Page 15 of Tis the Season for Tentacles (Tinsel and Tentacles 2.0)

Chapter Fifteen

Chronicles of Chaos: An Informal Record of Life Aboard the Sleigh Belle

Stardate: 78419.3

Origin: Zelphara Celestia Galaxy

Destination: Intergalactic Space Station

After spending several days on Ferus Bankolia touring three of their wildlife sanctuaries, we have finally departed and are making preparations to return Felix to Earth. First, however, we must make a brief detour to an intergalactic space station about a day’s journey from our current location. We will need to refuel and stock up on some essential supplies for the ship before we can make the trip back to Felix’s world.

Everyone is putting on a brave face and gearing up for our upcoming Christmas celebration, but the mood aboard the Sleigh Belle has become notably somber. I am not the only one dreading saying goodbye to Felix. He’s friends with all of us now, and the prospect of never seeing him again is weighing heavily on everyone—but probably me, most of all.

I’m trying not to reveal just how conflicted I am right now, but Felix is nobody’s fool. He reads me far too well. What’s even harder is the fact that he’s kindly not forcing me to talk about it.

I have never let myself be overcome by feelings that can compromise my ability to protect those I care about. Romantic relationships are something I’ve avoided like the Temerengi Plague. But for the first time in my life, I’m at war with myself because there’s a strange conviction growing inside me that I should never let Felix go.

What the hell should I do?

—Najar Mezdel, First Lieutenant and Voice of Reason on the Sleigh Belle

NAJAR

W hen a Dravethian warrior comes to a crossroads in his life and doesn’t know what to do next, he turns to his best friend.

“Tell me how you knew Sasha was the one for you?”

Kheph sits across from me in his Augmented Reality Simulation Environment, which Sasha refers to as his holodeck, where he’s created a cozy Christmas coffee shop setting for us to have this private little chat.

He tells me it reminds Sasha of home, and that’s why he created it.

Kheph’s eyes widen but, seeming to sense the significance of my questioning, he answers seriously.

“Hmm. I’m not sure exactly when I realized Sasha and I were meant to be. It started gradually and then, before I knew it, my feelings came crashing over me.” He shakes his head, a fond smile playing on his lips. “My thoughts were filled with him and all the things I wanted us to see and experience together. Every special moment I wanted to share with him and no one else.” He sighs happily. “When I would think about my future, I couldn’t envision it without him by my side anymore. The thought of losing him was more than I could bear.” He tilts his head. “Does that answer your question?”

I lean my elbows on the table and hold my forehead in my hands. “Great. Well, I’m royally screwed, aren’t I?”

One of Khephren’s pink tentacles reaches out and gently strokes my arm. “What do you mean?”

I tell him what I haven’t even been able to fully admit to myself.

“I think I’m falling in love”—I nearly choke on the word love —“with Felix. And I’m scared.”

Kheph’s eyes soften and I detect a hint of sadness in them. “Love can be scary. Letting someone in requires trust and a leap of faith. Until now, you’ve never truly let your walls down to allow anyone in—except for me and Luna, of course. But we’re family and therefore safe, aren’t we, unlike a lover who could break your heart.”

His words sting as they hit their mark.

Kheph can be disarmingly sharp when the situation calls for it.

It was no lie when I told Felix he’s a genius, and he probably knows me better than almost anyone else in the entire universe.

“Do you think… I’ve started to let Felix in?”

Kheph cocks his head again, one pink tentacle waving in the air. “You tell me. Do you think about him often? Is he the first person you want to talk to in the morning and the last person you want to speak to at night? When you think about your future, do you see him in it?”

Damn and blast, but he’s speaking hard words of truth I can’t pretend to refute.

“Yes,” I rasp out, my hearts clenching with fear.

“Oh, my dearest Najar.” Kheph reaches out to clasp my hands in his. “You are a brave and wonderful man who deserves to find love. I know why you protect yourself so diligently. Anyone with your background would feel the same, but I don’t want you to close yourself off to what could be your one chance at true happiness in this lifetime. Don’t abandon what you have with Felix.”

I swallow, struggling to breathe for a moment. “Do… do you think he cares for me too?”

He smiles at me brightly. “While I can’t say for certain, and that’s something you definitely need to talk to Felix about directly, I will say I would bet every space credit I possess that he does.”

His words help something suffocating inside me unclench and I can breathe again.

“Right. So I just have to talk to him…” I hesitate. “About feelings .”

Kheph laughs. “Good galactic gods, Naj. They’re not contagious, let alone terminal. Emotional connection, especially love, with another being can be a beautiful and magical thing.”

“If you say so,” I grumble, rubbing absently at my chest. All this anxiety and uncertainty, and the swinging back and forth that seems to goes with it, is far from enjoyable at the moment.

All the same, I can’t stop thinking about Felix.

