I clear my throat and decide to focus on filling our glasses. “Zann was probably talking about a Zaruheez. They are a very physically intolerant people who spend most of their time living in green mud on their planet.” Once I finish mixing our drinks, I hand one to Niska. “I once witnessed one explode because someone touched him with a texture his gelatinous skin wasn’t used to.”

She blinks at me.

Because I’m babbling like an idiot about exploding gelatinous mud-people, obviously.

But then, Niska’s mouth pulls up on one side as she clinks the side of her glass against mine, and says, “here’s to making each other explode, Prince Kiahn.”

And I-

Fuck, my fangs ache.

I down my drink quickly, and pour myself another.

This contract - no, this female - is going to be the death of me.

* * *

It is two hours, and far too many drinks later that I walk the females back to their room. There is no formal meal tonight - thank the Goddesses. Vel had found us all in our intoxicated states and sent for various snacks to help soak up the liquor. I tried a replicated human delicacy called ‘chips and dip’ and promptly filled my belly.

The evening needed to be wound up once Lois started trying to teach Az some kind of human mating dance called the why-emcee-ay. When she stood up on that table and manually rearranged his arms into different ridiculous poses, she accidentally touched his horns and then proceeded to tease him for getting what she called ‘a fang boner’.

I knew I had to shut everything down when Az - without a shred of embarrassment - just grinned at her and asked if she wanted to touch them.

And Lois was just about intoxicated enough to do it, too.

I’d sent Az off to go sleep it all off in his temporary chambers, and then lingered for far too long outside his old rooms, where my Niska is now inside. I do not know why. We had talked and talked while drinking. She had told me all manner of things about her home planet and the people and places there. It was all fascinating, and suddenly I can see why Vel is such a fan of the species.

Or, perhaps, that is just the effect Niska has on me.

I think she could regale me on just about any subject and I would be enamored by her.

I can hear the human girls erupt into a fit of laughter from behind the closed door to their rooms. My feet move closer and I raise a fist as if to knock on the door but pause. What am I doing? Sighing, I shake my head and make my way back to my own chambers. I’ve taken up enough of Niska’s time today. Besides, soon, I will have her in ways that make me want to fist my cock at the mere thought of.

Or…

Later - when I’m sober - I will probably blame my decision to go straight to my simulator on the amount of drink I have consumed. But for now, once I’ve attached the neuro-patches to my temples, and I’m standing here in the stark-white room with a perfect replica of my sweet, tempting Niska in front of me, I don’t care about any of that. All I care about is using her permission to get a taste of what I’ve longed for since first setting eyes on that curvy little human.

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19

OceanofPDF.com

Chapter 19 - Niska

Jaya is softly snoring beside me when I turn over for what must be the twentieth time now. Normally, when I drink, I peace out into sleep pretty quickly after my head hits any kind of pillow - and that has included a few of my friend’s couches over the years, too. My head is a little clearer than it was before, and that serious case of the giggles we all got has mostly faded. I think normally by this point, if I’m not already asleep, my stomach would start to protest the amount of alcohol I’d subjected it to and would start acting out its impression of a tumble dryer.

But there’s none of that, either.

‘God bless this alien alcohol’ is all I’ve got to say about it.

Even if it doesn’t seem to want to let me sleep.

I can’t stop thinking about Prince Kiahn. About how he would look at me while I must have been babbling away about all kinds of stupid stuff. I’m sure at one point, I explained my favorite parts of the movie, Pretty Woman to him, for Christ’s sake!

I grin up to the dark ceiling when I recall how he’d offered to force some poor Xaviann tradesperson to pretend to be mean to me so that I could have a ‘big mistake! Big! Huge!’ moment of my very own.

‘Though, it would take a very brave Xaviann to insult his Prince’s bride,’ he had said, his possessive gaze burning into mine as he took another slow sip of his liquor. ‘And I would have to pre-approve all their comments ahead of time. Goddess Nex help anyone who actually insults you.’

So protective, I think to myself, my grin broadening in the dark like a crazy person.

But my smile falters. It doesn’t mean anything. It’s all for the contract, and I need to keep reminding myself that. The goal is to get him used to ‘being’ with a woman so that he trusts himself to enter other contracts after ours.

It takes what feels like only thirty more minutes of ruminating before I finally give up on sleep. The weird alien liquor is affecting me, not to mention the fact that my sleep schedule is still fucked up.

With a sigh, I get out of bed but quickly find myself feeling exposed. Vel had given us very simple ‘undergarments’ which consisted purely of some silk shorts and nothing else, apologizing profusely that we will be equipped with a proper wardrobe once we arrive at Xaavia. Knowing that I can’t just go wandering around the ship with my taa-taas out, but not wanting to put that day dress on again, I rummage around in Az’s closet, coming up victorious with a very soft, white shirt with sleeves that hang and billow on my smaller frame. The hem of the shirt stops just below my knees, so I feel more than sufficiently covered to go for a little walk.

My first stop - unsurprisingly - is the lagoon room. I know as soon as I feel the tinge of disappointment when I find it empty, that I’m not really wandering around aimlessly right now. I’m looking for him.

So it really shouldn’t surprise me at all when I find myself standing outside his door.

This is stupid.

I stare at the electronic panel to open the double doors that will reveal Kiahn’s rooms.

He’s probably asleep. I should go.

It’s once I’ve turned, ready to walk away with embarrassment nipping at my heels that I hear it.

It sounds like my name - like Kiahn saying my name from inside his room. Does he know I’m here? Maybe there are cameras? It wouldn’t surprise me. Great - now I have to go in there and explain myself.

“Niska,” he says again from the other side of the doors. But the tone of his voice isn’t one of curiosity as to why I’m standing outside his door like a crazy stalker - he sounds-… it was almost like a moan.

Memories of last night in the lagoon flood my mind, and suddenly I am almost desperate to be that close to him again - to watch him come apart for me, even if it’s only us getting ourselves off again.

I touch the control panel, making the doors whoosh open, and for some reason half of me wants to run and hide at the brazenness of my own actions. But the other half?… well, she wants to play. So, with cheeks warm with potential embarrassment, I step inside. Kiahn’s rooms are similar to Az’s, except possibly larger. There’s windows out to the endless void of space passing us by, a bathroom, a seating area and that huge, four-poster bed that somehow looks like it sprouted up from the floor and grew there organically.