Page 17 of I Married A Catman

To say that I’d been rattled would be quite an understatement, not only because of the scare from the attack, but also seeing the pirate vessels get obliterated. By all accounts, none of them survived. Finding out that the attackers had beenNazhrals only made matters worse. As we completed the journey here, more than once, I asked myself if this was a sign from the universe telling me to turn back and hightail it the hell out of there.

But my dumb ass had committed to this, and right now it was doing a spectacular job of getting nowhere fast.

The ship had four different exits. Being somewhat directionally challenged, I merely followed the crowd towards the closest one, figuring the signs outside would tell me where to go to reach the meeting room where Kayog and my future husband waited for me.

And they had a billion signs…

The problem was that not a single one even remotely referred to the meeting rooms. None of them resembled the images I consulted before our arrival. Being visual, I often went through virtual visits of locations I would travel to so as to avoid getting lost.

My stomach knotted as I followed the exit sign along the hallway stretching endlessly before me. More than once, I considered asking the people rushing past me, but my tongue systematically got tied. Being the only off-worlder here, I felt even more overwhelmed by everyone’s massive size, including the females.

After stumbling into a dead end, I turned around and half ran back the opposite way only to hit a sealed door with a biometric lock.

“Putain de bordel de merde!” I hissed.

I only ever cussed in French—my mother tongue—once I was seriously losing my shit. Naturally, now that I had finally grown enough of a spine to brave the funny stares and ask for help, everyone had conveniently vanished.

How the fuck do so many people just go poof?

I backtracked to the ship, taking a couple of wrong turns along the way before finally spotting two males engaged in an intense conversation. I sheepishly approached them, only to have one glaring at me like I had some serious nerve for invading their personal space.

“Sorry to bother you, but I’m lost. Could you—?”

To my dismay, the jerk simply turned his back on me, his huge, fluffy tail almost slapping me out of the way. I gaped at his back in disbelief before glancing at his companion. The wretch briefly made eye contact with me and bared his teeth in a way that clearly said for me to beat it.

“Espèces d’enculés!” I muttered under my breath as I turned around and stomped away.

Feeling utterly discouraged, I blinked back the tears pricking my eyes. I hated feeling this helpless. I hated even more that I didn’t have a direct com to contact Kayog.

“What are you doing here, human?” a booming masculine voice suddenly barked at me.

I yelped, and spun around, nearly dropping my overnight bag in shock. My eyes felt on the verge of popping out of my head at the sight of the massive Nazhral male, his fur dark as sin, and the bluest eyes leveled severely on me. The scar that ran across the arch of his left eye down to his cheek made him look even more intimidating. He had stepped out of a room accessible through what was otherwise an invisible door.

Pressing a palm to my chest to contain the erratic beating of my heart, I licked my lips nervously and took a tentative step towards him.

“I’m sorry. I’m completely lost. I just arrived on theBehemothand must have taken a wrong exit because I can’t find any directions for meeting room 3B where I am supposed to meet my friends,” I said nervously.

He muttered something under his breath. Despite my translation implant, I couldn’t make out his words. Not that I needed to. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to recognize someone mumbling something about stupid tourists always getting lost.

“You exited on the opposite side. This section is reserved for employees and for high security esteemed guests. You are currently criminally trespassing,” the male said sternly.

“Wait, what?! I’m not trying to trespass. I just want to go to a meeting room. I got lost!” I exclaimed, on the verge of panic. “If you just tell me how to get back to the other side, I’ll be gone in a blink.”

My heart dropped through my body when the pile of muscles started moving towards me. For half a beat, I thought he was going to grab me by the neck and drag me brutally to some dark dungeon where I would never be heard from again. But he just marched past me, stomping his feet—or was it paws?—his bushy tail stiff with aggravation.

“Follow!” he snapped without looking at me.

He didn’t have to say it twice. I hastened after him, clutching my overnight bag to my chest. I was half running to keep up, each of his long strides requiring two steps from me. I was slightly out of breath when I finally saw the entrance of the ship.

He walked up to another Nazhral security guard by the ramp. Before the poor soul could say a word, my escort gave him a proper dressing down for allowing a human to traipse around the restricted area. I felt horrible for the poor guard. Once done berating him, he turned to look at me. I nearly melted right where I stood.

“Why are you still here?” he demanded, visibly annoyed.

“You didn’t tell me to proceed,” I said in a small voice. “I would rather not get lost again.”

His whiskers twitched, and the corner of his upper lip quirked up into a snarl. To my dismay, instead of being properlypanicked by his exasperation with me, I found myself wondering if Gaelec had whiskers that long or the same type of sharp fangs that poked between the grumpy Nazhral’s lips.

“Proceed, human. Straight ahead,” he said pointing at the inside of the ship. “Follow the blue line on the floor and exit where it says Concourse.”

---