Chapter 15
FIFTEEN
Bri
“But the prophecy—”
“Your prophecy said I needed to be satisfied. I am. I’m totally satisfied. No need for anymore…whatever that was.” I cut him off, desperate to end this conversation.
“Yes, Your Radiance,” he says and bows.
“Please take me to my room.” I put some force behind my words. I’m tired of repeating myself and want to be left alone. This ludicrous situation was funny at first, but that wore off a while ago.
“Yes, Your Greatness. Please forgive us for our transgressions,” Boss says.
I pay close attention to the turns through the tunnels back to my room. There is so much going on here, and I’m getting the feeling that I only know half of it. The situation with Boss, the vague prophecy, and where the hell are all the women?
“Where are all the women? Are they in a different colony?” I ask again, trying to sound casual.
“Please, Goddess. Do not worry yourself with such things,” Boss says.
I let out a slow exhale through my nose to calm my frustration with this asshole. I hate it when people brush off my questions. It’s so patronizing.
I’m more determined than ever to turn the brethren against him. Once that’s done, I can leave with a clear conscience.
“It seems strange there aren’t any females here. And why can’t anyone answer a goddamn question every once in a while?” I take a breath, trying to cool my rising temper.
“Our ways are different from the rest of the universe,” he says cryptically.
Yeah, no shit, Sherlock.
He talks the entire way back to my room about the day-to-day operations of the colony, never pausing long enough for me to say a single word. I get the feeling he’s filibustering, so I don't ask any more inconvenient questions.
If they are telling the truth and they don’t have any comms systems, I’ll gather some food and water and leave on my own.
Alone in my room, I rest my tense back against the closed door. It’s where I hold my stress, and there has been plenty of it lately. What I need is a good soak in that giant tub, not some creep with chafing hands offering to get me off.
On my way to the bathroom, I leave a trail of clothes behind me. Using my only hair tie, a prized possession, I fashion a loose bun on the top of my head. Next time there’s an emergency evacuation, I’m grabbing a backup.
I picture Tai's face if I'd sprinted back to my sleeping unit for a spare hair tie while the station evacuated around me. It might have been worth it to put myself in a little bit of danger to get a reaction out of the gorgeous overbearing alien.
It’s the first time I’ve thought about him in a while. I wonder what he’s doing right now. Probably trying to explain to Aro how he lost me.
The tension leaves my body as I step into the warm water.
I uncap the bottles along the edge and test each substance on my hand.
One smells like jasmine in the summertime and reminds me of a moisturizer I used to steal from the resort I worked at, a perfect treatment for my sunburn.
I pour a generous amount into my hands and gently rub it all over my face.
I lean back on the edge and let the cream work its magic.
My eyes fly open with the quiet snick of my bedroom door closing. A bell tinkles, giving away the pervert who is moving around my room. Dude, seriously? I thought they had finally given up. These are some persistent little freaks.
I frantically look around for my towel. It’s just out of reach, neatly folded across the room. I would have to run past the wide-open door to get to it. I wade deeper into the tub and hope the water obscures my naked body.
“Hello?” I call out.
No response.
“Um, hi, I’m busy right now. Please go away,” I say loudly to the peeping tom.
The bell hesitates then continues its approach.
“Really. I appreciate the offer, but no orgasm necessary,” I call out.
“Who said anything about an orgasm?” a deep and familiar voice says.
Relief and anger crash over me all at once.
“You!” I snap at him.
Of all the people in all the universe, it’s Tai. How is it every time I turn around, this giant blue alien is underfoot and driving me crazy?
Tai stands at the edge of the bathtub. “When I said this conversation isn’t over, I didn’t think it would pick back up word for word. You need to think of another way to say, ‘Thank you, Tai, for coming to save me’.” He mimics me in a high-pitched obnoxious voice that sounds nothing like mine.
A hood covers half his face, unfortunately not the half with a wide cocky smile. I want to smack the smirk off his annoyingly handsome face. Without anything else being in arm’s reach, I opt to splash him with the bathwater.
“If you want me to get in with you, you just have to ask,” he says.
