Their Rebel Mate [Helan Universe 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) by Lynn Tyler Read Free Book Online Page A

provided on board. You are, of course, welcome to bring anything you like, but unfortunately, the pilot who is happy to fly us must leave immediately in order to be back in time to pick up his original passengers.”
    Which would mean she either took the time to pack and joined them at a later date, or she took them at their word and left with them now.
    In the end, it was not a hard decision. She had looked up at the stars and wondered what they looked like from above the Earth for years. “I’ll come with you now, if it’s no trouble.”
    Kerek smirked and crooked an eyebrow at her. “I rarely say anything I don’t mean, lira .”
    “Well,” she snapped, her arousal completely forgotten, “you’ll find that I make up my own mind.”
    Shit. That made absolutely no sense, but at least Kerek stopped smirking at her. No, he wasn’t smirking at her at all. He wasn’t paying her any attention at all. He’d turned around and was leaning over Thantos’s shoulder, speaking quietly into the other man’s ear.
    Thantos nodded and turned to face her. “As the Ambassador, we would usually have the best quarters on the ship. However, King Jaron and his consort are on board, so we are in regular crew quarters. Unfortunately, that means that your bed will have to be set up in the common area of the quarters. We can arrange for a privacy screen of some sort if you wish. Is this acceptable to you?”
    She nodded quickly before she had a chance to change her mind. If she didn’t leave for the ship now, she would probably chicken out. How could she continue with her protest in good conscience if she turned down a chance to get to know the culture?
    In short order, she found herself bundled into a car and driven to the landing site. The shuttle was a smaller craft than she’d expected. When she asked, Thantos had gone on a long dissertation about how a smaller craft breached most atmospheres easier than a large one, complete with a mathematical explanation on why that was.
    Kerek laughed and wrapped his arm around Thantos’s waist. “My Thantos is an academic. He’ll talk your ear off about anything you want to know.”
    Thantos blushed but seemed to beam with pride at Kerek’s pronouncement.
    There was something so sweet about the relationship between the two men, something she found herself wishing she had.
    The pilot cracked open the door and jumped out, grinning like a loon at Kerek and Thantos. He spoke in that beautiful language the Helans had, and Kerek answered him. The pilot shot her an incredulous look and gestured to the open door. “Please, Miss McManus. After you.”
    She looked doubtfully at the shuttle. She was only five foot two. There was no way she’d be able to haul herself up there gracefully.
    Thantos seemed to understand her problem. Maybe it was because he was the smallest of the three men and had had to contend with the very same problem himself at times. Thantos was the smallest Helan she’d ever seen, which was saying something since the man towered over her by a good eight inches or so.
    Instead of giving her a boost from the ground and making her climb into the shuttle, he placed one hand on the bottom of the doorjamb and vaulted neatly through the opening. He reached out a hand for her to grab, and with his help she managed to get into the craft with a minimum of embarrassment.
    The interior of the craft was even smaller than it seemed from the outside and completely windowless except for where the cockpit must be. It had six seats with small compartments between each of them. She opened one of the compartments and blanched when she saw the syringe and needle. “What are these for?”
    Thantos glanced up from where he was leaning over the edge of the door, speaking coaxingly to his mate. “That’s medication for motion sickness. Many people find the ride in the shuttle hard on their stomachs.”
    Great. She’d never been motion sick before, but she really did not want to be heaving and