She knocked on the door next to hers. Nayli opened it.
“Can I come in?” Aelanna asked.
“Yeah, sure.”
Nayli stepped back. Kora was already in the room. Nayli’s cabin smelled faintly floral, too, so she hadn’t imagined it. The room was softly lit in violet and silver, with a wall panel that swirled like liquid glass.
Aelanna gasped in awe. “Mine doesn’t have that.”
“Sure, it does,” replied Nayli, showing her and Kora a control panel, touching the screen with a finger and the lighting went through a rainbow of colors and back to the violet and silver. When they had explored the room, the girls sat on low, curved seating that gave and supported their bodies at the same time. Except Aelanna couldn’t sit still. She hopped to her feet and down again. She was thinking about their bodyguard, more specifically, the way he looked... and the hungry way he’d looked ather.
Her reaction to him disturbed her in a way she didn’t like. Her heart was still tender after the Brad experience, and she wasn’t ready to be pounced on, but something told her the warrior was honorable, that he would respect her sensitivities. She didn’t know why she sensed it, but there was something about his manner, the way he looked at her, the way he bowed. She gave a deep sigh.
Kora got up and sprawled on the bed like she owned the place, but her eyes were bright with adrenaline. “Aelannahoney, I can’t sit next to you in your current state.”
“What state?” She asked, genuinely surprised.
Kora wasn’t having it; her steady, suspicious stare told Aelanna as much. “He kept staring at you like you were… I don’t know… the answer to a question he’s been asking his whole life.” She took a moment to think, her eyes sliding to the bedcover. “And if the others look anything like him, I’m going to need a moment to emotionally prepare. Nayli, what d’you think?”
Nayli sat cross-legged, hands folded, eyes shining with scientific curiosity and romantic intrigue.
“His pupils dilated when he looked at you. That’s a biological response, not cultural.” She tilted her head, thoughtful. “Dheltans must have some kind of instinctive bond response. Or maybe they imprint? Or maybe he just thinks you’re pretty, but honestly, the way he looked at you—”
“Come on, guys. It wasn’t like that,” Aelanna protested.
There was a beat of silence, then Kora said in a low voice, the one she used when she wanted to warn of something nasty or something delicious and yummy. “He’s into you.”
Nayli nodded. “Totally.”
“You really think so?” Aelanna couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of her voice.
Kora grunted. “Aelanna, he looked at you like you were the only person on the ship. And he’s seven feet of warrior-god perfection. If he’d stared any harder, the walls would’ve melted.”
Aelanna’s heart did a full somersault, but she refused to accept it. He was a man, or an alien version of one anyway, and that was all she needed to know.
Once the Dheltan-induced turmoil settled slightly, they started noticing their surroundings again.
Nayli asked, “Did you come into my room to talk about hot alien warriors or was there another reason?”
“Oh, yeah.” Aelanna felt embarrassed. “I can’t turn the shower on. Did you figure it out?”
Nayli frowned at the interface panel. “Not yet. There’s too much for us simple Earth creatures to take in. This technology is centuries ahead of us. Maybe millennia. I’ll have to call him back,” Nayli said, stabbing a spot on the screen.
“No, don’t do that!” Panic hijacked her. She wished she’d thought of the right questions at the time, but she was so busy fighting her friends trying to push her at the hot alien male...
“Too late,” Nayli sang. “He’s on his way.”
A few minutes later, a soft chime sounded in the corridor and Dheltan footsteps approaching.
Aelanna froze.
Kora grinned wickedly.
Nayli straightened her posture like she was about to conduct an interview.
Aelanna whispered, “Do you think it’s him?”
“Oh, it’s him,” Kora drawled. “Aelanna, babe, that man was ready to throw himself in front of a plasma bolt for you and you hadn’t even finished saying hello.”
