Marauder Kronos: Scifi Alien Invasion Romance (Mating Wars) by Aya Morningstar Page A

grinning.
    “You seem pretty pleased about that….”
    “Look, Ramu,” I say. “If you want a relationship to work out – not in the short-term, but for the long-haul – you’ve got to make sure you can survive through thick and thin. My parents burned bright and fast – like one of those big blue suns – they went fucking supernova, and it fucked me up.”
    “Fallen Seraphim…,” Ramu mutters.
    “Yeah, whatever,” I say. “The point is, they thought everything was peaches and roses because they liked to bone each other, but when it came to the reality of spending their lives together and raising an asshole kid like me, it was too much for them.”
    “So you’re saying you gotta’ start fights with your girl to make sure you won’t go supernova later?” Ramu says. “Sounds like a stretch to me.”
    “A fight lets you get everything out in the open,” I say. “Like maybe you and Delphie need to fight – ”
    “We’ve been punching and kicking the shit out of each other every day!” Ramu says, throwing his hands up in the air.
    “That’s just training,” I say. “Maybe you want to get a rise out of her, so she hits you for real.”
    “Like when she kicked me in the fucking balls?” Ramu asks.
    I point at him. “Exactly. She kicked you in the balls, and then you pissed her off by bragging about the threesome, and now she’s practically joined to you at the hip. Why do you think she signed that contract?”
    Ramu’s mouth hangs wide open, and he looks up at me with ears taut. “Damn, Captain...I think you might be onto something. I think I’ve gotta’ let Delphie kick me in the balls if I want to be able to drain the balls into her, you know?”
    “Phrase it like that,” I say, “and she might just kick you in the balls again.”
    He grins. “I’m still wearing the cup.”

12 Minna
    T hat asshole .
    I’ll cook. Or I’ll tag along behind Delphie. He makes Delphie train with Ramu; Delphie isn’t too weak and delicate to fight, but I am ?
    “Hey.”
    I turn around from the pan and see Delphie.
    “Hi, Delphie,” I say.
    “What are you cooking?”
    I grit my teeth. “I guess that’s the only real relevant question for me, huh? What am I cooking? It’s the only real mission-critical topic of conversation for the cook, right?”
    Delphie puts up her hands and pulls her ears back, “Hey, sorry, I was just trying to make some small talk.”
    “Sorry,” I say. “I’m making baked eggs with no salt.”
    “That sounds...awful.”
    “That’s the idea,” I say. “If I cook poorly enough, maybe Captain Fucking Kronos can give me something of real value to do.”
    “If you give me some salt,” Delphie says, “you can come with me to calibrate the heat sink coils.”
    I narrow my eyes at her. Did Kronos send her?
    “Why are you looking at me like that? You’re not going to let me have any salt, are you?”
    “Did Kronos send you?”
    “Send me?” I ask. “How would he know you were going to make eggs with no salt –?”
    “I’m not going to make anything ,” I say, tossing the dish to the side. The raw eggs slosh around and spill out over the burner plates. Kronos or Ramu can clean it up. “Show me how to calibrate the heat thing.”
    “The heat sink coils,” Delphie says. “The waste heat gets channeled into them and sent to the microwave converter, if they are calibrated incorrectly they can melt.”
    I nod and follow her down toward the engine room.
    “Come on,” she says. “I’ll show you.”
    “Why does Kronos let you train to fight?” I ask.
    Her ears flick as she walks, but she doesn’t turn around. “You’re worried he’s not taking you seriously?”
    “Yeah,” I say, “something like that.”
    “I don’t think he really wants me to fight. I think he mainly is just trying to set me up with Ramu. But beyond that? I think he just wants me to be able to defend myself. He couldn’t live with himself if something happened to his crew. He’ll