I chewed on my bottom lip for a moment, trying to figure out where Deandra might have gone. Station 21 might be much smaller than the planet Earth, but objectively, it was a large military installation—the military part meant that there were few places she would be allowed to enter, however.
If she had any sense, she would try to hide in one of the few areas without heavy vid coverage. The easiest of those to get to was the central garden, and the closest entrance to that was across from the food court in the center of the station.
The food court wasn’t far from the Bride Games area, so I headed there first. As I moved through the Bride Games corridors toward the areas less frequented by humans, the station’s décor changed, moving from the more washed-out colors designed to soothe human eyes to the brighter hues the Khanavai preferred.
For the first time, it occurred to me that Station 21—not to mention Khanav Prime—must strike many humans as being similar to their Earther city of Las Vegas in many ways—full of riotous colors and bright, flashing signals.
Even our garden spoke to that aesthetic, I realized as I moved toward the entrance. There were plenty of Earth plants there, of course, as we had done our best to create an environment hospitable to our ever-growing mixed population of humans and Khanavai.
But there were even more Khanavai plants, displaying all the bright colors we preferred.
Still, in a green dress among many green plants, Deandra would blend in.
I can’t run this search alone. But if I alerted station security, Deandra would be classified as a runaway bride. I couldn’t have that. I needed to find her and convince her to come back to the Bride Games—preferably before Vos finished interviewing all the human females in the Bride Pageant.
Even so, missing the initial pageant could be overcome. After all, Amelia had ended up mated to Zont, and she had never been through any of the Bride Games.
I just have to find her before anyone else realizes she’s missing.
I could cut across the garden and make my way to the Bride Games Control Center. My station there had access to more information than I could get to with my com, even with my override codes.
I would keep an eye out for her in the garden, but if I didn’t see her, I would put off doing a full-blown search through the tangle of plants until I was certain she was nowhere else to be found on the station.
Pleased with my plan, I set out on the first path leading into the overhanging trees, evanescence flowers on the branches drooping down far enough to brush the top of my head as I walked under them.
Briefly, I let myself fantasize about what might happen if I did find Deandra hidden away in this semi-wilderness.
The heady scent of giant alornin blooms invading my senses, I imagined pulling her down onto a soft bed of their silken petals.
The remembered scent of her, sweeter even than the flowers, swirled up around us in my imagination, and I pictured slowly removing the green dress she supposedly wore now.
Under my chavan, my cock grew hard, and I swallowed, briefly allowing myself to savor the ache in my testicles as I daydreamed about what it would feel like to use my mating cock with my beautiful human mate.
After a few micro-moments, trying to shove the image away, I muttered, “Quit torturing yourself, man.”
To distract myself, I focused on considering the various areas of Station 21 I might search myself, as opposed to the ones the computer could survey for me once I got to my communications station in the control room.
I had almost calmed my raging lust when I stepped out of the garden on the other side and headed toward the corridor where the Bride Games Control Center was located.
But as I rounded the corner, I discovered Deandra peering through the translucent doorway into the main control center.
As soon as I saw her, my erection returned with a vengeance, and my voice came out more harshly than I intended.
“What are you doing here?”
Chapter Thirteen
Dee
At the sound of Wex’s voice, I jumped guiltily, spinning around to face him.
In retrospect, it had been stupid to try to break into the Bride Games Control Center when the Bride Games were currently running.
But this was the only room I had found listed on the directory kiosk in the food court that might have given me access to a Khanavai-controlled computer. Of course, the room was full of Khanavai.
And of course, Wex had found me here.
“Oh, hi,” I said as he strode toward me, an odd, pained expression on his face. “I was curious about the Bride Lottery control center.”
Best to play dumb. Men often seemed willing to believe women were stupid—at least they did on Earth, and I was hoping Khanavai males weren’t that different from human men in that regard.
Wex frowned. “You’re supposed to be in the Bride Pageant right now.”
I waved my hand airily. “Oh, that? It’ll go on for hours. I can slip in at the back of the line.”
Not that I actually planned to do the stupid interview at all.
And maybe I could turn this situation to my advantage, after all.
“Would you be willing to show me around?” I asked, batting my eyelashes.
Wex gave me a skeptical glance, and I dropped the eyelash-batting—but I kept up the mindless chatter. “I learned so much about the entire Bride Lottery and Games process during my trial. Now that I’m here, I can’t help but be curious about what goes on behind the scenes.”
“I guess I could show you how the control room runs.” He reached past me and ran his wristcom over the lock panel. “There’s nothing top-secret in here.”
Did that mean there were top-secret things elsewhere on Station 21? It was pretty common knowledge that more than half this space station was also a military base, a final front against the Alveron Horde, should they make it as far as Earth—as they had, less than a year before.
Maybe there were other, more secret elements, too.
We moved inside the large, open room, where Khanavai males sat—and sometimes stood—at terminals, screens floating in the air in front of them, all of them showing various vid angles of the Bride Pageant going on right now.