“Like I said, it’s time to have a heart-to-heart with Felix to find out where you two stand.”

Yeah, that doesn’t sound terrifying at all .

“What if he… rejects me?”

One of Kheph’s tentacles reaches out and holds on to one of mine, just like when we were kids. “Then all of us will be here to help you get through it.”

I’m surprised to find my eyes tearing up. “You know I love you like my brother, right?”

He beams at me, his face glowing with happiness. “Of course, because I feel the same way about you. Forever and always.”

“Okay.” I nod decisively. “You’re right. It’s not like me to dither and worry about what may or may not happen. I prefer to be a man of action.”

“Exactly.” Kheph gives me an amused smile. “Go get him, Tiger.”

I roll my eyes at him fondly. “All in good time. I have to plan my mode of attack.”

Kheph looks incredulous. “You do realize you aren’t going to war, don’t you?”

I cross my arms. “As Sasha likes to say, love is a battlefield.”

He strokes his chin. “Hmm. An interesting analogy and perhaps quite appropriate for you.” He waves a finger and two tentacles at me. “Just don’t make Felix a casualty of the fight.”

“I won’t,” I promise.

“Good.” He gets up. “We’ll be docking at the intergalactic space station soon for a quick in-and-out trip. I don’t want to linger there any longer than necessary, especially if there are any Alliance agents lurking about. But once we get back to the ship, you’ll have plenty of free time to have that much-needed talk with Felix.”

As we depart the Augmented Reality Simulation Environment and make our way to the bridge, I dare to ask him, “Any final tips you want to give me?”

To my surprise, he stops and pulls me into his arms, giving me a fierce hug. “Be honest and speak the truth of your hearts. To do that, you need to let yourself be vulnerable and open with Felix. But be brave and trust in the one you have given your hearts to.”

With that, he lets me go, and I stand frozen for a few moments as I digest his words and acknowledge the wisdom of them.

I’m truly lucky to have Khephren Thrase as my best friend.

When we dock at the intergalactic space station a short time later, Felix joins me by the station’s market entrance, while Luna heads off with her list of items and Sasha and Kheph go to complete their assigned errands.

Felix and I have been put in charge of the stocking up on some essential

ingredients for the food generator that it needs to learn how to replicate. Holding hands, we enter the bustling market full of energetic vendors selling foods from all over the universe.

Since we’re on a bit of a strict schedule, I steer us to the stalls with the ingredients appropriate for our ship’s food generator to use in creating new items. We rent a hover cart into which we load our food cargo as we move from one vendor to the next. I even indulge Felix and spend some of my own personal credits, separate from the ship’s budget, on a few rare and exotic fruits he wants to try.

I find I want to indulge him just to see a smile on his beautiful face.

Is this what being in love is like?

Not having been in love before, I’m not really sure, but I do seem to be a bit of a fool for Felix Taylor—and I don’t care.

I just want to be with him and make him happy, and I suppose that tells me everything I really need to know. Somehow, that sets my mind at ease, as if the final constraint holding me back has loosened.

I can hardly wait to get him back on the ship so I can tell him all of this.

Just as we’re finishing up with the final vendor, a furry streak of bright blue whizzes past us, followed by an angry Grethorian shaking his four fists in the air.

“Get back here, you thief!”

Not wanting to get caught up in any trouble, I glance to my side, only to find Felix has disappeared.

Momentary panic sets in until I look around and find he’s chased down whatever flew past us and is now holding the creature in his arms.

The irate Grethorian storms toward Felix, his naturally red skin flushed even darker. “That thieving little furball stole meat from my cart!”

Moving fast, I put myself between him and Felix.

Thankfully, the Grethorian isn’t as stupid as he appears. He takes one look at me—and the mark on my cheek—and backs off.

“What seems to be the problem here?” I ask, my voice stern and unyielding.

He gulps before pointing an accusing finger toward the creature in Felix’s arms. “That little menace stole food from my cart.”

I frown at the animal. I’m not even sure what it is. But then again, it’s hard to memorize all the animal species in the universe.

“Does the creature belong to someone here?”

The Grethorian crosses all of his arms, a scowl on his oblong face. “I doubt it. Probably a stray. Lots of folks come through here, and you’d be surprised how many of them abandon their pets before taking off for parts unknown.” He shakes his head. “It’s a damn shame, but I can’t afford to give away my merchandise for free to every stray that comes by. I’m trying to make a living here.”

Holding up my tablet, I say, “I’ll pay for whatever this creature stole, but don’t even think about trying to claim more than you’re owed.”

He gulps and nods. I end up paying him a few measly space credits for the stolen meat and he slinks off back to his stall, grumbling the whole way.

When he’s finally gone, I look over to see Felix studying me with a warm, gentle smile that makes my hearts flutter.

“You were amazing. Thank you.”

