Page 40 of All You Need is Alien Love (Tentacular Tales #4)
CHAPTER TWENTY
Starblade sputtered adorably. “You… l-l-love me? What the hell are you saying?”
Vardox drew him into his arms, pleased to note that Starblade didn’t resist him for once. “But of course. I thought it was all rather obvious by now, my dear captain.”
Starblade looked like he was about to argue, but Vardox had him right where he wanted him. Holding the back of his precious captain’s head, Vardox pulled him in for a passionate victory kiss.
Vardox’s tentacles writhed with satisfaction, but the motion made his injured appendage throb with pain. He let out a hiss.
Starblade broke the kiss at the sound. His face was still flushed, but a determined glint had returned to his eyes. “Come with me and no talking back or mouthing off about Masnok battle prowess. We’re getting your wound treated right the fuck now.”
For the first time, Vardox gave in and allowed himself to be dragged over to the waiting medics.
Witnessing this side of his mate was far too enjoyable to miss out on, and he was willing to play up the seriousness of his injury if it got him more of these deliciously stern lectures from his darling captain.
While the medic worked on Vardox’s injured tentacle and cleaned the smaller superficial cuts he’d received during the battle, Starblade alternated between hovering close to him and pacing back and forth a short distance away. The whole time, he never strayed farther than arm’s reach from Vardox.
A strange and unfamiliar warmth bubbled up in Vardox’s chest. He was finally beginning to hope that his one-sided feelings might actually be reciprocated.
“All done,” the medic announced, packing up her gear.
Starblade bit his lip, worry creasing his handsome brow. “He’ll be all right, won’t he?”
“Yes, but he needs plenty of rest. The tentacle will regrow the portion lost, but it can be a rather painful and uncomfortable process. He should take it easy for at least half a lunar cycle or so.”
Vardox got to his feet. “Thank you. ’Twas a mere flesh wound. I shall be right as acid rain in no time at all.”
Starblade crossed his arms defiantly and glared at him. “The patient doesn’t get a say in this. You’ll do as you’re told.”
Vardox batted his eyelashes innocently. “Whatever do you mean, my dear captain?”
“I’m following you to your ship, dammit. And I’ll be taking care of you until you’ve recovered.”
“Really? You’re going to nurse me back to health, darling?” Vardox purred, his tentacles undulating with pleasure at the idea.
“Damn right I am.” Starblade pointed an accusatory finger at him. “And you will bloody well listen to me and do what I say the entire time.”
That strange warmth was back and filling Vardox from head to toe.
“Of course, dearest. I’ll do whatever you think is best… within reason, that is,” he allowed.
This was a rare opportunity that Vardox wasn’t going to let pass him by. Already, he was plotting ways he could make the most of Starblade’s tender attention and care while the delectable man was within his grasp.
After all, he wouldn’t be a true Masnok if he let this rare opportunity to conquer his captain’s heart pass him by.
— The Tentacular Tales of Captain Starblade , Ch. 161
Kai
Why exactly did I suggest that I act as bait again?
This is the question I’ve been repeatedly asking myself ever since I was kidnapped by Fabian and Adeline.
Once we transported to the base, Adeline dragged me to one of the cloaked landing vessels a short distance away, while Fabian went to lie in wait for River.
I sincerely hope River isn’t actually going to duel the idiot. He should just shoot him with one of the Groxil slime balls from the amazing weapon Nirblob designed based on River’s idea and be done with it.
I hate to admit it, but that little green Vardox-obsessed Zelitine came through for us big time when we were preparing for imminent invasion.
River’s chided me for it, but I’ve always been wary and more than a little bit resentful of Nirblob.
After all, he was involved in River’s own kidnapping fiasco not all that long ago.
However, I shouldn’t have doubted that River would work his magic on him and Nirblob would defect from Layne Madison’s side to ours.
And thank the galactic gods that he did.
I must admit, we couldn’t have gotten quite as far as we have in this counter-operation without Nirblob’s help.
His technological prowess far surpasses anyone else working at the Alliance.
I’m not sure if it’s just a talent he possesses or one common to his species, but even I must admit he’s kind of a genius.
I smirk to myself. Layne Madison made a big mistake not cultivating Nirblob’s loyalties. Instead, he left a perfect opening for River to woo him to our side.
