Chapter 4

Iwanted to feel relieved to get out of the late summer heat, through the gawking crowds, away from the shouting reporters, and into the convention center for my interview, but all I felt was a continuing dread and worry.

I was wearing a wire.

An honest-to-shit wire was taped to my chest under my button-down shirt. I hoped everyone assumed I was sweating from the temperature outside and the fact that I'd had to wait in line for nearly twenty minutes. But I bet the dogs held back by cops knew I was nervous about something. Swear to god, they were eyeing me hard.

Taking slow, deep breaths, I wiped the sweat from my brow and tried to ignore the way the wire's tape pulled at my skin when I moved. I couldn't relax because Mama and Pastor Halbert were listening from inside the van he'd driven me here in. He might even be able to hear me breathing.

At least Halbert hadn't been able to get one of those ear things that would've made it so I could hear him. After the virtual interview when he and Mama both had coached me through the answers with handwritten signs, I didn't want to ever hear what either of them had to say again. I'd thought Halbert had been about to hit me more than once. I knew how to read enthusiastic and phenomenon, but they were both weird-looking words when you were trying to read them real fast.

Of course, that Halbert could hear me was still a problem. I'd hoped I could speak freely and finally tell someone what was really going on. These Norlons had ways of helping people improve their lives, like getting them jobs in their nanobot distribution centers. If they could send me far enough away, I'd take whatever they had. But how was I supposed to get that without Halbert hearing me do it?

"Squire Landry?"

I looked up when I heard someone call my name, half afraid it would be someone I knew. When they said it again, I realized they were a wolf kind of Norlon, a Yook, all gray and white fur.

"Uh, that's me." I raised my hand so they'd find me.

Smiling, they came over and waved me out of the line. "If you'll come with me?"

I was maybe fifty people back from the body scanners in front of us all, and I could see the frowns as everyone probably wondered why I got to go first. I was wondering the same thing as I followed the Yook up to one of the scanners. A lizard-like Cero told me to get into the box-like thing and hold my arms up. I did and watched a big arm swing in front of me. He told me to step out a second later.

The Yook escorting me spoke quietly with the Cero in a foreign language before the Yook smiled at me. "Come with me, Squire."

I wanted to say the Yook was female, but I couldn't really tell for sure. Maybe their features were a little more delicate than some of the other Yook around, but that might not mean anything. Figuring out such things was kind of on my mind, though, since I was supposed to be there willing to have sex with the girl Norlons. What if I couldn't figure out the gender of my interviewer and they asked something like whether I thought they were attractive? I didn't think they'd try to trick me, but what if they did?

The Yook led me through a maze of little three-sided walled areas with a couch, lamp, and coffee table where one human and one Norlon sat talking. I'd read that there wouldn't be anything sexual happening today aside from sex being talked about, but it was a relief to see everyone had their clothes on. I heard a lot of excited chatter and some laughter, though there were a few humans who looked as nervous as I felt.

"Here we are then," my escort said as they stopped. "Squire, this is Administrator Ghosha Progoni Rijal. Administrator, Squire Landry."

"Hello, Squire."

Jesus. Just Je-sus. I shivered from head to toe hearing the fucking huge tiger say my name. No guessing required now, I knew in my soul that he was male. And he might be wearing some kind of embroidered robe-like thing that hid his body from his neck to the floor, but I could tell he was ripped under there. Or maybe I just wished he was? Because my dick was filling for him and all he'd done was say hello.

I knew I was staring, but I couldn't stop. I was gawking—my mouth was hanging open and everything—but again, I couldn't do a thing but stand there staring up at him. A grin worked its way across his black lips, revealing a white fang, before a pink tongue licked the cleft of his upper lip. He was laughing at me. He knew what he was doing to me.

That snapped me out of it. I couldn't give myself away while Halbert was listening. If this administrator dude said something about me chubbing up or whatever, I'd be screwed for sure. Nobody had said I was totally in the program yet, so I wasn't safe.

"Uh, hi," I croaked and rubbed my palms on my jeans just in case I had to shake his hand. Did they shake hands? Shittin' fuck, I should've looked up more info on cultural stuff like that. I was going to make a terrible impression and ruin everything.

"Have a seat." He gestured to the end of the couch I was nearest to as he sat on the other end. It looked like he hiked a leg up so he could face me with his back against the arm of the couch, and my brain latched onto wondering if he had anything on under his robe. Which, of course, had my whacked-out brain remembering that I knew what a Khess cock looked like with its little nubs all over the head.

