Possessive Alien’s Mate by Luna Hunter
Chapter Six
Viliana
“You okay?”Skylar asks. “You look a bit flushed.”
“I’m fine,” I say as I sit down at the table in the ship’s kitchen area. It fits the four of us perfectly. “What’s for dinner?”
“My favorite!” Aliyah says as she serves up a steaming hot plate of spaghetti. “It’s not exactly the same as actual spaghetti, but it’s close enough.”
“And I found this!” Skylar says as she pops open a bottle of sparkling purple liquid and pours all of us a glass.”
“What’s that?”
“No idea,” Skylar shrugs.
“Uh, what if it kills us?” Naomi asks.
“We are already on an adventure,” Skylar says defiantly. “I’m going to get drunk one way or another. And if it’s really poisonous, I’ll just get that alien to kiss me.”
“What?” Naomi laughs. “What are you on about?”
I’m instantly jealous. And for what? Thiray just walked out on me. He obviously rejected me. I shouldn’t care about him at all.
And yet I do.
“His kiss can heal. No, really! I’m not already drunk! I saw him. One of those beasts bit you, right, Viliana?”
I unconsciously touch my arm right where the gator-beast sank his fangs into me.
“Yeah.”
“And then he kissed it and now it’s like you’ve never been bitten at all. Ergo, our alien friend slash captor can save our lives with a kiss from his pale lips. Worth risking it!”
Skylar takes a big swig of the purple liquid. I give her a death stare. If anyone’s going to kiss Thiray’s beautiful mouth, it’s going to be ME, Skylar. I already did it once and I’m thinking of walking off and doing it again right now to prove a point.
“Hey, this stuff is pretty good!” Skylar says as she pours us all a glass. “Drink up!”
Seeing as she hasn’t dropped dead yet, I take my chances and take a sip. Mm, fruity!
I take a bite of the spaghetti. It’s like a taste explosion in my mouth. I had no idea how hungry I truly was.
“This is amazing!”
“Thank you!” Aliyah says.
“You’re an amazing chef.”
“Well, the replicator did most of the work.”
Naomi shakes her head. “The replicator only makes what you tell it to. You’re obviously a talented chef.”
“Cooking is a hobby of mine,” Aliyah admits. “But I could never afford fresh ingredients back home.”
Home. Eating pasta with three girls is almost like being back home… except I never had these many friends back on Earth.
Skylar takes another large swig of her drink and then leers at me.
“So, we’ve danced around the topic long enough. Viliana. What the hell?!”
“You’re right, you’re absolutely right,” I say. “Hear me out.”
I tell them the entire story; how I first met the Dohan and our Thaana protector; how Riley and Kayi are pregnant with Dohan babies; how the Dohan are now struggling for survival and desperately need human mates.
“I’m sorry I dragged you all into this,” I say. I make sure to look each one of them in the eye. “I mean it. I did everything I could to avoid detection, but I screwed up somehow. I have no idea how or why, and it doesn’t really matter now. What is done. You have all the reason in the world to hate me.”
“Why would we ever hate you?” Naomi asks.
“Because I’m the reason you’re now fugitives?”
“You’re not hunting us, the Uttux are,” Naomi points out. “You were just trying to save your friends.”
“Yeah, well, I still screwed it all up.”
“You kinda did, yeah,” Skylar says.
“Skylar! Be nice!” Aliyah chides.
Skylar knocks back her glass. “Sorry, I’m just drunk. This alien wine is fucking me up. I don’t blame you, Vil. It’s all a bit fucked up.”
“I’ll toast to that.”
“So… what now?” Aliyah asks.
“We’ll rendezvous with Commander Dhauk soon, and we’ll take it from there.”
Everyone is silent, until Naomi grabs a new bottle of the purple alien wine and pours us all a new glass. “Enough talk about gloom and doom,” she says. “Bottoms up!”
We spend the rest of the evening getting drunk and swapping stories about our miserable lives back in the Deep, and all the horrible dates we’ve been on.
When the third bottle has gone dry and we’re all too buzzed to walk straight, the girls retire to their room in the back of the ship. Instinctively, I head back to the room where I woke up in.
Only to find Thiray in there, asleep.
“Heyy,” I say as I slip off my dress, climb into bed with him, and hug his strong frame tightly.
The silver alien wraps one strong protective arm around me and I fall asleep in his arms, snoring on his chest, without a single care in the world.