Jennifer, I learned quickly, was quite the integral figure onboard the ship. Helming both the medical and cooking duties, she was a warm, engaging person, and I felt no judgment from her, though I expected it. To some extent, I was a little embarrassed at having so terribly botched my attempt to smuggle aboard. On the other hand, there was no shame in the pursuit of truth.

I was a serious reporter, not just a pretty face for the local news, or at least I was trying to convince people of that. Though I had been given the leeway to pursue more serious stories, I still felt like the public’s perception of me hadn’t changed since my early days of reporting on Steel City society.

Jennifer had led me down a winding maze of massive corridors, and I hastily tried to assess and absorb everything I could feast my eyes upon.

The canteen itself was a relatively small, rectangular room with several tables that lined a wall dotted with portholes that glittered with starlight as we glided through space.

Seated at one table, Jennifer had brought out a tray with tea, dromedarian cheeses, and dried meats, and I nearly swooned at the sight of the food. It had been at least fifteen hours since I had last eaten anything, and I was feeling pretty dehydrated. The protein and herbal tea were exactly what I needed.

“Thank you so much!” I said, happily helping myself as Jennifer watched, sipping from her own oversized mug.

“Of course. I’m sure you’re hungry. Don’t stand on formality with me. If you want more or something else, just say the word,” she said politely.

I felt a little humbled by her hospitality, considering I wasn’t exactly a wanted guest. I was curious about her, not just for the story but from a personal perspective. In my experience, people were not generally this generous without a reason.

“So, if I may ask, how did you come to be a part of all of this? You certainly seem like the caring sort, and I don’t know many medical practitioners who would leave their practice,” I asked.

She looked out the porthole at the passing cosmos. “I loved my practice, and I still love my work, but there is more to life than work,” she said, looking at me a little pointedly.

“What good are your accomplishments if you have none to share them with? I was an only child and both my parents have passed. Besides, the clinic will continue functioning in my absence. A terrific nurse practitioner from Earth Prime was willing to take on the post. I don’t consider it leaving my practice so much as allowing myself to grow in more directions.”

“So, you have someone to share those accomplishments with now?”

She smiled. “Yes, I suppose there is no secret there. Zaruv and I met two months ago when they first arrived on Vaxivia. I thought I was past the point of chasing romantic notions, but then he showed up and it just sort of creeped up on me. Zaruv is the most loyal, caring man I’ve ever met. We just clicked. You know what I mean?”

I didn’t. The only men I’d ever dated had been interested in acquiring a pretty little trophy to show off. When that trophy started to have too many ambitions, ideas, or feelings, it wasn’t worthwhile anymore.

Objectively, I knew that there were doors that had probably only opened to me thanks to my appearance. On a personal level, though, I often hated the attention and judgements that came from having such ample assets. Ever since I had reached the tender age of twelve and developed a bit more substantially than the other girls, I had been sexualized and treated as an object. It was part of the reason I’d fought so hard for a serious assignment.

I realized I had been quiet for some time, but fortunately, Jennifer seemed to be daydreaming herself as she smiled out the window.

“Well, girls, what’re we chatting about? Hot alien men, perhaps?” Coming into the canteen, the tall, svelte blonde in militia garments seated herself beside me, grinning suggestively. “I’m Andie, by the way. We didn’t have a proper introduction earlier,” she said, reaching for a piece of cheese.

“You chat about a certain hot alien man far more than could possibly be healthy,” Jennifer joked.

“If you think I chat about him too much, you don’t want to know what I do with him,” Andie countered.

Waving her hand in friendly dismissal, Jennifer continued, “Actually, I was just telling Denise that the clinic will still continue functioning in my absence.”

“Good thing, too. In all the years you’ve been open, I can’t ever recall your taking any time off,” she said.

They joked back and forth a bit, implying a long-term friendship and familiarity between the two of them. I watched, a bit jealous. I had never been able to make female friends easily. In my line of work, everyone was out for themselves.

“You’ve certainly known each other a long time. It must be nice to share this adventure with a friend.”

Jennifer nodded. “I’ve never left Vaxivia, so it’s a little scary. But yes, Andie and I grew up together at the Outpost. I was in primary with her older brother, Orion.” Her eyes seemed to water slightly and she took a big drink of tea.

Andie put a hand to hers and said, “We’re like sisters, Jen and I, so yeah, it’s awesome that we have each other, since we’re both leaving our homes.” She grinned mischievously. “It’s also good to know, after all those years of dry spell, that she’s getting some fine alien ass—oh, hey, Pavar,” she said as Jennifer choked on her tea.

“Ladies, I’ve come to collect Denise,” he said, striding into the room like some kind of dream vision come to life. Something about his words sounded a little dangerous and a lot exciting.

“Is everyone done on the bridge?” Jennifer asked.

He stood at the head of the table. As he spoke, he kept glancing at me, and I felt myself flush with awareness.

“Yes, Zaruv, Ragal, and Laniope are overseeing the flight controls for now. Tasha is working on prepping her lab, and I think Karun went to go clean up the mess in the cargo hold.”

Andie rose. “Well, I had better go see if my hot dragon man needs help with anything.”

“Try not to leave it a bigger mess than it already is,” Pavar joked.

Andie shot back over her shoulder, “I make no promises!”

“So, Andie and Karun are together?” I asked Jennifer.

“Far more often than is productive and far more loudly than I’d prefer,” Pavar said dryly.

Jennifer laughed and sarcastically said, “That is funny, coming from you, Pavar, the paragon of virtue. Well, I’m going to return to getting my medical supplies in order.”

