“I am the only one with horns,” he says, tapping the purple twin growths curling over his white hair. There’s a devilish expression on his face, and it just makes me more irritated.
“Are you going to help me clean up or not?” I ask him, turning towards the strange translucent panel where the strange alien shower is located.
It doesn’t take me long at all to realize that even if I hadn’t admitted I needed his help, I absolutely do need his help because I have no idea how to work this thing. I push on the panel with my palm flat against it, but nothing happens. Perplexed, I tug at the seam I can just barely make out, but again nothing happens.
“May I help you?” Zan asks. There’s almost a trepidation to his voice, like he’s afraid of pissing me off again, which frankly he should be, but it also makes me feel slightly bad about the way I’ve treated him, that he feels like I’m going to lash out at him just when he asks if I need help. In fact, it makes me feel completely shitty.
“Yes,” I tell him. “I have no idea how to work this thing.”
“That is alright,” he says. “You are quite adorable when you don’t know how something works and you need my help.”
I nearly growl in frustration, but instead I just grind my teeth. I don’t want him pissed off at me if he’s actually going to help me wash my hair. I have a delicate scalp, much to the annoyance of every hairstylist I’ve ever been to.
“You have to be really careful not to pull my hair,” I tell him quickly. “I hate to be a baby, but…” I trail off, staring up at him with large eyes, feeling ridiculous.
“My Lily, I think you will be shocked at how careful I can be and how gentle I will be in every way with you.” A tentative smile stretches across his face, and I’m surprised to feel an answering smile of my own. “And I do not think you are a baby,” he says very seriously. “You’re clearly very much a full-grown adult human female.”
I snort at that because I don’t think anyone’s ever told me that I was a full-grown adult human female before, and they’ve certainly never said it in such a sincere way.
Zan points to the strange, short-backed chair nestled against the wall, and I sit down in it, my heart beating faster with anticipation of his touch.
“Your face is all scrunched up again, like you’re upset with me,” he says gently. “Are you really this afraid that I will hurt you?”
He sounds genuinely concerned, and guilt washes through me, leaving a bitter taste in my mouth.
“No, I don’t think that you’re going to hurt me.” I try not to say the rest of the thought, but thanks to the goddamn truth serum, it comes out anyway. “I’m worried it’s going to feel too good.”
I’ve been around him so long now that I’m used to how huge he is, but now that we’re in this small, strange alien dome, I’m alltoo aware of just how huge he is—the sheer breadth of his chest, his height, the fact that his wings nearly touch the sides.
“Fine,” I say when he doesn’t respond, simply humming under his breath, pressing the corner of the translucent panel, where it slides away with a hiss. I cross my arms over my chest and squeeze my eyes shut. “Let’s get this over with.”
CHAPTER
EIGHT
ZAN
My fingers trembleas if I am five years old again picking up a plasma rifle for the first time. That’s the last time I can remember being this nervous. Lily has given me permission to touch her, and it’s not something she’s done lightly, that much I know.
“It’s not easy for you to trust me, is it?” I ask her.
She doesn’t bother answering and just makes her huffing noise. That means she’s both listening and irritated to me.
“That’s fine,” I tell her. “All you have to do is let me take care of you right now. Trust me. Enough for this, and the rest will come.”
“Oh,” she makes a soft snorting sound that must be disbelief. But there’s a heightened aroma of her heat that belies the fact that she is not at all affected by me. There is hope for us yet.
The water switches on easily, as if it had been taken directly from one of the many colonies I’ve been stationed on over my years. In fact, it’s unsettling just how perfect this replica dome is,and it triggers all sorts of unpleasant memories of my time in the Draegon Army.
The water is perfectly warm, the combination of the scent of the soaps already in the line is perhaps the most powerful memory recall of all.
“What’s wrong?” Lily asks.
I’ve been letting the water run in my hand while she sits there watching me.
“Just remembering my time in the military,” I tell her softly. “Lean your head back.”
She does as I ask, but her eyes are wide, and even though she’s silent, the wheels in her head haven’t stopped turning.
