Morgan wasn’t sure she’d want to wear a body part from someone else. But at least Chloe didn’t have to worry about ever losing it.
“I always wondered why I hadn’t seen you after the first week,” Chloe said to Morgan with a sigh. She sipped the Mojito Morgan had given her, smacking her lips with a grin.
“Yeah, that’s what I got for snooping around where I wasn’t supposed to,” Morgan admitted. She’d just told them the tale of how she ended up on the Ozevroc ship. Instead of confessing the real reason she’d been at the exchange, she kept her cover story as being from Atlanta, Georgia, rather than being from a hidden city under the Antarctic. She just wasn’t ready to confess how she wasn’t fully human. She glanced at the male sitting next to Chloe. Not that she thought for a second the other woman would mind her hybrid status.
Chloe snorted. “Those gray little pissants, the fibber-mcgee somethings, tried to get me too.” She patted her companion’s beefy arm. “But Ay here took care of ’em. Didn’t ya, snuggle bunny?”
“Friebbigh, not fibber-mcgee,aruu.“ Aylzrunth pulled Chloe onto his lap and massaged her neck with his strong-looking fingers and thumb.
Her eyes lowered to half-mast with her mouth slightly agape.
“And don’t call me snuggle bunny. I am not a small, Earth mammal in the Leporidae family.”
“Yeah, ‘k. Whatever you say, you sly foxy snookums.” Chloe moaned.
Her behemoth companion’s thick, alabaster eyebrows rose as he frowned.
Morgan stifled a laugh. The guy might not be much of a conversationalist, but by God, Ay’s expressive face said it all. It was clear he knew arguing with Chloe was a lost cause.
“Anyhoo,” Chloe continued. “I can’t wait to meet this purple guy you’ve got stashed somewhere. Never seen a crystal dude before.” She gave Ari a narrow eye. “You’ve got him under wraps, right?”
Ari sat with his hands laced behind his head and his feet up, ankles crossed, on the ottoman he’d generated. “I’ve got everything under control.” He kicked the footrest away and put his feet on the floor. Resting his arms on his thighs, he leaned forward. “But it’s important we take him to Earth as soon as we can. Once there, we’ll work with our family and the Federation Consortium on the best way to stop the Krystalii from invading this dimension.” He narrowed his steely-gray eyes at them. “Can you help?”
“Are you asking us to assist you in returning to your home world?” Aylzrunth asked in his rumbling voice. “Or join in your endeavor in stopping the invasion?”
“Well—“ Ari drawled, sitting back. ”—you should probably stick to your original plan with the Ozevroc. That way, we won’t have to worry about them coming after us when we leave.”
“Leave?” Morgan swung to Ari with a hard stare. “How in the heck are we going to do that? We don’t have a ship.” She had no trouble fixing theNebula Viper’sengines, but piloting the damn thing was far beyond her capabilities. She gave the guy next to her a narrow-eyed consideration. They hadn’t a chance to talk about it.
Don’t worry.Ari spoke in her mind.Now that I’ve got my abilities back, I can fixElemi.
Startled, Morgan narrowed her eyes on Ari. Good thing she was used to psychics poking into her brain without an invitation.Are you sure?Since he’d opened the path between them, she now had a mental way to reply to him.
Of course.
Morgan mentally humphed. Hopefully, he wasn’t being too overly optimistic.
“That’s good, since there isn’t enough room on our ship to take all the Ozevroc,” Chloe piped in. “We’d planned on towing their happy asses.”
“Myaruuis correct.“ Aylzrunth confirmed. “It would be unwise to let the Ozevroc free to interfere. Should the Krystalii become the major ruling party in this galaxy, the Ozevroc would surely strive to ally with them, aiding in identifying the systems that benefit the crystal race the most.”
He stopped massaging Chloe’s neck, and she rested her head against his massive chest.
“I believe it would be prudent to take them to the AoA headquarters to be dealt with there. While there, we will inform AoA of the upcoming difficulties the Krystalii bring. They will be an invaluable resource in defeating this new threat. However—“ He shrugged his massive shoulders. ”—their base is in the opposite direction of the Chancellor’s palace. Thus, we cannot be of assistance in ensuring your safety on your journey back.”
Morgan was glad Chloe had previously explained what AoA meant… the Alliance of Assassins, of all things. Mercenaries, among other talents for hire. Looked like her friend had been a busy woman since leaving Earth.
“Eh, it’s all good. We’ll be fine.” Ari stood. “I agree. You should take the Ozevroc back to the AoA to keep them out of the way. If you don’t mind, we’ve got a ship inside the engine room that needs to be repaired before you go.” He glanced at the spider-bot on his shoulder. “You ready to fixElemi, JR12?”
Wow, she’d forgotten all about the spybot. He’d been uncharacteristically quiet while the four of them got to know one another.
Chloe sat up, eyes wide. “Elemi? You gotElemi?”
“Oh, that’s right,” the spybot piped up. “When you worked with Dad, you worked withElemitoo, eh?”
Chloe scooted off Aylzrunth’s lap and rubbed her hands down her pants.
For the first time, Morgan admired the simple, black, wide-leg pants topped with a long, sleeveless vest over a bright, multi-colored knit sweater. She sighed. She’d give anything to wear something besides the mechanic’s coveralls. Back home, she kept up on all the latest trends and was a bit of a fashionista.
