Page 15 of All for the Beast

“Then how do you …”

He wiggled his fingers.

Katy balked, her eyes bulging. “Are you serious?”

“What? Are our Siborim customs too offensive for your delicate tastes?”

Her mouth dropped open. “Excuse you!” He laughed again, and she joined in. “Okay, fine. I’m way out of my depth. You’ll have to go easy on me.”

“Here.” He motioned to one of the servants pouring drinks. “The Earth dishes, if you don’t mind.”

Katy watched, aghast, as the servants brought out dish after dish of the Earth delicacies she was used to. “You’ve been holding out on me.” She reached for the meatballs, piling them high on her plate with the serving utensils before she reached for more.

“Hungry?” Gerri asked. Judging by the flush on her face, she was at least two glasses deep on Sidaii wine.

Vharlk was startled back into composure. He had not realized how absorbed he was in Katy until Gerri broke their reverie. “I know I am,” he said.

Katy nodded and smiled through a mouthful of beef. He pulled another few dishes toward them, some he was familiar with and others he had let the servants and Gerri pick.

She swallowed her mouthful and turned to the table. “Is Earth food common here?”

“More common than you’d think,” Mom said. She gazed between Vharlk and Katy with a sweet, approving expression.

“The Nova Aurora ruler is mated to an Earthling,” Vharlk said in between bites of chiovorlan steak. The servants had outdone themselves with the food. “So we’ve become more equipped to help Earthlings like yourself adjust.”

Katy glanced at Gerri. “Are there a lot of humans here?”

“Certainly,” Gerri answered. “I’ve set up hundreds of couples.”

“It’s more common now,” Vharlk said, “because Gerri is serving as a go-between. And we do our best to make everyone feel welcome.”

Katy blushed. “I don’t want you to think I don’t like it here. It’s just so new.”

Vharlk looked into her eyes with sincerity. “I don’t think that. I think in time, you’ll find it as much of a home as Earth is.”

Katy held his gaze for a long moment, and it was only when she glanced away, still blushing, that Vharlk could breathe again.

SEVEN

KATY

Katy was starting to settle into the dinner when she saw Gerri lift her phone out of her purse. She gazed at it for a moment, then proceeded to rise from the table.

“I apologize for my early departure,” Gerri began. “But I am needed back on Earth, and these wormholes don’t have a waiting room.”

Katy felt the cascade of laughter run down the long table but couldn’t ingest it completely. She was concerned about being left on some strange planet, all on her own, without Gerri’s guidance. She placed her fork down when she realized the hand holding it had started to shake.

V’s parents rose from their chairs and gave Gerri a double kiss on the cheek and a tight embrace. V did the same, and when she came to say her farewell to Katy, she took her by the wrist and into the foyer.

“Excuse us for a moment,” Gerri said politely.

They moved under the high gothic ceilings and stood by the red oak door out of earshot from the dinner table.

“I hope you don’t think you have to stay,” Gerri said, pulling on her coat. “You haven’t made any agreement yet, so if you are uncomfortable, feel free to get your things and come with me.”

Katy felt a flush of confusion, guilt, and intrigue. She was curious about V, not only about the construction of a cruise liner on a foreign planet but about what he could offer her, physically and spiritually. It was an odd sensation that ran from her toes and through her entire body like a fast-flowing river.

Helping build a cruise ship and advertising it to its local shifters wouldn’t be something she could put on her resume since humans didn’t know about Nova Aurora. But Katy had a feeling that everything she was going to experience on the planet was going to be something she wouldn’t forget in a professional or personal capacity.

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