~ Nick ~
As the door shut behind them, a feminine voice broke the stillness of the room.
“If you have a God, now is the time to pray to him humond.”
Both he and Jax looked at the blue woman with new eyes. “You’re Taron?”
“I am as the gods have made me.”
“What the hell does that even mean?” Jax’s crudeness aside, Nick was eager to hear her answer.
“My father was Taron, and my mother was…something else.”
Nick approached her, giving her another once over visually. “You don’t look like them. Your skin is smoother and lighter blue. They don’t have the big head or points on their ears like you do. Your body is shaped…”
“I am aware of my flaws, humond. I do not need you to articulate them for me.”
“No need to get testy, mam. I was simply pointing out that you’re damned beautiful compared to the other Taron. Why do they have you locked up with us slaves? Did you do something to piss them off?”
Backing up against the wall, her eyes slid away. She looked a bit demoralized. “I dared to take my first breath. In their eyes, one such as me ranks lowest among the slaves. They will find a reason to destroy me soon. I can tell by the look in their eyes.”
Jax sniffed again. “What’s your name, Doll?”
Closing her eyes for a brief moment, she whispered. “I am called Zaphredinelyn.”
“That sounds beautiful when you say it out loud but can we call you Zaph for short?” Jax’s perfectly serious question, almost made him smile.
The woman stared at Jax for a long moment. “The word means mixed biology. It is the name the Taron use for the few of us who are not pure bloods. The Taron despise half breeds.”
Nick stepped closer to her. “I---you are going to become important to me, and I don’t like you being called that. How about we call you Acacia? In our language, it’s the word for a beautiful flower.” Running the tips of his fingers around the shell of her pointed ear, he watched in fascination as she trembled beneath his touch. “The name suits you because you’re perfect.”
“Never heard of it.” Jax’s disgruntled voice broke into their special moment.
“It’s like a mum, you philistine.”
A small voice drew his attention again. “You think I’m perfect?”
Nick allowed his eyes to roam over her delicate face, down to the swell of her breasts pushing against the coarse material barely covering her slight form. Her slim arms and legs were something straight out of fashion magazine. The long black hair, grazing her now flushed skin seemed soft and fine. Sifting his fingers through the side of it, he realized the texture was indescribably luxurious.
“Look, I’m not good with words. I’ve spent way too much time toting a gun and visiting all the wrong kind of places. But I gotta say, you’re prettier than any female who ever crossed my path.”
“Hey, I called dibs on that cute elf a long time before you crossed either of our paths.”
Shooting Jax a furious look over his shoulder, he bit out. “I still haven’t forgotten that you had her tied up back on your boat. I’m gonna tag you for that when you least expect it.”
“It’s was a yacht, not a boat. And I didn’t have much choice. Kitty’s got claws, and she ain’t afraid to use them.”
Turning back to the woman still pressing herself back against the wall, he leaned forward on one arm, practically pinning her to the wall with his muscular body. Reaching for her hand without breaking eye contact, he brought it up for inspection. Each elegant finger was tipped with a long nail. They were a little thicker than human nails. The thought of her running them down his back as pumped into her flew through his mind.
Bringing the hand to his mouth, he kissed each nail, in turn, murmuring quietly. “Are you going to uses these on me?”
Staring up at him, she jerked when he ran his tongue tenderly over one knuckle.
“I am in my mating phase. If you do not step back, you will lose yourself to the lust my pheromones provoke.”
For some reason, a beautiful woman thinking he needed mating pheromones to want to have sex with her struck him a funny. Snorting a laugh, he ran his face down the side of her neck.
“If you wish to take me, I cannot stop you.” Her voice sounded like a strange mixture of fearful, needy, hopeful and anxious.
“Sweetness, when I take you it will be because you asked nicely, not because I forced myself on you.” Making himself step back, he spun on his heel to face Jax.
The other man was standing across the room, leaning one shoulder on the far wall. Nick wasn’t sure exactly what his facial expression was communicating, but if Jax’s response was any indication, it must have been something close to furious.
“Hey, I didn’t touch her like that. I was gonna try to get her interested, but you interrupted us. There’s no need to turn all super soldier on my ass.”
Stalking up to the man, Nick slammed him right back into the wall with one powerful slap to the chest. Jax’s shocked expression told him that was the last thing he had expected.
“We don’t call dibs on women like they’re fucking cherry popsicles sitting in a cardboard box waiting to be selected. You got that?”
“Yeah, I got it, big guy. Want to ease up off my ass for a second?”
Slamming his hand into the wall beside the snarky man’s head, he gritted out. “If you even think about touching her or any other woman without their express verbal consent, I’ll drop you on the spot, stamp mission accomplished across your ass, and toss you in the alien equivalent of a trash compactor. Sound off if you understand what the hell I’m communicating to you.”
Shoving him back with two hands, Jax stared him down. “I’m hearing what you’re laying down, you stupid fucker. Now let me tell you something. If you keep rolling up on every damned situation spitting God and glory, you’re not going to last long. Dial it down a fucking notch or two, brother.”
“Brother? We are definitely not brothers. I call men in uniform brothers. You know, the ones who have sworn themselves to a greater cause; men who care about something besides making a fast buck. You’re just a two-bit gun runner in flashy sneakers with delusions of grandeur.”
Sneering at him, Jax shot back. “You think your shitty little insults are gonna cut me to the quick or put me in my place? Boy, you have no fuckin’ idea who you’re dealing with. I was raised in a crack house by a woman who thought skittles was a good breakfast food for four-year-old. I’ve survived police raids, gang wars, and being knifed by a junkie lookin’ for a fix. And that was all before my tenth birthday. I’ve got survival skills they don’t teach you in boy scouts or whatever shitty little military academy your rich parents sent you to when you were little.”
“I’m a United States Navy Seal, and that’s the last time I’m telling you.”
“Well, you’re also a pompous, arrogant asshole who needs to work on his people skills. That hero complex is gonna get you killed, and then you won’t be saving nobody.”
Shaking his head, Nick stared at the man standing defiantly in front of him. “I’ve been told we’ll probably end up being best friends or some such shit like that. I have to say, I’m not seeing that right now.”
Snorting a laugh, the other man stated flatly. “You listen to me; you live longer, Doctor Jones.”
Turning back to Acacia, Nick muttered. “Crazy fucker’s quoting vintage movies during an alien abduction. Why am I not surprised?”
The door open and shut several more times that day and before it was all over Nick was balled up in the corner, sweating as his body tried to process the several shots of their translation cocktail. The injections were causing him to go into hypovolemic shock. Nick became aware that Acacia was holding him in her arms, trying to get him to drink some kind of drink that tasted salty. She removed part of her barely there clothing to mop the sweat from his forehead.