Chapter 234: Home Sweet Home
"And just what is delivery?" asked Da’kea as he cocked his head to the side. The two of us, plus one somewhat happy Istar creature, were still standing in the middle of the long hallway that cut through the lowest level of the Saalistaja ship.
"You don’t have delivery?" I replied, my eyes widening with shock. I practically lived off of delivery on Earth, and yet, this male didn’t know what it was!? Talk about an alien concept.
"I think I have made that perfectly clear," answered Da’kea as he let out a long sigh.
"Sorry," I said, shaking my head. "It is when food is brought from somewhere else to your home. In this case, we would bring Princess her food to make sure that she didn’t get too hungry."
Silence stretched between us, and I went back to gently petting the Easter Bunny’s soft fur. I would fight him on this. Princess would not die.
"Fine," he finally bit out, and I let myself breathe a sigh of relief.
"Thank you," I said, a smile appearing on my face under my helmet. I always liked it when people saw things my way.
"What’s the plan?" came a female voice over the speakers. "I seem to be missing something."
"Sha Shou?" I asked, looking up at the dark ceiling as if she was there.
"Hello, Dearest. So, what did I miss?"
-----
I curled up on one of the chairs in the X96 fighter craft, Pumpkin sitting on my lap, dozing.
Da’kea and the others were sitting on their own chairs around me while Ye’tab went to the pilot’s chair. He had offered to get us back to Jun Li without using Sha Shou 2.0, and I could sense he needed something to distract himself from whatever was going on in his head.
Sha Shou was more than happy to have Princess remaining on the ship. She wanted someone to talk to, and Princess needed a place to live. Like Jun Li and I, it was the perfect relationship. Sha Shou was following behind us, not wanting to be parted, which made it a lot easier to make sure that Princess had the amount of food needed to keep her happy and healthy.
I leaned my head back onto the headrest and closed my eyes, my fingers continuing to stroke the small bunny. I was so happy when he fell out of the ceiling and into my arms just as we were about to board the X96. A part of me was worried that he was killed when the lights turned on, so to know that that didn’t happen made me happy.
"I hate to ask, but what is next on the list of things to do?" asked Midnight, leaning back in his chair and folding his hands across his stomach.
"Sleep," I said quickly. There was nothing else that I was looking forward to other than getting into my nest and sleeping for the next week or two.
"Food," growled GA, his outer mandibles clicking together in frustration as he looked at me. "It has been too long since you last ate. You will eat, shower, and then sleep."
I blinked at his statement. While I might have normally ignored anyone else with that suggestion, I knew that GA was looking out for my best interest. I opened my mouth to agree with his statement, but my stomach beat me to it.
Letting out a growl so loud it caused Pumpkin to jump up and look around for the source of danger; my stomach let me know that it would be making its own transformation if I didn’t feed it quickly.
I smiled at GA as I settled Pumpkin back down. "You are right," I said, sticking out my tongue. "Fine. Food, shower, and then bed."
GA grunted before closing his eyes and resting his head against the back of his chair. We were all more than a little tired, but it felt good to be going home.
-----
"Welcome back," said Jun Li as soon as the fighter craft docked in my personal landing bay. "Pippa is on the line for you."
"Nope," I grunted, walking through the bay. Night let out a low chip and skidded across the floor, coming to a stop when he saw Pumpkin. Putting the bunny down on the floor so the two could make friends without the adults getting in the way, I continued to my room.
"No, what?" asked Jun Li as the doors to my quarters slid open and me and the guys walked inside.
"I am not in the mood to talk to her right now," I answered. I hated making nice on a good day, and this was definitely not a good day.
Tha’juen looked around at everyone as I stripped from my catsuit and walked directly into the bathroom.
"I feel like I am missing something," said Tha’juen. I could have stayed to explain myself, but that shower was calling my name. One of the others could let him in on the hurricane known as Pippa Flynn.
"She is the human representative for the Alliance," grunted Ye’tab as he cracked his neck back and forth.
"Then shouldn’t we be answering her communications?" replied Tha’juen, still not understanding.
"We really shouldn’t," cut in Da’kea. "She is about as pleasant to be around as our females are, and our mate really does not have the patience to deal with her on a good day, let alone when she is tired and hungry."
"Understood," grunted Tha’juen, stretching himself out on the large bed.
"I just don’t think that Pippa is going to take no for an answer," grumbled Jun Li. He was not surprised by Mei Xing’s answer, but Pippa had been calling non-stop for the past four hours, demanding to speak to the other female.
"I think she is going to have to," smiled Midnight, pulling up the menu for the cafeteria down the hall. Indicating on a tablet everyone’s order, he crawled into his mate’s nest. One or more of the bots would be willing to deliver the food when it was ready, but until then, he was going to make himself comfortable.
Letting out a distressed sigh, Jun Li went back to dealing with the human from hell.
