Page 16 of Forbidden Desires

“No, the captain’s quarters are on this level.” The second in command used to have quarters down here, but one encounter with a hostile force showed us that having both on the same levelwas asking for trouble. Our second in command moved three levels up on the other side of the ship. It increased the chance of one of them surviving if we’re attacked unawares.”

That made sense to her. “Where are we going?”

He stopped to think about it. “We’re going to the conyata. There’s no direct translation. Think of it as a cafeteria where we eat and talk about what’s happening on the ship and our lives.”

“We’re going to eat with your crew?”

“Yes.’

Her stomach dropped. That wasn’t good, right?”

Chapter Ten

The door to the mess hall slid open and Amelia’s stomach tried to come out through her throat. She swallowed several times to get it back in place. Every head turned like they were looking for Zylar and the poor human captive he dragged up to the ship. Was she a captive? There was no time for introspection. A male stood up. She was getting better when she didn’t immediately think of him as a purple male, right? He was tall, almost Zylar’s height, with darker skin than Zylar’s but still purple.

Zylar, Mekha, and SaKura had skin that was the same color. Hell, they almost looked alike. Those royal genes showing.

“Amelia, this is Captain Gylor. He’s the ship’s captain. You’ve already met Dr. Bly.”

The captain walked over and shook Amelia’s hand. She knew he was uncomfortable by the way he did it slowly, like he didn’t want to mess it up or hurt her. His eyes darted to Zylar several times, which intrigued Amelia.

“Nice to meet you, captain.”

“You too.” He gave her a closed-mouth smile, making her like him right off the bat. “We have room for two more at our table.”

The tables were large, but the males that sat at it were larger. Amelia was going to feel like a child at the grown-up table when she sat on one of those chairs. She’d make it work as long as they didn’t bring out a booster chair. There were two others at the table.

Captain Bly took over introductions when they got to the table. “This is my second in command, Delsa. Next to her is her mate, next to him is our chief engineer, Kyri.”

Amelia tried to shake herself to stop staring at Delsa. She was an alien, but not like Zylar, or Thad. Thad was a watcher who could change shape to a human or his natural shape, which was a buff-toned black male with dreads and a tail. Hell, she thought about riding that ride for all of ten minutes and now she was happy she didn’t.

“Hi.” Delsa stood up. She was tall, coming about shoulder height to the surrounding males. Taller than Amelia, who only came to Zylar’s chest. Her skin was white, but not the pale color of humans. Delsa was more like the white of Wonder Bread. With Emerald eyes. Yes, all one color, no pupil as far as she could see unless it was the same color. Her teeth matched the color of her eyes. It was going to take a minute to accept this new alien, but she would. What she liked most about her was the good feeling she felt coming from her. Delsa would make a good friend.

Delsa placed her hand over what Amelia was choosing to think was her heart since she didn’t know her anatomy before she extended her hand to shake Amelia’s. Amelia mirrored her, placing a hand over her heart and meeting Delsa’s for a shake. When she looked down, she saw that there were several pillows on her chair which would make her sit taller at the table. Sheglared at Zylar, but stopped when Delsa started laughing. She reached down, picking up the pillow on her chair.

“The Diza females were usually shorter than the males. It became an ingrained habit to keep these in the ships. You and I benefit from it.” Amelia smiled and took a seat. The pillows made the chair more comfortable.

“You’re probably wondering about me. I’m Novari. We can get together later and have a female’s day where we tell each other about ourselves, and you introduce me to fingernail polish and corrupt me.” Amelia looked at Delsa’s nails. They were claws, but they weren’t human either. They were thicker and came to a natural point at the end, which reminded her of some nails she’d seen on human women. Modern nail techs were wizards.

Amelia laughed. It was high and bright, reminding her of whom she used to be yesteryear. “We can do our toes, too.”

“Toes!” Delsa gushed. “Rala won’t know what to do with me.” Rala leaned over and kissed his mate, making everyone at the table other than Zylar groan. Kyri, the chief engineer, shook his head and ignored them.

Zylar decided Rala was positively brilliant before leaning over to kiss Amelia. The kiss took her by surprise, but her eyes shone, and she couldn’t hide her smile. There were more groans at the table.

“Before those of us who aren’t mated poke our eyes out, let’s order,” Captain Bly suggested. Amelia looked around the cafeteria and noticed that other than her and Delsa, there wasn’t another female around. That’s when she picked up on the sadness. It was so thick she could almost choke on it.

“Captain Bly, I have a friend her name is Sarah. I just recently met her. She doesn’t have a male and has no prospects on Earth. I think she’d be an excellent candidate to go to Diza. If your ship was transferring females, you could meet her. That is, if you like females with my body type.”

“I would tell you how beautiful you are, but Zylar would go lozo on me.” Lozo translated into loco, and she couldn’t help but laugh.

Amelia stood up. “My friend Anna just had a baby girl she named after Zylar, who was the healer at her birth. She has a similar body size. She did a la Vanna White over her body. Her male threw her and the baby away. I know she’ll be looking for someone to love her and her small female.” She didn’t know how to say infant in their language and wasn’t sure the word would translate. “I was thinking Captain Bly could use his ship to transfer these women and ones that I’m sure my cousin consort Jenna and warrior Bella are already interviewing to come to Diza. It’d be nice if there were clean living spaces and guides to show them around the ship and what you do for fun.”

Amelia sat. The air felt lighter, as if there was hope in it. Captain Bly chuckled and made a complicated hand movement. Soon they were being served large plates of food.

“Don’t get used to it. This only happens on this ship at this table because someone needs coddling.” Zylar glared at him.

The staff served them a meal, and they ate in silence. Was it her imagination or were the surrounding people eating faster and then humming when they left the cafeteria?

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