“Did he touch you?” I ask, my voice stuttering. Please god, let this be some misunderstanding.
“He grabbed my arm, but no, he didn’t do anything like that.”
“So, what happened? You turned him down, I suppose.”
“I gave him a piece of my mind later, but he caught me off guard at first.”
“I’m sorry you were uncomfortable…” I tell her, not wanting to downplay her feelings. “But you do know that fi’len women like that kind of approach, right?”
“What do you mean?” she asks dubiously.
“I mean, I’ve been told fi’len women like it when the men are very explicit in their attempts at getting a woman’s attention.”
“My mate would never talk like that…” she starts before pausing abruptly. I can see the gears begin to spin in her mind though as her mouth drops into a frown. “I mean, on our first date he told me wanted to lick my pussy in a BDSM restaurant, but…” She looks back up at me, her eyes wide. “Shit, you’re right. I mean our king and queen met by jerking off at each other in traffic.”
“What the fuck…”
“It’s a long story.” She brushes off my comment before continuing with some authority. “I still don’t have to like him.”
“No, you don’t. I barely like him—but I dolove him.”
We’re both a tiny bit shocked at my admission.
“I do, I love Raf’ere.” The epiphany hits me like a ton of bricks. “He’s not perfect, but neither am I. He’s my mate.”
“Wait, what?” Her confusion grows even deeper.
“It’s a long story,” I say sarcastically.
“I…I…” Whatever words she’s trying to convey fail.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to go claim him before his dumb ass abandons me here.” I push past her, leaving her in some kind of daze.
I stomp down the hall with renewed purpose, toward a pair of black doors. Flinging them open, I’m ready to confess my love to Raf’ere. But I’m met with the face of an alien stranger.
“Can I help you?” The man seems annoyed as he rubs a liquid vigorously into his hands.
“Yeah actually, you can! Where’s Raf’ere?”
“Just missed him. I think he’s heading back to the courtyard with the king. Why do you need him?”
“The courtyard? I just came from the courtyard!” How could I miss him?
“Oh they took the secret passage. Door’s still open if you want to catch him that wa—” The alien nods toward a cracked panel, and the white curls on his head bounce as he does.
“What the hell is it with you aliens and all your damn secret tunnels!” I yell as I wrench the panel wide and sprint down the passage. I don’t wait for his response, my feet are already running as fast as they’ll carry me.
When the door to the courtyard comes into view, I can just make out the shape of Raf’ere’s back as he starts to ascend the steps. The crowd of women is still thick, and my short ass has to fight my way through.
I finally wiggle to the front of the throng of people, and even though I’m out of breath, I dig deep to carry my voice across the crowd.
“Did you think I was just going to let my mate leave?” I scream.
A hush falls over the once chatty group of humans. Raf’ere freezes, but doesn’t turn around. I realize no one was even paying attention to Raf’ere. The cruiser parked next to his has several strange aliens and what looks like a masked fi’len man leading a group of scared women off the ship.
“Oh, not you guys,” I clarify as I watch the big green orc-like alien point to his chest. He seems disappointed when I tell him, this complete stranger, that he’s not my mate. “No, my mate is standing right in front of me.” I point my finger at the gaudily dressed man I want to spend the rest of my life with.
1 Italian: asshole
