At her gasp of outrage, he added, “This is what happens when you meet your heart’s fire. Were your dreams not pleasant?”
“They were… I… I’m going to go to the common area and get some breakfast. By myself.”
Kodran looked hurt, following her as she headed towards the common area. “You do not wish me to be with you? After everything we shared last night?”
“You have my brains all scrambled!”
Kodran shook his head as he followed her over to the food counter. “That must be an Earth expression. It makes no sense to me. I have done nothing to your brains. I wish only to earn your heart.”
The robot behind the counter served them up trays of food, and when Kodran sat down at a table, she deliberately chose a different one.
He sat there eating and watching her with a smile.
“Why are you smiling?” she asked him suspiciously.
Suddenly, a memory of her dream flooded her vision. She could not only see it, she could feel it – him running his tongue over her most intimate parts, and the hot rush of pleasure that washed over her. She shivered in her seat and stifled a moan of pleasure.
“That is why,” he said, grinning. “Now I know how you taste. Sweeter than the juiciest berries.”
Rosamund felt her face flaming with embarrassment. She glanced around frantically. A few Draell crewmembers were watching them with looks of amusement on their faces.
Argh! Everybody knew!
“Don’t worry,” Kodran called out to her. “Nobody else can see or feel what we share. It is only for mates who share the heart’s fire connection.”
“That’s it. I’m out of here.” Rosamund, utterly mortified, quickly drained the last of the coffee-like beverage, leaped to her feet, and ran out of the room without looking back.
She headed to the bridge. She needed to check in on Talia anyway.
When she arrived, however, Prenzal looked even less pleased to see her than he had the last time. He did not want to put the call through.
“It’s not a good time,” he insisted. “You already told them where you were, and you will be returned to your planet in a very short time.”
Kodran walked onto the bridge just in time to prevent Rosamund from throwing an extremely loud fit on the spot.
“Kodran. I need to speak to my best friend, who just gave birth to two children.” Rosamund glowered at him. “Why won’t Prenzal let me call her? What’s going on around here?”
“All right. I just need you to keep the conversation brief,” Kodran said. “We are preparing to land shortly, and you will need to return to your quarters for that.”
Prenzal scowled. “Sir, this is not a good idea.”
Kodran’s eyes glowed red, and the air around him began to shimmer with heat. “Disobeying my direct command is a much worse idea.”
“As you command,” Prenzal said with a stiff nod. “But I expect this will end in disaster,”
“You expect everything will end in disaster. It’s your nature. Put the call through, unless you wish to be relieved of duty and clapped in irons.”
His expression mutinous, Prenzal put a call through to the birthing center. Unfortunately, all they would tell her was that Talia was indisposed and unavailable to speak to her.
Damn privacy laws.
She had Prenzal put in a call to Darfan instead.
“This is Rosamund,” she said. “Is Talia back home yet? How are the babies?”
Darfan’s face appeared on the screen. “I have been trying to contact you. We need you to return at once,” he snapped. “Tell the Draell commander to give us your coordinates. We will send a ship to fetch you.”
“Absolutely not,” Prenzal said quickly. “The human female will return to Agora in five solar circles.”