Out of the Ashes (Maji 1)

Mikoh sucked in a deep breath, and I momentarily wondered where Surkah’s right hand went to until I heard Mikoh’s struggle for breath. I grinned and looked down as I scuffed my toes against the heated floor, trying to give them as much privacy as I could without walking away.

“My female,” he hissed. “The answer is still…”

I muffled a giggle with my hand when his answer was a groan instead of a word.

“What is your answer, my male?” Surkah purred.

She purred, like a cat.

“Thanas damn me, but it’s… no.”

Surkah stopped whatever she was doing to Mikoh, and I heard his strangled whine of protest as she dropped her hand and shoved past him. She was pissed at his decision, but to be honest, no one looked more annoyed than Mikoh at the current moment. It meant his hanky-panky was indefinitely cut short.

I pretended not to see Mikoh adjust the front of his pants for two reasons. One, because it was private and he didn’t need me gawking at him. Two, because the outline of his penis was shockingly large. He didn’t trust me as it was, so I didn’t want him not to trust me and think I was a pervert.

“Shall I lead the way?” he asked Surkah through gritted teeth as he mockingly bowed.

She grabbed my hand and tugged me along with her. I had to jog to keep up with her long strides. I heard Mikoh’s low chuckles as he followed closely behind, but he said nothing further. We walked down long hallways, passing by a few males who were dressed in the same uniform as Mikoh and had serious expressions on their faces. I jumped when two of them fisted their hands, lifted their right arms over their chest, roughly pressed their close fists against their bodies, and bowed their heads. I looked at Surkah as she walked by them without so much as a glance their way.

Weird.

I moved closer to Surkah when we entered a large mess hall lined with tables and chairs that were occupied by Maji on the left side of the room and some human women on the right side. There were faces everywhere, human and Maji, but only the Maji stood, put their hands over their chests, and bowed their heads. Again, I looked at Surkah. She had told me she was a princess, but at that moment, I fully grasped that she really was a freaking princess.

I found it cool, but that emotion was wiped away when I took in the Maji. There were so many of them, and they were all so big, muscular, and damn tall. If they decided to kill every human in sight, not one us would stand a chance.

Surkah suddenly turned to face me when she inhaled.

“What do you fear?” she demanded.

I hated her heightened sense of smell.

“It’s just crowded in here, but I’m fine. I promise.”

Big. Fat. Lie.

I had to remember that my fear gave off a scent she could easily detect. I also had to suck it up. I couldn’t afford to become an annoying burden to the Maji; I didn’t want any extra attention from them. I sat with Surkah and Mikoh and was surprised when a male brought us three trays of food. I noticed he gave Surkah’s tray to Mikoh, and that he pointedly ignored her. As a matter of fact, every male in the room made it their business to look away from our table. A few of them even moved tables to get further away from us.

“You weren’t joking about no other male looking at you,” I mumbled to Surkah.

She chuckled. “They might be curious if Mikoh weren’t here, but they fear him.”

“I can’t imagine why,” I said dryly.

Surkah snorted, Mikoh grumbled to himself, and I grinned.

Surkah dug into her breakfast, but Mikoh didn’t. He looked at me like he was waiting for me to start eating before he would even consider beginning. I was hesitant because I had no idea what I was about to consume, and I didn’t know if I wanted to know. There was a thick-cut, dark brown piece of meat of some kind with a white sauce over it and some substance that looked like mashed potatoes but was a little creamier and was blood red. My instincts told me not to eat it, that it could be laced with drugs, but the rational side of my brain told me the Maji didn’t need to go to great lengths to knock me out if they wanted to. Another quick glance around the mess hall told me the food was fine because other humans were happily eating it.

With an emphasis on the happy.

“It’s good,” Surkah said when she saw I wasn’t eating. “The other humans have said, and I quote, the ‘nicest food ever.”

My lips quirked as I picked up my funny looking knife and fork. I cut up some thin strips of the meat and gathered some of the red mash and white sauce onto my fork and tucked it into my mouth. Flavour instantly burst over my taste buds, and I couldn’t help but groan. It was so good.

“The nicest food ever?” Surkah asked, a teasing grin playing on her lips.

I bobbed my head, making her and Mikoh chuckle. She and the human women were right; it was the nicest food ever. Granted, I only ate what could be grown in bad soil or whatever small, malnourished game I could catch and kill on Earth, but even on my hungriest of days, food never tasted as spectacular as this.

