“Hm,” he said. “No trouble at all?”
I had a flashback to the whole crashing-the-ship incident, but I kept my face steady.
“No, sir,” I replied.
On the other side of the den, Zat’tor slowly stood, yawned, and shook out his feelers like a dog shaking its fur. I held back a smile at how cute he was.
“You know, Levi,” the admiral droned on, “this is a simple first mission. I don’t expect any major issues.”
“Yes, sir,” I said absently.
Zat’tor was infinitely more interesting than this administrative spiel. I was spellbound as he rose to his full height and sauntered closer with a hungry look in his eyes. My heart fluttered. What was he doing?
“But in this job, there’s always a risk,” the admiral continued. “We can never guarantee when locals will be hostile.”
I held my breath as Zat’tor stopped in front of me. When I first met him, I’d gotten a literal pain in my neck craning it back to look at him, but I was used to it now. It comforted me that he was so tall and strong.
“Yes, sir,” I said, trying not to gaze at the smoking hot alien.
It felt like the admiral wasn’t even listening to me. “And what’s worse—do you know what’s even worse than a hostile local, Levi?”
Fuck. Could he stop asking me questions when Zat’tor’s tentacles were reaching out to touch my sides, just out of view of the camera?
“I can’t say that I know, sir,” I replied.
“Beingluredby them,” the admiral growled. He said it with a dark undercurrent, like it was something unspeakable. “Do you get my drift, Levi?”
Admittedly, I wasn’t paying him my full attention. How could I when Zat’tor’s tentacles caressed my bare sides? My breath caught in my throat. His smooth, cool flesh sent shivers along my skin. I bit my tongue so I didn’t moan on camera.
“Levi?”
Shit. The admiral was still talking to me. I forced my attention back on him while Zat’tor grinned in amusement behind my UniCom screen.
“Yes, sir?”
“Are you paying attention?”
“Yes, sir. The heat and steam are making it difficult to concentrate.”
“Well,concentrate,” he snapped. “There are dangers on alien planets beyond your comprehension, first timer. As I was saying, beingtemptedby foreign life forms is an even greater danger than violence.”
I swallowed as Zat’tor’s tentacles snaked down, drawing loose circles across the plane of my naked body. My mind threatened to implode at how good it felt.
“Why’s that, sir?” I asked, not caring about the answer.
“Because once you’re seduced by the enemy, there’s no going back,” he stated. “You’re ontheirside, not ours. Once you think you’re one of them, you turn your back on humanity.” In a mutter, he added, “Lost a damn good number of crew members to aliens that way...”
The admiral’s tone annoyed me. What did he know about aliens, anyway? All he did was sit in his chair barking orders at everyone and working us half to death.
Suddenly, his words caught up with me, and despite Zat’tor’s touch, I snapped back to reality.
“Wait, did you say theenemy?” I asked, frowning. “Admiral, we were sent on a peace mission, not one of conflict.”
For once, the man looked flustered. It was only there for a brief moment before he went back to his usual grumpy expression. “Slip of the tongue.”
Zat’tor’s tentacle moved up my body. The end of it reached my collarbone. Before it went any higher, I grabbed it and held it there. I didn’t want Zat’tor in the camera field, especially after the admiral’s so-called ‘slip of the tongue.’ I didn’t know how the admiral would react if he saw him.
Would he treat Zat’tor like an enemy? I wasn’t taking that chance.
