“Hmph.” Kimmy shook her head, then looked up at him and smiled. Her cheeks turned pink again. “Were you sent here to protect me or something?”
That hadn’t been within his original mission parameters, but now that he was here, he couldn’t deny it had become part of his personal objectives. Watching the flush creep down her throat and disappear beneath the neckline of her garment, he tried not to think of just how personal those objectives were becoming.
He looked away and cleared his throat. “That is my intention.”
“Oh,” she said. “Neat.”
He could protect her and still fulfill his other objectives. If he could establish a connection with Craig and Barbara’s source, this would become one of his most successful scouting missions.
“I believe it would assist my mission objectives to meet this grandpa,” he said. “Could you introduce me?”
“Sure.” She looked out the window at the dark sky. “But after it’s light out, okay? Even with a werewolf helping me out—sorry, space-werewolf—I’d rather not be running around in the dark with that Scorpiian out there.”
“Agreed,” he said.
4
Kimmy stifled a yawn as she poured cereal into three bowls at her round kitchen table. She still couldn’t believe that a werewolf had slept on her couch last night—after she’d found him some of her brother’s clothes to wear. The parcel clinging to her shoulder was a helpful reminder that she wasn’t dreaming.
And even though they were aliens and not the Fae beings she’d always dreamed of meeting, she knew that this was the beginning of the greatest adventure of her life.
Something about Serac drew her in. It wasn’t just his looks or physique, though that alone would be enough to have her drooling.
He had this energy about him that almost felt like… Well, like gravity. She wasn’t quite sure why—beyond the obvious—but she wanted to be closer to him.
She had to admit, there was also some kind of crazy chemistry going on. At least, from her side of things. When he came close, her body lit up like a lightning storm.
She’d barely managed to sleep the night before—lying awake and wondering about too many things. Where was Serac from? What was his planet like? Was someone back there waiting for him?
Down, girl.
She scoffed at herself as she sealed up the box and put the cereal back on top of the fridge. While her arm was outstretched, Payback ran up along it and disappeared behind the boxes.
“Try not to get in trouble,” she said.
“Trouble?”
She turned as Serac entered from the back door, a jacket and tattered clothing in his hands. He also had her broom, which he propped up in the corner near the door.
Kimmy stammered for a full thirty seconds before managing, “Parcel. I was talking to Payback.”
“I see.” Serac walked to the table and draped the clothing over the back of one of the chairs. “Parcels are notorious for getting into things they shouldn’t.”
“Or out of them,” Kimmy said.
Serac stared at her blankly.
“You said Payback was supposed to stay in your ship,” she explained.
The corner of Serac’s mouth twitched a little. She was so close to getting him to smile.
“One of the reasons they’re given to nestlings is to keep the new spawn’s appendages busy,” he said.
“Lyrians do have a lot of limbs. I guess I’ll just have to keep Payback busy with tickles.” She wiggled her fingers in the air.
Serac’s perpetual scowl deepened and his brow furrowed. What would it take to make him smile?
She got out the milk and headed for the table. “So, where are you from?”
Under normal circumstances, that would seem like the lamest question in the world. These were far from normal circumstances.
She poured the milk on their cereal—a generic brand of the kind that made the crackling sound when it first became wet.
“I…” Amazingly, his eyebrows knitted even closer together as he stared at the cereal. “I’d rather not say.”
“Really? Why not?”
Her question wrested his attention from the cereal for a moment.
“I’d rather not say,” he said.
“Oh, okay.”
Kimmy, master of probing, overly personal questions.
She struggled to find something to fill the awkward silence, aside from the noise of the cereal. As it turned out, she didn’t need to.
He pointed at the bowl closest to him. “What is that?”
“It’s cereal,” she said, heading back to the fridge to put the milk away. “We can’t go to Marvin’s on an empty stomach. Although, now that I think of it, he always feeds Sabrina and me when we visit him. Sabrina is his granddaughter and my best friend. We run the ‘Look Again Pet Parlor’ together.”
Her mouth kept going, and she couldn’t seem to stop herself. As usual.
“I know it’s a weird name, but one of our specialties is working with animals that aren’t the best-behaved,” she said. “A lot of the time, people just need to look at their pets with fresh eyes. Well, and maybe a little professional insight. Plus, there’s the whole, ‘We make your pets so pretty, people will look again,’ thing. Like, do a double-take. And as an added bonus, it subliminally suggests to people that they ‘look again’ at our pet parlor, in case they were about to make the mistake of choosing another.”
Why was she giving him the sales pitch? Did she think he’d come to Earth to get his parcel groomed?
His eyebrows hiked up his forehead. At least the furrow was gone.
She had just kind of unloaded on him—a trait that had cost her many a boyfriend in the past. And regular friend, really.
“This is food?” he asked, as if the whole tangent about the parlor hadn’t happened.
Maybe she hadn’t chased him off with her chattiness. Yet.
“Yeah.” She laughed. “It’s good. Try it.”
He cocked his head at an angle and backed away from the table. Kimmy burst out laughing, and the furrow came right back again.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “Just seeing a big, strong guy like you intimidated by a bowl of cereal is kind of funny.”
“I’m not intimidated,” he said. “I’m wary.”
She feigned a serious expression. “Oh, right. Very good, then.”
She sat and picked up her spoon. After shoveling a good-sized bite into her mouth, she made some yummy sounds to show him it was okay.
“It’s delicious,” she said, once she managed to swallow. “You should try some.”
“No, thanks.”
She shrugged. “More for me and Payback. Do you think it’s safe for him to eat?”
“All beings from Lyra have incredibly resilient constitutions.”
“I’ll take that as a yes.” She turned toward the fridge and said, “Payback. Here, boy.”
The parcel appeared between two boxes, his antennae pointing straight up as he chirruped. Waves of pretty pale blue rippled through his fur.
“Breakfast,” Kimmy said, pointing at his bowl.
The parcel leapt from the fridge, opening all six legs to glide to the table. The moment he touched down, he hopped into the bowl.