by A. G. Wilde
Finally, Ka’Cit moved from his position.
He closed the panel he’d opened and turned, outstretching his arms again as he walked back toward her.
As soon as he was at the edge of the pin once more, he floated back toward the view screen.
He came close enough to press his hand against the glass and Nia reached forward, pressing her palm against the surface to meet his.
Her gaze flicked over his face, her wide eyes trying to gather answers he could not tell her.
“What are you doing?”
He had the audacity to give her a devilish smile, one that made her heart do a curious flip-flop in her chest.
“Get in here!”
He couldn’t hear her, but it seemed he’d finished doing whatever he was doing anyway because he let go of the screen and floated toward the back of the ship.
Nia found herself pacing again for what felt like the longest five minutes of her life.
“Airlock. Closed,” the ship announced.
Her thumb was in her mouth as she bit at her finger and when the light above the door finally turned green she marched toward it.
It opened and she bumped right into him.
Standing so close, she’d forgotten how tall he was and she craned her neck as she frowned up at him.
“You!” she shouted, mildly caught off guard by the fact that she was looking directly into his face. He hadn’t put his mask back on yet.
“You scared me! I thought you’d gone crazy! What the hell were you doing out there! That was so dangerous. Don’t you ever do that again.” She let out a breath to calm herself. Her hands were trembling and she had to fold her arms to hide that fact. “What if that tether thing had broken and you’d floated away? And you didn’t even say anything before you went out there!” Her hands fisted at her sides. “What the hell was I supposed to do if you’d gotten stuck! Or worse!”
His smile returned. “So you would have…cared if something happened to me out there?”
Nia’s mouth fell open. She hadn’t expected that question. “What? Well…of course I would have cared. I’m not—” It hit her then that it seemed he’d understood her. “Wait…did you just deduce what I’m saying or did you actually understand me?” She closed her eyes for a moment and released a breath. “I don’t know anymore.”
When she opened her eyes, she glared at him.
For some reason, she felt angry at him for endangering himself. And it wasn’t the usual type of anger.
This one was fueled by something she couldn’t quite pinpoint at that moment. “You scared me.”
“I really didn’t mean to.”
Wha—
Nia’s mouth fell open. “Y-you can understand me?”
His lips twitched a little and he nodded.
Nia stepped back a little. “You can?”
“Me and every single being on Hudo III can understand you now. I updated the database with your…” he frowned a little, “Een-glish?”
“W-what?”
“Sorry it took so long. Been a while since I did anything like that. I’m out of practice.” His frown deepened and all Nia could do was stare open-mouthed at him.
“How…”
Ka’Cit shrugged and Nia stepped back a little more till she was leaning against one of the seats.
His gaze suddenly became concerned.
“You don’t like it. Your face. It’s…not happy.”
Nia blinked.
“It’s not that…it’s just…I don’t understand.”
“I pushed an…update to the system. A code,” he said.
Nia blinked at him, her eyes nictitating. “You what?”
“A code.”
Nia’s mouth fell open. “You’re telling me you just uploaded a bug to the system? You hacked it?”
His brows furrowed again. “I didn’t put any creatures into the system and I didn’t slash at it either.”
She would laugh if she wasn’t still so shocked.
“I can understand you now…” he continued before gesturing to the planet far below them, “and everyone down there will be able to understand you too, once their translators update.”
Nia had to put her entire weight on the seat behind her. Her legs felt too weak.
“You just…uploaded English to the world?”
He was watching her intently, it seemed, in an effort to read her reaction.
His shoulders were tense and he remained unmoving as if preparing himself for something.
“That’s what you did?” she asked again.
He nodded this time.
Nia fell to her knees before she collapsed and sat back on her legs. Her gaze focused ahead at nothing.
“Nee-ya?”
“You have no idea what you’ve just done.”
There was movement and then he came to sit before her in the same position.
“I am confused if it is something bad or good.”
“Good.” She met his gaze. “Good.”
She swallowed hard and took a breath.
“You have no idea what a gift…”
Again she was feeling emotional.
“Apart from Riv and Sohut, I haven’t had much interaction with many aliens.
When I was taken, the alien slave ship I’d been on crashed and I was…” She took another breath. Reliving it was horrible, but she’d never talked to anyone about it before. Not even Lauren and Cleo.
When she looked at Ka’Cit, he was still studying her.
There was no insistence; no pressure for her to talk. This was her choice and, for some reason, he made her feel comfortable enough to speak about it.
She cleared her throat and continued. “I was trapped in a cage underneath the wreckage for over two days.”
She’d almost died and it was probably the reason why her claustrophobia had grown another head and was even more debilitating than it had been on Earth.
Ka’Cit tried to keep his face neutral, she could see, but she’d caught the shock that passed over his features.
