Lifting his hand, the alien didn’t take his eyes off of her as he tapped something behind his ear. “Berrick? Yeah, it’s Cade. I’m gonna need a favor.”
Cade. His name was Cade. Shit, she’d never asked.
Heat flared across her cheeks again. How embarrassing. She’d been too busy dry humping his leg to even ask his name.
“Wait… Berrick? You mean Berrick B’Kaar?” she asked suddenly, narrowing in on what he’d said.
It was obvious he had some kind of communications device implanted behind his ear, but he shouldn’t be able to reach the base. It was shielded against all incoming and outgoing communications for security reasons.
Cade nodded to her, still talking.
“Yeah, I’m out in the city. I know… I know. I’m gonna need you to clear my image from all the surveillance they have out here.”
She moved past him to lean up against the counter by her small kitchenette. She’d known the Lathar were more technologically advanced than humanity but to have it proven in such a manner took her breath away.
She swept a look around her little apartment. What would he think of it? He probably lived in palatial quarters and in one of those big starships of theirs, so her tiny corner apartment with its single bedroom probably seemed pokey to him.
She watched as he spoke to his colleague, a frown on his face.
“The city? Yeah, it seems the humans are keeping a lot from us,” he said, spearing her with another direct look. “It’s overcrowded, noisy, and I can’t be sure, but I’m pretty certain that this ID system the president boasted about… The one he claims has registered every human born and currently drawing breath, is a total crock of draanth. Looks like they’ve got beings out here that are second-class, possibly unregistered. Your mate could be one of them, which is why the authorities can’t find her.”
Elise caught her breath at his perception. He’d picked up on all that, just on the walk between the station and the club? And he couldn’t even have been out in the city that long. There was only one train an hour, and he hadn’t been on hers. She’d have noticed him.
He had to have been on the one after her, and unless he could run at the speed of sound—which was quite possible, there was still a lot humanity didn’t know about the Lathar, or the Vorr, if that’s what he actually was—he had to have come straight to the club where she’d found him from the station.
“Okay, yeah… I’ll keep looking. Thanks.”
He tapped his ear again to end the call and looked at her. She couldn’t think of anything to say, apart from…
“I didn’t know your name.”
He smiled, looking all kinds of out of place in her small apartment. Again, she was struck by the differences in size between them. He was huge, definitely built on bigger lines. Much bigger lines, the twelve-year-old who lived in her brain sniggered. She ignored it in favor of looking at him.
“Cade Vorr,” he introduced himself, holding out his hand, palm up.
“Elise Beaufort,” she replied, taking a step forward to put her hand in his. Only as she did, feeling the heat of his skin against hers, did she realize he hadn’t offered a handshake. The position of his hand was all wrong.
“Oh… errr… Okay. I’m sorry.” She chuckled as he reached out to rearrange her grip so their forearms lay against each other. “I think I got that very wrong. Is this how your species shakes hands?”
He nodded, his voice a deep rumble when he replied, “It’s a warrior's greeting. A mark of respect.”
He respected her? She looked up, suddenly realizing how close he was, and then frowned. “Your eyes are different to the other Lathar.”
“What?” he blinked as she stepped forward and studied his face. Yes, yes, she was right… Instead of the vertical pupils the other Lathar had, like a cat's, his were rounded, more like hers. And she’d been sure they were darker earlier, but now one of them had a blue flash. If she was being fanciful, she would think it was the same color as hers.
“Hey, neat… You have heterochromia.”
“Hetero… chromie… what?” he asked in confusion and blinked again. The next time he looked at her, his pupils were vertical again and his eyes green.
“Shit… What did you do? How did you make your eyes change like that?”
7
Trall, he’d started to adapt and mimic her.
“I haven’t done anything to my eyes,” he argued and stepped forward, hijacking her body’s responses as he leaned down and whispered his lips along the side of her neck.
He’d quickly realized she was susceptible to him, as his mate should be, and warmth spread through his torso at the idea. Even the creature that resided in his blood was pleased, a soft hum of pleasure reverberating through his bones.
She bit back small moan, tilting her head so she could look at him. “Careful, human females bite their mate's head off after sex.”
A grin split his face at her words. He knew it was a warning, but she was like a little spitting deearin kitten, all fire and tiny claws. It was adorable and sexy all rolled into one.
He calmed the arousal raging through his blood and looked down at her.
“You consider me your mate, then? Is that why you brought me back here to your lair?”
Where those words were coming from, he had no idea. He’d never been taught to flirt. Back home he'd had no one to flirt with, but he’d seen the way Tecc and Vaix had been with Iaanto. The teasing comments. The hot looks. Even though they were males, it seemed flirting was a universal language because she reacted to him in very much the same way.
“No, it was a warning.” She laughed and slapped his chest lightly. For a long moment he was caught by the beauty of her smile and the way it lit her face up, warming her eyes. If he could wake up to that every morning for the rest of his life, he’d die a happy male.
Reaching out, he yanked her into his arms again. From what he’d seen with Iaanto and his lovers, such a slap would have resulted in some wrestling or the like, but they’d been all big males in their prime and if he tried that with her, he’d squash her. So he compromised by pulling her close and dropping onto the big couch opposite the window.
“I’d like to be your mate,” he murmured, his lips a hair’s breadth from hers as he rearranged her to straddle him.
She was so light and tiny compared to him. It was easy to move her. She didn’t seem to be averse to the idea either, settling in his lap happily. He bit back a groan as the friction pressed his cock up against her, only a few layers of fabric separating him from where he wanted to be.
Her breathing caught again, her eyes darkening with arousal as the scent of her need swelled in the air. She bit her lip, watching him.
“I think… I think we should take this slowly, especially if it’s your… well, if you haven’t done it before.”
“Have you?” he demanded softly, sliding his hand up her spine to cup the back of her neck.
“Errr… Yeah. I have.”
Her cheeks colored like they had earlier and she refused to meet his eyes.
He frowned, capturing her chin and making her look at him. “You are embarrassed. Why?”