Page 13 of Hijack!
Before she’d received her universal translator inoculation, she’d read—several times—the medical literature. It was very explicit that translations were not guaranteed accurate, that everything from context to intentional deceit to linguistic drift could affect meaning “as is also the case with non-assisted overt language”. Which she knew was true enough, since she said things all the time that weren’t necessarily a precise and complete representation of her feelings: “I’m fine”, “no worries”, “I can definitely see how you’d think I have enough daily planners.”
Should she take him at his word? If only she could see his button. “And the kiss? Was that just part of the job?”
“I did not kiss you.”
There’d been a time, back on Earth, when she would’ve rather died than pursue this conversation after such a flat denial. Maybe the trace elements of alien botanics in the atmosphere had some previously unknown effect on Earthers. “I think you wanted to.”
“Kufzasin do not kiss.”
That was not actually a response to her challenge. “Kufzasin don’t slow dance to Elvis either.” She took a step closer to him, not quite stalking. “And Kufzasin don’t date. According to the IDA handbooks, you skip straight to the mating.”
Chapter 5
All the air of the atmo-hall, sweet as it was, left Ellix in a rush—replaced by something much more intoxicating.
The scent of her.
It swirled through his head, threatening to disrupt his discipline like a reckless finger on a power toggle. “There’s no need for you to know Kufzasin mating rituals. There are no Kufzasin passengers here.”
“But there’s you. And I’m supposed to make everybody happy. That’smyduty.”
So she had not studied him specifically. That was no reason for his whiskers to wither like plasma-scorched petals.
And yet the idea that she’d studied others ignited some unjustifiable wrath in him. “Earther curiosity exceeding capacity for understanding is why your world is still closed.”
“Yet here I am.” When she smiled this time, the expression looked daring. “And I just so happen to know, lots of other speciesdokiss. It’s not uncommon since the sensitive nerve endings in mouth-like appendages are fun and pleasurable to rub together.” She let out a little scoffing noise. “But of course, you weren’t going to kiss me, even though your mouth was very close to mine—”
“To bite you,” he growled.
Curse the infinite stars,thatsilenced her.
“Didn’t the IDA handbooks mention it?” He closed the last bit of distance between them, all that she’d left when she pursued him into the bower. “Kufzasin hunt their mate by scent, and one bite reveals the devotion.”
Despite the implied peril, she didn’t retreat. She tilted her head all the way back to stare up at him. Her throat, bared,fluttered when she swallowed. “What does it mean? The…devotion?”
“You won’t find it in any book. There is no spoken word that encompasses it, not in any language, not from any translator. Once triggered, it binds mates, wholly and permanently, like cold welding in the vacuum of space.”
“Cold weld…” Felicity narrowed her eyes. “That’s when certain kinds of metals get frozen together.”
“Not frozen. Inextricably fused when the pure surfaces touch and the atoms align themselves as a greater whole.” He stopped himself before he got any more poetical. “That is why Kufzasin don’t date.”
“Oh.” The soft breath left her. “That is…a bit much to promise on a three-sunset speed dating tour.”
He was too close to her. He knew that. The scent of her filled his mouth, and his whiskers vibrated with her proximity. He would always be able to find her in the darkest void between the farthest stars.
But he’d done his reading too, because they both knew their duty. He was her captain; more than that, he’d been a captain too long to steer so far off course. Besides, Earthers did not choose mates with a bite.
And there could be no taste without a bite.
“What if I demanded it?” Those breathless words from her pierced him when he realized he’d spoken aloud. Beforehecould retreat, she amended, “No, not demand. What if I showed you instead? Just lips, maybe tongue. No teeth.”
The soft air was so heavy in his body, sultry with her scent, he felt unable to escape.
Which was a lie, of course. Because his legs worked. The artificial gravity was functional. He just didn’twantto leave.
Instead, he settled a paw at her waist, as he’d done when they danced. “What exactly is promised aboard the Love Boat I?”
“A connection and a chance, according to the brochure,” she said. “Also, I suppose, hope.”
