“I implanted a universal communicator behind your ear.” He squawked and flapped his wings before lifting one to point to the side of his head, where an ear would be if he were human. “And, by the Four Winds, no, I am not a Yzefrxyl. I’m an Ekoiskra councilor, and I was enjoying a much-needed vacation until your emergency pod crashed landed nearby, disrupting everything I worked hard for.”
“Was it you who rescued me?” I gazed behind him, hoping to see Soraya farther down the stone pathway he was standing in front of, and frowned when I couldn’t see the pretty woman with shoulder-length red hair and a short gold bridesmaid’s gown who had joined me in the escape vessel. “Where is my companion, Soraya? What happened to her? Why isn’t she here?”
“Oh good, you know her name. I’ll include it in my report and notify Lyave when he checks in with me later.” He shifted his gaze down the walkway, his tongue clicking on the top of his beak. “Yes, I was the first to arrive on that dark and stormy day. My friend arrived shortly after I did. It was getting dark, so he offered to take your Soraya home with him, claiming she was his—”
I jerked my head in his direction, throwing up my hands, and took a step closer to him, glaring in his face, unable to believe what he was saying.
“What do you mean by him claiming Soraya was his?” I growled, not caring who or what he was. “How can you lead the program that was supposed to help us after we were attacked when you allow your friends to take whoever they want home with them?”
“What, not even a ‘thank you?’ ” He let out a series of non-vocal sounds, almost like a loud growl, and flapped his wings aggressively, as if he was offended by my anger at him for not doing his job. “Would you rather have me allow you and your friend to hang there unconscious until one of my junior council members came to collect you and take you to the sanctuary? I did what I thought was best for you both.”
“Your ‘friend,’” I stabbed him in the chest with my fingertips, taking in how soft his feathers were on top of hard muscle, “claimed Soraya. That’s what a barbarian would do in a story, probably swinging her over his shoulder and carrying her off to his cave. And you don’t mind because you’re on vacation.”
“He claims she’s his luwaeri. Males of his species worship those they believe are their fated mate, bestowed upon them by their Mother Tree.” He grabbed my wrist in a flash before it touched his chest and leaned forward, his amber eyes burning with the same amount of rage as his voice. “Lyave would slice every vine from his back if that would make her happy, and would gladly sacrifice his life for her if it was needed.
“I don’t like how he took her away without going through the proper registration sponsorship process declared by the refugee program designed for this disaster, but I know that she’s in the safest place she could be in the universe.”
“I won’t believe it until I see it.” I frowned, my gaze drawn to his hand around my wrist. “From the way you’re treating me, I can only hope she’s getting better treatment.”
“I’ve been nothing but honest with you.” His eyes widened as he dropped my wrist, as if my skin had caught fire and I had burned him. “Just because you don’t like my responses doesn’t mean I haven’t looked after you. In the middle of a storm, I carried you to my villa and placed you on my lounging bench near the fire to keep you warm. I even gave you a universal communicator so that when you awoke, I could console you, knowing what happened to your vessel and how your species isn’t a member of the Interstellar Protections Agency. If that’s me not caring about your well-being, please tell me what it is.”
I stood there speechless, unable to respond. All I could do was stare at him, absorbing his delicate yet masculine features as I took in everything he said.
He was right—he had been nothing but forward with me since we met. I had no idea what he’d done to save me from my crash site, and now that I knew, I felt like a jerk for assuming the worst.
“I’m sorry...” I yanked my hair from my shoulders and fiddled with the beads in my braids, embarrassed by how I’d misjudged his personality. Normally, I had a better sense of my customers’ personalities... But he wasn’t human, and I’d taken my previous knowledge for granted when assuming things about him. “I appreciate everything you’ve done for me... for both of us.”
“I only did what was right.” He shuffled his wings and rolled his shoulders, adjusting how his feathers lay. “I wouldn’t be doing my job if I hadn’t helped you, whether I was on vacation or not.”
“Well, thank you.” His amber gaze shifted to my hands, then to my braids, as he watched me with interest. “I promise to listen to what you have to say and try to make this experience better for both of us.”
“And I’ll keep reminding myself that everything is new for you and the other humans who are currently lost in space.” He clicked his beak and turned toward the villa, lifting a wing behind me as if guiding me away from the stone walkway. “Let me show you around, and we can talk over some refreshments. Hopefully, by then, Lyave will have reported back to me with an update on your companion, Soraya.”
I sighed and nodded, relieved that he seemed to be looking past what had happened between us.
“I would love that.”
4
Ixik’tryl
“You are welcome to use this room for the time being.” I opened the door to the first-floor guest room, which overlooked the stone pathway to my side garden. “I figured you’d prefer this view to the open ocean, knowing you wouldn’t be able to see anything resembling ground due to the height of my cliffside villa.
“I know from my reports that your species is generally afraid of heights. Which makes sense, given that you lack the necessary wings to fly, and your body structure prevents you from surviving a large fall. If I made a mistake, please let me know, and I’ll gladly give you the other guest room on this floor.”
As I stood in the doorway, I watched her walk into the room, her head held high, and her gaze fixed on the window, as if I didn’t exist. I tried to follow her gaze to see what she was looking at, but I couldn’t take my eyes off her.
She radiated an elegant aura that demanded my attention, as if she were the councilor, and I was a civilian, hoping she would fight for my cause.
“There will be no need.” She nodded slightly and slowly turned around, her gaze tracing the furniture in the room. “This is more than enough. In fact, this is far superior to what I had on the ship.”
“How is that possible?” I shook my head, attempting to clear my mind of the sudden fixation I had on her and return my attention to the task at hand—attending to her needs. “Are you a high-ranking official?”
Her shoulders dropped as a frown formed on her face, draining all the joy from her brown eyes as they locked on to mine. “Unfortunately, I was only a bartender hired to work special events.”
“‘Only a bartender?’“ I clicked the top of my beak in thought, not understanding the upset inflection in her voice. “We call them mixologists. They are highly regarded throughout the galaxy for their beverage art, especially when they specialize in rarer and more sought-after ingredients. Something that is fine for one species would be lethal to another.”
“Beverage art?” She chuckled, and then her gaze sharpened, fixed on mine, as if she was testing me to see if I was lying. “Only a few people think like that. Most people ignore the fact that we have to go to school and master our craft while distinguishing ourselves from the competition.”
