Page 2 of The Alien's Little Sister

Ohhh, fuck me. She’s got a sex kitten voice.

“She needs a speaking part,” Stacy declares immediately.

Didn’t I tell you the kid’s got good business sense? “Damn straight,” I agree. Seventy percent of the clientele hitting the alien escape room are male. (Ladies tend to go for the Centaur Stable escape room. Especially bachelorette parties. Chicks dig centaurs. I don’t really get why, but then again, I was never a horse-crazy teenage girl who grew up to find half of a guy hot, and it’s okay that it’s not my area. I don’t need to share their enthusiasm for the game to know the theme is gold.) Guys are going to lick the sight of this woman right up.

To the new girl, I hold out my hand. “I’m Matt, your new boss. There’s a tour happening in twenty minutes, so if you’ll follow me, I’ll get you set up. We’ll do your paperwork after, yeah?”

The woman is tall, almost as tall as me. She’s built like a brick shithouse too, the sexiest, sexiest brick shithouse ever. It’s all in her rack and rounded shoulders and ass and curvy hips, Hallelujah.

“Oh my land, I’m so glad you walked in here today,” Stacy squeaks to her, her hands coming together in a clap of happiness. “Matt was seriously getting crabby.” Stacy’s eyes widen, and she quickly promises, “But usually he’s cool.” Her smile showcases itself again as she gives her brand new coworker a more thorough looking over. “And you showing up in costume for the interview? Win!”

Yeah, gotta say—normally, I’d feel they were trying a little too hard if someone showed up in their own costume in order to get a job. Of course today, I’d take anything. But hell—a costume like this woman’s, whether I was hiring or not, and I’d abduct her off the damn street.

It’s a kickass getup. She’s mostly teal and frost blue in color, with slashes of white almost tiger-like stripes on her scales. And whatever material her suit is made of, or whatever paint she used, the scales she’s wearing are kind of metallic so she’s showing color shifts. The effect? Cool asshit.Flexible spines sprout out from between gaps in her clothing running down her back. They clack a little when she moves. She’s got delicate twisting horns, two of them, sprouting above long, elegant ears, and what appears to be dreads or…leather strips?In place of human hair.

I look her over closer, wondering where she’s hiding her hair. All I can see are the leather strip-things, looking like they attach right to her latex-scale covered skull, which makes me curious if she went full throttle and shaved her head for this costume. That’d be nuts, but you won’t hear me complaining. She looks as legit an alien as anything I’ve ever seen, and far better than I can probably afford to pay her for.

Whoever she is.

“Got a name?” I try again. But really, I don’t care what her name is. She’s mine now.

“I am the jewel of the Bone Grinder’s cave, sibling to Rotk Kotok Zadeon, and Arokh, a Prime class gladiator, as well as—”

“Okaaay…” I interrupt, holding up an impatient hand. “Got a nickname?”

Her mouth turns down a little. “Inara.”

“Ooh, pretty,” Stacy breathes.

This Inara flashes her a smile that, for some reason, hits me square in the gut. “Thank you.” Her lips are spread so wide she’s showing her teeth. They’re good: they look real, but they’re pointed, like—well, like alien teeth. They sure don’t look human. Nothing on her does, and I cannot believe how good life just got. Inara’s smile softens. “And you are?”

“Stacy,” Stacy answers, beaming brightly at her. “And your new boss is Matt Shawnessy.”

“No-longer-crabby Matt Shawnessy?” Inara teases, sending me a glance before flashing a conspiratorial grin in Stacy’s direction.

I give the new girl a look. “I’m right here. You really want to push it your first day?”

“Yeah, wait til after payday,” Stacy confides in a mock whisper.

Inara laughs, and I almost trip. It’s… it’s a good sound.

I shake off my growing interest, and indicate the hallway with my arm. “Let’s go. We’ve got a room to get ready. You’re up.”

CHAPTER 2

She follows me into the escape room… not reluctantly, but there’s a hesitant air surrounding her.

“What’s up?” I ask.

“Well…” Something flails behind her, catching my eye. I lean around her a little, looking down around the vicinity of her ankles to see that she has a robotic tail.

Like I said. She is cool as shit.

“What is this place?” she asks. “What is it that you want me to do?”

My eyes narrow. “You showed up dressed as an alien for an escape room but you don’t know what an escape room is?” That would make no sense.

“I spied a billboard—I believe that is what you call the advertisement in the sky?”

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