“There’s enough of a lag time between our transmission and Earth’s reception that we can do some light post-production work on the games as they are happening,” Wex explained to me, dropping into something like a lecturing tone—the kind of lectures I’d gotten in college, not the kind my father liked to give.
I had to stifle a snicker at the thought of Wex beginning to extol the virtues of hiding from government surveillance.
He glanced down at me. “Something funny?”
I hadn’t even grinned. How had he figured out so quickly that I was amused?
I shook my head, vowing not to let my mind wander again—not if Wex could read me that easily. “No. Tell me more?”
He led me around the room, describing what each station did—vid splicing, final editing, transmission.
This was perfect. Not only were these Khanavai-controlled computer terminals, but they all had direct connections to Earth.
Surely that would make it easier to get the information Roya needed back to her.
Of course, to get into the system and run her spyware, I would need a wristcom to get inside the room when it was empty and total privacy while I worked.
“Will these guys be up all night to get it all done?” I asked, trying to inject a tone of awe into my voice.
“No,” Wex’s voice rumbled from behind me. “They’ll shut down when all the brides retire to their quarters.”
Perfect.
When I’d seen enough, I turned to thank Wex, only to find that he had moved up close behind me, and I hadn’t even noticed. My face was almost touching his chest. With a gasp, I tilted my head back, a sudden sense of vertigo reminding me of the first time I’d seen him in the parking lot of the hotel back on Earth.
A low, rumbling sound like a growl vibr
ated deep in Wex’s chest, and without warning, he wrapped his arms around me and bent down to capture my lips in a kiss.
I froze in surprise, but the feel of his warm mouth working against mine quickly overwhelmed my senses.
His tongue flicked against mine, demanding I open for him. His spicy sent surrounded me, and without thinking about it, I parted my lips, allowing him entry.
His tongue delved into my mouth, claiming it, and my entire body melted against him, my arms stealing up and wrapping around his neck without my volition. A tiny whimper sounded in my throat, and Wex gathered me closer to him.
My mind still wasn’t working. Before I knew it, I was responding, my mouth moving against his, our tongues tangling, flashes of erotic heat sparking through me.
Wex slipped his hand down my back and cupped my ass, tucking me in closer to him. Even through our clothing, I could feel the length and heat of his erection pressing against me.
My nipples tightened into hardened peaks, and desire began pooling at my core, urging me to get closer, to wrap my legs around this man, take him inside me.
That’s when reason kicked in.
Making out with Khanavai warriors is dangerous, the sensible part of my brain insisted.
But it felt so good. My body resisted my brain’s orders to step away from him, and it took a long moment to override the sensations he sent dancing through me. Finally, though, I pulled away from Wex’s grip. He set me gently on my feet, instantly breaking the kiss and letting go.
Humiliation mixed with rage bubbled up through the haze of lust in my mind.
How could I let him do something like that?
I wasn’t even sure if my anger was directed at him, or at myself.
My jaw tightened, and I clenched my fists by my side, working hard to blink away the last remnants of passion he had awoken in me.
“I have to get back to the Bride Games now,” I managed to grit out.
Wex stared at me blankly for a long moment, his expression as dazed as I felt. “Of course,” he finally said. “Let me show you—”
“I know my way back,” I interrupted him, my voice brusque.
“Are you sure you don’t want to—”
“I’m sure.” Whatever he was about to suggest, I was certain it was a bad idea. I spun around and headed to the door, avoiding making eye contact with any of the other Khanavai in the room, all of whom had gone utterly silent as Wex and I had kissed.
“Are you—” Wex tried again as I reached the doorway.
“I’m positive.” Without looking behind me, I slammed out into the corridor, then broke into a run.
I didn’t stop running until I was backstage in the Bride Lottery auditorium. There, I leaned against a wall and gulped in deep breaths, uncertain whether I was winded from the run or from Wex’s kiss.
Or maybe both.
When the queue of prospective brides moved forward, I fell into line. I smoothed down my hair, hoping I didn’t look as flushed and thoroughly kissed as I felt.
As I stepped into the auditorium, I couldn’t help searching the stands for Wex, even as I berated myself for it.
That kiss.
It had been amazing.
You could have him, a traitorous voice in my mind reminded me.
Or I could stop wasting time lusting over Khanavai warrior I can never have—not if I wanted to get back to Earth—and get back to the job at hand: destroying the Alien Bride Lottery and Games so no other woman would ever again be put in this position.
That was definitely the better option, I decided as I stepped up onto the dais to do my brief interview with Vos Klavoii.
I hardly knew what I said to him, my mind was spinning so fast.
With any luck, I would be the last human woman to ever go through this farce of an interview.
That was more likely now than ever—because I knew something no one else did yet.
When I had broken away from Wex’s kiss, I had managed to slip his wristcom, complete with his access code, off his arm and into my palm.
Now, I had a way to get back into the Bride Games control room.
