Kyro - A.G. Wilde Page 0,19

assist.”

Evren smiled. A genuine one. One that stretched her lips easily, unlike when she’d been speaking with the merchant and her smiles had been forced.

“Come on in.”

As Kyro stepped inside and she made to close the door to her apartment, something caught her eye down on the street below.

There, standing in one of the alleyways, was the form of a male she had seen before.

Chitin armor covered his entire body as his tail swished menacingly behind him.

Shive.

Evren’s breath caught in her throat as she realized where his eyes were focused.

He was looking directly at her.

And even knowing she was aware of his suspicious behavior; he didn’t seem to care for he didn’t flinch.

Couldn’t she get a break?

Closing the door, Evren pressed her back against it to calm herself, a frown knitting her brow.

Hopefully, the behavior was because she was new, and they’d never seen humans before.

Otherwise, she really did need to leave the base and head to that port city. But that could be like jumping from one bad situation into a worse one. Who knew? The port city may be filled with even more creeps.

Kyro shoved away the annoyance he felt at seeing M’Agunt at Evren’s door.

Why was the merchant pursuing her? Didn’t he have fah-brik to go sell?

It shouldn’t annoy him, but it did.

He had spent much of the night thinking about their interaction in the shop and even Shive accosting her, and both interactions bothered him. They really bothered him.

“Would you, um, like a drink or something?” Evren’s soft voice reached his ear and Kyro turned to look at her.

He wasn’t thirsty, but he didn’t want to make her uncomfortable. He knew that offering a beverage was a common human custom. He’d read about it.

A character in The Big Loud Noise had mentioned it several times as well.

“Yes, thank you.”

She rocked on her heels. “What would you like?” she asked, then hurriedly added, “I don’t have much of a selection, let me warn you.”

She didn’t wait for his answer but instead headed toward her food preparation room, her voice floating to him in the sitting area as he looked around her living space.

There was hardly any customization in her quarters. Actually, the more he looked the more he realized there was no customization.

Her apartment was standard. Neutral.

He knew she’d only been there for a little over a week, but her apartment looked exactly like his did.

Standard gray seats sat on the floor in the sitting area. The tables were bare. The windows had the standard coverings...if she left tomorrow, it would be like she hadn’t spent any time there at all.

And she was thinking of leaving, probably because of him. If he hadn’t mentioned the Intergalactic Hub, then she wouldn’t have gotten the idea.

All night, that had been at the center of his thoughts.

Her wishing to leave the base shouldn’t bother him, but just as the interactions of the other day, it did bother him—bothered him more than it should.

“There’s something in here.” She walked back out with a bottle of jinn in her hand, screwing up her nose as she stared at it. “I don’t know what this is.”

“Jinn,” he offered. “It is intoxicating to humans.”

Her eyebrows rose a little as she nodded her head slowly, still looking at the bottle.

“You mean it can get me drunk?”

“Easily, yes.”

Her smile made his breath hitch a little. “Guess I should save some for later when I need something to drown my sorrows. Would you like some? It’s the only thing I saw in there.”

“I accept.”

She smiled at him and headed back into the food preparation room.

In the next few seconds, she returned with a receptacle and the bottle in hand.

“Here you go.” She rested the receptacle on the table and poured a drink.

Kyro nodded.

“So, um, how do we do this? Is it something you have to plug in to update it or is it wireless or...?”

Ah.

He’d forgotten that’s why he’d come by. He didn’t usually forget things.

“Instead of interfering with your current implant, I thought it best to update your datapad with human languages instead. Updating the implant might be...tricky.”

Tricky only in the sense that his hands would have to be all over her head and neck and, though his fingers itched for him to do so, he needed to perform some sort of self-restraint.

He’d already broken several rules.

“Well, I mean, I just want to be able to read books for now. I guess updating the datapad is fine. Do that instead then.”

Kyro nodded and she smiled at