Chapter 5
Kat'Chinna felt a change in the room as Jeffrey stared at her. She knew her tactics had been having an effect on the man, and he'd even started to open up. But suddenly, things had changed.
"You're damned cute. But you know that," he said softly. The human began to pace around her. "You showed off your body to me, leaned in close to blow in my ear and drown me in your enthralling scent. But it was all part of your game to make me talk."
Kat'Chinna didn't dignify his words with a response. So he'd seen through her tactic. It didn't matter. He'd been responding. She could tell by the way his breathing had grown more rapid when she was near. She'd seen it in the way his hard facade had begun to soften.
But it seemed he was no longer content to play along. Kat'Chinna steeled herself for whatever might come next.
He came to a stop behind her, and she could feel him there, looming. He leaned in and whispered in her ear. "It's time to stop playing games. The safety of my crew is paramount. If you want any more information, you'll let me contact theEarhart."
Kat'Chinna stood rigid, refusing to let his closeness affect her. "The safety of my crew is just as important to me. I'm sorry, but I cannot let you do that."
"Afraid I'm going to let the enemy know you're on to them? If the safety of your crew is so important, then you should want me to contact the ship. We should be working together to help each other."
"I'm sorry, but we just can't trust you. We need more information before we can plot a means of discovering the shapeshifters."
"You can't trust me?"
Did Kat'Chinna detect an undertone of hurt in his voice? The thought gave her a start, causing confusion to coil around her insides.It doesn't matter. Carry out your task. Don't let him distract you.
He put a hand on her shoulder and whirled her around. Kat'Chinna was temporarily thrown off guard by his strength.
"What was all that you were saying earlier then? About space being lonely? About needing a friend you can trust?"
She stared into his hard features, saying nothing. What was there to say?
"All a ploy to get me to let me guard down, huh? You never had any intention of cooperating with us humans, did you?"
His eyes narrowed, and he moved to grasp both of her shoulders in his tight grip. "We're just too primitive, too stupid? Is that it? Or are we already corrupted by the enemy?"
Kat'Chinna stood tall, her expression tightening. She stared over his shoulder, refusing to answer his questions.
"Ah, the Ice Queen is back I see." His voice was rough, his hands gripping her harder. "Your little act was very convincing, but I see now that it was only that. An act. You're a cold fish, aren't you, Kat?"
She was startled for a moment by the use of her nickname. Only her mother had ever called her that. To hear it on this human's lips made her chest ache in a way she didn't understand.
"You're probably too cold to ever display the passion you just hinted at in reality, aren't you?
Kat'Chinna lifted her chin, trying to ignore his words. They hit too close to home for her liking. She'd always held herself apart, always been distant from others. She'd felt that she'd had to be that way in order to earn the respect of her crew and her commander.
She knew that some of her crew felt that way about her. She'd heard the gossip when others hadn't known that she was around. 'Cold-hearted Kat'Chinna' they called her. She'd told herself that it didn't hurt, that it didn't matter. When she chose to take a mate, he would discover that she could be as passionate as anyone else.
At least she hoped she could. She longed for the day when she could let herself be free to just feel.
But that day wasn't today.
Suddenly his hands were moving, slowly sliding up from her shoulders to her neck. He held her throat, loosely, in his hands. His fingers caressed her gently.
"What's the matter, Kat? Afraid I might put some cracks in that icy exterior of yours?"
"Hardly," she said with as much disdain as she could muster. Unfortunately, her voice was soft, her words unconvincing.
"That's right, you'd never stoop to enjoying a human as a bedmate, now would you? Such a primitive, backward race that you've so easily outgunned and outmanned?"
Kat'Chinna closed her eyes. She didn't want to look into the piercing blue of his gaze any longer. His words had too much bite.
As handsome as she found him, he was absolutely right. She could never act on her attraction to him or she'd be the laughingstock of her planet. Sure, it might be acceptable for the Supreme Regent to take a human as a consort, but she wasn't the regent. She was just another cog in the Zantharian military's wheel, and being friendly with an alien who might be conspiring to plot the downfall of her planet would be career suicide.