I just hoped he didn’t notice his com was missing before I got the chance to use it.
Less than two hours later, I waved Wex’s wristcom in front of the electronic lockpad outside the Bride Games Control Center.
I spent most of the intervening time hiding in some leafy, purple bushes just inside the enormous central garden, watching the door until all the Khanavai manning—or aliening, I guess?—the control center left for the evening, turning the lights off behind them.
Giving it a minute or so to make sure no one returned, I glanced down the corridors, then scurried to the door, opened it, and slipped inside, dropping Wex’s wristcom on a nearby desk. With any luck, he’d assume he left it there earlier.
The wristcom would have been useful to keep, but I was too likely to get caught with it. No, better to let the gorgeous green (hot, kissable, so damn sexy, my mind interjected before I shoved it back down) alien find it in a plausible place.
I moved to a computer terminal out of view of the doorway. I wouldn’t be able to see anyone coming that way, but they wouldn’t be able to see me, either.
“God, I hope this works,” I muttered as I keyed open the first of the two files Roya had sent. My own wristcom projected the image above my arm, and the file opened like a flower unfurling, a set of instructions scrolling past.
“Slow down, slow down.” Scrolling back, I tapped in the codes in the order the instructions gave. I didn’t know where Roya got her information, but her sources were solid—within a minute, I was logged into the Khanavai system.
It took even less time to upload the second file she’d attached, though my heart was pounding so hard the whole time that it seemed like longer.
“There,” I murmured aloud. “Done.”
I hoped the spyware garnered useful information for Roya and her resistance—because if I had my way, I was out.
That’s the last thing I’m going to do for them, I promised myself.
I started to log out of the system again but then paused, my curiosity getting the better of me.
I wonder how much information the system has about Wex Banstinad?
This was a stupid idea. I knew it was. But Wex worked here. He was the communications officer for the Bride Games, and maybe even for the whole station—I hadn’t really been paying attention earlier when he’d explained his job to me. At the very least, though, he had access to all the records, including mine, I assumed.
It’s not fair for him to have so much information on me when I have so little on him.
I took another couple of minutes to track down a file on him—his personnel file, so probably nothing terribly exciting, but it soothed my pride to have found it—and downloaded it to my wristcom to examine later.
As I finished, I took a quick glance around the room.
Nothing else useful here.
Moving back to the door, I checked the hallway to either side, slipped out, and closed the door behind me.
Sweat slicked down my back as I turned around to make sure the door had locked. I hadn’t realized how nervous I had been.
Then, for the second time that day, Wex’s voice echoed down the hallway behind me. “What are you doing here…again?”
Chapter Fourteen
Wex
Deandra managed to look even guiltier this time than she had the last time I caught her outside the control room door—and I would have said that was impossible.
Then again, maybe I simply wasn’t very good at reading human expressions, despite having grown up watching the Bride Games and having worked on them for some time now.
“Hey,” she said, her voice cracking on the word. “I was just looking for you.”
That had to be a lie, right? The last time I saw her, she had been angry with me for kissing her. The last thing I would have expected was for her to search me out. “You were?”
“Yea
h. I wanted to…” She paused and bit her lip, casting her gaze downward. “Listen. I shouldn’t have gotten so angry earlier. After you—you know, kissed me?”
“I remember. So why did you try to open the door?” I took a few steps toward her, closing the distance between us, but she backed away, only pausing when I reached past her to touch the control pad.
The door was firmly locked.
“I thought I saw a light on. But when I tried to open the door, the light went out.” Deandra gave a little shrug. “But anyway, here you are. So I don’t have to try to track you down.”
She stepped back in toward me, staring up at me with those luminous brown eyes of hers. She still wore the makeup from the Bride Pageant, but she had changed back into her normal streetwear: stiff blue fabric pants—something the Earthers called denim? Or maybe genes? Though I didn’t understand why they would give their clothing a biological term as a name.
She also wore a form-fitting shirt made of a soft fabric that molded to her body I had to fight an urge to run my hands down her sides, to feel her slight curves under the clothing.
She must have seen something in my gaze because her breath caught in her throat, and she took a half step back.
“What are you doing here?” she asked. “Isn’t it after-hours for you?”
“I think I might have left my wristcom in here earlier.” I held my hands up around my eyes to cut the reflection and peered inside the room. “Yes, there it is.”
“Really? Is that something you do a lot—leave your wristcom lying around?” Deandra’s voice sounded a little too bright, but when my gaze flickered toward her, she was also leaning up against the door, staring inside. “Oh, there it is. I see it.” She uncupped her hands. “So can you go in to get it now?”
“No. I’ll wait until tomorrow morning’s shift and pick it up then.”
“Well, okay,” she said, shifting her weight back and forth from one foot to the other. “I guess that’s all I wanted—to apologize to you. I should probably get back to my room if I’m going to get any sleep before whatever tomorrow’s circus is supposed to be.”
Enemy of the Alien Bride Lottery Page 7