10. Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

T he door to the mess hall slid open and Amelia's stomach tried to come out through her throat. She swallowed several times to get it back in place. Every head turned like they were looking for Zylar and the poor human captive he dragged up to the ship. Was she a captive? There was no time for introspection. A male stood up. She was getting better when she didn't immediately think of him as a purple male, right? He was tall, almost Zylar's height, with darker skin than Zylar's but still purple.

Zylar, Mekha, and SaKura had skin that was the same color. Hell, they almost looked alike. Those royal genes showing.

"Amelia, this is Captain Gylor. He's the ship's captain. You've already met Dr. Bly."

The captain walked over and shook Amelia's hand. She knew he was uncomfortable by the way he did it slowly, like he didn't want to mess it up or hurt her. His eyes darted to Zylar several times, which intrigued Amelia.

"Nice to meet you, captain."

"You too." He gave her a closed-mouth smile, making her like him right off the bat. "We have room for two more at our table."

The tables were large, but the males that sat at it were larger. Amelia was going to feel like a child at the grown-up table when she sat on one of those chairs. She'd make it work as long as they didn't bring out a booster chair. There were two others at the table.

Captain Bly took over introductions when they got to the table. "This is my second in command, Delsa. Next to her is her mate, next to him is our chief engineer, Kyri."

Amelia tried to shake herself to stop staring at Delsa. She was an alien, but not like Zylar, or Thad. Thad was a watcher who could change shape to a human or his natural shape, which was a buff-toned black male with dreads and a tail. Hell, she thought about riding that ride for all of ten minutes and now she was happy she didn't.

"Hi." Delsa stood up. She was tall, coming about shoulder height to the surrounding males. Taller than Amelia, who only came to Zylar's chest. Her skin was white, but not the pale color of humans. Delsa was more like the white of Wonder Bread. With Emerald eyes. Yes, all one color, no pupil as far as she could see unless it was the same color. Her teeth matched the color of her eyes. It was going to take a minute to accept this new alien, but she would. What she liked most about her was the good feeling she felt coming from her. Delsa would make a good friend.

Delsa placed her hand over what Amelia was choosing to think was her heart since she didn't know her anatomy before she extended her hand to shake Amelia's. Amelia mirrored her, placing a hand over her heart and meeting Delsa's for a shake. When she looked down, she saw that there were several pillows on her chair which would make her sit taller at the table. She glared at Zylar, but stopped when Delsa started laughing. She reached down, picking up the pillow on her chair.

"The Diza females were usually shorter than the males. It became an ingrained habit to keep these in the ships. You and I benefit from it." Amelia smiled and took a seat. The pillows made the chair more comfortable.

"You're probably wondering about me. I'm Novari. We can get together later and have a female's day where we tell each other about ourselves, and you introduce me to fingernail polish and corrupt me." Amelia looked at Delsa's nails. They were claws, but they weren't human either. They were thicker and came to a natural point at the end, which reminded her of some nails she'd seen on human women. Modern nail techs were wizards.

Amelia laughed. It was high and bright, reminding her of whom she used to be yesteryear. "We can do our toes, too."

"Toes!" Delsa gushed. "Rala won't know what to do with me." Rala leaned over and kissed his mate, making everyone at the table other than Zylar groan. Kyri, the chief engineer, shook his head and ignored them.

Zylar decided Rala was positively brilliant before leaning over to kiss Amelia. The kiss took her by surprise, but her eyes shone, and she couldn't hide her smile. There were more groans at the table.

"Before those of us who aren't mated poke our eyes out, let's order," Captain Bly suggested. Amelia looked around the cafeteria and noticed that other than her and Delsa, there wasn't another female around. That's when she picked up on the sadness. It was so thick she could almost choke on it.

"Captain Bly, I have a friend her name is Sarah. I just recently met her. She doesn't have a male and has no prospects on Earth. I think she'd be an excellent candidate to go to Diza. If your ship was transferring females, you could meet her. That is, if you like females with my body type."

"I would tell you how beautiful you are, but Zylar would go lozo on me." Lozo translated into loco, and she couldn't help but laugh.

Amelia stood up. "My friend Anna just had a baby girl she named after Zylar, who was the healer at her birth. She has a similar body size. She did a la Vanna White over her body. Her male threw her and the baby away. I know she'll be looking for someone to love her and her small female." She didn't know how to say infant in their language and wasn't sure the word would translate. "I was thinking Captain Bly could use his ship to transfer these women and ones that I'm sure my cousin consort Jenna and warrior Bella are already interviewing to come to Diza. It'd be nice if there were clean living spaces and guides to show them around the ship and what you do for fun."

