away, so be careful and good luck!”
“Um…” Jade peers into the pond and watches the six-legged fish thrash about in the water. “What on earth are they?”
I grab one of the elongated poles with a hook on the end and hand it to her. “I am not entirely sure, but I do not believe they are from planet Earth.”
Jade rolls up her sleeves. “Well, whatever they are, they’re creepy.” She scans the neon lights flashing around the booth. “It’s like the duck pond game, except these look like they ate a duck and came back for the swan.” A shudder rakes through her. “They give me the heebie-jeebies.”
“What are heebie-jeebies? Are these creatures causing you pain? I will kill them.”
I snap my head to the operator, my eyes narrowed in warning and my power threatening to crack the screen. The sound of Jade laughing prevents me from unleashing my power.
“It’s just a figure of speech, Castien.”
I nod and slide my arms around her. “The trick is to aim for their tails like this,” I say, maneuvering the hook forward. “It’s all about precision.”
She sighs, the sound melancholy. “I’m not really the precise kind.”
I brush my lips down her neck. “Do not worry, I will teach you.”
Her breath hitches. “Teach me while distracting me? How does that work?”
“Like this.” I keep my lips on her neck as I assist her in catching the gotiv. “Focus on the creature and drown out everything else.”
She manages to catch one, but it contains no prize and soon manages to fly away. A force field prevents it from escaping the booth, and it lands back in the pond. I continue kissing and caressing her while she attempts to hook another. My actions are not to momentarily satiate my own desire. I must see how well Jade concentrates while…being distracted. There will be times when she’ll need to use her power in the presence of immense distractions, and going by her accelerated heart rate, my lips are proving to be just that.
The next two gotiv she captures also do not contain prizes. By the third, I sense my mate’s enthusiasm waning, but this gotiv has two heads, which the operator explains is lucky. Inside the left head’s gasping mouth is a small transparent bubble. Jade squeezes it, and a silver ring pops out.
“It has the same emerald jewel as yours,” she says, admiring the ring in the palm of her hand. “So beautiful.”
“Yes”—I take the ring and slide it onto her finger—“you are.”
She grins at me, and we move on to the next booth. I pay little attention to this one. How can I when my mate’s fascination is far more entertaining to watch? Everything she lays eyes on is seen with a childlike wonder that reminds me of easier days. Her focus is soon trained on any and all stalls that contain food. I watch with my own kind of wonder as she samples each of the items. Some she is unable to swallow, while others she hungrily devours with moans of contentment.
The warriors on Xelias’s ship called the female Hazel a vellatha. After witnessing the condition of planet Earth with my own eyes, I wasn’t surprised to learn of the human’s insatiable appetite. I would savor it too had I been deprived for so long.
“Want a bite?” Jade asks, her cheeks stuffed with the fried delicacy as she extends the item to me.
I wrap my fingers around her hand, then I guide the sustenance to my mouth and lick off the sugar with a long swipe of my tongue. Blood rushes to my cock at the sight of her blushing, and I keep my eyes locked on her.
“Delicious,” I say. “But not nearly as delicious as your sweet cunt.”
Her cheeks redden, and she squirms. “So, er, aliens also deep-fry their food. How weird is that, right?”
“I do not know about weird. Is it a common delicacy on your planet?”
She hesitates, a thin layer of sugar coating her lip. “Used to be. It was popular in the southern part of my country. My favorite dish was hush puppies. Sometimes when I close my eyes, I can still taste them melting in my mouth.”
“Hush puppies?” I cock my head. “Aren’t puppies what humans refer to as domesticated animals? Pets?”
With a swipe of her tongue, Jade licks the sugar away. “No, that was the name of the food. It was just fried cornbread. Super unhealthy but really yummy.”
“Mm.” I lean forward and seize her lips; I, too,