Page 6 of Trusting Warik (Hissa Warrior #9)

Chapter 6

Nisha

Nisha was having the best time!

She couldn’t remember the last time she’d gotten to talk to so many fascinating and friendly people. She also couldn’t think of when she’d spent so much money on mostly frivolous items. The droids, parts, and tools were needed, but none of the pretty clothes, jewelry, and decorative items filling the large bags slung over Warik’s shoulders fit in the necessity category.

Even though Warik had paid for everything, she planned to transfer credits to pay him back. She wasn’t a poor human; she had plenty of wealth. Her mother left her a sizable inheritance, and her shop made a good profit. There was no reason Warik needed to use his wealth on her, but it felt nice to watch him swipe his data bracelet over the merchant's data pads or the kiosks’ sensors without a single complaint.

There were even a couple of times he wouldn’t let her put an item back because he could tell she really wanted it. No one ever read her that well except Shift.

I can’t believe you bought that Zumita hat , Shift commented as Warik guided her into one of the many eateries. It’s three sizes too big for your head!

“You know, I think that Zumita hat will be really pretty hanging in my bedroom back home,” she commented. By the third store, she’d gotten the hang of talking to Shift by saying things to Warik in a way that she hoped wasn’t suspicious. One thing was clear, she had to stop mumbling to herself. If she kept that up, he’d start to think she was insane.

“That explains why you liked it,” Warik said as he stopped next to an empty table in a far corner. “You can eat just about everything at this place. I checked when you were looking at the humie wool blankets. This place uses human compatible ingredients and cooking techniques.”

“That’s so sweet of you to check!” Nisha said. Reluctantly, she had to let go of Warik to take a seat. She winced when he dropped the many bags to the floor before taking a seat himself. She was going to insist he let her carry at least a few of the packages. It was too bad this station didn’t have rental carts.

Unlike many places, the chairs here could be moved so she scooted closer to him. The table flashed on and displayed all the foods they could order. Putting her elbows on the edge, she leaned over and scrolled through the choices, selecting a couple that she recognized.

“What do you want to eat?’ she asked. She looked up to find his head right next to her.

He has such pretty eyes, especially when he isn’t glaring , Shift commented.

She didn’t hear what he said, she was too busy taking him in.

“I really like your eyes,” she whispered.

His eyes widened, and his scale pattern shifted color very slightly. “My eyes are the same as all other Hissa.”

“No, yours are different,” she insisted. “Woken and Rakin didn’t have eyes like yours. They’re similar but not the same.”

To her surprise, he leaned a little closer. “What’s different about my eyes?”

“They’re kinder,” she said.

Even though his expression didn’t change, she could feel his surprise at her words. “Kinder?”

Her gaze dropped to his lips as he spoke. She could see a hint of fang. What would it feel like to kiss him?

“You act cold,” she said, talking without thinking because she was distracted by thoughts of kissing him. “But it’s only to protect your soft center.”

He reared back with a hiss, startling her. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. Stop wasting time and order so we can eat.”

She blinked at his sudden closed-off expression. It was painful after he’d been so open and warm with her.

Woah, you hit a nerve! I totally thought he was going to kiss you and then wham! He goes back to being a planet too far from a sun: frozen and unappealing.

“I already ordered, we’re only waiting for you,” Nisha retorted and deliberately leaned back and focused on the restaurant around her. She crossed her arms over her chest and looked at the entrance as two more Hakmin walked in. They were so expressive with their giant bat ears it was fascinating to observe them interacting. She couldn’t hear what they were saying, but it was obvious these two were in love and attuned to each other by the way they kept one ear always focused on the other person. It was sweet to watch.

They’re cute, Shift commented. Let’s go sit with them. Warik doesn’t deserve our company right now. Oh, the owner of the droid shop just walked in. He’s at the standing counter but we could eat next to him. The counter isn’t too high.

Shift’s suggestion was appealing. The last thing she wanted to do was spend an uncomfortable meal sitting next to Warik when she could be eating and enjoying herself with more pleasant company.

“I’m going to—”

He interrupted her. “I’m sorry.”

His words made her swing her gaze over to him. He was staring at where his hands were resting on the table.

“What?”

“You heard me,” he growled, then pushed away from the table. He stood so suddenly his chair toppled. He righted it by kicking the back of it up into his hand. “I’m going to fetch us drinks.”

