16. Chapter 16

"Zil! What have you done?"

I shudder with the knife in my hand. "What?"

Hazel lifts her brows at me with half a smirk on her face. "Look at you. Are you trying to chop off your finger? It looks like you have never chopped a thing. You are just a big guy without a brain. All you do is eat, huh?"

She yanks the knife off my hand. "Look, this is how you chop."

I resist the urge to growl at her. I won't take anyone insulting me, but watching her zoom through the rest of the carrot is... When it comes to cooking, maybe I should shut up.

At least I'm a uzain who can be honest about my ability.

She puts down the knife again. "Keep going. When you chop, keep your fingers away from the tip of the knife, bend them in."

She hurries to the stove, where a pot of something is boiling. She starts adding in seasonings. I don't understand how she knows what to add.

I blink and pull my mind back to the carrots. I hate how these seem to be endless and I'll never be done with them.

"Zil! Move your lazy ass!"

Worse, for some reason, she seems to think she can tell me what to do and shout at me.

She grunts and comes around with another knife. I take a step back, even though there's no reason she will want to stab me.

"Zil, if you keep being a slacker, we are never going to finish everything, and the customers..." She pauses for a moment. "Oh... right... I suppose there's no customers waiting."

I pat her stomach. "No customers but your empty stomach."

She sighs. "I suppose so. The water is boiled anyway. Let's keep going."

She helps me with the carrot, but the energy in her is gone. She is moving slower, but still a lot quicker than me. Maybe I'd rather she shout at me and tell me to hurry my ass up.

"Hazel..."

"What?" she asks as if she is letting out a sigh. "Are you done with your portion of vegetables? We have to get them cooked soon."

Oh! I hurry to be chopping. "Yes, I'm getting done soon."

She frowns lightly as she seemingly struggles to focus on chopping instead of her thoughts. I hoped I could help her, but maybe I'm the reason she is stressed.

After we put all the ingredients into the pot, she lets out a sigh. "Now, all we do is wait."

"How long will it take?"

"Until the seasoning gets to the vegetables and they are tender." She checked the settings for the stove. "Will take a while."

"How long is a while?"

"Maybe half an hour. I suppose there's nothing to do other than stare at each other in the meantime."

I won't complain about that. I don't mind staring at her for the rest of my life. I've never planned to enjoy her this much, but... While she is here and we are supposed to pretend to be each other's mates, I should practice loving her. "You are so good at cooking."

She sighs and her gaze falls to the floor for a moment. I wait for her to talk, but she shrugs and looks away.

I want to hug her, but what if she doesn't want that?

She goes to the stove again, stirring the contents. The food already smells great. I ate earlier, but I'm hungry again. She keeps stirring as if her mind is elsewhere.

I like it when she is focused on cooking. She is beautiful and so smart.

My kind is the one taking her life away from her... She would be back at her place, running the stall and cooking for everyone, but...

I suppose she can cook for me. But that's different.

She finally puts the lid of the pot back and goes back to my side, leaning onto the kitchen island and staring blankly at the stove.

I move to take her hand. She doesn't stop me, but she doesn't hold my hand either. I say, "I'm sorry about what happened, or is happening."

She shrugs. "I'm trying not to think about that. It isn't like there's a way for me to change that."

I sigh. "It's not fair to you."

"Maybe tell me about your team while we are stuck here."

Fuck... She isn't going to like it. I don't want to lie to her, but at the same time, I want her to like me. That's not supposed to be my goal, but I won't complain if she decides to stay and be my mate.

I clear my throat. "We are uzains. We do what it takes to stay alive."

"What does that mean? Where is the spaceship heading?"

"This time around, we are shipping things from the space station to another zone."

"And someone paid you to do that."

"Yes."

"Just that? Running a transportation company?" She doesn't seem convinced at all. I suppose no one will, given how the captain kidnapped her like it's nothing special.

"Well, if we have to, we attack villages and other spaceships, too."

She stares ahead as if she didn't hear me. I suppose she could be busy with her thoughts and didn't hear me, but at the same time, maybe she is good at hiding her emotions. She checked the pot again, stirring it, watching, before she comes back to my side.

She says with a cold voice. "I'm not surprised. Just a group of bandits or hired guns to be accurate."

Sometimes, I don't know whether I'm proud of the way uzains make a living. But maybe that's not too bad, given how there are worse beings out there. Yet... It feels like comparing ourselves to the worst out there isn't the way to go.

She continues, "No wonder the captain feels at ease, if not excited to have kidnapped me. He doesn't care. Maybe you don't care either."

"I've told you I'm trying to make sure you get home, or at least out of this spaceship." I glance at the door. It is closed and I doubt someone will walk by, but still... I should be careful with my words when others may overhear. "I mean, you can be happy being my mate here on the ship." I hope I'm not too subtle about it.

She watches me with a gloomy look. Maybe she has doubts. "I don't understand. I know there are nice beings out there. But you... you guys don't seem to be one of those. Not to mention, there's nothing in it for you to help me. Worse, there are risks." She pauses even when I think there's more to it.

"I don't know. I just want to." My heart races and my markings are burning hot again. I want her, right now.

She glances at me. "Are you sure about that? Why?"

"I told you I don't know." Even my horns hum. My throat is dry, and I don't know how to explain to her when I don't even understand it myself. It shouldn't be this hard, but...

My cock twitches again. That's what's hard too. No one is here and the next training session won't start for quite some time. Maybe I can...

She straightens and heads to the stove right before I reach for her. When the stove is going, maybe I should control myself. She stands on her tip-toe, taking a scoop out of the pot. My mouth waters at the smell. It feels like what I had from her stall, except it smells subtly different. Must be the different seasoning. It already smells a lot better than anything they serve in the food area.

She takes a sip, tasting it as I can only watch from the side. I want to test it too. I bet it is perfect.

It doesn't take long before she turns off the stove. "Zil, get me the bowls."

Oh! Bowls! Where are those?

She frowns at me as I hurry to open the drawers and cupboards. "I know you don't come to this place a lot, but geez, you are such a slacker."

If the kitchen and the stove remind her of her happier days and telling me to do things for her makes her happy, I don't mind, and I may ask for more.

I bring her two bowls and spoons. She pours the brown sauce with potatoes and carrots into the bowl. There are also pieces of meat, which she probably prepared when I was busy chopping vegetables.

I grab my bowl at once while she hisses at me. I ask, "What? Isn't this ready?"

"But it is too hot. Put it down and wait before you burn your tongue."

I narrow my eyes at the steamy bowl. It smells so good, though.

She takes it from my hands. "Look, you'll have time to eat it. It isn't going anywhere. Have patience."

"I'm hungry and you tease me."

She winks at me. "Maybe you should think about something else, something that won't need to cool down and can be eaten right away."

Ah... My gaze falls to her pussy. Is that what she means?