“Two days,” she repeated. “At least, that’s how long I thought it was. I’d had no way of telling the time. For those two days, my biggest fear was that I was going to die—that no one would find me in time.” She sighed. “But after I was pulled from the wreckage, that fear soon disappeared only to be replaced by another.”
She met his gaze again. “I was face-to-face with a new set of aliens—not the slug-like ones and their alligator friends who’d captured me first. This new set looked like brutes. Big. Green. Ferocious-looking. I’d feared the worst, but I’d lucked out in the end.”
She took another breath. “I don’t know why I’m telling you all this…”
“Go on. I am listening.”
And he was.
Nia swallowed hard and her gaze fell to her hands before she nodded.
“They sold me to an alien who only seemed to want to watch me like his pet bug in a huge glass box. He’d fed me. And he’d watched me. That was about it. It was that way for a long, long time until one day, I realized he wasn’t moving from the round seat he usually sat on.”
She glanced at Ka’Cit but he was still watching her, as if he was truly invested in her story, so she continued.
“After another day of no movement, I realized he was either dead or doing some kind of hibernating thing. On the third day when he started to smell, I started to panic. I was locked in a box with no way out. A big glass box, like the size of a small studio apartment, but a box nonetheless. If he was dead…then so was I, eventually.”
“How did you get out?”
“Luck. Again, it was pure luck. One of his friends, I suppose, visited. That friend saw me and brought me to a market. From there, I changed hands and was given to an alien with a huge protrusion at the back of his head like a big balloon.”
“Geblit.”
Nia smiled. “Yea, that’s his name. He’d seemed pretty upset by my presence and he’d hurried me to Riv’s Sanctuary as if he
couldn’t wait to get rid of me.”
She paused for a few moments.
“I guess what I’m trying to say is that, through all of this…I didn’t feel like a…person. When I spoke, no one understood me. Even if they wouldn’t have listened to what I had to say, I didn’t even have the option to speak for myself. I was truly reliant on everyone around me. Even this,” she gestured to the vessel they were in, “all this partially happened because the Niftrills thought I was talking gibberish. They didn’t care to try and understand. I am a nobody to most of the aliens here.”
“Ta’ii…you are never that.”
“Thanks to you.” Nia smiled a little then. “To live in a world where you’re invisible…to not be understood and then to be given a voice…it’s something I’d taken for granted on Earth…my freedom.” Her eyes suddenly felt wet and she fought to hold back the tears. “And now you’ve given me some of that back.”
In one movement, she was in his arms.
She didn’t know if she was the one that moved toward him or if he was the one to close the distance. All she knew was that she was wrapping her arms around his neck and his arms were closing around her.
Nia buried her face into the crook of his neck and he allowed her to.
“Thank you, Ka’Cit. How can I ever repay you for all you’ve done for me?”
His voice was hoarse when he spoke, so hoarse she almost thought he was clearing his throat.
“This…” he said. “Ta’ii, this is payment enough.”
“You keep calling me that…tah-ee. What does it mean?”
He stiffened a little and she thought he wasn’t going to reply.
“It means…friend.”
Friend.
Nia smiled.
For a moment, she allowed herself to relax against him. Her nose was buried against his skin and she could smell his unique musk.
It was surprisingly calming and…nice—like ginger with a dash of cinnamon.
Comforting.
She wasn’t sure how long he held her there, but as she sniffled and wiped her eyes, Nia eased off him slowly.
Her cheek brushed against his, as she moved back, and when her face was just before his, she paused.
His green gaze met hers as they looked at each other and Nia didn’t know what was holding her still; she only knew that she could not move.
Ka’Cit lifted a hand and brushed a finger slowly down her cheek.
He watched his finger move, as if he was memorizing every line on her face.
That corrosive green gaze of his met hers once more and the air between them changed.
When his gaze fell to her lips, Nia felt her breathing quicken.
Involuntarily, she ran her tongue over her bottom lip and that’s when she heard the rumble in his throat.
For a moment, she almost pulled away, but something held her unmoving within his arms.
And then…
As her lips fell against his, electricity snapped and crackled in the air between them.
A deep groan vibrated from his throat as they made contact and Nia felt her body responding.
Her nipples were tight, her center suddenly aching, and it felt like she’d ignited a fire that was burning bright in the center of her being.
Ka’Cit gripped her tight and pulled her against him.
He groaned again, a sound that sent electricity to her center, and that tight little bud between her legs began to throb.
His lips were soft, softer than she’d expected them to be, and when she flicked her tongue out to brush against them, he groaned so loud, his body vibrated against hers.
Ka’Cit matched her, brushing the tip of her tongue with his just before their tongues dived against each other, frolicking…stroking…mating.
She could feel the tips of his fangs and that only made her moan a little more.
He was wild, powerful, strong, but oh so gentle as he held her against him.
Kissing him was a whole experience she hadn’t been prepared for.
Ka’Cit’s hands moved down to rest against her waist as hers went up behind his head, clasping the nape of his neck as her fingers threaded through his hair.
