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She was about to open her mouth and say never mind when Agor suddenly grinned and nodded his head eagerly. The fanning crest of his feathers not only lifted like a crown but bobbed wildly with the energetic movement of his head, bringing her smile once more to her lips. Fuck, he was adorable.
“That sounds perfect. It will mean leaving our post, but it shouldn’t be an issue since the viewing deck is just a short distance away, and we will still have a direct line of vision with the open deck.”
She blinked. She hadn’t even considered that they could get in trouble for leaving their post.
“I… I’m sorry, I didn’t even think,” she stumbled hastily over her words as mortification swept through her as she looked back and forth between the two towering males. “I don’t want you getting into trouble because of me. Perhaps we should just—”
Brydis’s melodious laugh startled her into silence. She’d heard laughs be called melodious before, but his chuckle could have easily been a roll of low and lilting notes played in some sort of foreign melody. She was instantly captivated but was brought back to their immediate conversation when he grinned and shook his head.
“For as many times as we’ve been in trouble due to this one’s shocking ability to act recklessly on whim, this is barely an infraction in comparison,” he explained with a wry smile. “And in this case, he is correct. So long as one of us is within visual range of our post, we are following orders. There has to be some flexibility for moving about, after all. I can’t imagine being begrudged taking our food to the benches on the viewing deck to eat.”
“If you’re sure,” she murmured, but Agor grinned down at her and gently nudged with a wing of silky feathers that brushed against her bare arm in the process.
“Brydis has been a rule follower since the day he hatched,” he chuckled. “If he is saying that’s okay, then you can rest assured that we won’t suffer any penalties for it.”
She raised an eyebrow and peered up at him. She mentally shrugged at the whole hatched thing. They were aliens—birdlike aliens at that—hatching wasn’t the least normal thing that could happen. “So, you are the one I have to watch, huh?”
Agor’s smile widened, though his half eyelids dropped sultrily. “You are more than welcome to. You will not be disappointed if you do.”
A light shiver of arousal swept through her, and she watched as the amber eyes watching her so intently seemed to grow larger as their pupil’s expanded. The pearlescent shimmer that clung to their skins brightened and moved more rapidly as if in response, heightening her own attraction to them.
“Beautiful,” Agor breathed, and her cheeks warmed once again. If he noticed at all, he didn’t say anything, instead he stretched one sapphire wing toward the viewing deck and inclined his head as he stretched a hand to her invitation. “Shall we?”
Her belly jumped with a sense of awareness, her excitement causing a tingling through her core. Her tongue swept over her suddenly dry lips, wetting them as she lay her hand in his. “Of course.”
A sense of nervous apprehension filled her as she realized that her other hand was holding the strap of her bag in place and wasn’t free for Brydis to take as well. She worried that he would feel slighted but, to her surprise, when he took position at her other side, his stance was more guarded, his wings stretched slightly as if he were prepared to go on the defensive at any moment. He didn’t so much as look down at her at first, his eyes intently scanning their surroundings as they walked over to the viewing deck. It wasn’t until they arrived and were settling on the bench they selected that his guard relaxed minutely enough to glance down at her. She looked at him questioningly as he set his food on the bench beside her.
“Are you not going to eat?” She felt an immediate sense of disappointment at the realization and cursed how easy her face was to read because his crest snapped up as his expression turned to one of alarm.
“I shall, talia,” he quickly assured her. “As we are officially escorting you and shall be sharing an intimate moment, we will not feel comfortable if one of us is not standing watch. Agor will have a moment with you, and then I shall.”
That hardly seemed fair to her.
Jill bit her lip, her finger clutching her own food container she’d just pulled out of her bag. “Are you sure? Maybe it would be better if we wait. I didn’t realize that you wouldn’t feel comfortable.”
Brydis regarded her with surprise and a touch of disappointment. “Does this displease you? It is not only cultural but part of our instinct. It is difficult for males to be completely unguarded when a female entrusts her care to them even for such a brief amount of time.”
“That is very sweet,” she said slowly as she fought to understand without unintentionally putting her foot in her mouth, especially since she apparently had done exactly that. “But you do realize that I’ve been taking care of myself this entire time on board this ship, and for years before while on Earth. I swear I will be just fine if you sit with us.”
He inclined his head and smiled but made no move to take a seat beside her. “Naturally. You do not know any females from our species since they remained on our ship. They likewise lead a very independent life until the point of mating.The fact that, in our society, males are expected to protect a female, especially one who will likely be letting down her guard to get to know the males whose company she’s with, has reinforced this. We consider it important, but if you are displeased with it—”
His face fell, but he roused a reassuring smile that made her feel like she just kicked a puppy who was coming back for another attempt to demonstrate affection. She felt like an ogre.
“No, it’s fine,” she rushed in. “It’s not that it displeases me or anything, so please don’t think that. It just feels a bit rude for me to sit here and eat with Agor while you’re standing guard.”
Brydis peered down at her for a moment, a look of understanding dawning. “I think I understand. You believe that I will feel slighted?”
Her eyes dropped to her hands clasping her container. “Well, yeah. I think I would feel a little left out if I was the one standing guard.”
Agor’s wing brushed along her back, and her head whipped around to look over at him. He gave her a sweet smile. “You have a big heart, talia,” he murmured. “But that is not how it is with us. Brydis offered to take the first guard because it’s a matter of honor to our species, and he is a showoff who always needs to be the best,” he added with a teasing look toward his twin.
The male in question shrugged his wings, though he was no longer looking at them but peering once again toward the open deck.
“It is not a matter of wishing to be the best, and you know it,” Brydis retorted with an irritated tone to his twin. When he glanced over, however, it was to direct a warm look at Jill. “Taking first guardisan honor, but this is not why I do it. I do it because I desire it more than anything.” He patted his chest with one clawed hand. “I feel it in here, a need to protect and warn off anyone who might be any sort of threat. And because, above everything, I wish to do this for you, talia. More than I’ve wanted anything else. Because it’s you.”
She shifted nervously. This was getting intense way too fast. And it worried her a tiny bit how right it felt. “That’s a lot. Especially since we’ve only just barely met.”
Agor sighed happily at her other side like a schoolgirl caught up in romance, drawing her attention back to him until Brydis chuckled again. He was once again looking everywhere but her as he scanned the open deck and then the viewing deck and then back again. Still, some part of him was engaged in their conversation and she realized that he was still very much there with them even if he maintained a small distance in his guard. The corners of his mouth curved as if aware of her eyes on him.
