Page 22 of Her Alien Cyborgs (The Drift: Haven Colony #10)

Fyr’enth had dreamed about this moment for as long as he’d lived. They’d experienced plenty of planets in sims, but this was different. This was real.

They walked down the gangway, every footfall clanging on the metal ramp. When his boots hit solid ground, the sound changed to a dull thud.

“We are now dirtside,” Hezza said. “How does it feel?”

Fyr’enth planted his feet on the ground and raised his head to look up at the sky.

A pale blue expanse filled his vision. Apart from a few scattered clouds, it was as open and inviting as he’d imagined.

A cool breeze flowed around them. This wasn’t an artificial air current created by a fan but a natural phenomenon.

He opened his wings slightly, letting the air push against his metallic feathers.

“It feels good. Better than that, but I don’t have the words,” he said.

Kalan hummed in agreement. “The sun is warm on my face. I didn’t expect that.”

“Sims are wonderful things, but they can’t replicate everything,” Hezza said.

“They didn’t get the smells right, either. They tried, but the program could only create one at a time.” Fyr’enth inhaled through his nose. “There are so many scents here.”

He knew some of them, but others were a mystery. The biting tang of rocket fuel was familiar, as were the faint traces of someone cooking food. A warm, musty scent might be from the livestock pens they’d seen as they’d flown into the port.

While they took in their new surroundings, a slender female with dark skin and long black hair approached.

He stiffened, but Hezza calmed him with a touch to his arm. “It’s fine. She’s part of the ground crew.”

“Welcome to Taza Four’s unar colony. I can’t locate any documents listing cargo for offload or pickup. Is that correct?” The female spoke Galactic Standard, but he couldn’t place her accent. Despite addressing Hezza, the female kept looking at him and Kalan.

Hezza cleared her throat. “Hello, Sajita. I’m hoping to transfer a contract and leave the cargo here for pickup by another party. If that happens, I’ll file the paperwork, but there’s no sense in you doing all the work if I don’t have any takers.”

“Oh, of course. I’ll make a note of that,” Sajita said, but she didn’t look down at the data tablet in her hand. Instead, she let her gaze roam up and down his body.

Hezza chuckled, but there was no warmth in the sound. “Do you want me to do your job for you? Because it looks like you’re busy ogling something that doesn’t belong to you,” she said. Her voice remained soft, but the underlying tone was full of steel.

“I’m just appreciating the male form. If they’re interested, I’d be willing to let them appreciate my form right back.”

Hezza’s lips curled up in a snarl. “Back off, Sajita.”

The female tore her eyes away to give Hezza a haughty look. “You don’t own your crew. They can make their own decisions.”

“We have already made our decision.” Kalan placed a possessive hand on Hezza’s shoulder while Fyr’enth walked past Sajita to place his arm around her waist.

“Hezza is our mahaya ,” Fyr’enth declared.

The other female blinked in surprise, but then her expression turned sour as her eyes went cold. “What a waste. How much does she pay you? I can’t imagine any other reason why two hot young males like you would spend time with a shriveled hag like her.”

Hezza’s next words came out with a guttural growl that would have done any Vardarian proud.

“I don’t have to pay them, sweetheart. They’re with me because I am the only female in the whole fraxxing galaxy who can give them everything they want or need.

” She took a small step toward Sajita. “Starting with respect. Since you don’t have any for yourself, I can understand why you find it difficult to give it to anyone else.

Now find somewhere else to be, or I’ll report you to someone so senior you’ve never even heard their name. ”

Sajita’s dark skin turned ashen in the brief moment before she turned on her heel and hurried away.

“I would report her anyway. If I knew who to complain to,” Hezza muttered as the female fled the area.

“But you said you’d tell one of her senior supervisors?” Kalan said.

Hezza lifted her shoulders in a shrug. “I lied. Beings like her only get away with that kind of behavior because no one is willing to call them out on it. Sure, she could make things difficult for me here, but we’re not moving cargo right now, so she’s got no way to threaten us.”

Fyr’enth tugged her back to his side and nuzzled her cheek. “You are hotter than a supernova when you get growly and possessive, zana .”

“Now you know how I feel when you do it,” she replied, her cheeks stained with color.

