by Lea Linnett
He caught her gaze, and she felt like she was drowning in icy water, unable to look away. She wished his words would comfort her, but there was none of the warmth in his voice that she’d grown accustomed to in this past week. Her lips parted, working ineffectually.
He smiled, mercifully breaking eye contact. “Trust me. I’ve been dealing with them for years. They’re all bluff. You’ll be fine.”
When it became obvious he wouldn’t say anymore, Ellie took a steadying breath. “Yes, sir.”
She froze once she’d said it, and out of the corner of her eye she saw Helik’s eyes widen. He covered the slip with a slow incline of his head, before he buried it in the glass of the window. Ellie followed suit, willing her cheeks to stay cool. Even regular conversation between them felt loaded now, and when she glanced toward the front seat, she noticed Roia watching her in one of the mirrors. Ellie did color then, ducking her head.
Her passage through the upper floors of Kaan Tower was a similar flurry of activity as it had been the first time around, although it was hastened by Helik’s presence at her side. He soon split off though, and Roia herded her through a maze of redressers and stylists before depositing her in a waiting room with the other humans. Cara and Anna were already there, and she relaxed a little when they greeted her.
Nothing’s different out here. No one knows, she told herself, and cracked a real smile at the two women.
“You guys look great!” she marveled, taking in their matching slicked-back hairstyles and crisp, black bodysuits. They looked overwhelmingly neat, which seemed to be a theme for levekk fashion.
Anna had lucked out though; they’d let her keep a yellow, flower-shaped pin in her hair, and it sparked in the light as she looked up at Ellie. “Says the girl in the swanky white getup. They trying to make you stand out?”
Ellie blushed, looking down at her clothes that were identical to the others’ apart from the color. “Maybe? I’m on Q and A duty again.”
Cara pursed her lips, but her expression was playful. “Oooh, hope you don’t get any crazies again.”
“Hel—Mr. Kaan assured me I wouldn’t,” she said, moving to squeeze herself onto the couch the women were sharing in an effort to cover her slip. Was she allowed to call him Helik to the others? Had she before? God, she couldn’t even remember anymore.
But the others appeared not to have noticed. “They said there’d be ten of us. Looks like you were the last one, Ellie,” said Anna.
Ellie peered around the room, cataloging the faces. “Wait, where’s Scott?”
“Must not be included today,” said Anna, looking disappointed.
“I saw him earlier.” Two sets of startled eyes flew to Cara, who was frowning faintly. “He was here with his boss—Devis Sidana? But I only got a glimpse of them being ushered into a room. Didn’t see him after that.”
“You think everything’s okay?”
“Not a chance,” said Cara, and Ellie sighed.
“They wouldn’t hurt him,” she pointed out, but that did nothing to quell Cara’s suspicious look.
“Hurt, no. But do you think they want him up on stage with a black eye? Sidana is gonna be in trouble, I bet.”
“Well, that’s good then. Probably.” Anna bit her lip, clasping her hands on her knees. “If she did hurt him, I mean.”
“I agree. But I don’t like that they’re hiding it,” said Cara. Despite her disagreements with Scott, she looked genuinely worried, much to Ellie’s surprise.
Soon enough, the door to their waiting room opened, and a cicarian with mossy green skin stuck his head into the room.
“It’s time for all humans to be seated on stage,” he called out, and while Ellie’s heart jumped into her throat at the words, she let herself be escorted out of the room and into the journalists’ maw with the others.
---
That night, Ellie waited until the front door of the penthouse clicked closed behind her before letting out a deep yawn, stretching her arms up toward the ceiling and standing on her tiptoes. Her muscles ached from the tense way she’d been holding herself all day, and when she reached up to pull the textured band from her hair, her scalp tingled from being bound up for so long.
Two heavy footsteps behind her, and then a hard body pressed against her back, clawed fingers tickling her sides where her homemade blouse had ridden up. They never let her keep any of the garments from the press events, and she felt a flash of disappointment that she couldn’t bring one home and make a pattern from it. The bodysuits would be pretty flattering with some adjustments, she thought.
