I tighten my grip on his arm and drag him quickly into the adjoining room. “If you ever look at Opal in this state of undress again, I will pluck those stupid eyeballs from your thick skull.”
Gra’eth gulps at my intensity.
“Watch where you put your fucking hand!” I hear my precious little human order at the techs.
“Ke’ain… aren’t humans supposed to be well… more compliant than yours seems right now?”
I’ll admit to myself that yes, this Opal seems different from the one from a few hours ago. Every story I’ve ever heard on her species has been about how obedient and overtly sexual they are—it makes them perfect performers to travel the universe.
“Put yourself in her position, Gra’eth! She’s away from her home planet for the first time, this was her first night on the job, and now she’s been whisked into the royal palace and has been poked and prodded beyond common decency.” I walk over to the bar and pour myself a stiff drink.
“I guess you’re right,” he sighs.
“Oh, and pull whatever strings you need to acquire a human book for her, tonight.”
“Ke’ain, where in the f’tee am I supposed to find a human book at this hour?”
“That seems a whole lot like your problem, and not mine.” I sip from my glass and let the thr’uik liquor warm my chest.
Gra’eth pushes himself up from the table, slipping his data pad back into the breast pocket of his suit. “Well, I suppose sleep is out of the question for me tonight?”
I chuckle under my breath as he leaves. Sleep. I won’t be able to sleep again until Opal lies in my bed next to me. I hear the slap of a human palm against the plastic of a hazmat suit.
“Jesus Christ, is there a brain in that big head of yours?” My little human’s angry voice echoes from the study. “I said watch your fucking hands!”
Part of me worries for her, but I’ll give her the privacy she requests. A larger part of me worries more for the decon techs. I flip open my data pad and leave a note for the royal accountant to double their invoice fee.
I worry just for a second that I’m in over my head with Opal, that I might have been thinking with my cock as Gra’eth suggested. I think of her pink face and know that it’s not just my cock though. My chest fills with pressure as I clasp my four fingers over my sternum.
The little human makes my heart want to explode.
CHAPTER4
?THE PANIC ROOM?
?OPAL
He thinksI can’t see him just in the other room, but his long legs are draped over the side of the chair, and I can see the tips of his gray toes through the doorway. I sit in the plush bed and smooth the wrinkles of my green dress. It’s cut for someone much taller than me, and I’m a little bit swamped by its proportions—but it's so much better than the bikini. I wish I could be madder at Ke’ain after the humiliation of my decontamination, but I’m glad I don’t have to dance in that damn bubble anymore—even if I’m scared of what being here might mean. What does Ke’ain expect after what the fucking shot had me showing him just hours before?
I sit up when a door creaks open. Ke’ain’s friend, or maybe his assistant, walks by the plastic walls of my temporary room. He doesn’t make eye contact with me or acknowledge me, which is more than a little dehumanizing. He makes his way to stand in front of Ke’ain, clearing his throat as he pulls something small and rectangular from his breast pocket.
“Ke’ain…” I don’t see my rescuer’s feet move, and I think I might even hear a soft snoring. “Ke’ain! For goddess’s sake just get the f’tee up!” He knees his toe and Ke’ain inhales sharply.
“I’m up, I’m up…” He stands and shakes the sleep from his limbs. “What’s the emergency Gra’eth?”
Gra’eth snorts. “The emergency was the errand you sent me on in the middle of the night, for the damn human book.”
He tosses a worn paperback at his chest angrily. Ke’ain catches it deftly with his four fingered hand.
“Glad to see at least one of us is getting some sleep…” Gra’eth grumbles as he makes his way past me again.
When I turn back I see Ke’ain smiling in the doorway. He leans his muscular body against the door frame. He holds up the paperback like it’s a prize pig, his face smug with pride.
“The book, Opal, has been acquired.”
“Well, look at you. At least I’ll have something to make the time go by a bit more quickly, won’t I darlin’?” I say. “What’s the title?”
Ke’ain’s face drops into a frown. “I’m not too well versed in any of the written languages of Earth, so I’m afraid you’ll have to let me know what the title is.”
