Page 17 of Stealing Samantha

That’s right. She had roommates now.

“Good morning,”she called, croaking a little as the unfamiliar syllables of the main Xithilene language rolled out roughly over her tongue. The translation devices helped—in fact they were pretty damn miraculous—but she still had to pronounce the alien words, and she was never at her best first thing in the morning. Still, she thought it was a good idea to remind the girls that she could understand them. Sam had no interest in overhearing any unsavory gossip about herself.

“Lady! You’re awake. Do you prefer that we speak Xithilene?”The one with the lower voice and black, green and gold feathers was speaking. She was pretty sure that was X’tha, but this was only day three with the troupe—otherwise known as the morning after her first performance.

“Xithilene, English, whatever you like.” Five or six months ago, she would’ve been thrilled at the prospect of speaking Xithilene as easily as she could now. She’d expected it to become as natural as breathing during her new life in Verkissat. “So, what do our days usually look like? Do we normally get any time to explore?” she asked.

“Sometimes, but only during approved excursions. There are safety concerns—that’s what Lithi’s told us,” replied the other roommate. It probably made her weak that she was glad the woman had chosen to reply in a human language instead.

“Has anything happened so far?” Sam asked. Despite the presence of T’xith’s men the other night at the theater, she hadn’t really taken the threat seriously. She hoped that Kayla would’ve told her if she knew something concrete.

“No. I think Lithi just wants to make sure none of us enjoy ourselves too much in your human cities—she doesn’t want to lose any of her dancers, even if it’s just temporary,” said X’tha. “Do you dance at all, lady?”

“Just Sam,” she found herself replying reflexively. She huffed out a half laugh. “Not like you. I’ll stick to playing my flute, thank you very much.” Sam grinned at the other women. “So, I have an important question for you both—have you discovered the importance of coffee?”

* * *

“Sam—wait.”

Sam had just finished cleaning her flute and was snapping the case closed when she heard Jaess call her name. She hadn’t been avoiding him, but she’d been anxious about running into him after their first show together the night before. Even now, she still wasn’t sure how to properly express what it’d meant to her to be up there in front of such a crowd, and to know without a doubt that they’d been transfixed by her music. She’d been coasting on that adrenaline high for hours until she’d finally fallen asleep in her room with X’tha and…nope, she still didn’t recall the other one’s name.

“How’s it going, Jaess? Do you feel good about the music for tonight? Any questions?” She tried to keep her tone relaxed and easy.

“The song is perfect.” He came to a stop about two feet away and tucked his hands into his pockets. How there was room when he was wearing those buttery soft, way too tight leather pants, she had no idea, but he somehow managed to do it and make it look incredibly right.

“Perfect?” She barely kept herself from heaving a sigh when she heard the teasing lilt in her own voice. Her and her smart mouth—no flirting with the alien.

There was something seriously wrong with her. She’d sworn off Xithilene men for good after Uvaess. The simple sound of crows settling in to roost along their neighbor’s back fence had been forcing her shoulders to shoot up to her ears since she’d come back to Earth. She shouldn’t even be tempted.

Too bad she’d never been good at making the right choices.

“Perfect.” There was such finality in the way he said the word. It felt heavy, solid—immutable. As if she could argue, but nothing would change his mind. “Would you come with me?” he asked.

“Where?”Space? Verkissat with its gleaming towers? A village that balanced on the apex of the world?The yes almost fell from her mouth before he answered.

“Coffee. Humans enjoy it, correct?”

Sam laughed. “I do, at least. Have you been speaking with X’tha?”

“Who?” he asked blankly.

“It doesn’t matter.” She shook her hair back behind her shoulders and stepped closer. “Coffee sounds great.”

The theater here was different from the one in Seattle—newer, brighter. She supposed it made sense. Everything in Calgary seemed shinier and fresher than home. It was another one of those older cities that had doubled and then tripled in size after the great storms and the early waves of climate migrations.

“Have you visited here before?”

Sam glanced at Jaess as they made their way towards the doors where they’d entered earlier that morning. “No. I never had the opportunity to travel much. It was part of the reason I signed up for the Mate Portal Program,” she admitted.

“You weren’t looking for a mate?”

“No—yes? I mean, isn’t everyone looking for love? I guess I was just hoping to have it all: adventure, love, the kind of life I could never manage to make for myself at home.”

Jaess’ laugh was deep and raspy. “Adventure? I thought you didn’t like Xithilene.”

“I loved Verkissat,” she said. When she didn’t continue, Jaess’ jaw clenched, and Sam could see his wings tighten back against his shoulders. It made their black edged ridges rise higher, and there was no pretending that he was just a strangely colored man as it was so easy to do when she was around T’xith.

“Would you have stayed? If the Sa’isthess male who took you had remained with you in Verkissat, would you have chosen differently?” They’d gone down a short series of stairs and were approaching the exit. Jaess had slowed down, almost to a stop, as they reached the last step.

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