I cleared my plate in minutes, and I looked at Mikoh when I felt his eyes on me. He had nearly finished his own food at this point, but his focus was back on me and not his food. I didn’t get a chance to say anything to him because he suddenly stood and walked over to the food buffet. The males that were queuing up for food moved aside when he approached. He gathered more food onto a tray and brought it back over to me. He silently put it in front of me and removed the now empty one.

“Eat,” he said gruffly after I thanked him.

I continued eating because I was still very hungry. I managed to clear three-quarters of the food piled tray, but that was the best I could do without becoming violently sick and throwing everything I just ate back up.

“Thank you,” I said to Mikoh once more.

He nodded, still eating, but he was clearly tense.

“He does not like that you were so hungry,” Surkah said to me, seeing my confusion at his attitude.

“Oh,” I said. “It’s okay. Being hungry is pretty much a permanent thing on Earth for common folk like me.”

Mikoh growled but said nothing.

“Females are fed first on Ealra,” Surkah explained. “If there was only enough food for one, it would go to the female. If the food was in short supply, males would refuse to eat anything until our hunger was sated first.”

My chest warmed, realising Mikoh did just that. He waited for me to begin eating before he even considered touching his own food, and I knew even though he wasn’t my biggest fan, if we were stranded and there was only enough food for two people, he would make sure it went to me and Surkah. I didn’t like that I was seeing him in that light. I wanted to keep Mikoh and the rest of the Maji under one category: dangerous.

“That’s really sweet,” I said and looked at Mikoh. “You get angry easily, and you have a serious attitude problem, but I think you’re very sweet.”

He glared at me, and it made me smile.

“I’m still hungry,” Surkah suddenly announced. “I think I’ll get seconds, too.”

She got up and headed towards the buffet, and of course, Mikoh was right by her side. I chuckled, shook my head, and turned back to the table, startling when I found I wasn’t alone.

“Hello, little one.”

Kol was sitting across from me, his eyes locked on mine and a tray of food in front of him.

Where the hell did he come from?

I gasped. “Majesty Kol… I mean Shipmaster Kol… I mean… Shipmaster.”

Kol’s violet eyes shone with amusement.

“You may call me Majesty Shipmaster Kol if you wish. That will be interesting to hear.”

I knew he was teasing me, and my cheeks heated because of it.

“I’ll stick to shipmaster, thank you very much.”

His lips twitched. “You have used a cleansing unit.”

I blushed. “You can smell the difference, huh?”

“And see it,” he replied, his eyes rolling over me

slowly. “Your skin is so clear, and your loose hair is framing your face. I like it. I have never seen that shade of brown before.”

I swallowed and said nothing further.

“Has my sister informed you of the changes today?”

“Uh-huh,” I mumbled. “She said she’d show me to my new room later.”

“I don’t think she will be able to do that any longer.”

My head jerked up. “Why not?”

“Because more humans have come aboard today, as you can see, and a lot of them are greatly injured or have a severe illness. The three other healers aboard are now at max capacity of how many humans they can take in their charge. Surkah will need to heal many to aid them, and she will need plenty of rest before the day is over.”

I didn’t like it, but I nodded in understanding.

“I will have a strong male escort you,” Kol continued.

I felt myself begin to sweat at the thought of being alone with a male whom I had never met before.

“What are you scared of?”

That stupid scent of fear was pissing me off.

“I’m fine.”

“Do not lie to me, little one.”

I rolled my eyes. “My name isn’t little one; it’s Nova.”

“Okay,” Kol said curtly. “What troubles you, Nova?”

When I hesitated to reply, Kol said, “Remember, no lying.”

I blew out a breath of frustration, and absentmindedly placed my hand over the scissors in my pocket.

“I’m just nervous about this male you’re assigning to escort me. I mean, has he met a human woman before? Does he even like my species?”

What if he doesn’t and kills me the second he gets me alone?

“No, he has never met a human woman, but like the rest of the people, he is interested in learning about your species. Besides, even if he didn’t like humans, it would not make a difference. He will be under orders to protect you, and even if he wasn’t under orders, he’d still protect you as you’re a female. Maji males would never harm a female of any species.”

I didn’t believe him. Everyone was capable of hurting someone else, humans and Maji alike.

“Can I not just wait around for Surkah?” I asked, looking down at my tray. “I feel safe with her.”

I wasn’t exactly lying. I did feel safe with Surkah—well, as safe as I could be in the company of a shady alien.