Read Marauder Kronos: Scifi Alien Invasion Romance (Mating Wars) for Free Online Page B

feel my heart beat fast in my chest, and butterflies rise up in my stomach.
    I pull my hand away, and I follow him out to the airlock without touching him again. I can’t let my defenses fall away like this. I need to keep my distance.
    Ramu and Delphie are waiting at the airlock. Delphie’s arms are crossed, and her back is turned toward Ramu.
    “You two having a fight?” Kronos asks.
    “No,” Delphie snaps. “There’s nothing between us.”
    “If there’s nothing between us,” Ramu says, “then why did you get all weird when I told you I was gonna’ buy myself a threesome?”
    “Because it’s gross! ” Delphie says. “You’re gross!”
    “If you don’t want me to pay for sex,” Ramu says, “then you could help – ”
    Delphie spins around, and her foot is already swinging up as she completes her turn. Ramu doesn’t budge, and the kick connects solidly into his crotch, but he doesn’t show any sign of pain.
    Delphie’s eyes widen.
    “You think I’m not gonna’ armor up my balls?” Ramu asks. “Never get hit in the same place twice. I need these things intact if I’m going to perform tonight.”
    “God!” Delphie says, shoving him back.
    He floats into the wall and catches the handhold. Delphie starts to turn the hatch, and when she pushes it open, Ramu leaps out into New Rotterdam’s hangar.
    “Hell yeah!” he shouts. “Time to party! Captain...ring me up when we’re ready to leave!”
    He floats away down into the massive expanse of the hangar bay, until he’s just a small purple dot.
    “Delphie,” I say, putting a hand on her shoulder.
    She swats it away, and says without looking at me, “I’m fine. Don’t worry about it.”
    “Don’t trust that guy, Delphie,” Kronos says. “He’s got secrets.”
    “Why do you both think I care so much?” Delphie asks in a high-pitched, too-fast voice. “I don’t care. At all.”
    She pushes out of the airlock. “Meet you at the elevator.”
    Kronos looks at me, his ears flat. “I’ve known her for a long time.”
    “So you know what she’s really thinking?”
    “Hell no,” he says. “Women say one thing, but mean another. I was about to ask you what she was thinking.”
    I laugh. “It’s so obvious.”
    Kronos gives me a confused look, his ears pulling further back.
    “She likes Ramu, but she’s too shy to go for it. Now she’s really heartbroken that he’s going to go whoring on a dirty-ass pirate habitat.”
    “Oh,” Kronos says. “So she’s jealous?”
    I sigh. Are pirate men really so dense? Or maybe all men are just clueless. “It’s not jealousy. Not really. If Ramu returned the feelings for her, then why would he still talk openly to her – almost brag – about hiring two hookers?”
    “To show that even though he’s older,” Kronos says, “he can still handle two women at once. He even gave Delphie a chance to hook up with him. He said if she wanted to, he wouldn’t – ”
    “God!” I shout. “You are just as dumb and as big an asshole as Ramu!”
    I push out of the airlock, careful not to go too fast. I float through zero-g toward the wall – or the ground – depending on how you look at it. There’s no up or down in zero-g. I float very slowly, and soon Kronos flies past me.
    “Sorry,” he blurts out as he floats right by me, and he’s soon out of range for me to say anything back, even if I had wanted to.
    When I approach the ground, he reaches up to catch me. He’s clutching a long rail to keep himself on the ground.
    “No,” I snap. “I’m fine.”
    He keeps his hand out, but doesn’t grab me.
    I hit the ground, try to snatch for the rail, but miss.
    I start to float away so I swing my arm back around, but I’m already too far away. But then I feel myself squeezing the rail, even though I’m looking at both of my hands in front of me. I look down and see that a bright orange tendril has gripped onto the rail.
    “Shit!” Kronos hisses. He grabs the tendril and pulls me in.