“Can we please have a sampler? My partner hasn’t been to the space station before, and we were trying to show him around,” V’dim said, drawing the Quaww waitress’s attention to him.
She quickly glanced at me and nodded her head. “Of course, Sir. Both versions?”
“Yes, please. Both. One for each of us. Might as well try them all. We will probably be here for a while.”
Her eyes bugged out in shock before she rapidly shook her head. “Yes. Yes. Of course. I will place your order right away.” She typed something on her tablet before dashing away.
“You have nothing to worry about,” Xylo murmured. “There is nothing to be jealous or upset about.”
I met his gaze. “I know. It is foolish since you share me with others, but that doesn’t mean a part of me doesn’t get angry when someone wants something that is mine.”
He smiled brightly at me. “Something? I am an object now?” he teased.
I rolled my eyes. “You are something pretty to look at. In fact, both you and Odelm are.”
“Are you saying you only want me because of my looks?” he asked, as a vine started to crawl up my leg.
I glared at him. “Behave.”
“I don’t know what you are talking about.”
I rolled my eyes.
What few lights there were were dimmed, pulling my attention away from Xylo’s mischievousness. The cylinders and stage walkway lit up brightly, blinding me. I covered my eyes as the curtains parted, and the music lowered.
“Welcome to Zero G-Spot. This afternoon’s show will be performed by Xenja and Masmi. Give a hand to these lovely ladies,” announced the advertiser from outside. I tried looking around and couldn’t find in him in the darkness, the cylinders and stage making it impossible to survey the room.
No one clapped. I felt bad, so I stood up from my seat and clapped as loudly as I could. Hands grabbed me and pulled me back down in my seat.
“Selena, what are you doing?” Z’fir hissed.
“Isn’t that what you are supposed to do?”
“No,” my Circuli mates said.
The music started back up as the tops of both cylinders opened, allowing a figure to drop into each one.
The water cylinder held an aquatic species—one more fish than the Ulax. Her scales were golden with a green tint along the sides. She had two legs, but her feet were large green flippers. There were huge green fin-like wings under her arms, and her fingers had green webbing between them. There was a single golden antenna-like horn on top of her head that glowed teal. She didn’t have hair; instead, a large, teal, fan-like dorsal fin ran along her back.
The other cylinder was a zero-gravity container. The female who dropped in was a younger Euvrel than the shopkeeper. She was light blue-gray and had a more agile figure. Her tail blade was whole and shaped like a hook. Her long black hair flew wildly in the cylinder as she floated in the middle.
She was also naked.
I watched their performance. They were in sync as they danced to the music in three dimensions, in two separate mediums.
I couldn’t fathom how they could do what they were doing, and why the room was empty. The dancers were elegant and seemed to be very talented—not that I would know, since this was the first show I had ever seen. The music was too loud for my taste, either designed that way to prevent conversations or create false privacy between tables. One thing was for sure, they were hypnotic. Just like listening to Odelm playing his music, I could watch them all day and never get sick of it.
“Odelm, is that you?”
Chapter Twenty-Six Selena
“Is that you, son?” another male asked behind us, the exact moment the music died down.
The performance was over.
I turned around to see two blurry figures on the edge of my vision, walking toward us. It was too bright from the stage to see exactly who they were, but the word “son” stood out and made it obvious they were Odelm’s fathers—or at least close enough to him to consider him their son.
I faced Odelm, who stiffened under my gaze, mouth ajar, trying to figure out what to do.
An Ulax and Wudox male pair walked around our booth and stopped in front Odelm with confused expressions as they surveyed our group.
They were plain in coloring compared to my nestmates. The Ulax male was a medium gray with green stripes and eyes while the Wudox male was a dark brown with orange and green speckles, his eyes a warm gold.
When their gazes landed on me, they paused slightly before continuing on to the princes. As the realization of who they were hit them, they jerked into a salute. “Sires…”
Z’fir raised his hand, cutting them off. “No need for formalities. Technically, we were banished and stripped of our titles, but as you know, Circul enjoys remaining cut off from the CEG, so few outsiders know this.”
“But Sire… why are you here? Of all places?” the Ulax male asked, confused.
“We are enjoying ourselves,” V’dim replied. “It’s been a while since we have been off our ship.”
“What are you doing here, fathers?” Odelm’s voice seemed… off.
They turned their attention to him and smiled.
“We just sold our recent run and wanted to celebrate before we start making purchases,” the Wudox male responded.
“We heard rumors there was a small Circuli colony ship docked. While we were making deliveries, we came across a few of your crew members along the way and asked if you were still with them. When they confirmed, we tried reaching out to you but weren’t able to make it through,” the Ulax male explained.
“We went to where the Destiny is docked and asked a few guards. They said they couldn’t reach you either, but you were staying with the Aldawi.”
“One even said you were mated!”
“Is it true, son? Are you bonded to a nestqueen?” the Ulax male asked, looking between Odelm, Xylo, and me.
“Yes,” Odelm confirmed proudly as one
