She answered by slipping an
arm around his waist and lifting her face for his kiss. He
eagerly pulled her against him to oblige. It was a long, yet
soft kiss. Not meant for anything other than a sweet moment.
When they finally parted, he dialed the correct sequence of
numbers on the tumbler locks and unchained their bikes.
It
was a brisk thirty-minute ride to the outskirts of the town.
Like most of the other towns, the streets were lined with
abandoned buildings that remained empty—unoccupied and
unused for their original purpose. Many of them were no
longer worth the time or effort it would take to rebuild or
repair. At least not in the immediate or near future. Once
the Meheedrians bombarded the planet and wiped out nearly
two-thirds of the population, it appeared Earth was doomed
to extinction.
Until
the Tigurians appeared and prevented that from happening.
After
they’d managed to defeat the Meheedrians, the Tigurians had
remained, keeping a squadron of ships circling the planet in
the event their enemy tried to return.
That
had been four years ago. Back when he’d been a staff
sergeant in the Air Force. Back when he’d been able to first
see the Tigurians as they’d emerged from their shuttles to
meet with the remaining diplomatic representatives of Earth.
Back when their world discovered the feline-looking
humanoids could shapeshift to make themselves appear almost
as human as the people on Earth.
He’ll
never forget the first time he’d seen Silla. She was an
adjunct to one of their diplomats. She with her bright
orange and brown striped fur, her big blue eyes, and long
fluffy tail. When she morphed into human form, the tail
vanished, but her striped markings remained on her skin. And
those big blue eyes…
He’d felt an instant
attraction for the feline-looking officer. More astounding
was her attraction to him. They were like opposite poles of
a magnet, unable and unwilling to resist each other.
All
it took was a chance meeting, a few hours of conversation,
and the rest was history.
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