Page 22 of Matched to the Alien King
“Maybe there’s more machetes in there to make you happy.” I pushed the shopping cart in after him, blew him a kiss, and then shut the door on him.
Was I so gaga over him that I hadn’t noticed his carefully worded question about the package? I mean...yes, I was gaga over him, but I’d still noticed.
Was I now wondering if he had maybe found it and stashed it somewhere? Why yes. Yes, I was.
I opened the door to Lieutenant Avery, cool and calm like I had every right to look like a hooker about to do the walk of shame and reeking of sex and sin. “What a nice surprise, Lieutenant.”
Her jaw dropped when she saw me, and she took her sweet,sweettime vacationing her eyes all over me. Then she got lost at my cleavage, and oh my fucking god, we were going to be here all day.
Clearing my throat as loud as I could, I ducked down and led her back to the more puritan land of my face. “There we go. Much better. Now, why are you here?”
“Captain, I—” She smoothed her too-tight blonde bun that practically peeled her features to the sides of her face and screamed headache city. “McCauliffe swore he saw you outside last night. I didn’t believe him, but I thought I’d check it out for myself. I thought your ship wouldn’t land.”
“It wouldn’t, but I have my ways of getting to where I need to be.” Like being kidnapped and deposited there, which she didn’t seem to know about. “What’s the situation here?”
She shook her head and pressed her lips into a grim line. “Faid everywhere. This place is like a mecca for them for some reason. They’re violent. Unpredictable. Same as always. Do you have the delivery for me?”
“It’s somewhere safe, not here.”
“Are you…hiding here?” Her icy-blue gaze skipped past me inside the bungalow, and I had to fight the urge to block her view.
Wouldn’t want to appear suspicious, would I?
“I am hiding here. Since I’ve landed on this planet, I’ve nearly been poisoned, I’ve been bitten by snakes, and forced to do things I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.” Like wear heels. Like get my whole body waxed.
Shudder.
Her jaw dropped. “Forced by whom? Poisoned by whom? The Faid?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
“I wish I knew,” I said, shrugging, but I did know who. Partly, at least, and they would likely be arriving within the hour to spit shine me all over again. Time to get things moving. “This delivery, Lieutenant. This thing that’s so important for the war. Tell me what it does.”
“Can’t. It’s classified.”
“I risked my life over and over to protect it, almost as soon as I had it in my hands. I deserve to know.”
Obviously, I knew I didn’t deserve shit because them’s the breaks, man, when you’re a part of Earth Space Fleet. But maybe Avery would take some pity on me. Maybe if I flashed her a little more boob or more leg or something?
Wouldn’t hurt to try.
I revealed more of both, which for some reason, she took as an invitation to come right on into the bungalow, all while giving me a look like I would be living rent-free in her dreams tonight.
Damn it. Too late to kick her out now. With a grimace, I shut the door.
She paced back and forth in front of the closet several times, wringing her hands before she answered. “I’m not the one who’s telling you this, okay?”
“Of course.” I sank onto the edge of the bed, waiting, watching her mouth carefully so I didn’t miss a thing.
“Earth’s entire military funded it. It’s a weapon, you see, to hunt down Faid. They’re sneaky lately, often wearing masks or sunglasses to cover their creepy, slow-blinking eyes. And sometimes they don’t speak at all to hide their irregular speech patterns. Sometimes it’s impossible to know who’s a Faid and who’s not before it’s too late.”
She stopped then and looked at me, her belief in the war etched into the soft lines fanning from the corners of her blue eyes and the determined set of her jaw. “Your delivery shows the exact location of the Faid, and who they are. It points an orange dot right at them. Its accuracy is one hundred percent. Its range is intergalactic.”
I nodded slowly as I stood. “It’s a game changer. A weapon to capture all Faid.”
“It could end the Faid War almost immediately,” she said, her excitement almost palpable. “Will you go get it and bring it to me?”
