Chapter 20
When Brook woke, it was to tiny kisses being pressed to her face. She let out a moan but refused to open her eyes, afraid that the spell would be broken.
Brook lay across his muscled chest, feeling more peaceful than she had in years. She wished the mood could last forever, wished she could lie in Ontarii's arms until the Hareema melted into history.
The thought of the enemy loose on her ship while she lay around in her lover's arms brought a blush to her cheeks. She'd always done things by the book and would never dream of letting her crew down or backing away from a mission. But here she was, letting passion distract her from the business at hand.
Brook took a deep breath and opened her eyes. Midnight black eyes were staring back at her and she smiled.
A scream left her as she jerked off of him, scrambling back in horror.
Not only were his eyes midnight black, but the rest of his body had gone the same color. His skin was so dark he resembled a shadow.What did black mean?
Brook scrambled to her knees and stood, wanting to go to him, but not quite sure what to think.
Hurt rolled across his features as he got up.
"What is it?" he asked, his face becoming hard. "You already regret your surrender to an alien?"
Brook shook her head. "No. I will never regret what just happened between us. I'm just surprised is all." She ran her eyes over him from head to toe. "What does black mean?"
"Black?" Ontarii lifted his hands to his face and let out a shaky breath. His face became like stone, and a thread of fear ran through Brook.
"What is it?" she asked. "What's wrong?"
Maybe he regrets his surrender to an alien, she thought, doubt creeping in.
"The mating frenzy," he said, the words coming out like a curse.
"Mating frenzy?"
"Yes. When Zantharian males go all black, they must mate their chosen female or die."
"Die?!?!" What the hell was he talking about? "But we just mated, didn't we?"
"It's more than that." He ran his hand through his tendrils before turning from her to fasten his sarong. "You wouldn't understand."
"Hey, sometimes I feel like I just have to get laid too, but not so bad that I might actually die from it."
He stiffened and she instantly regretted her words. Padding over to him, she put a hand on his shoulder, but he immediately shrugged it off.
"It's none of your concern." He walked over to the main console and pulled up the display. "Don't worry about it, and thanks for the sex. You were incredible."
Her heart contracted painfully in her chest at him blowing her off. If they hadn’t just shared the most incredible moment of her sex life together, she’d be fine, but they had, and she wasn’t. His casual tone stung her deeply.
"Look…" She started over to him, but he turned and lifted his hand to stop her in her tracks.
"We have more important matters to discuss," he said briskly. "According to this course heading, we're moving in the direction of your Earth."
"Yes," she said, wishing he wasn't in such a hurry to change the subject. "I thought it best not to proceed to Zanthar, not with the threat we're under."
"A wise move, but that doesn't fully explain these readings. If I'm correct, the display says that we're not reaching our maximum speed. Did you slow the ship down?"
"Slow us down?" Brook shook her head. She had only altered the ship's course, not its speed. She'd wanted to get the hell out of the Zantharian system as quickly as she could. "No. I didn't."
Ontarii continued pressing buttons but Brook moved up beside him, pushing him out of the way.
She looked at the display and let out a gasp.
"We're too heavy," she said. "That's why we're slowing down."
"Too heavy? What do you mean?"
Brook chewed on her lip. She wasn't entirely sure what the readings meant, but she could make an educated guess. "It means that we've got some kind of stow-away vessel attached to us. It must have come up while we were otherwise engaged."
Ontarii's eyes widened. "Something has attached itself to the hull?"
Brook nodded. "And I'll give you three guesses as to who it might be."
Ontarii's face grew hard once again. "I only need one."
