“Jay, get behind me,” she ordered sharply, hand out protectively as she scanned for all the places a creature could hide.
Many dangers were inherent in space travel and not all species needed oxygen to survive. Unfortunately, most of those were highly predatory and lethal to both Lathar and humanity alike. More so to the humans aboard the base, who hadn’t been trained since childhood for such threats.
“I am behind you,” he chuckled. “Although I’m not entirely sure why.”
She didn’t look at him, tension holding her body taut with her arms extended to deploy countermeasures to whatever was in here with them. Perhaps she could get him into the bathroom… one way in and out was easier for her to defend.
“You’re there so I can protect you!” she snapped. Sometimes his joking manner frustrated her. Didn’t he know how much danger he could be in?
The growl came again. It was right on top of them… or underneath. With a small gasp, she jumped back, only to collide with Jay. Immediately strong arms wrapped around her, holding her close to his bigger, heavily muscled body.
She tried to struggle free. “Let go! There’s something in here with us. I need to protect you!”
“With what exactly?” he murmured by her ear. “And from what?”
The growl came again, and his large hand spread over her mid-section. Over where the growl was coming from. She sagged against him as two realizations hit. One, she was biological now. She had nothing, not even a welding array, to protect her human with and two, the horrendous growl was coming from her.
“From that?” He chuckled by her ear. “That’s a beast that’s easily slayed, sweet stuff… you’re just hungry.”
“Hungry?”
Her hand stole over his, covering it where it lay on her stomach over the ache she’d been ignoring. She’d figured it was just one of those biological existential sensations that made no sense.
“I’m hungry? As in I need to eat something?” He’d offered to get her something to eat last night but she’d refused, not seeing why she’d needed fuel in such a brand-new body. Surely it would take a day or two for the reserves to deplete. Now? Her stomach growled again, signaling its approval at the idea of food. Of eating.
“Yes, sweetheart.” Amusement still colored his voice. “You need to eat something… and it is about breakfast time.”
“This is a very limiting design,” she grumbled, a sharp pang of disappointment running through her as he let her go. “It should be capable of storing a couple of days of fuel at least. My worker body could go weeks on a charge.”
“Them’s the breaks, kiddo,” he said with a wide smile as he ushered her to the door. “Let’s go feed that growling beastie. Shall we?”
6
Jay had slept with many women in his time. Not that he was a player, far from it. The life he led as a Frontier Marine was a tough one though. Even before they’d discovered the existence of the Lathar, there had been other threats, inter-systems wars, and skirmishes with both pirates and colony scavengers.
Life on the frontier was hard, and it made for hard people. Combine that with the brutality required to survive in some parts, and it ensured that every member of the Alliance Marine Corps was eager to find whatever comfort and diversion they could on RnR. He’d often spent his downtime with either a lady who had a thing about marines or a fellow marine. However, he’d never slept with anyone in his unit or chain of command. That wasn’t professional, and he’d seen it go to shit before.
But, as lovely as all his previous lovers had been, none of them had affected him the way holding Keris all night had. The trust she’d shown him, letting him hold her close when she was at her most vulnerable, had rocked him to the core. He wasn’t even sure she’d been fully aware when she’d sought him out. But she had sought him, and that was all that mattered. He’d barely slept a wink, hyperaware of every slight sound she made. Each little sigh and each soft snore were more cute than annoying.
Somehow, despite his lack of sleep, he was wide awake and alert as they made their way to the communal galley, or dining hall, in the middle of the VIP deck. It hadn’t taken them long after arriving to find it, driven by hunger and necessity. Even though the base had been abandoned for years, the freeze-dried rations were all still good. Miisan had assured them that the foil packets would survive anything up to a nuclear bombardment, which had both impressed him at their resilience and mildly concerned him for his gut health.
“Hey, sleeping beauty. How was the shower?” Gracie called out, a smile on her face as Jay and Keris walked into the hall.
Everyone else was already there, including Nyek, whose glare this morning was focused on his breakfast. It had taken Indra a couple of days and many threats to get the formerly religious nutjob to eat with them in the morning instead of punishing himself with fasting and prayer. A couple of days of good… well, a couple of days of nutrition had had a marked effect and the alien no longer looked quite so gaunt.
“It was good, thank you,” Keris replied with a smile as they took their places at the table. “Thank you for the clothes. They fit perfectly.”
“You’re more than welcome, sweetie. Figured you needed more to wear than Jay’s shirts.”
“Hey! What’s wrong with my shirts?” Jay demanded, hiding his grin as he dropped into the chair opposite Seren. The warrior sat with a plate in front of him. It was piled high with—
“Are those pancakes?” Jay asked, his stomach growling at him like a feral beast. He caught Keris’s eye and winked, causing her to giggle.
“They are indeed,” Gracie replied, putting a large plate piled with pancakes in the middle of the table. “Dig in.”
“Are they good?” Keris leaned in to ask, her eyes wide on the fluffy pancakes. The others all waited, smiles written on their faces as Jay reached out and put two on Keris’s plate.
“They are.”
They looked and smelled just like pancakes back home. He had to give it to the Lathar and their bugs. They made excellent food… apart from cheese. They hadn’t gotten that right, at all. Perhaps Miisan could print a cow or something in that fancy-dancy printer thing and they could get some milk…
“Try them with some chocolate sauce,” Gracie suggested, sliding a jug over. “Seren made it, and it’s amazing.”
“Yeah? Sounds good.”
Jay poured a small puddle of it on the side of Keris’s plate and handed her the fork. Her eyes were wide as she sectioned off a little piece. When she wasn’t thinking about it, her fine motor skills were flawless. Only when she thought too much did she become a bit clumsy. Right now, she was focused on the food, balancing the fork of pancake carefully and dipping it in the chocolate sauce.
Her concentration was absolute as she brought it to her lips and popped it into her mouth. Her lips closed around it and she moaned. Jay almost came there and then at the orgasmic look on her face.
“Oh my… planets. Is this what food tastes like?” she asked after chewing and swallowing.
“Yes… well some,” he admitted. “You really don’t want to eat in the AMC mess, though. Sometimes mess grub is shocking. I wouldn’t feed it to my bloody dog.”