Page 38 of Meet Me in the Stars

“Did she tell you for a very short period we had an open relationship?” I asked him.

“Yeah.”

“We were young-ish. We had fun. We wanted to see what was still out there. Then she got sick and it was just us. It was nice. It doesn’t surprise me that she’d morph us into a throuple, if I’m being honest.”

“We’re a polycule with a missing link,” Elio sighed. “I don’t remember her in this lifetime, of course, but I miss her. It aches behind my ribs every time I remember she brought us together but she’s not here to be happy with us.”

I nodded and kissed his temple.

“Love is an ache that lasts forever,” I shrugged. “Too much is never enough, and it always ends too soon. Are you ready to show me the Star Room? I’d like to know what happened over there. I get it. You think I won’t believe you unless I see it and fair enough because you’re probably right.”

“Can we have breakfast and coffee that hasn’t been poisoned with sugar first?” Elio rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. “It may take a while and I don’t want to be hungry all day.”

“Sounds like a plan,” I nodded.

Chapter Twenty

Elio

The crew members of the Medwin 2 were restless. Castor had kept them inside except for short trips outside into the landing field for some fresh air. I’d never say it, because it might undermine his authority, but watching another omega boss all these alphas around lit something up inside me. They might not have liked his orders, but they followed them. They trusted him to lead them. He’d gotten them this far. So, his judgement was probably sound.

While Fred dug into breakfast, I followed Castor to the coffee pot. I wanted to give him a heads up about a few tiny things when he finally did take his crew off the Medwin 2.

“Did the Moonscales ever have a scale like that?” Castor asked in lieu of good morning.

“Yeah. I’ll get you copies of those records if you want to see them. You all had crescent moons on your foreheads when you first came over. It was before Frost and Juda if the records are to be believed. Sometimes they seem one hundred percent right and then other times it seems impossible that one species – the humans that is – fucked up so many lives over and over and no one just up and offed them all. I know, I know. Marsin always says that would make us as bad as them, but we burn fire ant hills because they’ll hurt us.”

“I’d like to see those,” Castor grinned, passing me a light blue mug full of dark black coffee.

Its warmth spread into my palms and its deep, bitter aroma stirred more of my brain to life. The first drink hit my soul in all the right spots, and I let out a happy sigh. Good coffee usually made for a good day.

“I’m going to take Fred over to the Star Room today.”

“Where all the scales come and go from?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I nodded and took another drink of the bitter brew. “I’d like to be alone with him.”

“And the rest of us don’t have the scales. So we couldn’t get in anyway.”

“Has Teddy’s come up yet?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Castor admitted. “He keeps his shirt on, and I haven’t asked him to flash me.”

“If it hasn’t, it will eventually,” I said. “We take our members with their children. They’re still Moonscales or whatever too, but they’re Starscales now.”

“What should I know about taking the guys out into the city?” Castor asked, taking a long swallow of his own coffee. It smelled diluted with a lot of cream. It was as if none of them really liked the taste of coffee at all and merely used it as a vehicle for sugar and dairy.

“Be nice. Use the sidewalks when you’re on foot. People will have questions. You don’t have to answer them, but they’ll have them. If you go where the purple buildings are…” I bit my lip uncertain of how to explain it. “It’s a free love area. Not that someone will jump your bones without consent, but that part of the town is sort of clothes optional and it’s not unusual to see people having a really good time out in the open there. Of course, it’s an adult only neighborhood and you’re free to visit there, but I thought I should give you a head’s up about it.”

“Don’t tell the rest of them. Tell your mate what you want, but not the rest of them if you can help it. I’m all for free love, but I don’t want to have to chase after my crew while they’re trying to rut to victory or however, they’re saying it now.”

“I’ll leave that up to you, but if they wander around on their own someone will discover it sooner or later. Also, birth control and heat shots are available at any clinic for anyone who needs them.”

“You guys aren’t very different from us, huh?” Castor asked.

“My ancestors didn’t want to leave Earthside. They just didn’t want to fight with the humans anymore. So they left and built us a home. Then they had to build two more around our purple sun as the population grew,” I grinned. “So I think most things will be familiar to you and your crew.”

“Thank you for not being the warmongering dragon king Clarence feared you were.”

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