sound too because he seemed to zone back into the present as suddenly as the growl had penetrated the air.
“What did you say sweet, sweet human?” M’Agunt asked, his voice like syrup but his gaze icy as he glanced at Kyro. This time, Evren was certain there was definite annoyance in his gaze.
“Needles? Thread? Do you sell any?”
She spent the next few moments having to describe the two items to the two aliens and after all her efforts, it turned out that there was no such thing on the base.
Apparently, no one sewed clothes. They all just bought them ready-made.
Well, she wouldn’t be doing that. The whole purpose of getting the cloth was so she would have something to do so she could preoccupy her mind and not go crazy.
Reaching into her basket, she pulled out her datapad, which held her digital credits. M’Agunt raised a tentacle in the air.
“No need to pay. This time it is free.” He smiled.
“Oh...that’s nice of you but I can pay—”
M’Agunt’s grin widened. “Ah, sweet human,” he said. “You will pay me later.”
Evren frowned slightly but the alien’s smile didn’t seem malicious.
With a grunt from Kyro, she felt his hand at her back as he steered her from the store, almost as if he couldn’t wait to get her out of there and away from the saggy alien.
“Thank you, M’Agunt,” she managed to say before they exited the stall.
As they reentered the market, she was sure she heard M’Agunt’s reply: “The pleasure was all mine.”
7
They walked in silence, the hustle and bustle of the market enveloping them once more.
Kyro couldn’t help the frown that was bunching the skin on his forehead.
The Dini known as M’Agunt disturbed him.
Logic told him there was nothing to be disturbed about, but he didn’t trust the slimy Dini for as high as he could lift him.
Swallowing hard, he told himself it was not because of the small human walking by his side.
He would have to go back home and do some research on Vorti mating rituals but as far as his current knowledge went, they had been doing nothing to illicit the primitive growl that had forced itself from within him.
And she had heard it, too. How embarrassing.
Glancing down at her now, her package of cloth tucked into her basket, he willed himself to think clearly.
His response in the shop wasn’t new.
When he’d seen Shive invade her space, he’d felt the same strange feeling that had made itself known with the merchant’s shop. There was no logical reason for the surge of protection that had gone through him.
Whatever it was, it had to be something to do with her being human. Clearly, whatever malady was affecting his brothers was also affecting him.
He didn’t need to hover over her. She’d almost taken one of Shive’s eyes out all on her own.
The memory amused him greatly. She’d used her tiny pointy finger as a weapon.
There was silence between them now and he noticed her face was composed. He didn’t know what she was thinking, but he didn’t like it.
He much preferred the way she had looked when she’d laughed at his joke.
Her face had taken on a youthfulness that wasn’t there now.
Now, she looked serene thinking some troubled thoughts as they walked together.
Was she contemplating M’Agunt?
It was clear the Dini’s interest in her went beyond the fact that she was human. There was something else behind M’Agunt’s eyes when he looked at her and the thought made his blood pulse where his chets once were.
M’Agunt and qrakking Shive.
There it was again. That feeling.
He and the human were only...acquaintances. He’d helped rescue her and that was the basis of their relationship. It would be nothing more.
It could be nothing more.
Did he want it to be something more?
His heart stopped for a second before resuming.
The thought had never occurred to him. But as soon as it began taking root, Kyro brushed it away.
It would be punishment to bring someone into his personal hell. To subject someone he claimed to love to the life he had to live...he would only do such a thing to his enemies.
Still, as he told himself this, he didn’t want the little time he’d spent in her presence to be over. Following her to the market had been an unexpectedly pleasurable experience if he forgot about the merchant and the other rebel.
“So, you watch our comedy shows, huh?” she asked suddenly, pulling him from his thoughts once more.
“I read them.”
“Oh. Read any you like?” She glanced up at him,