Pavar turned to me and raised one brow. “Well, it looks like your tactics were successful. You’ve just hitched yourself a ride across the galaxy with a spaceship full of aliens.”

I sighed with relief and felt excitement bubbling inside me.

“So, are you going to grant me that interview then? I promise I’ll be gentle,” I said, winking.

His eyes sparkled with challenge. “Who says I want it gentle?”

I felt myself smiling as I continued the innuendo. “Would you prefer that I’m hard on you?”

“I think I’d enjoy that more if the positions were switched. Now, let’s find your room, shall we?”

Winning that round, he led me out of the canteen and down a long hall lined with more portholes.

As he walked, he began filling me in. “There is no way for us to safely return you to Vaxivia at this time. We don’t have onboard teleportation equipment, and apparently, there are certain challenges to navigating the asteroid field. So, luckily for you, you’re going to be joining us on this little expedition.”

“Where are we headed?”

“Dragselia, our home planet. When we have attended to our business there, we will need to stop at Vaxivia again before we reach our final destination, so we’ll return you then. I hope you’re prepared for an extended trip,” he said, eyeing my clothes.

I was wearing tailored black trousers, heels, and a black scoop-neck blouse—not the most comfortable of spywear. I had a small pack in the crate with a few changes of clothes, but nothing else. When the call came in from my informant that they were launching, I flung into action, trying to find a way into the hangar. Everything else had been an afterthought when I sat for ten hours in the dark, uncomfortable crate and lamented my lack of planning.

“Actually, I have a package of clothing in the crate I came in, but that’s about it,” I said sheepishly.

“Well, I’m sure when Karun and Andie finally get around to cleaning up in there, they’ll bring that with them,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Whatever else you may need, you can tell me or Jennifer. We’re pretty well-stocked with supplies.”

We continued winding down the halls. “Why are these passages so large?” I asked.

“My brothers and I—” he began.

“Oh, you’re all brothers?” I said, not entirely surprised.

They were all tall, muscular, highly attractive men with slight differences in coloring but with the same exotic, slightly almond-shaped eyes and long, flowing hair.

“Yes, I’m the youngest, followed by Ragal, then Karun, Zaruv, and our eldest brother, Mulkaro, but he’s not here. He is, in fact, the reason we’re heading to Dragselia,” he said, his voice darkening slightly.

“Is he in some kind of trouble? Why does he not travel with you?”

“He is the new king. In the absence of an heir, we are his successors. It is the law and tradition that all younger brothers are exiled upon the coronation of a new king. Unfortunately, we’ve learned that our enemies, the Infernians, are plotting to overthrow Mulkaro, and we must return to warn him and our people.”

Realizing how much more there was to this story, I felt excitement sweep through me.

“Can’t you contact him now?”

“No, one of the many senseless conditions of our exile requires us to be locked out of all Dragselian communications channels,” he grumbled.

“That seems unnecessary,” I observed.

“Indeed.” He paused, then sighed. “I digress. You asked about the passages. Are you familiar with Dragselia or her people at all? No? Well, to start, all Dragselians have two physical forms. The one you see now is my humanoid form. I can, as you saw in the footage from the fire, shift into a dragon form. Obviously, that is significantly larger, so the ship was built to accommodate the variance in spacial needs.”

I was fascinated. “Which is your natural state? I mean, when you were born, what form were you in?”

“We are all born resembling human infants. Most Dragselians don’t make their first shift until they have reached four or five years of age, some even later. I would not say this is my natural state, though. We are both man and dragon, not one more than the other.”

I couldn’t stop myself from asking, “So how do you mate?”

Chuckling, he turned to me. “An interesting question, now that we have arrived at your chamber. Would you care to find out?”

I felt myself blush slightly but sparred back. “I thought Jennifer called you a paragon of virtue?”

He opened the door to the chamber and turned back, leaning just a little too closely. “Exceptions can always be made for academic pursuits.”

Even though I knew he was joking, I realized I was tingling with awareness. And though it was in jest, something about his offer didn’t sound entirely false.

The room was dark, and sailing through the eternal night of open space, it almost felt like we were suspended from reality, free of inhibition, free of consequence.

Before I could explore the temptation further, lights clicked on throughout the room.

Distracted, I took stock of the room. It was sizeable but not too large, with enough room to accommodate a handful of furniture pieces while still allowing easy movement. A single porthole offered a view of the passing stars on the far side of the room. Between there and the doorway was a large plush bed, covered in comfortable looking cushions and blankets.

Rather than the hard surface of the hallway and canteen, the floor was covered in some kind of soft, gel-like surface. Slipping free of my heels, I happily let my feet sink the half-inch into the cushioned flooring, and the gel seemed to adjust to my body temperature, warming my cold toes.

Pavar leaned against the door frame, his smile curving wickedly as he watched me explore the room. Feeling his appreciative gaze upon me, I suddenly hated my curves just a little less.

“This is so much nicer than what I would have expected for space travel.”

“Have you never left Vaxivia then? I had been under the assumption that Earth humans navigated space more regularly than I have witnessed. None of my brothers’ mates had travelled beyond Vaxivia either. I must confess, I am not unhappy to be off that hot, dry rock.”

Looking out the window in wonder, I laughed. “Well, in the spirit of confession, I am not unhappy to leave Vaxivia either. It’s always been my dream to leave and make a name for myself elsewhere.”

After a beat, he replied, “Well, it looks you are on the way to getting everything you dreamed.”

Unable to resist, I gave him a hot once-over and countered, “We’ll see. A girl can hope.”

Someone called to him in the hall, and he excused himself, the panel sliding closed behind him and leaving me alone to sort through the strength of my reaction to him.