I let out a frustrated grunt. I didn’t like just sitting and not doing something. As a former lawyer, although much of my day had been spent dealing with paperwork and motions and people, I still felt like I was being productive. Flashing Jackie a smile in apology, I stood and headed over to N’Ashtar, determined to get him to talk to me.
The fact that I enjoyed sparring with him was entirely irrelevant and we didn’t need to think about it, no, we did not. No, instead I needed to focus on how he’d treated us basically like pets that were expected to sit down, shut up, and wait to be told what to do. While he’d shared his sleeping bag—what he called a ‘sack’—with me each night, it had been purely for platonic reasons. Yup. I would keep saying that until I believed it.
I totally didn’t like how he never bent to me, how he crossed his scaly arms over his chest and looked at me with those slitted pupils as I argued with him. When I pushed him, he pushed back, not letting me off the hook for anything. It was like a verbal sword fight, and it was quickly becoming addicting.
Even if he was a chauvinist.
“N’Ashtar.” I spoke firmly as I drew closer, ignoring the other snake-man (R’Asha?) who chuckled and then disappeared, but not before saying something akin to ‘good luck’. Maybe it was a translator error. Still, I scowled at both of them just for good measure.
I fought to make and maintain eye contact with N’Ashtar and eventually gave up. Since we started sleeping together, every time I met his eyes a heat had flooded my body, leaving me tingling in spots that did not need to be tingling. Nope. There was no place for arousal or lust on this planet, or in my mind. I totally didn’t pay attention when he stepped closer, feeling like a space heater but flexible.
That was not a good thing to think, because now my brain was going down a road it didn’t need to be going down.
I cleared my throat, which earned me a strange look from N’Ashtar that I could see out of the corner of my eye. “Yes?” N’Ashtar asked politely. Or politely for him, anyway, which was condescending laced with an undercurrent of amusement which made me want to stab him.
“How far away from Kohta are we?” I glanced back at Erica, trying to pretend I wasn’t worried about her and that what I was asking was just a standard question. Even though it wasn’t.
I needed a plan, preferably one that I was in control of. Would it solve all our problems? No. Would it make me feel better? Yes. I know, I know. I was a selfish person. But if I didn’t look out for myself, who would?
N’Ashtar grunted. “Why are you in a hurry to get to the most dangerous place on the planet?”
Alarm notched up a rank in my brain, but I nonchalantly crossed my arms over my chest. “If it’s that dangerous, then why are you taking us there?”
Instead of immediately retorting or giving me one of those disarming, cocky smiles, a grimace crossed over his scaly lips and for a moment, he looked unsettled. This time I did meet his eyes and was surprised to see genuine uncertainty there. Gone was the cocky, I’m-all-that playboy persona he exuded. In its place was someone who was a lot more…real.
“I’m conflicted,” he admitted.
“Because we’re women,” I said flatly.
He shrugged. “We protect our own, and life bearers are a sacred resource for us.” He stopped looking at me now, instead gazing into the distance. “Besides.” This time, his gaze swung back to mine. “If I had some warriors escort you back to the tribe, where it was safe, would you go?”
I opened my mouth, then closed it, refusing to feel sheepish. He had a point. “I would have opinions about such a thing,” I said primly.
“And you would make such opinions known very loudly,” N’Ashtar agreed.
I scowled at him. “If you’d actually listen to me, I wouldn’t have to shout.”
He gave me a lazy smile. “I don’t mind listening to you shout, as long as it is my name on your lips.”
My mouth dropped open, and the cockiness had returned to his demeanor. Had he seriously just said that? I didn’t even know his people did innuendos.
Which was probably me being a jerk, because really, had I actually had time to think about how aliens propositioned each other while trying to save my fellow humans from being stuck on this backwards planet? No. No, I had not.
“Did you seriously just say that?” I managed. It had been so easy to assume anything I felt was one-sided, even when he pulled me close at night, his larger body wrapping around mine and providing more heat than a blanket ever could. I just ignored the fact that it made me heat between my thighs, made my pulse pound in a way that wasn’t appropriate. I’d also assumed he hadn’t noticed.
If what he said was true, if he meant it, it sounded like I was wrong at least on the latter count. Maybe both of them.
Whatever it was about him, he short-circuited my logical diplomatic brain and turned on human-Dana, who was always two steps short of shoving a whole foot down her throat.
“Did you know, back in the village, any female would kill for my attentions?” N’Ashtar’s drawl was lazy, his eyes half-lidded and sleepy but with an alertness that told me he was paying attention. “I’m one of the best hunters, I’m the war chief, and I’m the future leader of the tribe. One day, I’ll be the leader of the entire N’Akron people.” There was a pause. “Maybe you would like to consider that and be more polite in how you address me.”
“Good for you,” I retorted, ignoring the sting of jealousy at the thought of him flirting with