Prick.
“So, what’s this about orgasms? I’ve been out searching for you in the desert, and you’ve been down here getting serviced by a bunch of lonely outcasts?”
“No one is getting serviced. It’s a little misunderstanding. How the fuck did you find me?” Technically he’s sort of correct, but I’m trying to do a good deed down here! Not treat them like my own personal harem.
“You’re quite the talk of the colony. I didn’t have to slink around in the shadows long before I put together that you are their ‘Golden Goddess of Majestic Whatever.’ There are only so many places a goddess can be locked up down here.”
“I’m not locked up, and I already said there’s been a little mix-up. They think I’m…their…you know…goddess,” I say the final word under my breath, hesitant to even utter the word because it sounds absolutely insane.
“Okay, well, whatever they think you are, playtime is over. Get out and get dressed. We’re leaving,” he orders and goes back to my bedroom, closing the door behind him.
His tone activates a part of me that has been dormant since the last time I saw him. I want to stomp my feet like a petulant child and refuse to cooperate. As soon as I’m dressed, I can tell him to get fucked.
I scramble up the edge and tightly wrap the towel around my body. My reflection in the mirror startles me. The face mask dried and cracked, making me look 200 years old. I’m sure Tai loved this.
If he were a gentleman, which he is not, he could have announced himself from the bedroom. He’s trying to aggravate me. I scrub the mask off and look around the bathroom for my clothes, but every stitch of clothing is in my bedroom, with him.
“My clothes are out there. Turn around and close your eyes,” I tell him from behind the closed door.
“Isn’t that a little redundant? Turn around and close my eyes?”
“Ugh. Just do it!”
We’ve been in the same room for a whole thirty seconds, and he’s already tried to pick two fights with me.
I run to my clothes on the floor and get dressed as quickly as possible, my wet feet catching on my skirt while I try to pull it up. I lose my balance and teeter over trying to work my foot free.
“You okay back there?” he asks over his shoulder.
“Fine, everything’s fine. Give me a minute.
” I grab the top next, burning with irritation.
What I wouldn’t give for my coveralls right now.
He better not comment on the goddess outfit.
I tug everything into place, throw my shoulders back, and straighten my spine.
I hate this outfit. It’s meant to be a spectacle and reduce me to a sexual object, but I refuse to give it power over me.
“I’m decent,” I say, summoning my most dignified tone. The skimpy outfit doesn’t cover much, and I’m the tiniest bit nervous about him seeing me in this. Even though he has seen me in much less.
He slowly turns. His eyes wander all the way up my body. The chemistry between us is palpable, but it doesn’t change that I’m still mad at him.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” It didn’t even occur to me until now he could have ended up on the same planet as me after the evacuation. Even though he’s annoying, and his sudden appearance complicates my plans, I’m glad he’s okay.
“I’m here to save your ass. You’re welcome,” he says irritably. “Where are your clothes?”
As though I had a choice.
So much for the warm feelings. They disappear as quickly as they show up.
“You can’t come in here and act like this isn’t your fault!” I cross my arms in front of me, hoping it looks obstinate and not self-conscious.
“My fault?” He smolders with anger and takes a step closer. “How in the universe could this be my fault?” His face is tightly controlled. A ripple of self-righteous disdain simmering under the surface.
“You forced me off j’Tilak. If you would have just minded your own damn business, none of this would have happened!” I let my temper get the best of me and the words are loud and harsh.
“Shut up! Someone is going to hear you,” he whisper-shouts. His eyes dart around the room and he takes another step closer to me. “If you would have just stayed with the escape pod, we wouldn’t be down here with these nutjobs.”
I stop myself from complimenting his correct usage of the word “nutjob.” But I make it a rule to not flatter alien men like Tai, even if they are incredibly hot when they are mad.
“I’m not going anywhere with you. In fact, I think I’ll stay here.” Whatever he says, I want the opposite. “I don’t know if you had a chance to meet any of…my followers…but I am needed here,” I say, doing my best to sound regal and unbothered.
