Page 42 of Time Traveling Space Bastards
“No, it makes sense. If she were a Saki, she wouldn’t have any interest in anyone else once we bonded, but if I thought she did, I’d be making a total ass of myself and probably getting violent. She’snotSaki. She’s not even from our galaxy, so I would probably even be pushing her away and making her reject me for looking at other men.
“It’s never been like that. I’m completely fine with you and Enix being with her. That’s because she’s mine and I’m hers and my instincts know that. They also know Kuka and Enix aren’t mine, but they are Baxter’s. You have bonds with her and my bond recognizes that. Which means all those people who said they bonded with a cyborgweren’tlying or crazy. I don’t evenknow what it would be called if a human bonds to a cyborg, but I’m fine with Enix because he has that with her.”
It made sense. There had been plenty of people over the years who claimed to have bonded with their Enix, and everyone thought they were sad, lonely people who’d given up on finding their bond or marrying someone who was close.
I used to think that myself until Kuka stole one and I got to know him.
“You really think so?” Enix said.
Omi shot me a filthy look because if I was wrong, it was going to break Enix.
“I’m pretty sure Torrek is right,” Kuka said. “He’s not jealous of you. I’m not nearly as territorial as the Saki, but if youweren’thers, my instincts would be screaming at me to flip your kill switch, so you were never an option for her, no matter how much we are friends. I’m not interested in that. Iwantthe two of you together because it would make her happy.”
“And I’m so not jealous about it that I’m happy foryou,”I said. “I think you deserve to be happy.”
“Why are we happy?” Baxter asked, stumbling into the living room. “Has anyone even had coffee yet to be happy?”
“We figured out how the contraption works, and it should be waiting for you,” Enix said.
“That’s why we have this alien bond thing. You make sure I have coffee. You’re next, Enix. But only if you want to.”
Enix was the pleasure model, but after we stole him, he stopped wanting to. A few people around the palace asked Kuka if they could borrow him and Kuka left that up to him. He never wanted to. We’d never make him, even if some of the people who asked promised Kuka money or political favors.
I loved that she was respectful of his boundaries. She didn’t start touching him until he initiated it. Baxter wanted him, but only ifhewanted the same thing. She’d never force him, either.And since she was important to the Enix, she was probably the one person he’d feel like he’d have to have sex with if they asked, even if he didn’t want to do it.
“Yes,” he said. “But not now. I know we have a solution, but I don’t like not knowing where Valtens is.”
Ugh. Valtens. He could manage to ruin my day even if he wasn’t in the same room.
Man, Valtens. I probably shouldn’t hate someone I’d never met and hadn’t done anything to me, but I hated him. And he’d only not done anything to meyetbecause he needed a ride home. Plus, everything I’d heard about him was just that he was an entitled dick.
“So, after you’ve had your coffee and preferably before any more sex and bonding happens, I need you in Big Daddy to get some of your blood,” Omi said.
“That’s kind of intimate. You didn’t even buy me dinner first.”
“I’ll buy you the best street food my planet has to offer when we get there, but you smelled like sex and my brother for an entire day, which is a little gross, so you owe me.”
“Good point. How much blood do you need?”
“I know what it is on my planet, but not what the units would be on yours.”
“A pint,” Enix said.
“Thanks, brother. If you’re all bonded to my brother’s Zovea, then you all have to deal with me being your sister,” Omi said.
“Good. I’ve got two of them to help me beat the shit out of stupid males now,” Torrek said.
“No, wait! I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Run off and do your doctor thing,” Torrek said happily.
“I’m going to find the most awful thing on this planet and use it to get revenge, brother.”
“Let’s go take some of my blood,” I said.
Omi and I snuck off to Big Daddy. I was a lot more aware of my surroundings now that I knew Valtens was close and may have been watching me this entire time. Omi and Torrek had pretty intense senses of smell. She could just smell him, right? I’ll bet he didn’t wash his ass, so maybe I could smell him, too.
Still, this town wasn’t very big. I kept to myself, but I knew most of the faces. I’d made eye contact with all of them, even if we never spoke and I didn’t know their names. I would have recognized the snake eyes and known he was like Kuka. Something wasn’t adding up.
