. It was faint at first, but it was very distinct—and, as she walked forward, it grew increasingly unpleasant. She swallowed thickly as her stomach turned, feeling ill. She took several slow, deep breaths, trying to calm her stomach, to calm herself, but the nausea only worsened.
She came to a sudden stop. “I…I think I’m going to puke.”
As soon as the words left her, her stomach lurched, and she ran for the nearest trash barrel. All that delicious cotton candy—along with what remained of her lunch—came back up. She clutched the sticky sides of the trashcan and gagged again as the smell of the garbage inside filled her nose.
Zevris was there in an instant, his big hands gathering her hair and sweeping it back. He said her name, and probably said some other words, but she didn’t really hear him. Her focus was elsewhere.
Nope. Not gonna puke again. I’m okay. Just gonna straighten and keep walking…
That thought had barely finished before she retched again, emptying what little had been left in her stomach.
Tabitha whimpered. Why did throwing up have to hurt so much?
The only good thing about this was the soothing hand on her back moving in gentle circles.
“Tabitha,” Zevris said, his deep voice laced with worry, “what’s wrong?”
She spit, cringing at both the disgusting taste in her mouth and from the mess in the garbage. If she didn’t move away from the trash barrel—and the stench wafting from it—she was definitely going to puke again…and she didn’t think she had anything left to come up.
“I’m okay,” she said. “I think I just smelled something that didn’t agree with me.” She slowly straightened and raised a hand, using the back of it to wipe her mouth. She hated to do it, but she had no choice but to clean that hand on her skirt.
Taken By The Alien Next Door Page 30