by Lynnea Lee
CHAPTER THREE
Mia resisted the urge to cover her body. While she considered herself a sexually liberated woman, she was not used to being nude in a public space. She observed that while most of the bath’s patrons were Tallean, there were still quite a few humans scattered about. More than she had expected.
She recognized the lady who helped her get set up at the housing office and waved. The blonde waved back cheerfully. She was relaxing in a tub with another woman, a brunette. Four Talleans were crammed in with them, one of them was female. The female Tallean rested her head on the brunette’s shoulder, her eyes closed, a blissful smile on her face. They looked like a happy couple.
The males, who were all paying attention to the blonde, turned to see who she was waving to. They appraised Sala and Mia, smiling broadly to display their sharp fangs. They looked almost predatory. Self-conscious, Mia sucked in her belly a little tighter.
She was glad to see other Earth women here. Mia felt better knowing that others had taken to the new culture. It meant that she would not be alone. Others had paved the way already. Sure, Mia’s mother would have a fit if she knew where she was. But Mia was a grown woman.
She thought about Aunt Lucia. Yup, Auntie Lulu would totally be enjoying herself here. She always knew how to have fun.
“The males aren’t here yet,” Sala noted. “Let’s take that small private tub over in the corner. The smaller the tub, the less likely males will try to invite themselves in. With the attention you are garnering, we may still have to tell a few males that the extra spots are taken.”
Mia looked around and realized Sala was correct. Quite a few eyes were riveted on her. She tamped down the compulsion to cover her body again.
“Do men, I mean males, usually do that? Invite themselves into a bath?” Mia asked.
“It happens,” her friend replied nonchalantly. “If we take one of the bigger tubs, it’ll happen for sure. The bigger tubs are meant for sharing, and if two females are alone in the tub, it’s usually an invitation for others to join them.”
“That’s good to know.” Mia scanned the open room again. “What about the enormous pool over there?”
“That’s the common pool. Most bathers choose that if they came alone and don’t want to invite others to join them. Others may still approach them, though.”
They arrived at the small corner tub. It was just big enough for four people. Sala showed her how to operate the unit. She pressed a button, and the tub started filling up.
“Every group of bathers fill and drain their own tub,” she explained. “You adjust the temperature here. It's best to set it at the center and adjust as it fills. You can also change the water pressure of the jets and add special scents.”
They slipped into the hot bath. Mia sighed. She let her body relax and closed her eyes, enjoying the massage from the jets. She hadn’t been in a hot steamy bath since Earth. The cleansing unit in the dorms just wasn’t the same.
Even with her eyes closed, Mia felt the moment Arus and Vore entered the room. Instinctively, she sat up a little taller and turned her head towards the door. The two impressively built males were walking towards their tub. And oh, wow! Arus was even better naked than she had imagined. Fantasy paled in the face of reality.
“Mmm,” Sala hummed in appreciation, her eyes riveted on Vore. “He definitely keeps himself in shape. Guess it’s a part of the job.”
Talleans males tended towards being muscular naturally. The two males walking their way were considerably above average. Everything about Arus was huge. Even his eight gleaming claws, connected to massive feet and thick legs, were larger than others she’d seen.
When the pair had first sauntered into the Daily Dose, Sala had explained that visiting mercenaries were the perfect males for no strings attached entertainment. They lived a life that kept them remarkably fit, never ran out of interesting stories, and were eager to please in the bedroom. Or any room at all, for that matter. And most importantly, according to Sala, they didn’t expect a commitment and didn’t get attached. Most females were not content to live on a ship, and most mercs were not willing to give up their jobs.
Sala moved to the other side of the bath as Arus slipped into the water beside her. Even though she was already immersed in hot water, Mia felt her body temperature rise. It felt as though she could boil the bathwater with the heat coursing through her body.
He pressed his legs right up against hers. The contact was electrifying.
She tilted her head and gave him a small smile, not wanting to seem too eager.
“Hi.” That came out a little too breathily.
“Mia.” Just the short sound of her name in that low, rumbly voice made her belly do somersaults.
Their eyes met, and Mia couldn’t look away. It felts as though the baths, the patrons, and even their friends had vanished, and all that existed in that very moment was the two of them. She melted into the pools of his green eyes, and it felt as if she was waiting for an earthquake.
“So, how are you enjoying your time off on our little colony?” It was Sala who broke the tension.
Arus turned to her friend, breaking the gravity that held their eyes prisoners.
“I wouldn’t even call it time off anymore,” Vore said. “We took on a temporary local assignment.”
“Really? Are you going to be staying longer then?” Sala asked.
“No. We’re still leaving when the Defiant comes for us. But until then, we will help the colony deal with their fence failure problem.”
This caught Mia’s attention. The perimeter fence in the new colonist area had gone down twice since her arrival on Reka 5. The planet was still mostly wild, and there were animals dangerous to the colonists lurking outside the colony’s fenced-in areas. At their orientation, the guide had explained that there were several deadly predators.
While the large predators seemed at first glance to be the most terrifying, they hunted alone. It was the smaller, wolf-like dragus that was the real threat. Individually, each dragus was too small to do much damage.