Of course, I don’t think River had any idea how talented the Zelitine is—but he does have an uncanny ability to make friends with powerful and gifted extraterrestrials.
It’s proven to be a huge boon for the Alliance.
A lot of the help we’ve been able to call on to deal with this threat are folks River’s made friends with or put in his debt in the short time he’s been working for us.
Even now, his parents—along with my grandmother, CJ, and Tom Jones—are running a command station out of the new Alliance Rec Center.
From there, they’re coordinating our counter-attack on the invader vessels in orbit around Earth.
With all the connections they have between them, River and I agreed it was where they could best help us.
I sincerely hope everything is going according to plan on their end.
“Get inside,” Adeline orders, her phaser still pointed at me. It’s no longer pressed against my temple, at least.
She presses a button, and I stumble up the ramp of a formerly cloaked landing vessel that I would hazard to guess is Osairan based on its appearance. It’s built for stealth and speed and is only large enough for about half a dozen occupants.
“Sit,” Adeline orders, pointing me to an exam chair in the ship’s tiny medical bay. “And no funny business or I blast off one of your feet.”
I hesitate.
“I can still use you for my experiments without your feet,” she says, her gaze cold and her smile monstrous.
Unfortunately, I believe her, so I don’t push my luck and instead sit down. With fast and efficient movements, she straps me into the chair so tightly I fear I might start losing circulation in some places.
I focus on regulating my breathing so I don’t fall into a panic spiral. After all, I need to keep my wits about me while I wait for River to come to the rescue. It’s just so hard to think with the constant pounding in my head caused by every little movement.
Once I’m restrained to her satisfaction, Adeline seems to be in no extreme hurry as she hooks me up to a machine and starts running some tests to measure my vitals.
At least she’s not injecting me with any unknown substances like last time. Not yet, anyway .
My mind flashes back to my last moment with River before I was transported away.
A brief smile plays along my lips at the recollection of our Han Solo/Leia moment.
At first, River was such a baffling mystery to me.
I was drawn to his vibrant personality and mesmerized by this chatterbox tendencies.
We were polar opposites in so many ways, yet no matter how much I resisted, I couldn’t stay away from him.
The closer we became, the more I yearned for us to be together always.
It took time, but I soon started to decipher the puzzle that is my mate.
By now I am highly attuned to what River’s thinking and feeling most of the time—and about ninety percent of it is tied to some kind of sci-fi or pop culture frame of reference.
That’s how he makes sense of the world. I think it’s incredibly cute and so very…
him. I’m rather proud that I’m becoming quite fluent in the ways of my mate, especially after being made to watch so many of his favorite movies and television shows.
Damn and blast, but I miss him something fierce already.
Being unable to do much of anything to help River directly at this moment has my tentacles gnashing their metaphorical teeth.
Galactic gods, I can’t wait until this is all over and I can whisk him away on the intergalactic honeymoon of a lifetime.
We’ll most certainly deserve it after we get through this.
Adeline is tapping away on her tablet with a frown when the lights on the ship suddenly flicker and go out. The ship’s computer system screens go next, followed by an ominous noise that screams some kind of catastrophic malfunction.
“What the hell is going on?” Adeline demands.
One of her two crew members hurries to a computer terminal just as the backup power kicks on. The ship’s AI voice intones over the speaker, “Operating system failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause. Please, initiate reboot sequence.”
The technician on board starts tapping frantically at the screen, which suddenly goes an odd blue color.
The AI-generated voice comes over the speakers again. “The ship’s operating system has encountered an unknown error. Your ship operating system might be at risk. Please insert disk.”
“What disk?” The technician says, face full of confusion.
Adeline’s frowning fiercely now. “Fix it!” she demands, her voice cold and harsh.
The hapless technician tries again. “Let me perform a manual override,” he says with a nervous gulp.
The blue screen disappears for a moment only to be replaced by a red “Access Denied” message now flashing on all the screens around us.
Adeline strides over to the captain’s chair a short distance away, typing something on the main command keypad.
The emotionless AI voice comes over the speakers again. “Hyperdrive initiation module not found. Please insert plasma crystal and perform system sweep.”
“What the actual fuck?” Adeline says, as she continues to stab at the keypad.