“But enough talking. We have places to be and beings to meet.” She jerked her thumb in the direction Sajita had gone.

“And something tells me she won’t be willing to let us extend our stay longer than the three-hour window I set up before we landed. ”

She led them out of the port by following the pathway painted on the tarmac. Different colors led to different places.

“If something happens, come back here and follow the blue line back to our section of the port,” she told them.

“You’re expecting trouble?” Kalan asked.

“I always expect trouble, but I don’t think we’ll have any. With all the jumps and navigational changes we made, even if someone is chasing us, they’ll be hours behind.”

“Do you think you’ll get a buyer for our cargo in the time we have?” Fyr’enth asked. It didn’t seem likely.

“Oh, we will. Flek is already working on that for me. We haven’t agreed to anything, but if there’re no takers here, he’ll likely buy the contract himself. He’ll take a cut and sell it on to someone later.”

“But you told that female there was nothing to offload,” Kalan said.

“I told her what she needed to hear. I’ve dealt with her before, and every time I do, things go mysteriously missing, but by the time I notice, I’m light-years away and can’t do anything about it. Flek will know who to trust and get them to handle the transfer.”

“You lied to her,” Kalan sounded more amused than concerned.

“I did.” Hezza stopped walking but held on to their hands, so they both stopped and turned back to look at her. “When I told you that I bend rules and do questionable things, I meant it.”

Fyr’enth shook his head. “You protect yourself and those you care about. I don’t see anything wrong with that.”

“Me neither,” Kalan agreed.

“And this is why I’ve stopped questioning the universe’s decision to put us together.” She smiled and squeezed their hands. “We have matching kinds of crazy.”

“We do,” Fyr’enth agreed.

The breeze stiffened, whirling around them with enough strength to push the debris on the ground around their feet. An idea came to him, and he seized it immediately.

“Today we’ve walked on real dirt and breathed unfiltered air for the first time. Now I think it’s time that you experienced something new.”

With that, he pulled her closer and then scooped her into his arms.

“What the fraxx are you doing?” she demanded. “Put me down!”

“You said we could fly once we left the port.” He sent a mental image of his plan to Kalan, who whooped in response.

“I said you can fly. You two. The ones with wings!”

“You don’t need wings, zana . You just need to hold on to me.”

He tightened his grip and bent his knees as his wings unfurled behind him.

Hezza swore softly and threw her arms around his neck. “If you drop me, I’m leaving you to rot on this moon,” she warned.

“I won’t drop you,” he promised.

And then he took to the air.

Kalan launched at the same time, the wind from their wings making the detritus and dust on the ground scatter.

They cleared the buildings in seconds and then began to circle as they rose higher into the infinite blue of the sky.

“Which way?” he called to her once they were high enough to see the entire colony.

“Now you ask me that?” Hezza lifted her head, and he realized she’d been hiding her eyes all this time.

When she saw how far up they were, she tightened her hold on his neck. “ Fraxx ! This is very different from flying a ship!”

They had to shout to be heard over the wind, but he understood her well enough, and there was no missing the note of exhilaration in her voice.

He felt it too, from the tips of his wings to the bottom of his soul.

This was freedom. From up here he could see every part of the small colony, including a square of packed dirt near the center.

Brightly colored tents were set up without any discernible pattern to the layout.

Some were clumped together while others stood alone, and one group made a sort of triangle if you squinted and looked at it sideways.

Avian in cages squawked loudly in front of one tent while a vendor in an open area stood over baskets and crates full of harvested plant matter.

The smell of roasted meat and other savory things made his stomach grumble.

It was time to find this diner and learn why Hezza kept talking about something called pizza.

It took only a few minutes to reach the diner. From above, it looked like every other building in the area—a two-story, weathered structure with “Flek’s Diner” painted on the roof in large yellow letters.

“The paint was cheap, and he wanted every pilot that flew over his place to know it was there,” Hezza explained when asked.

The diner didn’t look any better once they went inside. The furnishings looked battered, some of the floor tiles were cracked, and the whole place looked faded, save for a single mural on one wall that had never been finished.

“Don’t worry about how it looks. The pizza is to die for, and they brew their own beer. I’m partial to their ale myself, but you’re welcome to try anything that piques your interest.”