Taken to Nobu: A SciFi Alien Romance (Xiveri Mates Book II) by Elizabeth Stephens

Author:Elizabeth Stephens [Stephens, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance
Published: 2020-06-16T04:00:00+00:00

14

Kiki

He’s a crueler trainer than Jaxal, but he’s a good one — even I can admit that. He pushes me hard — but not too hard — and it hurts — but not enough to stop me from training with him the next solar and the next solar and the next.

My whole body is sore and achy but the stinging pain doesn’t last. I start to firm up. To remember what it was like to do hard work every day. To go beyond that and push myself, using new weapons and machines and stances and techniques I’ve never seen before, honing new muscles that I never even knew I possessed.

Kuana tries to gently coerce me into letting her repair the tear in my okami, but I’m obstinate and fuss over it myself until two males enter our space carrying four huge metal pails between them. Steam whicks off of their glimmering surfaces and I’m transfixed by the sight, as I am every time. Kuana directs them to a deep basin built into the ground by the kitchen area and even though I try to get Kuana to wash first, she’s possibly as stubborn as I am and refuses.

I sink into the hot water, letting my aches and pains become one with it. I close my eyes. It’s been sixteen solars. Sixteen solars living with aliens and already it’s hard for me to remember any other life.

“Xhea?” She asks, hesitation in her tone. Even though I asked her not to call me Xhea, I don’t hate that she does. What I hate is her reticence to ask. It’s been a too many solars living together now for her to still be afraid of me. For me to still be a bitch to her. I’m no better than Kuaku. Except Kuaku was only being an ass hole to me and I’m already an ass hole. Now I’m being an ass hole to Kuana and she’s nothing but nice. I’m worse than Kuaku by three and Kuana is paying the price.

“Yes?” I try to say it nice and even look over my shoulder at her while my hands continue scrubbing at my skin in efficient strokes.

Naturally, she’s in the kitchen busy scrubbing something that is undoubtedly already clean since cleaning is all she’s done since she arrived. It makes me wonder what she did before. I want to ask her, but I…I’ve never asked her anything personal before.

“I would be pleased to lend you my assistance.”

“In the bath?” I balk, “I’m okay, thanks.”

Her forehead sizzles yellow — a color I know by now is something like shame. And the only reason I know that is because she’s perpetually yellow in the face around me. “I would offer assistance only to help you since you seem to have strained many muscles these past solars training with the xub’Okkari. That is all.”

Stars. She’s got a point. “I’ve got it. All good.”

She turns back to the clean surface and takes her rag to it again while I finish up, wondering what mama would think if she could hear me and see me now.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.