She watched him stalk off to where a row of vending machines were located. Like with many low-cost eateries, drinks were provided by third party vending machines that the eatery owner didn’t need to maintain.

Why is he acting upset? Shift asked.

“I didn’t just hit a nerve. I think I bashed it,” Nisha said, feeling guilty. She’d had a childhood free of trauma, raised by a devoted, loving mother within a kind and caring community. “We’ve never suffered a tragedy as profound as the Great Death and it shows.”

I never thought about it like that. Now I want to hug Warik and tell him I’ll make everything better , Shift said. Do you think he goes hot and cold because he’s scared of losing you?

Nisha sighed. “Or he’s scared of any type of intimacy. Didn’t you notice he wasn’t even friendly with the other Hissa?”

I hadn’t thought about it until now, Shift admitted. This makes me feel bad for all the mean things I’ve said about Warik. But he was still suddenly mean to you, and I don’t like that. I feel conflicted.

“I imagine that might be similar to how he feels. I think he wants to like me but—”

Her words were cut off when a Hakmin male sat down at her table.

“I see you’re alone, that’s a bad idea. For only a small fee, I could keep you company and make it appear that you’re not alone and vulnerable,” he said.

The audacity! Shift said with some static.

“I’m not alone, so there's no need for your services,” Nisha replied.

“You don’t need to lie,” he said, leaning over the table to get closer to her. She edged away until the back of her chair hit the wall behind her, but the Hakmin kept getting closer. “You’re human, right? I’ve heard you guys are sexually compatible with us. I’d be willing to trade protection for some time with your body. It’s a fair exchange if you don’t have the credits to spare.”

Ewwww! Shift screeched through the implant. Not only is the offer gross, but this guy is disgusting. Is that an old piece of food in his fur? Does he not know how to bathe? I bet he even smells bad.

“Get away from me,” Nisha ordered, trying hard to keep her voice from quavering. “You stink!”

I knew it! Even if you didn’t have Warik, this idiot wouldn’t have a chance. We have standards!

The Hakmin snarled, showing several rows of sharp teeth. “I’d be nice to me if I were you. I'm making you a good offer, but I could simply take what I want.”

Plug me into the table port, Shift demanded. I could take over the food delivery droids and mob this guy. He’ll back off after I dump some boiling food on him!

Nisha was afraid to take her eyes off the Hakmin long enough to find a port to plug Shift into the table. “I don’t think that’s an option.”

Although she was talking to Shift, the Hakmin responded. “You don’t have any options, human. I’m going to enjoy finding out what you sound like when you scream in pain.”

The sound of glass hitting the floor made the Hakmin turn in his seat. Nisha only caught a blur of movement before the Hakmin was lifted and hurled out the wide-open entrance to the eatery.

Warik stomped over to the Hakmin who was scrambling back to his feet. His wide, frightened eyes stayed focused on the angry Hissa even as he tried to stand tall and not appear intimidated.

“Why did you do that? Did you want the human? That’s all you had to say! Have fun with her!” Then he fled. The moment he was gone, everyone who’d stopped eating expecting to witness a fight all went back to what they were doing. Nisha could even see a few disappointed faces.

Warik waited until the Hakmin had disappeared into the crowd beyond. Then he came back to the table. Nisha noticed two things. Warik’s scale pattern was black, indicating rage. The other was that his eyes softened as he got close and kneeled next to her.

“Did he hurt you?”

She shook her head.

“I’m sorry! When I saw what was happening, I dropped the drinks I’d bought for us. I’d get more, but I’m afraid to be even that far away from you. I knew this was a dangerous station, but I didn’t think it would be that bad.”

Awww! Geez this guy goes from annoying to sweet in two seconds flat, Shift said. It’s a good thing we process fast, or he might leave us behind.

“It wasn’t your fault,” she rushed to assure him, grabbing one of his hands in hers. “And I’m sorry I said that thing earlier about you having a soft center. I didn’t mean anything bad by it.”

Warik rolled his eyes up, looking at the dingy ceiling. “I wasn’t upset with you. I was struggling with myself.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

As if trained in bad timing, a food delivery droid rolled up to them and started beeping angrily because Warik was in the way. He was forced to stand up and move to her other side and sit before the droid would set the food down on the table.

