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I shove my finger up my nose. What good it will do I don’t know, but I have a vague idea that my nose connects to my brain. My nostrils are fine.
“Is Axilaria code for something or like…” I trail off. This can’t be what I think it is, because then my dreams would be real and that means all those romance novels weren’t lying.
“It’s a planet, about two systems away from Earth’s. It is a part of an intergalactic union of planets. Your planet is a sort of, uh…”
“What?”
“Nature reserve?” he says it like a question. “When it was discovered aeons ago that your planet contained sentient life, it was decided by the Solarium Union to preserve it.”
“So I’m like a zoo animal to you?” I demand. “And you abducted me to be some human pet?” Oh no this isnotmy dream. Being a science pet is not sexy.
“Fuck no.” He sounds upset, but then there’s a thump and groan. “It’s a little complicated, and I promise we can have a full history lesson on this, but that dating app you used is a regulated programme designed to help beings find mates in humans.”
That statement is more loaded than the potato skins we ate at the brewery, but my mind snags on one word. Mates.
“Like werewolves find mates?”
“I don't know what a werewolf is, Odette.” He laughs, and it sounds just like it did on our date; all warm and comforting. “The TRP has matchmaking down to an atomic science. When you sign up, you agreed to them doing a total sweep of you. The personality quiz is just the surface of it.”
“Damn,” I murmur. “So did you get, like, all my blood work? Do you know my life story?”
“Sur’lax, no,” he says. “That’s a breach of privacy. All data is secured on a satellite station run by some anally retentive android. We received the same information, the only extras I got were a full cycle of schooling and your picture once we matched.”
I slap my palms together in front of my face like I’m praying and press my fingers to my lips. This is fucking insane, and I’m not freaking out. Why aren’t I panicking? Is it because I’m not surprised aliens exist? Is it because I was literally wishing I could be abducted by aliens and now it’s happened?
Earth is a nightmare of capitalism and war and bad smells. Who would want to invade a planet like that? It makes sensewith all our chaos we’d be observed for science. If anything, Ma’xon has saved me from that hellscape.
“Do I have to get a job?” I voice my question out loud.
“If you want, but I figured we’d spend at least twenty five years just being with each other.”
My brain stalls. “How old are you?”
“Ninety-two in Earth years, but—”
I push the button that opens the door to the bathroom. “You are not.”
Ma’xon is to my left, forehead firmly planted on the wall. There is a massive fin that forms at the back of his head. The base of it connects at the top of his shoulder and the tip ends a few inches lower. He peers over at me, but doesn’t hold my gaze.
“I will live for another sixty years approximately, just like you will,” he huffs. “You were also given a small injection that slows your ageing to match mine. If I were younger, it would be even slower.”
My mouth pops open. That’s over a hundred years. He—his people, live that long? I’m not sure what I would do if I lived that long. Ma’xon slowly turns to look at me, his gargantuan body towering over me. He must be eight feet tall. My neck cranes all the way back to look into his eyes.
Is he waiting for me to make a run for it? Obviously, he didn’t look thoroughly enough at my personality quiz. There is not a part of me that has that fear instinct. I’m a deer in the headlights kind of gal. But more importantly, I’m not scared of him.
“Did you lie about anything else?” I ask, thinking that will help clear any more of the air between us. When I cross my arms over my chest, my skin is slick with sweat. Damn, it really is humid. Should I be concerned about dehydration?
He pauses, big hand scratching the base of his fin. “Well, I’m technically the former leader of this colony, not just a random employee for the government.”
“Monarch or elected leader?” I ask, squinting at him.
“Monarch, but my role was like that of a mayor on Earth. We have an elected senatorial body that rules for the planet. Also our familial line can be removed from office with a simple vote by the colony.”
“I’m too dehydrated for that to make complete sense,” I say, waving away any concern I had about rulers or freedom.
“Does it need to make complete sense right now?” he asks, while nodding down the hall.
Ma’xon doesn’t scoop me up off the floor this time, instead placing a large hand on the small of my back to guide me to a kitchen area. It’s warm and I’m reminded of how he couldn’t take his hands off me on our date. Is he scared to touch me now?
