“I get the point, Boda. Thank you for your valuable contribution to this conversation and the somewhat disturbing insights into your mind.”
“You’re welcome, human,” he answered in a serious tone.
“If they are interested in you,” Selvin continued, “they would want to invite you aboard their ship to inspect the goods up close and personal. That’s our way in.”
Kat thought for a moment. She looked down at her pants, shirt and boots. Could she pull this off? She had never felt very sexual. At least, not until she’d met Dykan. Could she make the Zzjitzzeëns believe she was one hot seed-craving floozy? Well, she had to try, didn’t she? She’d asked Dykan and his crew to risk their lives for her; she could at least do everything in her power to help them.
“Okay, I’ll do it.”
“Are you done hearing them out?” Dykan asked, breaking his silence.
Kat swiveled around, looking up at him. “Yes.” She nodded her head.
“Good, then you are hearing me out now.” Dykan’s eyes were fierce, holding her gaze. “I’m telling you that you are not going to do anything, female. You are staying right here on this ship. I will tie you down in my quarters if I need to.”
“If you can use me to get on board without the Zzjitzzeëns suspecting what we’re up to, then use me. I want to do this. If you want to keep an eye on me, then you can come with me. I trust you, Dykan. I know you’ll keep me safe.”
Selvin stood from his chair and put a hand on Dykan’s shoulder. Dykan flung his head toward his friend.
“Tactically, this is the smartest way. There are so many unknown factors that we need every advantage we can get. You will be by her side all the time. I know you want to protect her, but you are not protecting her this way. The Zzjitzzeën ship is bigger and has better weapons. If they find out what we’re up to, they will blow us up without a second thought. And we can’t go in guns blazing. We won’t survive that. We need to be cunning. Think with your brain, Captain.” Selvin emphasized the last word.
“He’s right, Dykan,” Kat whispered. “And you know he’s right.”
Dykan eyes went back to Kat, but he didn’t speak. She could see he was having an inner discussion with himself.
“This is what you do best, Dykan.” Kat put her hand on his face, caressing his cheek with her thumb. “Be smart, be cunning and be the captain I know you can be. Let me do this.”
Dykan cursed. Then he cursed some more. And some more. He finally sighed in surrender and nodded.
“I hate having to say it, but okay, let’s do this.”
“What is that?”
Kat was standing in Dykan’s quarters, pointing at a piece of cloth Dykan held up in the air between his claws.
“A dress,” he answered stoically.
“Well, that’s debatable.” If it really was a dress, then it was the skimpiest one she had ever seen. And that included the tiny dresses some of the Cassidi women frolicked around in when hunting for a new bed partner. The fabric was almost see-through.
“Why do you even own a dress?” Kat wondered.
“It’s not mine, it’s Selvin’s,” he replied like that answered all her questions. “He said that you need to be wearing something more alluring than pants and a shirt to make a convincing sex slave.”
“Okay.” She dragged out the word. “I never took Selvin for a cross-dresser, but hey, whatever floats his boat.”
Dykan cocked up his ridges. “Cross-dresser? That word is not in my translator.”
“You know, when a man likes wearing women’s clothing and the other way around. Can he walk in high heels? That would be so cool. Probably not, but does he have shoes in my size? I mean, I can hardly wear my boots with that dress, so the alternative is bare feet. Does he have other dresses? Maybe something a little bit longer?”
Dykan’s eyes went wide and he shook his head fiercely.
“No, Selvin isn’t a cross-dresser. This is the only dress he’s got. It’s a bonding dress,” Dykan explained. “When a male and a female get bonded, the female wears a garment during the ceremony that’s been bought by the male or his family, his house. The garment is the only thing she wears, nothing else. It symbolizes the female leaving everything from her old life behind because, from then on, the male and his family will tend to all her needs.”
“Is Selvin planning to get bonded soon, then? Is that the reason he bought this dress?” Kat didn’t remember hearing Selvin talk about a girlfriend.
Dykan laughed. “No, he doesn’t even have his eye set on a female yet. Maybe he never will. But his mother bought the garment for him before we left Makaen-Prime, just in case he met a female off-planet. To please his mother, he took it with him. I bet she never thought it would be used for a rescue mission.”
Kat laughed. “Ah, right.”
Dykan gave her the dress and sat down in a chair. “Try it on. Let’s see how it looks on you.”
Reluctantly, she took the garment from Dykan and started to undress. A minute later she was looking at herself in a mirror, her head cocked. The blue dress barely covered her lady parts. If she bent over too far, her girls would most likely pop out. The garment was almost see-through, so underwear was a big no-no. And for someone who had big boobs, not wearing a bra felt extremely bare.
Kat pulled the dress a little lower and then decided to pull the dress up again to keep most of her breasts covered. She wiggled her toes nervously.
“Do I look sex slave-y enough?”
Dykan stood up and walked toward her. Standing behind Kat, he wrapped his arms around her waist and gazed at her through the mirror with a sultry smile. Lowering his head, he nuzzled the spot between her neck and shoulder and took in a deep breath.
“You look fucking hot. The Zzjitzzeëns will be drooling when they see you, and I already hate them for that. I don’t want them seeing you like this. If they try to touch you, I will kill them.”
Kat put her hands on his muscular arms, wishing Dykan weren’t wearing a long-sleeved shirt. She wanted to feel his skin. Maybe around him, acting like a horny nympho wouldn’t be that difficult.
“If you want to back out, just tell me,” he murmured in her ear. “Don’t feel obliged to continue if you don’t want to. We will come up with something else.”
“I’m doing this, end of discussion. Nothing is going to happen to me,” Kat reassured him.
“When we contact the Zzjitzzeëns, we will have to say and do things to make it look real for them. I’ll have to caress you in front of them and you’ll have to obey me. Remember that. Maybe we should practice?” His eyes flickered mischievously and he pushed his lower body against her back.
Kat felt his excitement. Laughing, she slapped Dykan’s arm.
“Down, boy! We don’t have time for that.”
Two high-pitched tones indicated that someone was at the door, and they both turned around.
“Come in,” Dykan growled with a hand on Kat’s hip.
The door slid open and Selvin walked in.
“I’ve got what you requested, Captain.”
Selvin handed something over to Dykan, nodded and walked off.