“Draz,” I yell out, “can you bring me something to wear?”

He enters a moment later, something flimsy and teal in his hands. “I had this sent up, too. It’s Suevan style, but you can order whatever you like when you return.”

I take the garment from him, shaking it out.

It’s a dress. A barely-there dress, so at odds with the sports bra and cargo pants that I’ve been stuck in for the last week and a half that I hardly know what to do with it.

“Here,” he says, noticing my consternation and flashing a bit of fang in a smile. “I will help you.”

His hands skate over my shoulders, the mounds of my breasts, his finger running along the inside of the thin towel until it drops away, baring my body to him.

Anticipation immediately fills me, and I clench my thighs against the arousal building there.

“Ni-Kee,” he runs his thumbs over my nipples, and I let out a small gasp. “I cannot concentrate when your smell begs me to taste you.”

“The dress,” I manage, smooshing the diaphanous against my chest and pushing his wandering hands away. “Help me put it on. The sooner I can talk to my crew, the sooner you can have your way with me.”

“Have my way with you?” he all but purrs, his diamond-pupils growing, his cock bulging against his pants. “I do like the sound of that.”

His lips press against my forehead, and I lean into it, drawing comfort from him. I need all my strength for the conversation I’m about to have.

“Hold up your arms,” he says, and I comply, raising an eyebrow as he drapes the fabric across my body.

“This doesn’t cover very much,” I say, plucking at the sheer blue fabric barely containing my breasts. I bite my lip, his talons trailing over the sides of my waists, the flare of my hips.

“It is not supposed to.” His eyes are heated with desire, and moisture floods between my legs.

“Why not?” I say, my voice higher than usual. God, my crew is going to laugh their asses off when they see me in this. I run my hands over the front, trying to ignore the pulsing at the apex of my legs. Deliciously soft, the fabric is light and airy, and though I’m showing a lot of skin, all my important bits are covered.

“Because it is quite warm in the jungle. And because Suevans are proud of their bodies. As you should be, my perfect mate.”

“We’re on a mountain top. It’s not nearly as hot up here.”

“Ah, you think that because you have not been in the city. The atmospheric dome controls temperature and keeps it warmer for us, the way Suevans like it.”

“Atmospheric dome?” I scrunch my nose and peer out the window, perplexed. “You mean to tell me there is an atmospheric dome over us right now?”

“Yes. Do you not use them on your Earth?”

I shake my head, snorting. “No. We wouldn’t even know where to start with something like that.”

“You like it here, yes, my heart?” His face is etched with worry, and I smooth a finger over his cheek.

“I do. You’re here.”

His hands trace lightly over my exposed back, and I shiver as tingles of pleasure race over my skin. How have I become so quickly addicted to him, to his touch? To the way he acts like I hung the moon?

I roll my shoulders back, bracing my hands along his wrists. “I have to go talk to my crew. Have you heard anything about how they are getting along?”

His mouth scrunches to the side, and he shakes his head. “No one knows we are here yet except the staff that brought the food and your dress. Will you at least take some food with us to eat?”

“Us? Are you going to show me where they are?”

His eyes narrow, a grin tugging up the side of his mouth. “Do you know where they are and how to navigate Edrobaz?”

“No,” I admit, feeling stupid. “Of course not.”

His chest puffs out with pride. “Then yes, I am coming. And I will carry food and feed you carefully, so that you can take in the sights as we walk without ruining your new dress.”

“Draz, we’re not going to have time to sight see.”

His face falls. “I understand.”

“Not until after I talk to them,” I relent, poking his hard stomach. “Then you can show me around.”

“Are you sure you are strong enough?”

“For a warlord, you sure are an overbearing grandmother.”

“I am very confused about what humans must think an ancient woman with two generations of offspring do.”

I snort, unable to stay serious about that translation fail. “I promise that if I get too tired, I’ll let you carry me back here.”

“So that I may have my way with you,” he adds, a gleam in his eyes.

“Sure, yes,” I say, grinning. “Sounds like a plan.”

“It is a very good plan.”

“Well then, let’s get our food to-go and head out to my crew.”

I pluck at the sheer skirts again, sliding into some overlarge leathery sandals Draz plopped on the floor for me, and trying to figure out how the hell I’m going to deal with the fallout.

It’s time to be Captain Jacks again.

Only this edition is in love with an alien and wearing a barely-there gown.

Right.

OceanofPDF.com

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

OceanofPDF.com

NIKI

By the time I get to the tree house, the myza, my crew is staying in, news of our arrival has spread. Suevans, mostly male, save for a handful of much older females, line the streets, watching our progress.

Draz nods to them, greeting them here and there with words of greeting or the strange fist thumps that the Suevans do out of respect.

Many of the Suevans openly stare at me, curiosity clear in their gazes.

It makes me worried about what, exactly, my crew has been up to, if humans are still such a rarity here that I’m gawked at. Have they stayed inside the whole time? Are they allowed out and about?

What the hell has been going on while I was stuck recuperating in the Suevan jungle?

The skirts of the dress flutter around my legs with every step, slits up both sides showcasing a whole lot more skin than I realized when Draz helped me get into it back at his myza. Our tree house.

“Ready?”

I nod once, throwing my shoulders back and steeling myself.

Draz presses a seam on the outside of the house my team’s been bedding down in, and a door swings open.

The six women who made it to Edrobaz lounge around the interior. Food stretches across a long table made from a halved log, and velvety, moss-covered couches dot the floor. Everyone stops as I enter the room, and we’re silent as we regard each other. I count the faces in front of me, trying to figure out who’s missing.

“Oh thank God,” Bex screams. “Captain Jacks is here, and she’s dressed like a total skank!”

Okay, then.

Relief floods me. My crew seems healthy. About half of them are wearing dresses like mine, though a couple wear flowing pants and crop tops. Bex has a jagged wound down her side, and I move toward her instinctively.

“What happened?”

“Dergoz happened,” she says acidly.

“Dergoz?” I glance back at where Draz is attempting to melt into the brown walls.

“The brute. The warlord I’m apparently married to.” Bex peers around me, narrowing her eyes at Draz. “How’s married life treating you?”

“Draz, can you give us some privacy?” I ask, and he nods once before slipping out of the house.

All the women in front of me give a silent sigh of relief, and I soak them in. Their faces are upturned to me like flowers seeking sun, and I’m so fucking glad to see them all that I just take a minute, scanning each of them.

“Has anyone else been hurt by the Suevans?”

Six heads shake, and I narrow my eyes at Bex.

“Didn’t you just say that Dreg—” I stumble over the name.

“Dergoz didn’t mean to. They call him a brute, but he’s not one,” she says quickly, and Michelle, our analyst, rolls her eyes.