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I nodded, realizing she was right.
With a wet pop and a moan that made my kitten feel very strange, Thuliak took his fingers out of Airlock’s mouth, leaving her staring up at him with heavy eyelids and parted lips. Her face was red, and her knees trembled.
I’d always been good at negotiating, though I was best at it when I had a gun pointed at someone. My C3-Eve-Splayer likely wouldn’t do anything against the Khetar, but it was still a weapon.
I looked up at Thuliak, and I channeled all the jealousy I felt into defiance. I had to try to sound like I was feeling something other than the most crushing physical and emotional longing I’d ever experienced. “We could kill ourselves,” I said, meeting the alien’s eyes. Then I looked at Emissary, as if she would kill herself too. I needed him to think we wouldn’t go with him so easily. I wanted him to make us some kind of offer or concession. He said he’d gotten three of us, but I was going to show him that he didn’t have us. Not yet at least.
I looked toward C3-Eve-Splayer, then up at Airlock. “I’m a good shot. I wouldn’t miss. I’d do it so you didn’t have to, Emissary, then I’d shoot myself. I’m really good with a Splayer. You wouldn’t feel a thing.” I nodded to Emissary, who I assumed knew I was just trying to negotiate rather than really offering to euthanize her.
“I won’t allow it,” Thuliak growled.
I was about to lunge for the gun. Thuliak must have noticed, because he moved faster than any woman could ever move. I barely got my hands open before the Khetar warrior snapped the plasma rifle up off the ground. I snatched at thin air, and by the time I registered just how fast he’d taken my weapon, he was already back where he’d been, right there with Airlock, but now the gun was in his hands. He didn’t point it at anyone, just held it there and smirked at me.
Thuliak took the rifle and snapped it in two over his knee. There was a dull whirr as the containment field collapsed down into three spacial dimensions, and then the gun went dead.
Emissary stood up. My little attempt at getting leverage had failed, maybe she’d have better luck?
“Tell us,” Emissary said, “what will you do with us?Ifwe agreed to go with you?”
“I’ve already begun negotiating this with Airlock,” Thuliak said, “I will negotiate only with her.”
Of course. I couldn’t help but stare daggers at the woman. What if the other Khetar didn’t look as good as Thuliak? There were a lot of “what-ifs” that could end in me never getting to touch a teal dingdong. The more I thought about how I might not get a Khetar, the more irrational and all-encompassing jealousy I felt toward my former crew mate. Goddess, no wonder High Command had protected us from men. We’d transformed from a functional and competent team of specialists into savage bitches who were at each other’s throats over a big alien dingdong.
“Thuliak,” Airlock stammered. “Scion, sir. May I discuss all this with them before I start negotiating with you?”
My hatred softened. The hatred was all irrational anyway. Airlock was still looking out for us. I needed to not be a total bitch to her. As hard as it might feel to do that right now.
“If you think that’s wise,” Thuliak said.
“I do,” Airlock said. “I do think that’s wise. I don’t need you to talk like that either, like you’re trying to undermine me and make me feel smaller than I should.”
He looked at Airlock, and I could tell he liked it when she had more spine. I’d try to remember to tell her that. “Go ahead,” Thuliak said. “Discuss it with your crew mates, Leader.”
Leader? So he was what? Anointing freaking Airlock Eve as our Leader? Even over Emissary Eve?
Thuliak gave us space, and we formed a small circle of three near our ship’s end of the airlock.
“Is anyoneelsegoing to come looking for us and just get tainted?” Airlock asked.
I glared at her. Iseriouslyhad thought I’d found a code in Emissary’s message.
Emissary's eyes went glassy, she was accessing her implants. “High Command has stepped in, no one on the crew can override the lockdown protocol at this point. Though I’m sure the alien could override it if he wanted. If he doesn’t, then no woman can get through the airlock.”
“His name is Thuliak,” Airlock said, her pretty face scrunching up. “Notthe alien.”
I glared at her. “You get a two-minute head start, and—”
“Quiet,” Emissary said. “I sent Airlock in there knowing the risks. What happened to her is my responsibility.”
“With respect,” I said, “all things being equal, I would have preferred that you sent me into there, and that I were the one sucking on that beautiful alien’s fingers.”
Airlock started to giggle, but her voice went high and cracked when I met her eyes.
“I’m jealous,” I said. “I admit it. So when you negotiate with him, make sure that there are alien men like that waiting for Emissary Eve and me when we get on his ship. That’s pretty much all I’ve got to say at this point.”
“We can’t just think about ourselves,” Airlock Eve said, “If we agree to go with him, what happens to Eden? I’ve seen enough to know that we couldn’t stop these aliens from doing whatever they wanted to us. Thuliak can control our technology with just his mind. I don’t know what kind of scale that ability works on, but possibly they would just take over our entire battle fleet—forcing us to surrender without any weapons even being fired.”
Emissary shot a look over her shoulder, back at Thuliak, who was standing with his back facing us. Both Emissary and I were staring at his chiseled, muscular ass. He even had these little dimple things on either side, and Goddess, his entire back was just like a perfectly sculpted monument of teal muscle that exuded an intense and airlock-filling sexual energy, I craned my neck, realizing I could see his dingdong dangling between his—
