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Dargus shook his head to silence his inner voice. Focusing on regret would get him nowhere; he had broken the intergalactic laws concerning Terrans, and there was no undoing that. What he could do, however, was make his despicable actions count. And that started with debriefing Lia on the case. The sooner they got that out of the way and proceeded to Kardinia, the sooner he could close the case and take her back home.
Cubbie’s four stomachs decided to growl in that moment, reminding Dargus he had two aliens to feed before any debriefing could take place.
“How about you sit down and enjoy the holoview while I prep something for you? We’ll talk once we all have something in our bellies.”
She sighed but headed for the only table in the food bay, levitating by the opposite wall.
“I’ll put Cubbie down now, Lia.”
She stopped examining the levitating seats to cast him a questioning look.
“He’s a menace when he’s hungry,” Dargus specified. To Cubbie he said, “Behave! And no toe licking. Or face licking. Or ear munching.”
Cubbie looked at him with watery eyes, the most innocent rabbisaurus in existence…Not.
No surprises there. But what did surprise Dargus was the sound he heard coming from the Terran. Was she coughing? Or stifling a snicker?
“Consider yourself warned,” he told her through a smile he couldn’t hide, then set Cubbie loose.
His furry companion rolled towards Lia right away, stopped only after he had bumped into her foot, began climbing up her bare leg and… snuggled in her lap. His always misbehaving when hungry rabbisaurus simply lay there, floppy ears draped over Lia’s knees, and cheeped contentedly.
Traitor.
As for the Terran, she couldn’t look happier about the unexpected development. She had hesitated for nearly a minuiona before sitting slowly and carefully into the levitating seat. But when a creature like nothing she could have possibly seen before, had come climbing into her lap? She had smiled and began petting Cubbie right away.Go figure.
Still, Dargus liked seeing her lips curved into a smile. It set her deep brown eyes alight and–
“I thought you said you were going to prepare something for us to eat?”
Dargus sighed at the return of her sharp tone, although she had a point. He’d better get moving.
He had tapped at the floor to call up the cooking island and the storage cabinet when he suddenly realized he had no idea what Lia would eat. What if she had an adverse reaction to an ingredient? What if she hated his cooking? Perhaps he should use the food replicator for her, to play it safe. The dishes it made were tasteless but edible and filling. And just because he preferred his food freshly made didn’t mean she would mind the replicated version.
Yes, the replicator it is. He stretched his tail to tap the corresponding spot on the floor, while his hands were busy getting the ingredients for Cubbie’s specific diet out of the cabinet. By the time the replicator had emerged fully and beeped ready for use, Dargus had mixed the two cubes of compressed gebaworms and the single cube of tregantian grass with flexovian milk. The milk container was almost empty, though, so for the next meal he would have to go to the cargo hold to fetch several new ones and restock the cabinet.
“What’s that?”
He turned around to find Lia pointing at the replicator. Cubbie was still in her lap but with his head up, purple eyes fixed on his bowl on the cooking island.
“It’s a device that replicates dishes from all around the galaxy,” Dargus explained while bringing forth the replicator’s holomenu.
What would cater to Lia’s palate the most? A Zambirian pachuqui? He scrunched his nose at the memory of how bland it tasted even when freshly made. A Cancunvian megemege? But what if she didn’t eat meat and got offended at him offering? Maybe a–
“So, you’re not actually going to cook for me, are you?” came from the table, followed by a snort. “I should have known.”
“Of course I’m going to cook for you, Lia!”Fruck.What am I going to feed her now?“I was just planning on letting the replicator make one dish while I’m cooking another, to give you a greater variety of tastes. To see what you like.”
“Oh.”
No other questions or remarks followed while he was racking his main brain for the best dish to prepare. In fact, Lia didn’t ask about or comment on anything during his ten or fifteen minuionas of mixing ingredients. The only sounds filling the food bay were those of Dargus’ cooking and of Cubbie happily tearing into his dish – no reason to keep the furball hungry until they could all sit at the table.
Dargus cast a quick look back at Lia on three occasions, to make sure she was still there and not sleeping. Or up to something – he knew from experience that no alien should be underestimated, especially beautiful, delicate-looking females.
Each time he looked, Lia was awake and watchful of her surroundings. In the first case, he caught her exploring the Luvian landscape projected on the wall to his right. In the second case, he saw her looking out the oval-shaped illuminator by the table, just like he enjoyed doing while eating. In the last case, he found Lia staring at… his ass?
Must be because of his tail coming out a specially-made opening in his pants, nothing more.
But then why did her pale cheeks turn as red as his hair when she caught him catchingherlooking? His brother’s true mate changed skin color all over in a similar fashion when embarrassed.
