protect her. Just as I have quietly protected her in the past from things she does not even know about.
But she feels as if everything is ruined, and her sobs tear at me. I need to fix this.
Somehow.
I clear my throat. “We…we can still move forward. With the mating.”
She shakes her head, weeping. “Bethiah was supposed to find me someone that was nice and wouldn’t want sex. Someone that would wait.”
On this planet? Kim is very innocent, indeed. I watch her, my heart hurting, and then I make a very stupid offer. “I will mate to you with no sex.”
Kim lifts her head, her eyes shining with tears. “You…will?”
I nod slowly, even though every strand of my fur is screaming that I make no such deal. I cannot bear the sight of her misery. “We can just be friends.” And if I choke a little on the last word, it does not show. “Friends,” I repeat again, louder.
Convincing myself.
“You’re sure?” When I nod, the suspicious look returns to her face. “How can I trust you?”
I spread my hands. “You have to trust someone at some point.”
Her gaze falls to the floor, to the remnants of the broken chair and the snapped cuffs. She thinks for a moment, and then nods. “If you don’t mind a platonic marriage, then let’s do it. Today?”
“Today.” If this is the only way I can have her, this will have to do. Perhaps in time she will grow to care for me.
“Now?” She picks herself up off the floor.
“Not now.” My tail twitches. “I need to change my trou.”
13
KIM
The morning passes in a whirlwind of activity. We clean up and dress, and I watch the praxiian as he moves through my house. I’m still wary of him, but he’s right. I have to trust someone at some point. Cleaning up the splintered chair and shattered cuffs shows me how easily he could have overpowered me if he wanted to. Instead, he sat and let me “torture” him all night.
If that doesn’t show good intentions, I don’t know what does.
The praxiian changes into a pair of spare pants I have set aside for my “kidnapped” spouse. It’s obvious I wasn’t expecting someone his size—they’re too small and hug his crotch indecently, but he doesn’t complain. Once we’re both ready, we get into my air-sled and head to port.
I let him drive the sled, and he gets in and immediately hums under his breath, flipping switches. “When was the last time you had this serviced?”
“I have to have it serviced? No one told me.” Heck, I don’t even know what half the buttons do. I just know enough to get to my farm and back. But sure enough, the thing jerks into high gear and speeds toward town faster than I ever thought the thing could go, and I feel…cheated. Just a little. Even by the well-meaning aliens who gave us equipment to run our farms and help us out, we’ve still been treated like second-class citizens. How hard would it have been to give me lessons on how to use an air-sled? Instead, I’m having to learn from a praxiian.
We get to the courthouse in port in record time, and the big cat alien puts a hand on my shoulder, pulling me against him as he speaks to an official. “I wish to mate this human,” he says in the barking szzt tongue. “Please to make it documented.”
“You want to mate her? Just mate her then. Don’t come to me.” The szzt waves a hand.
“It will be a mating to secure her property. She will be co-owner of mine and I will be co-owner of hers,” the praxiian continues. “Please to make it documented. It is called a ‘marriage’ amongst human peoples.”
I try to hide my surprise. I hadn’t given much thought to the fact that he had a farm, too…and now I’m getting half of it? Have I even seen his farm? I frown to myself.
The szzt official just eyes my praxiian husband-to-be. “Must we do this? My schedule is very busy. You know as well as I do that humoring humans is a waste of time.”
“How much?” the praxiian asks calmly.
“Very, very busy,” the szzt says again.
The cat alien pulls a wallet from inside the front of his tunic and pulls out a few credit chips. Oh. We have to bribe the officials to do even this? Dismayed, I reach for my own credit pouch. “I can pay—”