Alien Attraction by Cara Bristol

Author:Cara Bristol [Bristol, Cara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cara Bristol
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

A short time ago

Darq

The insect keeping me company flew away, and moments later, the one person I wished to avoid pushed into the tavern.

“Hello,” Andrea said.

I bit off a curse and forced a smile. “Good afternoon.”

“Sunny is talking to her sister. Mind if I join you?” She poured herself a half tankard of ale.

“Not at all,” I lied. “Have a seat.” I’d chat long enough to be polite and then find an excuse to leave. “How’s Groman?” I inquired of her mate, the healer for their tribe.

“He’s well, but busy,” she said. “A woman broke her ankle, another suffered from hypothermia. Plus all the usual injuries and illnesses.” She sipped her ale and made a face. Terrans found our libation bitter. “I wanted to talk to you.”

I knocked back a gulp. “About what?”

“I know you took Romando’s chit.”

Play dumb—lie—confess. Options spun round and round in my head. Was this the moment I would lose Sunny? I couldn’t lose her, I couldn’t. I wouldn’t. I would do whatever it took to keep her. I drank, wiped foam from my lips, and bluffed. “If you check the record book, you’ll see my tribe had four draws.”

“I did check the record book—it’s wrong. Your tribe had three draws.” She tapped her head. “I remember. Starr is my closest friend. If you’d been from a different clan, or if yours had had fifteen or sixteen draws, I might not have noticed. Being in Starr’s tribe and only three draws? Not hard to remember. You didn’t get a chit.” She spoke with such confidence, I knew continuing with the pretense would be pointless.

My shoulders slumped. “I found it by the latrine. I didn’t know whose it was at the time.” I swallowed. “What are you going to do?”

“Do you care for Sunny?”

“She is everything to me.”

“Does she care for you?”

I recalled the heat of our mouth-meshing. Although she sometimes withdrew, she laughed and smiled. She touched me when we talked. She watched me, when she thought I wasn’t aware, but I noticed everything she did. “I think so.”

Andrea lifted a shoulder. “Then, nothing.”

I couldn’t believe it. She would keep my secret? “You’re not going to tell anyone?”

“No. Dakon is in the middle of a crisis. You need females, you need them quick, and you must produce more offspring. Your lottery is ridiculous, but it’s not up to me to determine who gets a woman and who doesn’t. On Terra, we choose our own partners. Men and women find each other, and if it works, it works. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. It’s imperfect, but natural.

“The attraction and connection you have is important—not how you met. I’m not the chit police. Besides, you could say I’m more of a rule bender than a rule follower.” She laughed.

“Thank you.”

Her eyes narrowed. “However, if I find out you’re not doing right by her, not only will I reveal to Torg and Enoki what you did, I will personally kick your ass.” Though female and much smaller than me, Andrea knew how to fight, and she protected her friends.

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