“What were you going to—”

He interrupted her question by shoving food at her. “You need to eat.”

It was very clear he was done with this conversation.

Two steps forward three steps back , Shift sighed. The AI wasn’t wrong.

“Um, right,” she agreed as he put dishes in front of her. Despite her hunger, she couldn’t manage a bite even as he started to eat his food with mechanical efficiency.

***

Warik

He was acting like a kewkew bird with a hurt claw, and he knew it. The problem was that as much as he wanted to be closer to Nisha, it scared him.

Facing an entire army of Kaklans would be easier than being vulnerable with Nisha. For all her tendencies to drift off and lose track of where she was and what was going on around her, she had moments of startling perceptiveness.

It was unnerving. The terrifying part was that he wanted to let all his feelings and worries gush out of him like water from a broken dam. The problem with broken dams was that you couldn’t put the water back in later.

“This isn’t going to work,” Nisha said after he’d bolted down half his food.

He stopped eating but didn’t look up at her. “The food? You can order something different if you don’t like it.”

“No, not the food,” she said. “This situation is dumb. Us sitting here being silent and pretending like nothing is different or weird or anything. Sometimes I talk without thinking. Okay, I talk without thinking a lot, but instead of getting all defensive and huffy with me or yourself, how about trying to use your words with me? I promise, the last time I deliberately attempted to hurt someone’s feelings was back when I was ten. Dorfen said I was stupid for tripping, and I told him his family hoped he was infertile because then they wouldn’t have to worry about him having children and insulting their lineage with inferior genetics.”

“You said that at ten years old?” Warik asked, amusement and surprise making him look up to meet her gaze.

“I was studying how to fix abnormal or damaged DNA with sequencing models, so it was the worst insult I could think of at the time,” she said with a little shrug. Then she grinned. “Actually, it’s still a pretty good insult. I’ll have to remember it if anyone ever calls me stupid again.”

“I don’t think anyone would ever call you stupid,” he said, trying to remember what he’d been doing at ten years old. Mostly playing with his siblings between learning sessions.

“No, they usually call me clumsy or obtuse,” she agreed.

Anger on her behalf welled up in him. “Who calls you these things?” he demanded.

“That’s not important,” she said with a little wave of her hand. “I want to thank you for rescuing me from that Hakmin. If you weren’t with me, I’d have had to do something drastic.”

That caught his attention. “Drastic?”

“Probably hit him on the head with the bolter stick I bought,” she explained. She pointed down to indicate one of the bags of items where the bolter stick was poking out. Of course she’d had a plan. His clever Nisha always had a plan. Of course, she wouldn’t have needed to come up with a plan if he hadn’t been so neglectful.

After wasting as much time as he could with the drink machines, he’d turned around to see the Hakmin crowding her and lost his mind. He didn’t even remember crossing the restaurant to get to the male. It’d felt immensely satisfying to toss the Hakmin as far as he was capable. He'd wanted to drive his claws into the Hakmin’s belly and gut him, but the coward had run off instead of challenging Warik.

His rage had disappeared the moment he turned and saw Nisha sitting there, pale and wide-eyed. He’d worried she might fear him now, but no, her concern was only for him. Shame at his excess actions made him abrupt with her, again.

It’d been a long time since he’d lost control like that. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling. He knew that fighting while experiencing strong emotions was never a wise idea, but being around Nisha made his control weak.

“I’m still glad you came back when you did,” she said. “If he and I scuffled, I might have won and that would’ve been, um…” she seemed to deflate. “He wanted to hurt me. It was scary. I’m not helpless, but my skills aren’t really in combat or fighting.”

“If you’d called out, I would’ve come sooner,” he said. “I’ll always be there to protect you.”

“And I’ll watch your back too,” she agreed. “We’ve had distinctly different childhoods and careers. We need to start looking for how we can complement each other instead of trying to hide weaknesses or maneuver around the other person.”

“We need to be partners,” he agreed, relieved at her suggestion. It was a good way to try and calm the lust that raged in him every time he was close.

He was determined to see her as a partner. A compatriot. Not someone to fuck. Now if only his cock would get the message, his life would be easier.

Or maybe he should simply give in. His dick might be the smarter of the two of them in this situation.