Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
Sorin
“ C ut!” John Smith stomps his way down the stairs, followed by his assistant. “You two haven’t met yet. Remember?”
“Have you already met?” Roan demands.
I grit my teeth, ignoring the look of betrayal on Roan’s face. Had the kitchen not been playing host to five cameras, I would have launched myself over the table at Killan for touching Briar.
Killan, completely unaware that my heart is beating inside my chest with such strength that I can feel almost nothing else of my own body, returns to his seat at the table, arms crossed over his chest as if touching Briar meant so little to him.
When she tripped down the stairs, it should have been me to catch her. Not my brother.
“Sue me,” Briar snaps at John Smith. “I made a mistake.”
She is wearing fewer clothes than when we first met, now wrapped in one length of pale green fabric that hugs the shape of her body and falls gracefully to her feet. She is curvaceous in ways Ril’os Females are not, from breasts to waist to hips and thighs.
Her hairs are tied back, with a few strands left loose to frame her face. Her lips have been painted red, reminiscent of her hairs and in stark contrast to the green of her dress. And her arms are bare, displaying a tattoo at the crook of one elbow, bright lines against the paleness of her smooth skin.
Last night, I tossed and turned.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Briar.
Every time I tried to sleep, I heard Briar’s voice, as if she’d been standing outside my room. As if she had been haunting me.
“Hey, can we have a moment, just us women together?” Briar asks John Smith. “You know, to get our heads around everything that’s happened.”
“No.” John Smith grabs the front of Briar’s dress and yanks it down, exposing another inch of pale skin along her collarbone and the top of her full breasts.
“Oh, very classy!” She pushes at his shoulder, trying to shove him away from her, but the Drah’os does not even acknowledge her attempt.
“Do not touch her.” The words are out of my mouth before I can stop them, and suddenly I am standing on the table, having moved faster than conscious thought. I cross the distance between us and jump off the other side, landing before Briar and the Drah’os.
“Hey, I can understand you today.”
“Briar—” I reach for her, not quite knowing what I am going to say but wanting her to know I will protect her if she asks it of me.
“I’m fine,” she says, infinitely more articulate. “Don’t get yourself into trouble because of me.”
“Get back over there,” John Smith interrupts, gesturing at me to retreat across the table. “We need continuity.”
“Or else our audience will realize LOVE GALAXY is staged,” Briar says.
“It is not.” Roan stands, the legs of his chair scraping against the flagstone floor. “LOVE GALAXY is real. And how come you two have already met? You did not tell me.” He shoots that last accusation at me.
Everyone looks at him, and the edges of his scales tinge blue with embarrassment.
“It is real,” he repeats, stubbornly.
“Exactly,” John Smith says forcefully, pushing on my arm, trying to push me back to my original position. “It is real, and if we could continue filming, I want to get the introduction scenes finished before all twenty days have passed!”
It is only because John Smith does not again reach to touch Briar that I manage to return to the other side of the table, my hands clenched into fists that I want to sink into the Drah’os’s stomach.
“Start from hi, ” he instructs Briar. “Introduce yourself to the group and then take your seat at the table. Followed by some light banter and flirting.”
“Introduction, sit, light banter,” she repeats. “And then we’ll get a break?”
“Sure. Whatever. Action!”
“Hi.” Briar wiggles the fingers of her raised hand. “I’m Briar Chapman. I’m a Human from Earth. I’ve been working as an advisor for nearly a decade, with a degree in political science and lots of experience in charity fundraising. From the moment I first found out that I was going to have the opportunity to potentially meet my husband on live TV, I… well, I guess I was a bit discombobulated. It felt like getting hit over the back of the head with a paperweight.”
As if suddenly remembering the rest of John Smith’s instructions, she drops into the closest empty chair and slides down until her shoulders are resting against the chair back. “Oh, and I’m looking for love. Obviously.”
“So you are unmated?” The question bursts from my mouth.
“Un-what?” Briar asks, lines marring her soft brow.
“Mated.”
“Sorry, I don’t think I know what that means. Maybe it isn’t translating.” She glances at the other Females, who do nothing but shrug. “Mated,” she repeats, as if testing the word. “Unmated. Oh, do you mean married? Or divorced? No, I’m not either of those things. It’s actually been a while since I’ve dated anyone. I really was focusing on my career.” And she glares at Chloe.
I do not know what she means by dated, but I think the gist of her answer must mean she does not have a Mate waiting for her return home, and a little of the tension holding my muscles tight eases. That, at least, is something.
I shift from foot to foot, not sure what I am supposed to be doing with my arms. Four hands feel like four too many, and I compromise by clasping them behind my back, hiding my nervousness from the watching cameras.
In comparison, Briar appears calm, as if she has spent much time before cameras. I know almost nothing about her. I watch her watching the other Females.
“Hello. Br-eye-ya. Br-eye—” Roan says, scooting forward in his chair, practically leaning over the table so he can eliminate as much space between himself and the Females as possible.
“Briar. That’s right.” She displays her blunt teeth, and the corners of her mouth curve up in another gesture that is unfamiliar to me. If we were alone, I might have asked her what it meant. But Roan is already attempting to replicate the movement, his many rows of teeth appearing absurdly too large for his mouth with the corners of his lips twisted up.
