AllFreeNovel
Share Us
His eyes popped open.
“I need the darkest room you have,” he said.
Understanding flickered over the merchant’s features. “I held your room. You have it as long as you need it.”
With a thoughtful swish of his tail, Morwong glanced at his tablet, ordering parts from the fabrication bay. “How are things coming along between you and her? Any luck?”
Caligher exhaled, accepting the change of subject.
“She’s… warming up to me, I think? Lucca’s a difficult read. For some reason, she’s afraid to tell me certain things.”
But she hadn’t run off. She could have chosen someone else to spend her time with, but she’d been followinghim. She was protective of him, too. He didn’t need protection, but he liked the warm feeling in his chest when she flipped her switch and went dominant. Caligher enjoyed this diversion far too much to be offended by her secrecy.
He would wait until he fossilized if that was how long it took to gain her trust. He’d wait forever.
Morwong inclined his head, making for the hallway as Caligher overtook him on striding steps. He had to remind himself to control his gait.
“Someone in her past hurt her. I think she was clipped,” Caligher said.
“Nasty if that’s true.”
“She won’t tell me much… even though I think she wants to. When I found her, she couldn’t even fly her own ship. Nothing about her situation makes any sense.”
“Some outposts drift too far off the main course,” mused Morwong. “Gotta point out, the map story is a little unbelievable. I wonder what inspired that.”
Caligher stopped dead in his tracks.
“Yeah, that is weird…”
He didn’t like where his thoughts went, now that Morwong brought it up. “Maybe she’s different from her kin,” Caligher said. “She won’t tell me what happened to them, either, but I have a feeling it ended violently.”
Morwong shot him a scrutinizing look. “You don’t think she killed them…”
“I think she did.”
But who the fuck was he to judge her for that?
They reached the bar and Zoramia shouted his name, startling him. Caligher attempted to retreat into the safety of the hall. Morwong shoved him forward. “Get your mind off things, Caligher. Get trashed! Then tell Lucca you’re in love with her.”
Caligher eyed his inebriated friend warily. “I don’t know if she’s gonna want to see me fucked up.”
“Don’t you worry your pretty head, my friend,” said Morwong. “Take my word. If you were too much for her, she would have already left. I doubt that hammered-Caligher is gonna be the thing that scares her off.”
His frown deepened.
Morwong shoved him through the bar.
* * *
“Tell me about your lady friend,” Zoramia said, swirling a drink in hand and glaring at Caligher—a happy expression on her. “Why’s she not down here, slapping on your thick ass?”
The absurd image made him chuckle. “We’re not to that part of the relationship yet,” he said, slipping the whole green medley from his drink and chewing on the end of it.
“You’re taking it slow?” she asked.
“She’s cautious.” He had the impression that Lucca needed weeks to make a decision. He wasn’t going to rush it. “I can’t just…”
“Be your usual self?” she supplied.