Amelia sat. The air felt lighter, as if there was hope in it. Captain Bly chuckled and made a complicated hand movement. Soon they were being served large plates of food.

"Don't get used to it. This only happens on this ship at this table because someone needs coddling." Zylar glared at him.

The staff served them a meal, and they ate in silence. Was it her imagination or were the surrounding people eating faster and then humming when they left the cafeteria?

"Your mate has made an agreement that you'll need to carry through with your cousin."

Wait…what? Agreement? Mate? The last one is what she was stuck on. Did he just call her Zylar's mate? What?

"Eat before your food gets cold." She half heard him and nodded before eating while her mind turned everything over. It was a mistake, or a joke, right?. Ha ha Zylar took the Earth female to mate who's always in trouble. She looked up at him. "Eat, little mate. We'll talk about it in the room."

It seemed he was running with the mate thing. Wouldn't she know if she was his mate? Now more than ever, she wished to talk to Bella and Jenna. They would know and be able to help.

He spanked her last night, and she wasn't as upset as she thought she would be. That didn't make a mate, though. He liked to kiss her. She liked to kiss him, too. Maybe she was low on kisses, and anyone would do? She looked at Captain Gylor and Dr. Bly, shaking her head. Anyone wouldn't do. What did all this mean?

She got that panicky feeling, the one that seemed to rule her life for the last couple of months. Zylar leaned over. "Stop, unless you want me to spank your ass again." It wasn't the words, but the tone of his voice. It cut through the panicky feelings trying to overtake her.

Her shoulders relaxed, and she finished eating. It had nothing to do with the sexy thoughts of Zylar smacking her ass before he flipped her over and made love to her, ruining her for any man or monster in the future. Nope, nada. There was no way she wanted that. She was a free woman. She wanted to stay that way. Drifting on the wind, she could have sex with whoever floated her boat. Her boat hadn't floated in forever, but it's the thought that counted, right? She gave up. Zylar was the first male from either race that caught her attention and made her breath hitch in a long time.

They bid goodbye to everyone, and Delsa made the sign of a phone telling her to call. Amelia laughed hard but was determined to spend some time with the first friend who wasn't related to her, that she would have in a long time.

"I think you guys have been hanging out on Earth longer than you're saying."

"Maybe." He took her hand and led her to the lift. She thought of the meal and the small talk they made. She pondered how she could feel the emotions of the Diza males, but there was no doubt she felt them. They were strong enough to overpower her, but she knew they weren't trying to hurt her. Their grief was still raw after all these years.

They walked back to the cabin in silence. She didn't know what she wanted to say or do. It was like a whirlwind in her head, and she was simply trying to hang on. Maybe, like Dorothy, she was going to end up in OZ.

"I'm your mate?" It was the best she could do since two ways of thinking were duking it out in her head. She honestly didn't think her parents would be upset with her mating an alien monster. The fact that he was a healer, which was the same as a doctor, would have tickled her mother pink. How she would have bragged. Thinking about it brought a smile to her face. She missed her parents so much. Her uncle was a selfish bastard who didn't think of anyone but himself. There was nothing she could do about him, so she forced herself to let it go.

He led her to the couch and helped her to sit. Then he found a pillow and tucked it behind her and a lightweight throw to go over her.

The last time someone tucked Amelia in, it was her mom. There was a shimmer of tears there. Jenna talked about seeing her mother, although she didn't believe her. Now she was hoping that her mom and dad were with Jenna's and Bella's mother.

"You're my mate, sweet Amelia. You're also an empath. Do you know what that means for you?"

She shook her head. If anyone had said to her a month ago that there could be something special in the human DNA, she would have laughed her ass off. Since then, she'd seen Bella and Jenna do and talk about things that didn't seem possible. She was their cousin, so it wasn't that farfetched. Still, what was so special about an empath?

"Healers mate empaths. Not always. There were never enough Diza females who shared that gift. To find your mate and know that she was like you, Amelia was a blessing from the goddess. The moment I laid my eyes on you, I knew you were my mate. I suspected you were an empath, but I knew time would tell, and it did."

"How come I didn't know?"

"How could you know when you wanted to die?"