Page 80 of King of Serpents

“Alex? Holy shit, it is you. You’re alive?” the male retorted. “I can’t believe it.”

Her lips twisted wryly as she greeted him. “Hey Mike. Yeah, I’m still kicking and haven’t yet hopped over the void into the hereafter.”

“Woo-ee, I can’t wait to tell Whitey. He was pretty damned broken up when he heard that you went missing. Been drowning his sorrows in his cup every night, begging the gods to cough you back up and return you to his arms.”

Therxian’s gavo slowly extended, his scales prickling with hostility. Who was this Whitey and why was he grieving over Alex? And what was this about a strange male’s arms? He cast a sharp look at his mate, but she grimaced back at him.

“Right,” she drawled, a hint of impatience in her tone. “Well, you can just tell Whitey that all of that is unnecessary. I’ve never been better. So, he can carry on doing whatever he was doing before. But the reason I’ve commed is quite a bit more urgent—"

The glowing lines of Mike’s face rearranged into an expression of solemnity. “You know he has been pining pretty hard for you, girl. I know you two have had problems, but I hoped that you would see reason by now. After all of this, don’t you think that it’s nigh time for you to come back and make amends? Whitey is a good man, and I think you’ve let him suffer enough for his mistakes. Especially leaving him here for so long, thinking that you are dead and grieving like a man who had lost the other piece of his heart.”

Therxian glowered at the male, his patience rapidly dwindling.

“And which piece would that be?” Alex countered drily. “I seem to recall that he was pretty liberal about sharing it around and had a little something for everyone. But that is neither here nor there,” she continued briskly. “Whitey is not my problem. What I need is—”

“Now come on, Alex,” the male chuckled. “Enough hard to get. What better options could you possibly have? Just let me know when you will be back to the colony, and I will make all the arrangements for the two of you to have some well-deserved time off together.”

“Enough!” Therxian hissed as he whipped toward his mate, baring his sharp teeth at the human’s light-image. It immediately grew distorted as if the human recoiled fearfully, and Therxian merely grinned, wishing that it was his rival in front of him instead. “Enough of this Whitey,” he continued menacingly. “He is nothing.”

Mikey’s head turned toward Alex, his eyes widening as his image slowly became more distinct again. “Alex? What the hell? Who the fuck is this guy... this... alien?”

Therxian scowled in affront and slowly drew himself up. “I am Alex’s mate. I assume that you are the superior in this hangar that she mentioned. You will cease rambling about meaningless things and connect her with the superiors of the colony,” he spat.

His mate’s warm hand brushed his arm, and she chuckled. “My hero,” she whispered, sending a flush of warmth through his chest, even if he had to endure Kitanara’s quiet laughter from the other side of the chamber. Alex looked back over at Mikey grimly. “Therxian is right. No more messing around, Mike. I need you to patch me through to command.”

The male’s mouth pursed as he regarded them, but then he sighed heavily and rolled his neck. “Oh fine. Since you’ve gone and mated up with an alien, I’ll just get on that and pass the message along. I suppose this comm means you aren’t coming back, anyway.”

Alex shook her head. “I’m not coming back,” she affirmed. “I just need to report to command.”

Mike sighed. “Sure thing, Alex. It is a damned shame to lose such a fine young woman and damned good mechanic around here, but Whitey done fucked shit up good this time. Alright, Alex, hang tight. I am patching you through now.”

The male’s image collapsed into a glowing field that pulsed faintly.

“Finally,” Alex muttered, and Therxian could not agree more.

“How much longer?” Kitanara hissed as she glanced back anxiously through the entrance. “I do not doubt Elder Goyu’s ability to keep the guards distracted, but it will only work for so long.”

“Should be any minute now,” Alex murmured as she bounced anxiously on her toes.

The electric grid bounced and flickered before suddenly taking shape in the likeness of a male with a more angular facial structure and a pronounced nose. The male narrowed his eyes for a moment, his brows furrowing in an expression of confusion. He tipped his head as if listening to someone beside him, and his expression cleared.

“Oh... right. Of course, I know who she is. Alexandra Taylor is the best fucking mechanic this colony has. But what confuses me is why am I staring at my mechanic through the comm unit registered to the Algatha caverns, and where the hell is Vi? Alex? Report. What’s going on? Last I heard, you all disappeared into the desert without permission or a word of farewell. I hope you are comming me with some good news,” he growled.

Incised, Therxian did not bother censoring himself before he growled right back, but twice as viciously, startling the human.

“Sweet buckets in hell, who the fuck is—”

“Eddie, I will explain—actually, for the sake of brevity, I will sum up—” Alex quickly replied, “this is Therxian, another prince of the Aglatha and brother of Slengral. Actually, at this point, more like the prince. He is the eldest offspring of High Queen Zathexa. Therxian, this is Eddie Wik, and despite being all growly, he is most definitely not a threat. Or a rival,” she threw in awkwardly.

Therxian’s startled gaze turned to his mate. He had not considered the male anything of the sort. Just lacking in manners.

The human—Eddie—gave a dry laugh and rubbed the back of his neck. “Honey, I don’t think that alien is sizing me up. You haven’t worked around Seshanamitesh as much as I have. More like he’s offended enough to remind me to mind my manners, if I’m not a missing my guess.”

“Accurate,” Therxian grumbled.

The human let out a peculiar, very human, whistle that Seshanamitesh mouths weren’t built for and shook his head. “Look like you’ve snagged yourself an alien... and royalty at that. I suppose that means that you also aren’t coming back.”

Why did the humans all insist on asking that? What business was it of theirs?