She was brought back to earth by a warm breath fanning over her neck, making her shiver.
“You were amazing today,” Helik purred into her ear, and that shiver quickly turned into a pleased shudder as he leaned her back against his chest. She was grateful for the support, still trapped on her tiptoes.
“All I did was talk.”
“You talked well. That’s the part that makes me want to take you right here on the floor.”
Ellie’s stomach rolled in that pleasant but sickening way that was half-terror, half-delight. “Well, with that kind of incentive, how could I not?” she teased, and her heart soared as the larger alien spun her around and scooped her up into his arms. That shocked a laugh out of her, and with how loud she was being, she was glad that Helik owned this entire floor. She gripped his torso with her legs, letting him carry her through the apartment and towards the stairs with his hands tucked supportively under her ass.
“You couldn’t have done better,” he said warmly between quick nips of his teeth and tongue on her neck. “I’m so proud of you.”
Ellie drank it up, soaking in the attention. It seemed silly to have been nervous at all now that it was over. Face what you fear: that was what she always told herself, and this was no exception.
But as her mind raced through the events of the day, one thing in particular niggled at her. She leaned away from Helik’s wandering mouth as they crested the stairs, and he looked at her questioningly.
“What’s wrong?”
She hesitated, trailing a finger along the levekk’s scaly collarbone, but soon shook her head. What had she just said to herself? “It’s about one of the other humans,” she finally managed, and when she gently patted Helik’s shoulder he took the hint, letting her slide almost-gracefully to the floor.
“What about them?” he asked, and his icy gaze was guarded. Ellie suddenly felt as if she were polluting the penthouse, drawing in an outside element and poisoning the delicate ambiance they’d cultivated. But she pressed on.
“It’s about a human named Scott. I think he works for Devis Sidana.”
Helik’s eyes widened at that, his relaxed pupils turning sharp and dagger-like. “Okay,” he said simply, and guided her through to the bedroom, where they sat across from each other on Helik’s large bed. It was warm in the penthouse. Ellie couldn’t justify hiding herself in the covers so she gripped them in her fingers instead, grounding herself. “Is something wrong?” Helik prodded. “Did this Scott do something?”
“No,” Ellie said quickly, noticing his tone. “Nothing like that. I’m… a little worried about him.”
The huge, bone-white plate across Helik’s brow turned down at her words, and she had to fight to not let the strange sight distract her.
“He showed up to the Monitor meeting with a black eye. And then today, he wasn’t included in the progress check.”
“Ah,” said Helik, leaning over to pull one of his toeless, rubber-soled shoes off, wiggling his claws in the air. “I heard about this.”
“You did?”
He nodded. “Roia dealt with it.”
“‘Dealt with it’?” Ellie echoed, her panic rising.
It was Helik’s turned to placate her, his hand reaching out to grasp hers. “No, he’s fine. Roia sent him home from the progress check today. You can probably guess why. Anything to do with the reporters is advertising, and injuries don’t make good advert
ising.”
“Right.” She bit her lip, scared to say what she wanted to say next. Speaking about a human was one thing, but a levekk? She didn’t want to risk starting any rumors about one of them. “There’s no chance that his boss would be hurting him… is there?”
She forced herself to meet Helik’s eye as she said it, so she caught the way his expression flickered. “Did he say as much?” he asked.
“No. He said he tripped. It’s just… some of the others thought it was weird.” She shivered, watching him digest the information. She half-expected him to shut her down and say it was impossible, but instead, he squeezed her hand tighter.
“I’ll look into it. But I highly doubt it’s anything but a coincidence.”
“Do you know her?” Ellie asked, sensing his discomfort.
He blinked. “Yes. We’re friends.”