I crammed my dumb ass into the corner of the couch, facing front, and planted my hands on my thighs. My shirt was hiding any evidence of my stupid cock pressing against my zipper. And then I heard him take a deep breath. Oh, fuck my life, could he smell me getting hot for him?

He was grinning again, and I swore his pale golden eyes were dancing as he looked at me. I felt like I was being teased. I needed to get this interview back on track, and quick.

"Um, what was, uh, your name again? Sorry."

"It's alright. You can call me Ghosha."

Shittin' fuck, I wasn't going to be able to concentrate for nothing with him talking like that. He had a deep voice, but there was like a rumble just under the words. A growl. It was tripping switches inside me I hadn't known were in there.

"G-Ghosha, right. Okay. Hi."

He chuckled and cocked his head at me, staring for way too long. I kept eye contact with him, couldn't even blink, and I swear I fell into golden pools of honey in those eyes of his.

All of a sudden, he reached for me. One long black claw extended from the tip of his finger, and he wiggled it through the gap between two shirt buttons. I gasped when he snagged the wire and looked down to see him slice right through it as he drew his clawed finger back out.

Ghosha had cut the mic from the rest of the device. He'd completely severed my connection to Halbert.

My head felt so hot, and my eyes filled in a heartbeat. "Oh god." I covered my mouth as tears started falling whether I wanted them to or not. "Oh my god. I'm so sorry! Please don't kick me out."

Ghosha tsked at me. "All I've done is made it so you can speak freely, Squire. Be honest with me from now on, and everything will be alright."

Speak freely. Free. Oh, my fucking god, I was free!

I sobbed like a big baby and most of me didn't even care because I was fucking free for the first time in forever. Years of stress and fear and worry exploded out of me like a human volcano of tears and wailing. I did that awful hiccuping thing, sounding like a toddler in need of a nap. Hiding my face in the crook of my arm, I missed Ghosha moving to scoop me up.

I let him pick me up and settle me on his lap. Let him cuddle me into the soft fur at his neck. He had a hand on the back of my head and one patting my back, and I just let him do it all. I clung to his robe and wished I had claws so I could cling even harder. And I cried it all out until I was just a shivery, wet mess of a man on a tiger's lap.

"Dear sweet little one," Ghosha said quietly. "I don't know what horrors you've endured, but I'm willing to do whatever it takes to remove you from further harm. Do you understand?"

I nodded against his neck, his fur damp and sticking to my face. Yeah, I should get my shit together, stand up, apologize, but I just wanted a little bit longer in his strong arms before I had to face my future. Even if it was a future I desperately needed.

Thankfully, he didn't seem to mind. He was sifting his big fingers through my wavy brown hair like he was petting me. That actually made me smile a tiny bit since he was the one covered in pettable fur. Him being okay with offering me comfort really helped calm me down, though.

"Thank you," I whispered.

He tsked again. "Of course. Can you tell me what you need?"

Taking that for the hint it probably was, I eased back and stepped down from his lap. Embarrassment leaked into me as I stood over him, making me hustle back to my end of the couch. I mopped up my face and sniffed, resisting a glance in his direction to make sure I hadn't gotten any snot on him.

"Has someone been threatening you?" he asked.

My bottom lip actually trembled for a second before I bit it and made myself sit up straighter. I told him about everything, starting right from the time we moved to Prestonville after my father died. How the whole town was like a giant cult feeding on each person's prejudices and making everything worse. While I told him about Halbert's and Mama's idea for me to be a spy, I unbuttoned my shirt and peeled off the tape holding the broken wire to my chest.

"I'm supposed to take what I learn back to them," I said as I tossed the two halves of the device on the couch between us. "Then they'll take it to some Humans First people. I don't know what they're going to do with it. I'm sorry."

"You don't have to be sorry," Ghosha said, his gaze flicking back and forth between my face and chest. "I can't imagine what those terrorists would want with information about our interview process, but then I'm not a member of the security detail either. I'll have to pass this along to them."

I buttoned up my shirt and nodded at my lap. I felt like such a tiny speck of nothing.

"As for you," he said, "if you're still interested in the program, I'd like to take you up to the ship today and begin your training."

Everything in me stilled. What'd he say? I looked over at him slowly, suddenly wondering if I'd dreamed all of this and was actually home in bed. I almost wanted to pinch myself.

"What?"

That teasing grin of his was back. "Do you want to leave Earth with me, Squire?"

His goddamned voice was doing that thing again and getting me all hot and bothered. I had to swallow before I could say, "Yeah. Yeah, I do."

I could've sworn he started purring.