Ignite by Tana Stone

Chapter Twenty

Zoey

“I’m telling you,” I said, tapping my foot in the inclinator as we surged up. “Today is not the best day for a date.”

Serge stood across from me, openly assessing me, as soft-pink light pulsed along the white walls of the compartment and an instrumental version of “Ice, Ice Baby” played in the background. “I can see that you were more casual with your grooming than usual. Is it because today is one of those ‘casual Fridays’ that are so popular on Earth?”

I looked at Serge, who’d probably never dressed casually a day in his life. “You know about casual Fridays?”

“He knows all the classic Earth traditions,” Reina said, her voice brimming with admiration. “Taco Tuesdays, Throwback Thursdays, Sunday Funday.”

“Those aren’t really traditions,” Nina said. “Not for the whole planet, at least. They’re more like cultural quirks. And trust me when I say that Taco Tuesdays are not a thing in Puerto Rico.”

The inclinator came to a stop and the doors glided open, revealing more curved white corridors, these with windows to space on one side.

“I don’t know what day of the week it is up here, much less if it’s a casual Friday,” I said. “All I know is that I got a late start to the day, and I need to put in some work to catch up.”

“Is work really more important than finding your perfect match?” Serge asked, nearly running to keep up with me as I took long strides down the hallway toward the executive and design offices. His white, patent-leather, platform shoes tapped like machine-gun fire as he ran.

“If we’re going to finish this station on time so you can host tribute brides, it is.”

Serge’s face twisted in some sort of internal struggle. I guessed he was debating how badly he wanted a fully-functional Island that could host his tribute brides, versus his promise to find me a match.

“Look of it as less of a date, and more of a quick greeting,” he said, apparently changing tactics. “All you need to do is say a quick hello to the Drexian. Then I can arrange a longer date for a time when you’re less busy and more…” he hesitated as he looked at me and frowned, “rested.”

I rolled my eyes as Nina stifled a laugh. Telling someone they looked tired or that they needed more rest was code for saying they looked like crap. Not that I was surprised I looked like crap considering I’d rolled from bed late after having a very tumultuous sleep. I hadn’t even bothered to shower before throwing on clothes and running to meet Nina for lunch. Usually, I put on mascara and lip gloss, but today I hadn’t even done that.

When we reached the door to the offices that I shared with the station engineer and foreman, I paused. “I know I don’t look my best today. Yesterday was a pretty long day, and I didn’t sleep great. Do you really want me meeting this Drexian looking like this?”

Serge opened and closed his mouth. I knew he hadn’t been able to sleep after his near-death experience, which was how he’d ended up in my quarters, deciding to focus all his attention on finding me a man. His own eyes were shadowed, even though he was making a valiant attempt to pretend everything was business as usual.

“Maybe we could reschedule it,” Reina suggested, as she wrung her hands and gave me a sympathetic look. “She only has one chance to make a first impression.”

I gave her a smile of appreciation. While Serge had been learning Earth expressions and non-holidays, it sounded like she’d been studying self-help gurus. “I promise to make an effort if we can reschedule it—and you give me advance notice.”

Serge nibbled the corner of his thumbnail, but finally let out a dramatic sigh. “Fine. I don’t want you to ruin all my hard work because you look like you’ve been ridden hard and hung up wet.”

“Excuse me?” I said as Nina almost choked with laughter beside me. That was hitting a little too close to reality for comfort, and my cheeks prickled with heat as I remembered just how hard I had been ridden.

“Earthlings say that all the time,” Serge said with a flip of his hand.

“Not all the time,” I muttered. “Which earthlings are you listening to?”

Serge held up his stubby fingers. “The Kardashians, the Jenner girls…”

Nina shot me a look. “That explains a lot.”

“What?” Serge looked from me to Nina. “Are they not on the cutting edge of pop culture?”

“Oh, they probably are,” I said, waving my palm across the side door panel, the biometric sensor beeping as the doors slid open. “But that’s not always a good thing.”

