“Oh.” Her lips formed a little circle as both women chuckled softly.
“So... he said special. Candles and a bed?” Gracie pressed. “He’s got it bad then. That’s romance right there, rather than just wanting to fuck,” she said, casting a sharp look at Indra.
“Romance? That’s good, right?” she asked, hating that she sounded so needy. “Humans are so confusing.”
Indra grinned, blowing across the top of the hot chocolate. “Ain’t no arguments here. Especially human men. But then, they always did say men are from Mars and women are from Venus.”
Keris blinked at the odd statement and looked instead at Gracie for clarification. The taller woman smiled.
“Men are simple to work out. Kiss him and tell him you’re in charge now. He’s a soldier so he should follow orders if you take command.”
“And touch his dick. Mostly touch his dick. They like that,” Indra commented, moaning in appreciation at the hot chocolate. “Shit, this stuff is good.”
Keris had a smile on her face when she left Gracie’s quarters.
“Girl talk” with the human women had been just what she needed, their concern for her leaving her with a warm, fuzzy feeling in the center of her chest. She’d never had that.
Even though she’d been with Rynn since he was a child and they’d grown up together, even though he called her his sister, that had been different. He cared for her, that much she knew, but the way he treated her was different.
She wasn’t sure whether that was because he was Lathar and the two women were human, or whether he saw her as less because she wasn’t… hadn’t been… biological. The same old niggles came back to haunt her. Was she real enough now? Or would she always be seen as less because of her origins?
Turning, she went to walk down the corridor, only to pull up sharply when a shadow at the end moved.
“Oh my godd… god!” she gasped, hand over her heart as Berr, the big B’Kaar second in command, emerged from the shadows. “You scared me!”
“Apologies, my lady,” he rumbled as he approached. His suit was nowhere to be seen, but his ke’lath glowed slightly under his skin, indicating his link to the armored suit or the base’s mainframe was active. She didn’t know which. Probably both. B’Kaar didn’t like to be disconnected. Said it made them weaker.
Still, she shrank back a little. Even without the kasivar exosuit he made her nervous, the darkness of his eyes and the black slashes of his eyebrows making his hard features even more intimidating. Seeing her small movement, he raised his hands to show he meant no harm.
“Didn’t mean to scare ya,” he said, keeping his voice low and his movements nonthreatening. “I just… wanted to…”
He broke off and ran a hand through his hair. Short and dark, it stood up in ruffled spikes. “I never spoke to a Lathar female before.”
She kept her expression level and her gaze on his face. Was he trying to trap her into admitting she wasn’t human?
“I’m not Lathar. I’m human.”
He snorted a little. “Human… Lathar… don’t seem like there’s much difference between the two from where I’m standin’. So, you’re a little smaller. Unless that male is a runt or somethin’.”
Amusement filled her. “You mean my husband?”
Berr’s nose wrinkled. “That’s just a fancy word for mate, ain’t it?”
She shrugged. “There’s a little more to it than that, but yes, he is my mate.”
She made sure to stress the last two words. If she was already mated, none of the B’Kaar should pay much attention to her since she wasn’t an option for claiming.
“Yeah… about that. I just wanted to say—” Berr cut himself off, clearing his throat. He studied the wall of the corridor behind her. “Human males seem kinda frail. If somethin’ happens to him, then well… I’d offer you my protection.”
She blinked, surprise rolling through her. Even though the intent had been to portray her as a mated female so none of the B’Kaar would consider her for claiming, she hadn’t actually expected any of them to be interested. Yet here was a warrior who even a few months ago would have filled her electronic dreams with the need to be real.
Then she’d met Jay and her tastes ran to blond-haired, warm-eyed humans with a crooked smile and the safest arms she’d ever felt.
“Err… thank you.”
She didn’t know what else to say, so she just gave him a small smile instead. He was still dangerous, to her specifically, but now she knew that his intense interest in her was…in her. He wasn’t looking for anything that would indicate she was an AI wearing a human body. He was looking at her as a potential mate.
“Ya’ welcome.”
He moved a couple of steps closer, warily, his gaze locked on hers. She took a half step away, her back colliding with the wall and he put his hands up again.
“I ain’t gonna hurt you,” he murmured, flicking his gaze up to the ceiling and around pointedly. She got the message. They were being listened to.
When she nodded, he moved in closer, crowding her against the wall. She tensed up, but he didn’t touch her, his hands still out at his sides as he locked gazes with her. His ke’lath flared for a second.
“We have to be quick,” he said in a low voice. “I can’t hold this for long. Why is there a privacy filter in your rooms?”
She blinked to hide her surprise and plastered an innocent look on her face. “A what?”
“At first I thought it was just an intermittent glitch that had affected this area and a couple of others.” He watched her face as he talked. “But that glitch is too intermittent to be random. Then I started to look at the areas that are always off.”
She shook her head, trying desperately to keep her heart rate down and not show her panic.
“It’s okay,” Berr said, his deep voice like rocks over a cliff. “You don’t need to be scared. I ain’t told no one. But, none of them warriors wi’ you are rated for that kinda programming. So it’s gotta be one of you humans.”
Her eyes widened before she could stop them and her voice was a bare whisper in the air. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
There was a hint of a smile under his heavy beard. “Yeah, sure you don’t, kelarris. Just, tell whoever it is to be more careful. Okay? Risyn ain’t daft, and he’s dangerous when he’s pissed.”
She was so shocked she didn’t even respond to the Latharian endearment. Normally she would have railed at it. Kelarris was only a term used between mated couples or couples who wanted to be mated.
“You don’t need to say anything,” he said when she opened her mouth. “Just watch yourself.”
She nodded and watched as he walked away. The door to the main corridor toward command slid shut behind his tall, broad-shouldered form and she sagged against the wall. Taking gulps of air to try and calm herself, she headed toward the door to hers and Jay’s quarters. She needed to feel safe, and only one person made her feel that way…