“PUH-LEASE. If by ‘followers’ you mean the brethren, yeah. I met them and they are all certifiable. Get your bag. We need to leave. You aren’t safe here with them.
” Tai paces across my room. I assume he’s looking for my pack.
My eyes flicker to the bottom drawer of the only cabinet in the room.
Tai picks up on the movement and walks toward the drawer.
“I’ll be fine. They’d never hurt me. They worship me.” I look him up and down, sizing him up. It just now occurs to me that his arms are under the ill-fitting robe, and not through the sleeves.
“What’s going on there?” I pull up the robe to see what’s underneath.
“I’m cuffed,” he mumbles.
Laughter bubbles out of me. “The great soldier, Tai fucking pt’Alquon, got captured by a couple of harmless religious aliens?”
His face turns deadly serious. “They aren’t as harmless as you think. They got kicked off their planet for trying to eradicate all the females.”
“There is no way that’s true. You can’t believe everything you see on the newsfeed.” They wouldn’t do something so awful. They’re horny, not homicidal.
“Believe me or don’t—it doesn’t matter. Because we are leaving now.”
“Where’s your ship?” I ask.
“About that.”
“You crashed here too? What’s the play? You think we can sneak out and what? Wander around in the desert? No thank you.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” He seethes and it feeds my inner rebel. I’ve already set my sights on Boss, and I’m not leaving until the brethren are free from him. The sudden appearance of this grumpy Tilak changes nothing.
“I’d rather not be cooked alive on the surface of this awful planet. I’m good right here, for now. I’m not leaving until I know I’ll survive up there.” I don’t want to tell him my plan to lead an uprising against Boss. It’s none of his business what I do with my free time.
“We are leaving.”
I clear the laughter from my throat.
“I don’t think it’s up to you. In fact, I think you should sneak back to where it is you came from, and I’ll come up with a plan to get us out of here.” I wave my hand at the door, a dismissal I know will piss him off.
Tai’s nostrils flair. His ear twitches, and a thrill shoots through my veins. I’ll admit, sometimes I mess with people, but there is something especially delicious about pushing Tai’s buttons.
“I am not spending another second in that dungeon—”
“We have a dungeon?” I interrupt. “Just when I think this place can’t get any more awesome.” A villainous cackle erupts out of me, but Tai isn’t amused.
“Bri—” His voice drops an octave, and his rebuke is meant to scold, but it has a different effect on my body. His growly deep voice stokes something reckless in me. It’s totally normal to have moments of weakness around handsome assholes, right?
“What’s the plan for those?” I point to his cuffed hands, trying to get back on topic instead of letting my traitorous, sex-deprived body distract me.
“I don’t know. I’ll figure out how to break them.” He shifts his arms and a wince of pain crosses his face.
“What if we could get the brethren to take the cuffs off willingly?” I ask, a devious plan forming in my mind. Tai would never agree to it, which makes me love it even more.
“You’re scaring me. I don’t like that look in your eye,” he says, scrutinizing me.
“Don’t underestimate my powers of persuasion. But for my plan to work…you’re going to have to go back to the dungeon.” I bite my lips to stifle my laughter.
“No.”
“Okay, I can always call the brethren in here and see what happens after that.” I glare at him in a silent challenge.
“You wouldn’t dare.”
“Wouldn’t I?”
“If you leave me down there."
“I’ll get you out of the dungeon. Go back down, and I'll get you out—without the cuffs.”
“You better do it quickly. If I have to wait down there while you are doing, whatever it is you’re doing up here, so help me. I broke out once, I’ll break out again, but next time I’m leaving your ass here.” His ear twitches again. Aro told me it’s the Tilak equivalent of the middle finger.
“You can twitch that ear all you like, but if you want out of the dungeon, you’d better be nice.”
“Quickly.” With the last word, Tai cracks open the door and peers out. He’s about to slip out when I remember something.
“Tai, don’t let your pants out of your sight.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asks.
“Just trust me on this, and never say I didn’t do something nice for you.” I wave him out of the room, anxious to enact my plan.
He slips out the door while I collapse into hysterical laughter.