“Haven’t found a lady to be your breeding machine yet?”
His skin darkened. “I do not wish to find a breeding machine as you so coarsely put it. I wish to find a mate. I respect human females and if I am lucky enough to find one to mate with me, she will be treated well by me.”
His tail thumped against the wall and I kind of felt bad for insulting him. “Sorry, Sigan. I didn’t mean to insult you.”
His tail thumped again. “We are not like your human males. We do not think females are below us, nor do we abuse them. Females are precious.”
“Right, no, I get it,” I said, even though I didn’t. My track record with men wasn’t exactly positive and I couldn’t wrap my head around the idea that a man – alien or human – believed a woman was precious. “So, um, why aren’t you mated yet? You seem like a great guy.”
His tail slumped to the ground. “I am in the database for the breeding program, but no female has chosen me yet.”
Great, now he looked completely dejected. First, I insult him and then I depress him. “That’s weird. You’re handsome and smart and you’re like a Draax doctor, right?”
“Kadana,” he said. “We are called kadanas.”
“Why do you even need kadanas?” I said. “The gallberry plant heals you, right?”
“It does. But as we age, it becomes less effective and eventually stops working. Plus, someone needs to help our females birth their young and guide our elderly to the other side. I also do research into human genetics, develop new and improved testing methods, and coordinate with humans on how to best administer the gallberry plant.”
“So, you’re a scientist too,” I said.
He just shrugged before giving me a funny little side glance. “You think I am handsome?”
“Um, yeah, sure,” I said. Handsome probably wasn’t the best word to use. Sigan didn’t have the classic good looks of a movie star – if said movie star had green skin and a tail - but he did have very pretty silver eyes and his body was as big and muscular as the rest of the Draax. “You have really nice eyes.”
Sigan folded his arms across his torso. “I am aware that I am not good looking. You do not have to lie.”
Jesus, I was really batting a thousand today.
“You’re handsome,” I said. “And I’m sure you’ll be an excellent mate to a very lucky woman some day. There’s probably so many Draax in the database, that women just haven’t found you in there yet.”
“Jarka says I am too blunt. He says I must soften my words and not speak the way I do if I wish to find a mate,” Sigan said.
“Who’s Jarka?”
“The palace chef and my best friend,” Sigan said. “Perhaps he is right. Perhaps I do speak too bluntly. Do you think my words are too forward, human?”
“Well…” I hesitated, trying to think of a nice way to agree.
Sigan suddenly laughed. “Never mind, human. I have no wish to mate with you, so your opinion holds no value to me.”
I rolled my eyes. “That right there? That’s what Jarka is talking about, Sigan.”
Before he could reply, there was a knock on the door and a woman walked in. She was carrying a tray in her hands and the smell wafting from it made my stomach growl.
“Good morning, Sigan,” the woman said.
“Hello, Inara.” Sigan glanced at the device on his wrist. “You are here early this morning.”
“Jarka knew I would be cleaning the infirmary today and asked me to bring breakfast for your… guest.”
“Thank you. You can leave it on the table.” He pointed to the table next to my hospital bed.
The woman, she was on the taller side with wide hips, dark red hair and pretty green eyes, set the tray on the table. “Hello, I’m Inara.”
“Ellis,” I said.
She held out her hand and without thinking, I tried to shake it. My cuff locked up around my wrist, biting painfully into my skin. Inara stared at the cuff around my wrist, her eyes wide.
“Sigan, a little help here?” I rattled the cuff against the railing of the bed.
“Step back, Inara. This female is a prisoner and dangerous.” He smoothed his finger along the underside of the cuff, and it loosened around my wrist, the bright red it had turned fading back to its usual dull shade.
A beeping sound emitted from the device around Sigan’s wrist and he checked it before hurrying toward one of the