The admission surprised her, and Ellie found that the idea of Helik having friends was strangely peculiar. He spent so much time alone in his office that she’d barely considered it. “Could you imagine her… treating him badly?” she asked, her voice small.
Helik shook his head, looking perturbed. “No. That would be very unlike her.”
Ellie nodded, her eyes on the bed sheets beneath her palm. “How long have you known her?”
He sighed, leaning back against the bed. “Over a decade? We met in university. She was always the proactive one, getting me off my sorry ass.” He glanced up at her. “I don’t think I’d even have a career without her and Roia…”
“You make it sound like you were lazy.” Ellie grinned, laying down beside him with her head on her arm. “I’m seriously having trouble picturing that.”
“Hah. I don’t know if I’d call it laziness.” His eyes grew distant, as if he were looking straight through her. “I just stopped… seeing the point.”
She frowned, reaching for his hand and squeezing it. He looked surprised at the touch, shivering as he jolted back to reality.
“Are you all right?”
He clasped her fingers between his, not meeting her gaze. “I’m fine. It was a long time ago.”
“Mm.” Ellie nodded again. She wanted to pry, but his closed expression changed her mind. She changed the subject. “You said a decade? How old are you?”
Helik blinked. “Uh. Forty-two.”
Her eyes bugged. “Forty-two?!” That was twice her age…
“By your planet’s years,” he explained. “To my people, I’m only just starting to be taken seriously.”
“It makes a difference?”
“Well, yes. We live longer than your kind.”
Ellie’s eyes widened. “I’d never thought about that…” Twenty years had always seemed like a massive age gap when she saw the scruffy human workers who came into her clothier’s just to stare at her while she darned their socks.
Helik eyed her. “Don’t look at me like that. I’m not old. I’m the youngest senator in New Chicago.”
She grinned. “I wasn’t thinking you were old.” And she really wasn’t. She’d always suspected he was a little older, even when she assumed they aged at the same rate. He had a career, and he approached his work with a quiet confidence that spoke volumes. But even then, she didn’t care. He certainly didn’t look old—although, she supposed she didn’t really know what an old levekk looked like.
Still, she could use it to tease him.
Helik’s eyes narrowed as her smile turned mischievous, but she caught the corner of his lip turning up despite himself. “What were you thinking?” he growled, and Ellie blinked innocently.
“Just that, y’know, there’s really no way for me to know whether you’re really just an old man. The levekk are so mysterious. You could be about to retire.”
He propped himself up on an elbow, the last remnants of his distant expression finally leaving his eyes. “Oh, really?”
“Mmhmm.” She rolled onto her back, tracking a finger across her stomach. “You might have to prove to me that you’ve still got it.”
The levekk’s possessive grunt as he pulled her towards him surprised a peal of laughter from her, quickly silenced by his seeking mouth. She sighed into the kiss, allowing her worries about Scott and his levekk to melt away.
Helik rolled them over to pin her to the mattress, his defined chest pressing against hers as her breaths quickened. He rubbed his cock against her, and it was already at attention, as if proving how virile it really was, and Ellie giggled.
She felt so safe with his arms bracketing her like this. Content. Wanted. As Helik cradled her face in his claws, she couldn’t think of a time when she’d felt happier.
She never wanted this to end.
17
“Can you believe the program’s only been going a month?”
Helik blinked, interrupted from his lazy perusal of Ellie’s hair as she knelt by his side, threading pins through the dark material she’d pressed to his thigh. “A lot has happened,” he agreed.
She peered up at him. “That means you’ve been home almost as long. Is your office still out of order?”
Helik winced. His office had been clean of extinguishing fluid for over a week now, but lately returning there hadn’t seemed nearly so important. Both he and Ellie had still been perfectly productive over the two weeks since she’d cornered him in the heat room, and if he was honest, he didn’t think he could give it all up—speaking with her while she ate her lunch, stealing kisses as she passed by whilst working, pulling her into his bedroom between shifts to muss up the sheets she’d just replaced.
