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“Do you want to practice reading my body language again?” Charlotte asked. Noticing the look of horror on Maklr’s face, she quickly followed with, “Or if not mine, I have an idea who you can practice with.” Charlotte’s eyes twinkled with mirth. “That is, if she’s agreeable.”

Maklr leaned back on the seat, his lab coat stretching across the broad muscles in his chest. A pensive expression passed through his features. “Who do you have in mind as my test subject?”

“Nell.”

Chapter 2

Nell

Twelve.That’showmanysteps it took for Nell to cross the room the Klagan government gave her while she recovered from her ordeal with the Elodians.

Ordeal.Nell grunted.

For as long as she needed this place, the Klagan government officials and the human ambassador, Jana, promised any sentient species rescued from the Elodian’s clutches could stay. Twelve steps across and nine steps wide.

Larger than the box the brothel had called her room, and certainly larger than the miniscule cell the Elodian’s provided for her on their harem ship, where she could only sit on the floor with her legs crunched to her chest, Nell found comfort in counting the steps it took her to cross the transition center’s room.

Five steps. Nell stopped near the foot of her single bed and smoothed an invisible wrinkle on the cream and blue blanket.

Blue and cream.

Everything in her room, and most of the transition center where Nell now called home, was painted blue and cream. Nell supposed that was due to the influence of the human therapist, Charlotte.

According to Ivy, the woman assigned to be Nell’s buddy upon her arrival on Klaga, the Klagans had never heard of a therapist for mental health until the humans arrived and Charlotte assumed the role.

Over the course of the months Nell lived in the transition center, she’d noticed the subtle, calming blue everywhere in the center. From kitchenware to accents in the bathing facilities and delicate accents on towels and garments, multiple shades of blue abounded.

Afraid of what the future held, Nell hadn’t wanted to leave the rescue ship until a kind purple Klagan medic with a shocking white mohawk with purple tips, and multiple humans had come aboard and convinced her to leave.

Once on Klaga, Nell remained stoic; a silent figure, uncomfortable in her new surroundings, yet content to absorb as much information as possible. Her desire to survive in any situation outweighed anything else.

Nell paced her room again, attempting to remember the name of the human woman who lived and worked in the transitioncenter, who had taken her to this room months ago when Nell stepped foot off the rescue vessel.

The room remained as plain as the day she moved in. Perhaps it was Nell’s way of remaining unattached. The more she personalized things, the more it would hurt when an inevitable change occurred.

Ivy, her buddy, attempted to help Nell shop for items to personalize the space, but Nell steadfastly refused. Ivy had explained the center’s purpose, to facilitate the transition from whatever kind of situation the humans had found themselves in after the Elodian invasion of Earth.

Nell knew she was under no pressure to stay in this transition center; she was free to move out whenever she wanted. Though the Klagans wanted to keep their planet’s ecosystems in check, Sovereign Giald and his council decreed the humans would always have a home on Klaga, especially now that some warriors found their mates with humans. Some couples had even formed akeenabond - the rarest of the bonds, only formed with a true mate.

Nell smiled as her gaze fell upon a small plush animal of a creature found on Klaga on her nightstand. Charlotte had given her the toy when Nell stared intently at it for multiple therapy sessions. Charlotte told her the animal was acaton, a purple and orange creature resembling a domesticated Earth cat. Except, normal cats didn’t have two lethal horns on the top of their heads, fangs laced with venom and triangular spikes down their backs covered with a powerful neurotoxin that could take down massive Klagan warriors with the slightest touch. Cute animals, but deadly foes, like most things in the universe. Never underestimate anyone.

Nell glanced at the only decoration on her wall, a timepiece resembling a digital clock. Nell placed the plushcatonon the bed, propped on her pillow, careful to keep the covers wrinklefree. She stood in front of the plush before reaching out to give it one last cuddle before leaving the sanctuary of her room.

Though it had taken multiple attempts, Nell felt safe taking the elevator by herself three floors to the ground level of the transition center, where Charlotte had an office where she held weekly therapy sessions.

Nell supposed part of her ease came from the ivory carpet, soft sky blue walls, minimal furniture. Charlotte’s couches were a rich navy with soft eggshell-colored pillows complete with fringe, which Nell enjoyed twisting during her sessions; sessions that mainly consisted of Charlotte talking and Nell nodding or shaking her head, refusing to speak.

It had been months since she uttered a word, unable to trust her voice not to crack, lest her emotions take over. Rational. That’s how she preferred to classify her decision. Those who didn’t talk back were less likely to be punished or beaten by the Elodians.

That’s what she became. Reliable. Quiet. Seen but not heard. Reliable women received food on a more frequent basis than those who misbehaved on the harem ship. Survival. Everything Nell ever did was for her own survival.

“Hi, Nell!” Ivy called from down the corridor. “Are you headed out?”

Nell inclined her head and pointed toward the elevator before she gestured at her wrist where she normally wore a watch.

“Ah, gotcha. Care to walk down with me today?” Ivy asked. Nell nodded. Ivy smiled gently. “Great. Let me tell you about the things Navil says are in the works.” Ivy launched into a long-winded dissertation about what she’d overheard from her mate and some of the women in the center.

The first time Nell met Ivy’s mate, Navil, at the decorating party for the first Klagan-human Christmas celebration, her panic over the muscular green warrior sent her into the cornerof the transition center’s communal area holding her knees and rocking back and forth. Before she realized anything was amiss, Ivy rushed to Nell’s side and took her back to her room.