Page 48 of Alien Naga's Prize
“Oh, my love.” I pick her up as gently as I can, pulling her into my coils. “I want you more than anything. I want you enough to let you go, if that’s what you desire.”
“I don’t want to go anywhere, Azul, unless it’s with you.” She looks up at me, water hovering in her eyes, which she blinks away fiercely. “With you, I got to be who I am, not just some second class security officer who is only useful when she ends up in a pseudo lottery which is actually a front for mail order brides.”
I can’t stop the grin spreading across my face.
“You are very useful,” I tease. “Especially in the dress you were wearing.”
“Don’t make me regret my choices, Azul.” Jenna growls at me.
I dip my head to take her lips with mine, to kiss her until she is panting for breath.
“Would I do that to you?” I rasp. “My mate, my stars, my little sunray.” I kiss her again. “I know you’ll always choose me.”
JENNA
“I…sort of…lied to you, Jenna.” Dan rubs the back of his neck behind his stiff uniform collar. “I’m not who I said I was.”
“Yeah, I can tell.” I look around the sleek, clean bridge of the Star Fighter the British government is not supposed to have.
“There’s more…”
“Why does that not surprise me?” I respond.
Azul releases a blood curdling growl and everyone on the bridge looks instantly terrified.
I’m pleased I decided to keep him around.
“I’m the son of the Prime Minister,” Dan says casually.
I fold my arms. “So, when you recognized that twat with the stupid name…?”
“I had to let you deal with it, in case he tried to…use me.”
“So, instead, I got suspended without pay, and you managed to keep your identity secret like some low rent twenty-first century fake superhero?”
Azul releases another growl and Dan’s eyes widen.
“I’m so sorry, Jenna. My mother has been concerned about how things are actually working within the S.C.Britanniaforsome time. I told her I’d investigate…she didn’t want me to, but I insisted.”
“Go you,” I mutter. Azul’s tail taps on the shiny surface of the bridge floor. “Did you find anything interesting? You do know I was seconded to spy on the Starlight Lottery by your mother’s government, don’t you?”
“I do, which is why I came looking for you. This is my real job, you see.”
“My mate did not require your assistance,” Azul rumbles.
“You sort of did,” Dan says with irritating correctness.
Azul’s hood flares.
“Whatmy mate, means”—I put my hand on Azul’s hard, muscular chest—“is what the actual fuck is going on, Dan?”
“There’s been rumors for some time, within government, that there are elements who only want to take and that they are undermining our rule of law,” Dan says.
“As it has ever been.” I sigh. “And it took you a few months working the graveyard shift in security for everyone to see sense?”
“No,” Dan admits, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “It took meeting you, Jenna.” He risks a glance at Azul. “You’re smart, capable, your scores on all your tests are off the scale, and yet you’re a security officer second class. That’s just wrong.”
“Tell it to all the other women onBritanniascraping a living. How are you going to change anything? Your mother is only Prime Minister due to her birth, it’s not like the rest of the government want her in power. They just can’t do anything about it without upsetting everything our pathetic society holds dear.”