And Ellie didn’t seemed to mind his constant presence.
He quirked his lip. “Recently, I’ve found home to be a… stimulating work place.”
He felt her laugh more than he heard it, her warm breath tickling his wrist where it rested at his side.
“That was terrible,” she said, before placing a new set of pins between her lips. She looked like some kind of deep-sea creature with needles for teeth, he noted with amusement.
He felt relaxed in her presence—more at ease than he’d felt in years. And to think, just a few weeks earlier her scent had been suffocating to him. Now, the subtle change of atmosphere in his home felt more natural than the climate-controlled air outside, and he could barely remember what the place had been like without her living in it.
It pained him to think they only had two more months together. If the last few weeks were any indication, Helik could see already how quickly time would slip by, and with it his excuse to keep Ellie here. He would never force her to stay, of course, but suddenly, the thought of her leaving incited a pang of sadness.
“If you could do anything with your life,” he found himself asking, “what would it be?”
Ellie’s fingers stilled on his calf. “What do you mean?”
“Where do you want to go?’ he asked, gesturing down at the disconnected swathes of fabric she’d pinned together across his body. “Do you see yourself becoming a seamstress?”
Her eyes widened, confusion clear as she searched his face. “Yes. I think.” She looked down at the fabric folded neatly between her fingers and belatedly pushed the pin through. “I mean, it’s what I’m good at. And I suppose I always assumed that I would take over from Augusta, eventually…”
“Augusta?”
“My guardian,” she explained. “She raised me.”
Helik nodded. He opened his mouth to ask about her, but Ellie continued.
“I have wondered about traveling.”
That brought him up short, his brow plate dipping. “Where?”
“Off-planet,” she said, her eyes on her work again.
“Why?”
“It just seems nice,” she hedged. “Flying through the stars, seeing other planets.”
He got the feeling she was hiding something from him, but he could hardly blame her. She wasn’t the only one with secrets. “I’ve never left CL-32,” he admitted quietly, drawing her gaze.
“Really?” She shuffled ar
ound him, taking up the seam on his other leg. “I thought you could afford anything.”
Helik laughed at that. “Oh, I can afford it. I’ve just… never been.” He’d rarely ever considered leaving; CL-32 was his whole world, and his family was so deeply stitched into the history of the colony that the idea of going elsewhere was almost incomprehensible. All he knew of the rest of the Constellation was what his mother had drummed into him, and even then it was mostly political history.
“I’ve heard things…” Ellie added, glancing up at him cautiously. “About life off-planet.”
Helik tilted his head. “What?”
“That the rules are different out there.”
They exchanged a look that made Helik’s breath still. He’d heard such things as well: stories of disgraced levekk retreating to Constellation planets outside CL-32. There was also a hazy memory of his mother discussing the matter with disdain when he was small, talking about the way the other Colonies had allowed themselves to be ‘degraded’ with ‘interbreeding.’
“It’s hard to believe,” he said.
Ellie’s furry eyebrows twitched down. “I think it’s true. I’ve heard of someone—” She cut herself off, her eyes widening. “I’ve heard it can be done.”
He ignored her slip, focused instead on the sickening feeling that coursed through his stomach at her words. What would it be like, being able to pull Ellie close in public without fearing censure? What would it be like to have her stand by his side without needing an excuse, without the shadow of her being his employee hanging over them? He would be looked down on, sure, but they wouldn’t have to fear the law, and Ellie would no longer be in danger.
But it was useless for him to think about. His success was tied to CL-32 with thick, tangled knots that he couldn’t unravel even if he tried. Here, he was Helik Kaan, youngest senator of New Chicago and champion of sub-species rights. Out there, he was nobody, and his connections would go up in a cloud of smoke.
He clenched a fist, shaking off the thoughts. “You know, if the program goes well…” He paused, his mouth going dry as Ellie glanced up at him curiously. “I could make a permanent place for you here,” he said, trying to sound more confident than he felt at the offer.