One of the other Females flinches away from him. Harlee , I think they said her name is.
“That was not right?” He glances toward Killan, but our older brother is doing nothing but scowling as he drums his fingers against the tabletop.
“It was a great first attempt,” Briar encourages. “What’s your name?”
“I am Roan.” Roan puffs out his chest, straightening his shoulders. “I would make an excellent Mate. I own one-third of this farm, and I can provide a good and comfortable life for a Female and our younglings. You want younglings, yes?” Roan is staring so intently at the three Females that his pupils expand from slits to full circles.
Nobody but Briar meets his gaze.
“Maybe,” she says with a small shrug. “I mean, I guess. I’ve not had much time to think about that sort of thing lately.” Again, she looks to the other Females, but they remain silent, leaving Briar to do all the talking. I think they are scared, with their wide eyes and their flushed faces. Unlike Briar, they have had little time to adjust to the reality of their abduction.
Fresh anger has me glaring at the Drah’os Male. Had Briar not made me promise yesterday not to say anything, I would already have pulled his head from his neck and tossed his lifeless body to the wind, be damned the consequences.
“My brothers and I all wish for many younglings,” Roan concludes to the room at large, as if he has not noticed the undercurrent of stress and fear radiating off the Females.
“Roan.” Killan growls a warning.
“It is true.” Roan crosses his lower arms, reminding me of the petulant youngling he once was, always so desperate to know everything he could possibly learn about the world, as if knowing would help make up for the fact he has never left the planet on which he was born. “Even if you have never said as much, I know you, Killan. Ow!” He flinches away from his eldest brother and whatever punishment Killan bestowed upon him out of sight, under the table. “You cannot deny that the only reason you do not already have a house full of younglings is that there are no Females on our planet.”
Killan grips the back of Roan’s chair. “You go too far?—”
“No females?” Briar interrupts. “What do you mean there are no women here?”
“We three are the entire permanent population of this planet,” Roan answers, his bravado faltering. “You were not told this when you applied to LOVE GALAXY?”
“Nope. Funnily enough, they forgot to mention that fact. Among many, many other things.”
“You’re going off topic,” John Smith snaps. “Get back to the introductions and start wrapping this conversation up. We don’t have all day.” And he waves at Briar to keep talking.
She rolls her eyes in a show of… defiance? Agreement? Anger? And holds out her right hand to my younger brother. “Well, it’s been lovely to meet you, Roan.”
“Akh—” Roan copies the movement, extending both his right hands across the table.
“Oh, this is a Human thing,” she explains. “When two people meet, they shake hands. Like, er, like this.” She takes one of his outstretched hands in hers and moves their combined hands up and down before releasing him.
“Just upper hands?” Roan asks, waving his neglected lower hand.
I force my mouth to open, trying to ease some of the tension in my clenched jaw. I have never hit Roan in all my life. But here, now, my hands are clenched into fists, and if he does not back away from Briar quickly, I fear I will lose hold of my sanity.
“I don’t think it matters,” Briar replies with a laugh. “Whichever hand you’re most comfortable with. Your dominant hand.” And she reaches toward my eldest brother. “It’s nice to meet you too, Killan.”
Her laughter is a beautiful sound.
Killan thrusts a clump of Nufaral into Briar’s extended hand. “The best Nufaral in all the universe, grown fresh on our farm. Delicious.”
“Thank you?” Briar stares down at the clump of dried algae, clearly unsure about what to do with it, and an awkward silence fills the kitchen.
“Wrap it up,” John Smith hisses, waving his two hands in the air to catch our attention. “Come on. Everyone else, shake hands. Banter. Banter. Laugh! Ha ha ha.” He mimes laughing while sounding anything but happy.
Setting down the dried Nufaral, Briar shakes the hands of the two Females, and the two Females shake hands with my brothers. And the ritual is over before I have forced myself to release my fists, let alone extended a hand to join in.
I suddenly do not care about positively advertising the farm. I do not care about maintaining my distant composure in front of the cameras. All I desperately want is for LOVE GALAXY to be genuine. I want my promised twenty days with Briar. And I want to spend that time exploring the possibility that we could be compatible Mates. Even if it means millions of people will watch our courtship.
“Scudding fek. Good enough.” John Smith waves a limp hand at his assistant to step forward. “Time for Chloe’s summing-up. Ready? Oh, and try to add some spice. These so-called contestants need all the help we can give them.”
“Absolutely.” Chloe flashes startlingly white teeth and raises her microphone. “Get ready to be blown away by this brand-new season of LOVE GALAXY. We’ve met the girls. We’ve met the boys. Who do we think they will choose?” The pitch of her last word drops, and I cannot tell if she is asking us a question or posing a query to our potential future audience.
Not wanting to risk missing my only chance, as I missed my chance to shake Briar’s hand, as I missed catching Briar when she’d tripped down the steps, I move forward. Again, I forget about the table and bump into it. Again, its feet scrape against the flagstones, and everyone stares at me.
“Briar.” Resolutely ignoring the color shift of my scales, from green to blue, I look straight at the closest camera. “I choose Briar.”