As it was only about the size of a large dog, a Tallean male had no problem swatting one dragus away. But they never hunted alone. As pack hunters, they were also intelligent. They needed to be. Their usual prey were enormous lumbering giants with tusks and protective plates. As a pack, they had no problem bringing down prey the size of an elephant.
When the colony was new, dragus would raid often. They targeted lone colonists. Colonists had to work in groups to stay safe. Eventually, the dragus grew braver and started attacking the groups as well. To protect from further losses, the colony raised perimeter fences around the different sections of the colony. Bridges joined each section together; they were protected paths that allowed safe passage between the sections.
Mia travelled through one of these bridges every day to get from the new colonist area to her work. A tunnel protected the pathway. To avoid attracting the attention of the local murderous fauna, the tunnel was opaque. It was brightly lit inside, and guards were stationed at either end.
“Don’t you still live in the new colonist area, Mia?” Arus asked, concern evident on his face.
“Yeah,” she replied. “There was a fence breach two nights ago. They locked all the buildings down until they got it fixed. At first the rumor was that a pack of dragus attacked the fence, but they didn’t find any dragus markings in the area.” She turned to the two males and asked, “Did you figure out how the breach happened?”
The two males exchanged a look.
“No, not for certain,” Arus replied. “But we will get to the bottom of it. Don’t you worry.”
He wrapped a beefy arm around her and pulled her closer. Realizing that Sala and Vore were lost in their own quiet conversation, Mia relaxed against him. She rested her head on his shoulder. She made a satisfied hum and closed her eyes.
After a moment, she looked up. Arus had his eyes closed. Mia took the opportunity
to study his face. His cheekbones were wide and well-defined, and his jawline was chiseled. Running diagonally across his cheek, parallel to his jaw, was the cheek crease every Tallean had. While some Tallean males had hair on their chests, Mia never met one with facial hair. It must impede the cheek crease when in action.
Then she realized that Arus was looking right back at her. He had caught her staring. It was not her fault, she decided. It was hard not to stare at such a mesmerizing face.
“I’m curious,” she said. “May I?”
She reached her fingers up to his face and traced the crease. The cheek creases and fangs made Tallean faces strange and alien; they didn’t move their mouths in the same way, and it was clear they were predators. He pressed his cheek against her hand and closed his eyes, and the edge of one fang pressed against Mia’s palm. When he opened his eyes again, he tilted his head and leaned in closer.
Was he going to kiss her? Her heart sped up like a teenager on her first date. She thought Talleans didn’t kiss.
“I’m curious too,” he confessed. “I saw humans do this. I want to know how it feels.”
He captured her mouth with his, his large canines pressing against her mouth. There was no hesitation; Mia’s body reacted instantly. She snaked a hand around his neck and kissed him back. His lips were firm and sure, and she melted against him as he brushed his raspy tongue against hers. He ended with a little nibble on her lower lip. By the time he pulled away, Mia was panting with need.
“You smell as good as sin,” he groaned. “And I’ve decided, I enjoy this kissing very much.”
“You’ve never done that before?” Mia mused, and she narrowed her eyes at him. “Feels like you’ve had at least some practice.”
“I’m just good with my mouth,” he smirked.
Wow! Was that cheesy or what? But Mia couldn’t stop a smile from lifting the corners of her mouth.
When it was time to leave the baths, Mia hesitated. She was so relaxed that she had totally forgotten she was naked under the bubbling jets. Arus was naked, too. And he was perfection. If his body was built on Gold’s gym memberships and steroids, then her body was built on ice cream and wine. Would he be disappointed?
Reminding herself that everyone in the room was naked as well, she steeled her resolve and got out of the water. If he didn’t like what he saw, then that was too bad for him!
She felt his eyes on her and turned to look at him. He stood frozen in the water, slack-jawed. It took him a few moments to recover while Mia took her time drying off. When he finally pulled himself out of the swirling water, Mia tossed him a fresh towel. He offered her an arm, and she took it with a grin.
There, that wasn’t so bad, was it? Mia hoped her nervousness didn’t show.
Arus sat next to Mia in the booth at the cantina. He was trying hard not to punch his friend in the face. Vore had noticed his hesitation when coming out of the water back at the baths. His friend’s smirk told Arus that he knew exactly why Arus stayed longer than needed in the waist-deep water. He was trying to hide his erection.
Normally in Tallean company, he wouldn’t have needed to hide his reaction to a female’s body. But Arus knew that humans were more reserved about nudity and sexuality. Being naked at the bathhouse was one thing; seeing exactly what her body did to his was another. How would Mia have responded? Would she turn red and flustered? Would she run? Would she show interest? Mia reacted well to his fangs and claws, but she was still so new to his culture; he didn’t want to scare her away.
“I have no clue what anything on the menu is. I mean, I’ve started the language tutorials,” Mia explained. “But I still can’t read anything yet.”
“Let me help you,” Arus offered.
“If it’s anything to do with food, you’ll want his help. Aside from helping with security on the ship, Arus here does the cooking when we get sick of replicator food. You can say we call him ‘the chef.’”
