Chapter Six
Aphrodite woke steadily, a harsh sting to her sides brought her back to life.
She blinked, tears forming in the corners of her eyes.
Moving her arms? No, not happening, hurts like a bitch.
Moving her head? That’s not so bad. She winced after she flopped her head to the side.
The room around her formed fully in pieces until her blurry, spotty vision was clear.
She swallowed hard. A spotless space shuttle room.
Near identical to the one she had back at the main station.
Granted, most ships have stuff like a bed, an embedded shelf, and clean chrome walls.
Though, whatever ship she was on, the metal was darker, and the floor was lit up with tiny dots.
The floor is either set to electrocution or sensor. She wasn’t ready to find out which.
She moved her head again and realized she was propped up on a silk-like pillowcase. Nuzzling her face against the fabric, she sighed with relief. It was a nightmare, a hallucination, a terrible— The wooshing sound of a door filled the room and her eyes snapped open.
It was real.
“Ah, my mate, you are awake. Delightful, I was worried your healing around the breathers would make you rest longer. I have awaited to see you open your eyes for some cekys. How do you feel?”
“My brea—ah, fuck.” She tried to move her arms again, to sit up, when a stitch on both her sides reminded her who was boss.
She gasped for air. The hunter was at her side in the blink of an eye.
They sank on the edge of the bed and put one of their hands to the center of her chest. She froze, her skin and muscles tightening painfully.
They pressed her down to the mattress and kept her there until she relaxed.
“You will need to stay still until the wounds heal, my mate.” They peeled back the blanket, and she was able to shift her head enough to look.
The hunter pointed at her side. Horror and morbid curiosity made her study the angry red skin.
There was a skinny, metal oval embedded into her flesh with clear stitching around the device.
Her eyes widened. Not only was she not in her suit anymore, but she also wasn’t even in the clothes she wore under it.
She was in some cloth and fabric that was medically taped to cover bits of her flesh.
It will be hilarious that they’d covered my belly button later.
She tried to take a deep breath and found herself inhaling more oxygen than necessary.
The sound, soft and humming, from deep within her told her that something about her was not so human anymore.
“You experimented on me?” she sobbed, fingers curling around the fabric of the sheets.
“Well, breathers are the best for beings that cannot produce their own breath.” The being at the side of her bed lifted the two arms closest to her and exposed a similar oval machine.
She furrowed her brows. Her arms trembled from pain and panic.
However, she managed to move them across the bed toward their torso.
They rested their arms over their head. Her fingertips traced the edge of the device embedded into their flesh.
Her panic subsided as she realized…she could fucking breathe better.
“This is…why you didn’t need…a helmet.” She swallowed, blinking rapidly to clear the tears.
“And now why you will never have to hide your beautiful face from me.” A tender hand the size of her whole face came down from over their head to cup her cheek.
Aphrodite tried to hold it together. She tried not to blush or react to the words.
But that was the cutest shit I’ve ever heard.
Then came with the sick realization that she was still alive.
I am still alive. She gasped for air again, wincing, then letting out a shaky, wet breath.
Tears spilled down her cheeks as she dropped her hand from their side. “How am I here?”
“I suspect how most of your species is here, science, experimentation, exploration—”
“Why am I here!” She flinched, hands rushing to her sides at the pain that bit into her. Their hands snatched hers and held them away from her wounds. She nearly choked on her own tongue at the pain of being restrained. It made all her muscles tense.
Which, in turn, makes the pain of having technology shoved into my body hurt more.
“Well, my mate, you’re here because you’re healing.
And I was informed by the technicians you needed a sterile environment for proper healing.
Unfortunately, my chambers are not…sterile.
I have to clean up. Do not worry.” They smiled again.
In a way that only the hunter could smile.
She was once again able to study their face.
A rounded head with flared ridges of their skull, it almost looked like bone.
Large obsidian eyes framed with thick lids and lashes, which was still completely unfair.
Their mouth was a collection of pincers brought in at the center that opened and closed as they spoke, showing off an inner collection of teeth and a tongue that was flatter and longer than human tongues.
I wouldn’t be surprised if their tongue has teeth too.
But their face seemed to brighten, emote even, as they spoke.
“How can I understand you?” she blurted out, sinking into the bed. And what is with this mate nonsense? “Who are you? Why did you—”
She choked on her words as the memories left physical pressure on her chest. The crew is dead. She shuddered, wincing once again at the movement of her body.
“Oh! Well, I took Anglo-saxis when I was younger, I understand that your species was quite…explorative? Is that the phrase? You like to be places you shouldn’t be.
It became necessary for me during hunts to be able to speak your language.
However, I do fear I am lacking in some departments.
Your language is full of contextual words that I may not understand due to your tone.
As your tone suggests you are upset.” They cocked their head to the side.
“And it would please me for you to call me Xexis.”
She licked her lips nervously, staring up into the black pools that watched her. “What do you want from me, Xexis?”
It was their turn to shiver. “My name from your lips is…how do you say…music.”
Her heart clenched as she squeaked, “Fuck.”
“Oh! I do know that one, I’ve been told it’s a…
naughty word, yes? My Spachtr—err—I believe the word you use is friend?
Well, Quagmor tells me your species and language have many of them.
However, I am not sure why you spoke it?
” They relaxed her hands against the blanket before slowly tucking her back in.
“That-was-the-cutest-shit-anyone’s-ever-said-to-me.
” She squeezed all the words out at once, grimacing and eye twitching in quick succession.
Silence fell over them as Xexis traced the outside of her arms softly with theirs.
It was sweet, comforting, and all it did was make more tears well up in her eyes.
With a broken, whimpering plea, she spoke, “Why did you do this?”
“Do what, my mate?”
“You’re not—I’m not… What? Why didn’t you tell me you could talk? Why didn’t you say anything when you heard us? Why didn’t you say something?” She was spinning in her own head, lips quivering.
Their large face softened as a hand returned to her cheek, the other continuing to stroke her arm. “It’s tradition and insulting to not put my everything into our mating hunt. Also, I must confess, when I am hunting, I find my speech is lacking. No thoughts of words, only thoughts of claiming you.”
She exhaled heavily. “Claiming me?”
“As my mate.”
“And, as your mate?” She raised a brow, the reality of everything Xexis said crashing over her. They kept calling her their mate. They were tender and sweet. They had healers and technicians look after her. Her fingers curled around the sheets again. “What do you expect me to do?”
“I expect nothing,” Their face lit up, “We can do as you like within reason. I know your species is fond of exploring, and you were on an exploration crew, am I correct?”
She was only able to nod as she tried not to scream or cry or throw up.
Regulating her emotions was the only control she had at the moment, and she wasn’t about to give it up.
They continued, “Well, if you’d like, within reason, I can show you a great many places, other quadrants your kind haven’t found yet or are not allowed.
I do have responsibilities as Kannatch, and duties I must perform for my people, and hunts I will have to engage in, but in between that I would be delighted to show you anything your heart desires. ”
“And…what would you like to do…as my mate?” She wasn’t appalled by the idea.
Space exploration with a being that already explored space?
That could be an absolute delight. To not have to work and to just enjoy seeing new things.
Like being a fucking tourist! Aphrodite had never been a tourist in her whole life!
What would these missions have been like if she’d gone to sight see and experience them for fun.
It’s the ‘mate’ part that was still throwing me for a loop.