It seemed a weird thing to say until she remembered that he came from an ice planet—and the strange, thrilling crispness of his kiss.
He gestured to the thin ramp.
I’m going on a trip in an actual alien spaceship.
She took a deep breath, and walked as quickly as she safely could, not wanting to give herself a chance to lose her nerve. When might she get another chance to go into space?
Okay, well, if Harbor did become a visitor’s center for aliens, the opportunity might come up again, but this was her first time, and she was going into space with Serac. The trip was supposed to only take a day or two, but they’d be stuck together on the small ship.
Whatever could they do to pass the time?
Even though it was small, the inside of the ship was…cozy, in a chrome-and-plastic-looking-stuff sort of way.
The main color scheme was red and gray. To her left, a wall sectioned off the cockpit. A padded chair was centered behind windows and a semi-circle of control panels that lined the front of the ship. A low, padded bench ran across the middle wall of the cabin that sectioned off another room.
She peeked through the open archway and saw a fair-sized bunk built into the wall. Turning toward the hatch, she noticed another tiny room opposite the bunkroom.
“That’s the bathroom, right?” she asked. She really hoped they were anatomically similar enough that his ship would have a bathroom.
He glanced over his shoulder to where she pointed. If this thing didn’t have a bathroom, her plans for space travel were about to be derailed.
“That’s the sanitation unit,” he said. “Where bodily functions are—”
“That’s good,” she said. “Wouldn’t want to ruin the mystery.”
He knelt in front of the bench to set down the shipment of seeds and dirt, then hooked his fingertips under a panel in the flooring, lifting it. Dim, white light shimmered across the opening. He pressed a button and the light stopped.
The shipment fit pretty perfectly into what she guessed was a storage compartment. When he was done putting it in place, he reactivated the shimmery light, then put the floor panel back in place and stood.
“Smuggling compartment?” she asked.
“Stasis chamber. It will keep the shipment from being contaminated by anything we encounter on the way.”
“Oh, oka— Wait, what now? What could we encounter?”
“Probably nothing. It’s just a good idea to be prepared.”
He pressed another control, this one on the wall near the hatch, and it closed, sealing them into the ship. Something in her expression must have given him pause, because he stepped closer.
“If you’ve changed your mind, we don’t have to go,” he said.
Kimmy shook her head. “No. I want to see what you do—how you help people.”
He smiled. His amber skin darkened to a deep, rich gold. Was he blushing?
“I… You…” he began.
“Yes?”
“You can place your things in there.” He gestured to the bedroom.
Tingling tendrils of sensation swept over her skin. He was looking at her so intently, she wondered if he was experiencing something similar. She felt her cheeks heat.
“Thanks,” she said.
He followed her into the small space, then knelt next to the bed. At the tap of a flat panel near the foot of the bunk, a drawer opened. He opened another, and started quickly moving his belongings from the first, emptying it out.
Oh my God. Is he giving me a drawer in his place?
“You don’t have to make space in your den for me.”
She had been about to say something else, but stopped when he looked at her keenly, still kneeling on the floor. The intensity in his rich brown eyes left her speechless. Her.
“It is my honor to share my den with you,” he said.
“Oh. Okay.”
What a lame response!
But she was overwhelmed with a sense that this was something important. The room seemed to crackle with energy.
He stood—a lot closer than he had been before—and took the stack of blankets and the cereal box from her and placed them on the bunk.
“You can unpack your bag while I prepare for departure,” he said. “If that’s all right with you.”
“That sounds great.”
He bowed slightly, then exited the small space.
He wasn’t far away. The ship was too small to let either of them really have space from each other. This would be a crucible to see if they really were compatible.
If he was even interested.
If she was interested.
Who am I kidding? I’m absolutely smitten.
It still didn’t make sense, but wasn’t that how it happened in her favorite books—the hero and heroine met and felt an instant connection?
She definitely felt a connection with Serac—and with the little guy stirring on her shoulder.
Payback ran down her arm, across her bag, and then jumped onto the pile of blankets on the bed, knocking them over. He used his six legs to good effect, quickly rumpling the blankets into a nest, then curled up in it and let out a cooing noise.
“I’m glad you’re making yourself comfortable,” she said. “Now if I can just settle in.”
9
Serac listened to Kimmy speak to her parcel with growing tenderness. There was a female in his den. Kimmy was in his den.
His zyln flooded him with a contentment beyond anything he’d imagined.
He had never allowed anyone onto his ship before. Not even Hank—as if the Lyrian would fit in the space.
Serac wasn’t sure how his captain would react to their family parcel imprinting with a human. He wasn’t sure he cared. Payback had chosen Kimmy. Serac could see the appeal.
Brave, smart, caring, passionate, beautiful—she was everything he could have dreamt of in a mate. And she didn’t mind that Serac was a shifter.
Of course, the fact that she was from an isolated planet like Earth probably helped with that. But she hadn’t been afraid when he’d transformed right in front of her. That was beyond remarkable for someone who wasn’t also a shifter.
“Werewolf,” he murmured, keying in the command sequence that would take them into orbit.
“Space-werewolf,” his zyln corrected.
Just because she seemed okay with what he was didn’t mean she would want to bond with him. Neither did the fact that she’d seemed to enjoy it when they kissed.
When she had spoken of his ship as his den, he had wanted to rise and claim her right then. She had an instinctive understanding of Centauran nature that heated his blood.
He sensed her approach—the warmth she brought with her into the small command center of the ship. Schooling his expression, he turned the chair toward her.
“Where do you want me?” she asked.
He felt his eyes widen, knew that he was broadcasting…something. She smirked and stepped closer.
“I noticed there’s only one chair,” she said. “Is there someplace else I’m supposed to strap in?”
Serac cleared his throat. “This chair is the safest place in the ship during takeoff. But I need to be in it to handle the controls in case something goes wrong.”
He was torn by the need to protect her, and the uncertainty of the best way to go about doing so.