Page 52 of Wayfinder
I loved him with every fiber of my being. From the moment we met, I’d felt a spark between us. Granted, I had thrown a knife at his head, but that now seemed like a funny anecdote for our meet-cute.
I couldn’t get enough of him. His touch was like fire against my skin. And his kisses...have mercy! I’d been around the block a few times, so to speak, but being with Jutuk was unlike anything I had ever experienced. Every kiss felt like a new adventure, exploring uncharted territories of pleasure together. He knew exactly how to bring me to the brink of ecstasy, and gently guided me over the edge. Being with him filled me with a sense of completeness and pure joy. This was what true love felt like.
Perhaps there was something to this goddess-blessed, fated mate’s thing. Or maybe I’d just been lucky enough to find the one man perfect for me.
Either way, I’d found my place in the universe... by his side.
I could only imagine the shocked and confused reactions of my friends when I told them I had fallen deeply in love with this wonderful, hunky alien. Me, Pearl, who never seemed to have time for anything other than building my career and perfecting my recipes. The same Pearl who had vowed to never again open her heart after that lying, stealing, piece of shit Donovan.
But Jutuk shattered the walls around my heart, filling me with a sense of wholeness and affection I had never felt before. How could my friends not love him?
Thankfully, Jutuk returned before I had time to worry about him. He slipped quietly into the kitchen, carrying a small, covered box whose contents hissed angrily.
“You found something?” I hoped I didn’t sound quite as apprehensive as I felt.
“Yes,” Jutuk smiled, whipping off the cover to reveal a cage underneath. The animal it contained looked like a rabid cross between a hamster and a baby velociraptor.
“What the hell is that thing?” I squeaked, stumbling backward. The creature rushed around the cage, hissing, squealing, and gnawing at the bars. I feared it would free itself and launch at me any second.
“It’s called a poivit. It’s a common rodent on the station.” Jutuk seemed completely nonplussed by the creature.
“A rodent?” I shivered. “You caught an alien rat?”
Jutuk shrugged, peeling the gauze from the stroaig. “It was either that or kidnap someone’s pet.”
I’d seen the creatures kept as pets on the space station. Most were nothing more than cute little balls of multicolored fluff, not favoring dogs or cats to any degree.
“Poivit it is then.”
Using the point of his knife, Jutuk sliced off a sliver of the stoaig and tossed it into the cage using the point of his knife. The poivit released a hateful screech, grabbing the meat and cramming it in his pointed mouth with creepy little hands. The alien rat smacked its thin lips and then crashed against the side of the cage, claws scrabbling for more.
I crept closer to Jutuk, immediately comforted when he put an arm around my shoulders, pulling me close. I slipped my arms around his waist, and we stood silently as the poivit hissed and pitched what my grandmother would have called a good old-fashioned hissy fit.
Jutuk told me the fenkyl would kill within a minute. I counted the time off in my head, and just as we crept upon the minute mark, the poivit issued a long mournful squeal, went completely still, and fell over.
Dead.
“Holy shit!” I didn’t know whether to be relieved or worried.
“The meat is poisoned,” Jutuk stated, the obvious, but in a sexy voice that traveled over my skin like warm butter.
We stared at each other, time freezing as we both tried to process the shock that filled our minds. “The Baron is trying to kill the Duke.” A rather redundant comment, but I couldn’t think of anything else to say.
“It would seem so.” Jutuk’s palm rubbed up and down my spine, warm and comforting.
“What do we do?” I squeaked. All my career, I’d taken care only to serve the freshest, the best ingredients. Making someone sick was a constant terror... and one sure way to ruin a career. Killing someone?
My stomach somersaulted, my heart hammering like a long-distance runner.
Jutuk pulled me into his arms, cradling me against his chest. My heartbeat slowed, copying the steady beat of his.
“We will need to tell Jala and Praxxan and get a message to the Bardaga, but we can’t let anyone else know, or the Baron will find a way to save himself,” Jutuk murmured against my hair. “We will need to proceed as though we haven’t discovered the meat is poison.”
“We need to get rid of this shit.” I motioned toward the hunk of poisoned meat and the now-dead alien rat.
Jutuk nodded slowly, studying the sure death laying before us. “You will need to find something else to prepare for the Duke. We can’t make Baron Oappo suspicious.” Jutuk moved away from me to cover the cage. He laid a cloth over the stroaig like he was draping a dead body.
My brain shifted into chef mode. “What about using behia? From what I can tell, it seems the same consistency as the stroaig.” I tapped my chin, considering. “If I knew what stroaig tastes like, it would be easier to duplicate.”