A kiss had never left her weak, but this one was about to.
There was a sweet sort of energy building between them, forcing them together, but she couldn’t let go and she didn’t want it to stop.
Seconds ticked by while the world stood still and as Nia’s legs became weak, her body turned into jelly.
When she finally wrenched her lips from his to take a breath, Nia opened her eyes and met his.
He didn’t need to say anything and she didn’t either.
She could see it in his eyes even as she could feel it within herself.
Something had just changed between them…and she was pretty sure there was no going back.
21
Ka’Cit’s sat-watch beeped and he cursed underneath his breath.
The moment was broken and Nee-ya blinked.
Her hands loosened from his neck and she began to stand.
He let her go, releasing her even though he didn’t want to.
That moment they’d just shared…he wanted to relive it again, and again, and again.
His sat-watch beeped once more and this time, he cursed out loud.
At that moment, he wished he’d ripped it from his arm and left it to float in the void.
Nee-ya cleared her throat and stood, sliding away from him and he immediately felt a loss with her no longer pressed against him.
“That’s an alarm, I guess?”
Ka’Cit jerked his chin in a nod.
“It was.” It was time to go.
Awkwardly, he sighed and closed his legs, not that it helped to hide anything. His cock was hard and throbbing in his trousers; he wasn’t even sure he could stand without it pointing straight at her.
So, he remained kneeling on the floor.
He shook his head to clear his thoughts as he ran a hand back through his hair. “I shouldn’t be here right now. I was on a…job, before I came after you.”
She nodded and her fingers went to touch her lips before she caught herself. She looked away from him then. “I remember. I heard that…call you had when we were hiding.” She paused. “Is that what you were doing? When you were checking those Niftrills?”
Ah, he had been wondering what she was thinking when she’d stopped running to look back at him.
“Yes.” He studied her a little. He guessed there was no harm in telling her about it. “One of them had the information I needed.”
“What information?”
He hesitated then. This was the part he wasn’t sure he should tell her about.
It didn’t affect her directly, but after the story she’d just told him, he knew now it might affect her emotionally, maybe even mentally.
“Do you remember those guards who took you from your planet?”
She stiffened a little, her alertness increasing. “The ones that looked like walking alligators?”
At his confused look she went on. “Long tails, yellow eyes…”
Ah. “Yes. The Hedgerud fighters. They work for the High Tasqals—the beings who ordered for you to be…taken.”
He studied her for a negative reaction but she only seemed more interested so he went on.
“Niftrills sometimes work on the ships they use to transport a valuable ore…talix metal. One of those Niftrills is a smuggler. I was hoping to…intercept him.”
“Why?”
His sat-watch dinged and crackled before he could answer.
Nia was watching him.
“He’s contacting me.”
“Who…the person who hired you?”
He glanced her way. “Something like that.”
The watch crackled again and he activated the comms.
“Yes?”
“What’s your status?”
He glanced at Nee-ya once more. “I told you there’s been a…situation. There’s some
thing else, something important that I have to do.”
There was a pause.
“I’m surprised. You never…turn down assignments,” the person said.
His eyes were still on Nee-ya as he spoke. “Well…this time, I have reason to.”
There was another pause on the line.
“This job…it’s…you are our last hope, Urgmental. Countless lives will be lost if you do not retrieve this package.”
Ka’Cit stood and turned away from Nee-ya then, trying to mask the growl that rose in his throat.
“Get someone else to do it.”
He had to take her home, back to Riv’s Sanctuary. She’d be safe there. He couldn’t go off on some job when she needed his help.
“Negative. That is not possible. You are our closest source.” A pause. “It is our last effort to help these humans.”
Ka’Cit froze. Humans?
He trusted this contact so he’d never bothered to find out why they’d wanted the rare metal. He was more than happy to screw over the High Tasqals at any chance. Heck, he was doing it for free.
“Humans?” He and Nee-ya spoke at the same time and Ka’Cit glanced in her direction again.
She was wide-eyed now, staring at him.
“Humans?” she repeated and took a step closer.
The voice coming from his sat-watch continued. “We need that package.”
Something passed across Nee-ya’s features then and she turned, headed back to her seat, and buckled herself in.
“I’ll update you later.” Ka’Cit watched her as her shoulders set. He’d seen that look before when she’d grabbed the blaster and ran beside him straight toward their enemies.
“I have to go…” he said and the crackle in the sat-watch stopped as he ended the call.
“Nee-ya?”
She glanced over her shoulder, a look of determination in her eyes.
“Let’s go.”
“Okay, I will take you home.”
She shook her head. “Not home. Let’s go do this job of yours.”
Ka’Cit almost stuttered. “What?”
“Let’s go.”
Was she losing her mind?
“I could never… It’s dangerous. Risky.”
“Don’t worry about me. I can handle myself.”
He studied her for a bit.
That was true. He’d seen her in action first-hand.