Turning to Nina, I waved her inside. “Why don’t we add what you’ve done with the waterfall to the plans?”

“Perfect,” she said, tapping her crossbody bag that held her work tablet.

We walked into the open plan office that held a series of standing drafting tables, clear partition walls dividing desks, and more views out to space. I spotted the foreman at the far end standing at a high desk, but otherwise the offices were quiet. No doubt everyone was still on break.

Nina and I walked to a curved space at the end of the room that appeared to be empty, blank walls arching around two thirds of it. Serge had followed us, with Reina close behind him, and both watched as I tapped a panel on the wall and a floor-to-ceiling holographic replica of the station appeared.

The projection of the station appeared to be suspended in mid-air and spinning slowly—just like it would look if we’d been observing it from space. It also reflected the exact progression of the construction, parts of the interior unfinished.

Nina approached the panel that had activated the hologram as she pulled out her tablet. “Here’s what I have so far.” She swiped her fingers expertly across her screen, causing the wall panel to flash green and then the rotating hologram to flicker and change. Where there had been a glass wall along one side of the atrium, there was now a flowing waterfall of blue light.

Reina clapped her hands together in delight. “It looks just like I imagined it would.”

I walked closer to the hologram, nodding. “That was fast work.”

Nina smiled, and pushed her glasses farther up the bridge of her nose. “I didn’t do it alone. Vekron is great at finding ways to code faster.”

“As long as the shortcuts don’t cut necessary corners,” I said.

“We still need to work on the repeating sequence,” she said, pointing at the water that seemed to stutter when it reached the bottom of the waterfall’s pool.

Regardless, it’s still farther along than I would have expected.” I put a hand on her shoulder. “Good work. You just saved me from getting chewed out by the captain again.”

“That Drexian is all bark,” Serge said. “Trust me. I traveled back with him on Brok’s Inferno Force ship.”

I’d almost forgotten that Serge and Kalex had a history together that predated their arrival on the Island. “That’s right. He was part of the crew that rescued one of the kidnapped tribute brides.”

The story of the Earth women who’d been abducted by space pirates and the Inferno Force warriors who’d gone after them had become legendary back home. It had been part of the lore that had made the Drexians into such romantic heroes. They’d literally battled pirates and vicious aliens to save the tribute brides, always at great risk to themselves.

“Kalex was the first officer who kept the ship in orbit over the alien planet while Captain Brok snuck down and got us out.” Serge fanned himself with a silky, striped handkerchief he’d whipped from his pocket. “If it hadn’t been for him and Vekron figuring out the aliens’ secret and how to defeat them, Maddie and I never would have gotten out alive. As it was, I was subjected to the most unflattering outfits you could possibly imagine.” He lowered his voice. “And forced to work in the kitchens, if you can picture that.”

I couldn’t. “So, he wasn’t the moody asshole he is now?”

Serge sucked in a breath, looking at me with wide eyes. “If you think he’s moody, then I hope you never meet High Commander Dorn. Although, Dryx isn’t even the least bit gruff. He’s quite the charmer.”

I gave him a blank look, and his eyes went so far back in his head I thought he was fainting.

“The Drexian I picked for you,” he said, shaking his head at me. “Your future mate.”

It didn’t bode well that I’d already forgotten the alien’s name, but I had no intention of taking a Drexian mate. Then I thought about Kalex’s expression as he’d pulled me back and told me he accepted my deal. His eyes had been molten, and his touch had sizzled my skin. A Drexian lover was something else entirely.

“We’d better let these ladies get back to work,” Reina said, her expression curious as she watched me. I got the feeling she picked up on much more than her colorful counterpart, although there was no way she could know what secret I was hiding. Unless I was mistaken, Vexlings weren’t clairvoyant.

Suddenly, Reina’s perplexed expression disappeared as the entire office went dark, and we were plunged into almost total blackness.