EJ wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, hoping to dissuade him from thinking sexy thoughts about her, and gulped down a mouthful of half-chewed and very spicy meat. “Yes?”
The corner of his mouth twitched but he just shrugged and retrieved the rest of the dishes, arraying them out around EJ’s plate. “Eat.”
She focused on the meal, since it really was the tastiest thing she’d eaten in quite a while, and gradually even forgot that there were others in the room. It might have been the last opportunity for good food, depending on how fast the captain found the Hollbrd.
The grub they served on the gen ship was a special kind of awful, mostly built around the protein gruel that was technically all a carbon-based life form needed to survive but left a lot to be desired where taste and texture were concerned. Which just made it more alerting that the gen ship stopped at multiple ports for ‘supplies’ when they had plenty of generic protein to feed the settlers. EJ was just about to order another round of spicy meat, having worked through her entire plate and a few of the side dishes that Nokx ordered, when the door slid open and a cool voice broke the semi-comfortable murmur in the room from the three youngsters who remained.
“This is quite a surprise,” a female voice said.
EJ froze, fork halfway to her mouth, and swiveled to stare at the tall, dark-haired woman who’d stepped into the mess hall. Nokx tensed, hiding her from the newcomer.
The other Earther ignored the Xaravian’s effort to be a wall and craned her neck to see EJ. “So you’re the stowaway Faros thought he could hide from me, hm?”
EJ licked some spicy paste off her hand, since Nokx hadn’t gotten any napkins, and started to get to her feet. “Sure. I’m EJ. Are—”
Nokx caught her arm and pulled her up short, gently putting her back in the chair. “Stay put.”
He turned his attention to the tall woman and said, “Faros gave me my orders.”
“The girl is not going to stay with you,” the woman said. She folded her arms over her chest and fixed the Xaravian—who would tower over her by a head if he stood up—with an imperious look. “The mere suggestion is ridiculous.”
EJ inched her chair back and thought she could slip around the other side of the table or maybe scurry underneath to escape, but Nokx moved fast enough that he caught the back of her robe and kept her in his reach and behind him so there was no way she could skedaddle. He shook his head at the woman. “Talk to Faros.”
“Nokx, let her go.”
“Talk to Faros.”
“Nokx—”
His voice rose in volume. “Talk. To. Faros.”
EJ shrank back a bit, testing the limit of his reach, but the Xaravian didn’t budge. She only succeeded in strangling herself in the robe. Nokx took a deep breath and turned his attention to the food still in front of him, though he handed the panel back to EJ and told her to order more. He spoke to the other Earther with a more moderate tone. “Violet, talk to your mate. I have my orders. Until he tells me otherwise, I carry those out. She is safe with me.”
EJ blinked at a rather odd shift in his phrasing. It wasn’t the vaguely threatening claim that he wouldn’t hurt her like he’d said in his quarters; it was a promise to protect. She didn’t like the implication of the change, even though the broad expanse of his back provided a great deal of shelter. He would have been useful on a very sunny day, that was for sure.
Violet moved to the side so she could see EJ. “What’s your name?”
Nokx growled in irritation, hints of red appearing in his scales, and expanded even more.
EJ patted his shoulder. “Oh, come on. I can talk to her, can’t I? It’s not like she’s going to throw a bag over my head and kidnap me. There’s nowhere to go on the ship, right? Can’t she eat here? You’re not much a conversationalist, you know, and it’s not like I can talk to anyone else. It would be nice to know who else is on this ship before you kick me off.”
She would have gone on, since her mouth ran away with her when she was nervous, but Nokx sighed and shook his head. “Fine.”
EJ wondered if maybe he just got tired of listening