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For now, I’d enjoy this fantastical world surrounding me. I snapped a picture of JayJay with my borrowed wristport. His bald head shone purple in the orange glow where he stood wide-legged, a mandala of showy vines making up the backdrop.
“Is it safe to walk with no shoes?”
“Yes,” he said in his usual wordy manner. I was learning to read his forehead ridge. It spoke a language in itself, and this time, it tilted upward.
I untied my laces, eager to squeeze the mossy ground between my toes, and shoved my boots at him. “Show me this magicmushroom?” My knuckles grazed the soft spikes of a large cucumber in our path. “What are these things?”
His gaze leaped from my boots, now cupped in one of his giant hands, to my feet, and he shook his head. “You’re so small.” His deep baritone filled the cavernous space.
“No, you’re a giant.” I bounced and poked him in the belly, leaving him scrambling to catch my boots.
“They’re tinga.” JayJay crunched down on one of the cucumbers, jingling the elephant charms on his bracelet. His wide tongue captured the juice dripping from the corner of his mouth and I gulped.
Warm moss curled around my toes, easing my stiff joints better than a hot water bottle. “Why is the ground so bouncy?”
His gaze was laser-focused on my chest where my breasts lifted, but he looked away before he hurried ahead. “Beneath the moss lies water instead of soil.”
“I love learning all this stuff.” I rubbed my hands together. “Did you build houses on Yagras too?”
“No.” A shadow crossed over his face.
I frowned, sensing it would be better to steer clear of this topic, but curiosity soon got the best of me. After a long pause, I spun to face him. “Care to elaborate?”
He cleared his throat and stretched his neck back and forth. “I was lead elite guard. My crew and I were charged with Yagras’ protection against danger from the hellsna above all other threats.” His words were ripe with pride and an arrogance born of confidence.
JayJay stopped, his stance wide, and the muscles on his forearms where he’d pushed up the sleeves of his shredded tunic gleamed in the low light. Woah, was this the same guy who couldn’t look me in the eye and muttered one-word sentences? No wonder he hadn’t faltered when a giant-ass worm showed up in the middle of the avalanche.
“You fought hellsna?” A chill crept over my skin, despite the muggy air.
“Yes.”
I stifled the urge to roll my eyes at yet another unenlightening response. I wanted to know so much more.
“So…” I nudged him gently in the ribs. “Why aren’t you an elite guard anymore?”
JayJay’s stride grew stiff and he sped ahead of me. “I will not discuss that.”
I suspected that this man’s box of secrets might burst at the seams at any moment it was so full. Our walk had taken a turn down somber lane, and I wanted to regain some of the lightness from earlier. After all, how often did a girl wander around on a sea of blue moss inside a volcano while trapped by a giant-ass worm under the protection of a muscly gray alien?
“How about a hypothetical twenty questions kinda game, instead?”
“How about a hypothetical, one-question kinda game?” he grunted.
“Fine.” A dull ache returned to my hip joints as I hustled to keep up. “What kind of clothing do you prefer? I want to thank you for getting me out of this mess.”
His forest-green eyes widened as he turned to face me, almost black in the dim glow. “Only a life companion or true mate would gift me clothing.”
Under my feet, the ground rolled, and each step required extra effort, but I kept my voice light, though my cheeks felt hot to the touch. TeyTey and I had shared a few glasses of hiscus wine in Geo and Makir’s hot tub and true mates had come up. I’d forgotten how significant gifts were. “Don’t get your panties in a knot, King Kong, it’s just a simple thanks.”
He grunted, waiting for me to catch up, and his thick finger plucked at a hole in the pants I hadn’t repaired yet.
When he remained quiet I tried a softer approach. “Tell me about true mates.”
He lifted a tangle of vines, creating an archway for me to walk through before he started. “A true mate bond has not been made in one hundred annums. Females on Yagras mate to reproduce and, if they’re lucky, will forge a strong life companion connection like TeyTey and Sully. If a female were in danger, countless males would be ready to aid her.”
His unnerving glance weakened my knees, and I stumbled, righting myself against a mushroom-ringed pillar. A cloud of iridescent spores was released, and the dandelion-like seeds dotted my hair and shoulders. I smiled beneath my glittery veil.
JayJay reached toward my hair to pluck out the spores, but clamped his arm back to his side at the last second. “Are you okay?”
