Whatever had happened to her must have happened to him too, Kat concluded. Had they accidentally touched an electrical cable or something? Or had he done this to her with his gun and unintentionally harmed himself in the process?
His golden eyes were locked on hers. His glowing eyes. They were mesmerizing, and Kat couldn’t look away. What was more, she didn’t want to. Once, in school, she had seen an old movie of a man who made a snake dance by playing his flute. The snake had seemed transfixed by the flute’s movements. That was how she felt right now: transfixed. She was enthralled by this Makaen’s gaze, his expression, his appearance. But there the comparison stopped. In this case the flute…um…the Makaen was the dangerous animal.
He was angry, no doubt about that, and Kat feared him—duh, he was huge and fierce—but she also felt something else. Something she couldn’t explain.
Like every Makaen male, he had ridges on his forehead, two hornlike bulges on the sides of his head, wolflike ears sans the hair, a deep, almost red skin tone, dark claws on his fingers and a tattoo on the left side of his neck. But his short hair was darker than the others, almost pitch black, with a blue hue. His nose appeared as if it had been broken more than once, which gave him a rugged look. Or more rugged, considering that most Makaen looked rough. And then there were those flaming eyes. Eyes that seem to peer right into her soul.
His lips were full and very kissable. Wait, what? Record scratch. She thought that alien was kissable? Had she banged her head when she had fallen down? Makaen weren’t kissable. They were mean. They had freaking fangs. Well, technically canines they could elongate, but same difference. Still, she wondered how it would feel if she were to touch him, sliding her fingertips over his skin, her tongue over his lips. Kat swallowed. What was wrong with her?
She didn’t know how long they had been staring at each other in utter silence, but suddenly the Makaen jumped up, holding her gaze. He picked up his weapon from the floor and gave it to the Makaen next to him, who flung it over his shoulder. It was best if she stood up too, Kat thought. She put her hand on the wall for support and dragged herself up, moaning. Her legs felt like rubber, but at least she was standing. With her hood no longer covering her face.
“What in the Great Goddess’s name happened?” Selvin asked when Dykan had gotten up.
“I don’t know. It felt like I was being electrocuted. I couldn’t move my body.”
Dykan stared at the female in front of him, with her flaming red hair and big violet eyes. She had done something to him, but he couldn’t make sense of it. He knew for sure she didn’t have a weapon. Her hands had been held up in the air right before touching him, and they had been empty. He was certain about that. Did she have the power to electrocute people with her hands? In that case she could be a threat and needed to be eliminated quickly. But threat or not, she intrigued him. The female was absolutely gorgeous. When she nervously licked her luscious lips, he felt the blood rush to the lower part of his body.
“She’s human,” Boda remarked. “Maybe she did it. I wouldn’t pass anything by them. Even a female can’t be trusted.”
“Half-human,” the male that had been speaking before corrected. “She is also half-Cassidi. My name is Lirid, this is Mitha, and she’s my sister, Kat. We are all from Cassidiri.”
With regret, Dykan tore his gaze away from the intriguing female and looked at the male that had spoken.
“What are you doing on my ship?”
“We got stranded on Blackway space station and need to get back to Cassidiri as soon as possible. We’re sorry we entered your ship without permission, but we didn’t have another choice. If you are willing to take us home, we will pay you, my friend. Let’s say fifty thousand credits.”
Dykan cocked up his ridges. “Really? Lirid, was it?” The Cassidi male nodded, holding his head high. “If you are in possession of so many credits, why didn’t you just pay for your journey home in the first place? Why hide on my ship?”
“Well…” Lirid faltered and licked his lips. “We don’t have the credits on us, but we will pay you as soon as we get to Cassidiri. I give you my word. We’re not pirates like you or any other scum. We are respectable citizens. You can trust us. So, if you can show us to our quarters and have someone of your staff bring our backpacks, we will be out of your way. You can go back to your pirate-y business.”
A low, angry grunt escaped Dykan’s throat. This Cassidi, who had dared to sneak aboard his ship, had the audacity to order him around. Even worse, he had dared to insult him and his crew right to their faces by calling them scum. The female had noticed it too, groaning and slapping a hand to her forehead, probably out of embarrassment for her brother’s words. Dykan disliked this Lirid. And the female could be dangerous. Yes, she was beautiful, but she also was a stowaway. He needed to think with his head, not with any other part of his body. He couldn’t get distracted by a pretty face. He had to treat her like he would any other stowaway, and he concluded that he didn’t want any of them on his ship.
“Unfortunately, that’s not how we do business.” He stepped toward Lirid with an angry scowl and was pleased to see the Cassidi stepping back in fear. “Your word means nothing to me or my crew. I don’t know you, and you are certainly not my friend. What I do know is that you entered my ship without my consent. And that makes me mad. No one sets foot on my ship without my explicit permission. By doing so, you have broken space law and gotten yourselves in a whole lot of trouble. And now you have to suffer the consequences.”
Dykan turned around and walked down the corridor, not giving the stowaways another glance. “Throw them out of an airlock,” he told Selvin and Boda while walking off.
Kat’s eyes widened when she realized what the captain had just said. No. No, this couldn’t end this way.
“You can’t do this,” Lirid yelled. He tried to follow the captain, but he didn’t get far. One of the Makaen held him back, pushing his weapon against Lirid’s chest. Mitha, who had kept quiet and motionless until then, punched the Makaen standing next to him in the gut. The Makaen didn’t even wince. He, in return, hit Mitha in the face with his weapon, and Mitha sank to the floor.
“Please stop!” Kat cried out when the big alien started kicking Mitha in the back. She dropped to the floor, shielding Mitha, who was curled up in the fetal position, with her body.
Suddenly, someone grabbed Kat by the back of her coat and pulled her off the floor, away from Mitha. She was lifted up in the air as if she weighed nothing and pushed against the wall. Looking up in confusion, she saw the captain standing only inches away from her. He has come back, she thought, surprised. No one moved or spoke.
He leaned against the wall, towering over her, with an arm on either side of her head, caging her in with his body. He tapped his claws on the wall.
“Well, well, well. The human can speak.”
“Half-human,” Kat corrected with a breathy voice. Her chest rose and fell with exertion.
“Is that so? You look pretty human to me. Which parts of you are human and which are Cassidi?” he asked with the beginning of a crooked smile, his eyes scanning her body with undisguised curiosity.
Kat didn’t answer, but she felt her cheeks flush. Her skin started to tingle under his examining gaze.