Arus didn’t hold back this time and sent a fist toward Vore’s face. But the bastard was ready and narrowly avoided the punch. Arus hated being called the chef, and the asshat knew it. Everyone on the ship knew it. But that seemed to stop no one. Even the captain’s human mate had called him the chef the first time they met. It appeared he would never get rid of that moniker. The last thing he wanted was for Mia to remember him forever as that chef from the ship.
Vore burst out in hearty laughter.
“What? I’m helping you out. Females love a male who can cook.” Vore turned to the females. “Am I right, females? Help me out here.”
It was Mia who spoke. “That’s a useful skill to have. Your crew must really appreciate it. I trust your tastes. Order something you think I’ll like.”
She placed a small hand on his forearm. The contact calmed him, and he didn’t feel like punching Vore anymore.
“You’re lucky these females are here, Vore.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Vore said and rolled his eyes dramatically, and then he grinned, showing fang, and said to Mia, “Don’t worry, Mimi, he’s all sizzle and no steak. Looks all big and scary, but he’s a huge softy inside.”
Arus seethed. Mimi? He didn’t want Vore calling Mia any form of nickname or endearment.
Arus had heard of the human term, ladies’ man. Vore was a ladies’ man. But he was a solid friend. Sure, he got a tad rowdy at times and did whatever he wanted, consequences be damned. He had an easy nonchalance about him that made him comfortable in every situation. Females claimed they didn’t like the type, but Vore still got females at every stop they made. This very moment, however, Arus willed Vore to dial down the charm in front of Mia.
Arus wished he had the natural ability to maneuver around social situations like his friend. He always felt clumsy and awkward. It never stopped him from finding females when he needed, though. There were females at every port who wanted the excitement of a temporary liaison with a dangerous mercenary. And so he played up that aspect. Not because he wanted to, but because remaining quiet made him seem the sullen, brooding type, and it happened to fit the narrative.
He clicked on the self-ordering screen and scrolled through the options.
“What types of food do you normally like?”
“I don’t think anything I mention will make sense to you.”
“I’ve tried some Earth cuisine, but nothing truly authentic, considering all the ingredients needed substitution. I had something called peeza, and it was very good. Comfort food material for sure. They had to make the milk curds with whatever animal milk was available, and the sauce was from a local fruit as well.”
“Pizza! Yeah, I guess you can call it a comfort food,” Mia replied. “I like comfort food. Why don’t you order something you would consider comfort food for me?”
Arus continued scrolling through the options and found just the thing. They all ordered and, as usual at this cantina, the food arrived quickly.
Arus was nervous to see Mia’s reaction to the dish he selected.
“I promise you, it tastes a lot better than the name suggests,” Arus prefaced. “It’s called a drowned pie.”
“This looks nothing like a pie. The pies at the Daily Dose look almost exactly like the pies on Earth,” Mia said, “I was so shocked when I first saw a piece of pie here. It looked identical to an Earth pie, and I thought everything must be just a dream, and I would wake up back on my bed on Earth.”
“There’s some version of pie in almost every culture I’ve come across in the galaxy. Something about making a dough, putting a filling inside and cooking it just seems like an excellent idea to everyone,” Arus continued, “and in that way, a drowned pie is more like a bunch of little pies swimming in a sauce.”
“They look like saucy dumplings!”
“Dumplings? That sounds like it should be a cute furry animal, not a food,” Sala said.
“Dumplings do sound pretty cute, don’t they?” Mia agreed. “So tell me more about this dish.”
&nbs
p; “Meat is marinated in wine and spices overnight,” Arus explained. “Then it’s wrapped in a thin dough, making little ‘dumplings’ as you called them. The tiny pies are first fried and then drowned in a sweet and salty sauce.
“Mmmm,” she hummed as she ate her first mouthful, biting with her dull little teeth.
The sound shot through his core. Damn! Arus was seriously envious of that bite of food.
“It’s so good!” She mumbled the words through a mouthful of food.
Vore chimed in, “If you think the drowned pie is good here, you should try the one Arus makes. It’s phenomenal.” He paused for dramatic effect. “I would even call it orgasmic.”
Sala choked on her food, and Mia tittered at the suggestive comment.
“Vore, you are a pro at making people choke on their food today,” Arus laughed, thinking about the pastry from earlier.
CHAPTER FOUR
Arus felt Mia’s hand tighten on his arm. They were at the bridge leading to the new colonist area, and the guard looked tense.
“Arus! Just the male I was looking for. We have a problem.”
“What’s wrong, Holden?” Arus recognized the male from the meeting this morning.
“There’s been another fence failure, we found it just now during the extra perimeter checks you had suggested. We think it happened recently. The problem is, we can't detect any scents in the area.”
“What do you mean, no scents in the area? Everyone leaves a scent trail. If it just happened, it should be fresh enough to trace, even if other scents have covered it.”
“There just aren’t any. The area smells empty.” Holden sounded confused. “As if nothing has been there before, ever. Even our own scents have disappeared from the area from after discovering the breach.”
“I’ll go look around after bringing Mia home.”