“Ahem. Well. I didn’t like how that jerk was acting. I just wanted to make sure he didn’t turn violent.”

Felix looks down at the shivering blue furball in his arms and gently strokes its head. The creature has a pointed snout, two big, cute eyes, and two large triangular ears that stand at attention, swiveling here and there in response to the sounds around us.

“Isn’t he adorable?” Felix coos sweetly as he pets the blue fluffball. “And he’s so soft.” Felix’s gaze hardens as our eyes meet over the animal’s head. “People who abandon their pets are the worst kind of scum.”

Uh-oh. Angry Felix is really… sexy.

But we don’t have time for that. I clear my throat again, opting for sense and reason. “Let’s go to one of the information kiosks and see if we can track down its owner or any other information about it.”

Felix agrees that this is a sensible course of action, and we push our hover cart full of goods through the station until we find an information kiosk.

The representative at the desk smiles at first, then falters when she notices the animal in Felix’s arms.

“Greetings, we found this creature in the market. One of the vendors told us it’s an abandoned stray, but we wanted to check that you didn’t have anyone looking for it. Perhaps it has a microchip for scanning?”

She pulls out a small handheld device and runs a quick scan over the stray, who regards her warily and presses its face closer to Felix’s chest.

The representative squints at her screen. “I can’t find any kind of microchip with details on ownership, but my device tells me this animal is a male Volengi Foxhound.”

I’ve never even heard of the breed before.

Felix laughs with obvious delight. “Oh, my God, that’s perfect. He looks like a cross between a Pomeranian and a fox, only blue! Don’t you, boy?” He starts rubbing the ears of the stray, who tilts its head up to lick his chin.

Felix has hearts in his eyes now.

“Isn’t he absolutely precious?” he asks me. “And so interesting too. I can’t wait to learn more about his species.”

Oh, dear galactic gods. I know I’m going to regret this, but…

I turn back to the information kiosk representative. “What happens to strays on the station?”

She winces. “If they’re caught, we send them on a cargo ship to the closest planet that has facilities to care for them.”

Felix growls and clutches the creature tighter.

I close my eyes and pray I’m not making the biggest mistake of my life.

“And what if someone on the space station finds a stray and wants to adopt it?”

I don’t dare look at Felix or I might lose my nerve.

Also because I’m pretty sure my face is flaming red by now, which is a feat in and of itself when your natural skin tone is gold.

The representative beams at me. “Well, that would definitely be the best-case scenario if they could provide a loving home. In fact, I can help you process an adoption here in my system. Would you like to adopt this little foxhound?”

I nod.

“Oh, Najar,” Felix murmurs, but I keep my eyes on the screen that the woman behind the desk hands me.

“I just need you to fill out a little bit of information. Then we’ll run a final health scan on the foxhound, and you can name him and take him with you!”

I start filling out the digital forms, and I have been transferred ownership of one tiny blue furball in short order.

“What do you want to call him?” I finally ask Felix, daring to look at him.

I soon realize that’s a mistake. Felix is giving me the most intense come-hither looks I’ve ever seen.

Evidently rescuing animals in need gets him a wee bit hot and bothered.

I should have known.

“I can really name him?” he asks, something tender and soft reflected in his eyes.

“Yes, of course. You saved him, after all.”

He looks down at the furball, who gazes up at him with utter adoration. “How do you like Cosmo, little guy? After all, I found you on my very first journey to the cosmos.”

The foxhound seems to like that and gives Felix’s chin another couple of licks, which makes him giggle.

My hearts flutter at the sound.

I hastily add Cosmo’s name to the form and hand the screen back to the representative.

She has us bring Cosmo over to a small table beside her station, where a larger scanning device does a quick sweep over him. After, she pulls up a report on her screen, which she taps a few times. “Okay, I’m sending this report to you, but surprisingly, he has a clean bill of health. He’ll require some vaccinations if he’s going to be traveling in outer space, but I assume those are things you can handle on your ship?”

I nod. “Our medical bay is already equipped for that.”

We’d had it upgraded for Jonesy and her kittens a year ago.

“Excellent. Thank you for saving a life in need and safe journeys to you and your crew.”

I push our hover cart as Felix walks at my side, clutching Cosmo in his arms as we make our way back to where the Sleigh Belle’s docked.

“You didn’t have to do this,” Felix whispers softly.

I glance at him and then look away, feeling all kinds of awkward. “I know, but I wanted to. For you.”

He makes a choked noise, but before he can say anything else, I redirect things.

“Come on, we need to hurry. We’re already running late, and we’ve got to get back on the ship. Kheph doesn’t want to stay here too long.”

I wasn’t lying to Felix when I told him I rescued the animal for him.

But it might have been a bit self-interested too. After all, if it might induce him to stay with me forever then I’ll count my lucky stars.