Novels2Search
Between Worlds
Chapter Ten (NSFW)

Chapter Ten (NSFW)

Freyxh stopped soaping her front and looked over her shoulder at him. “What are you doing?”

“Washing you,” Jason said absently.

“I’ve got hands, I can do it myself.”

He noticed that she wasn’t shying away from him though. Which would have been pretty easy to do; the bathtub they were in was absurdly big. Probably intended for a full group of Shil’vati, rather than just one and a human.

Freyxh had wanted to hop straight into the shower to get to the fun more quickly, but the second Jason had seen the massive bathtub he’d almost immediately started running the water. A shower was nice and all, but nothing beat relaxing in a massive bowl of hot water.

He’d been right, too. He could almost feel the exertions of the day being eased out of him by the warm liquid. Which was why he was feeling a bit more handsy than he might otherwise.

“Shil’vati don’t wash each other?”

Freyxh shook her head even as Jason’s soapy hands ran over her back. “A father or mother with a small child might. One not yet old enough to wash themselves.”

The insinuation being that she was very much old enough to wash herself.

“Huh?” Jason hummed. “You guys don’t have social grooming?”

To be fair, humans didn’t do it all that much either in modern society. Which was a shame, given the proven therapeutic effects. Still, between two lovers – or more accurately, soon to be friends with benefits – who were sharing a shower or a bath, it was pretty normal. One of his old girlfriends had been very much into it when sharing a shower and the habit had grown on him. He’d even taken a short massage course with her.

“Well humans do,” he said. “It’s relaxing for us.”

And after the evening he’d just had, he needed some relaxation. Freyxh still looked a little dubious, but didn’t stop him as she turned back around.

Silence reigned between them, broken only by the soft lapping of the water.

“You don’t have to do it, you know,” Freyxh said finally.

“The massage?” Jason cocked his head, unconsciously adopting the Shil’vati gesture for confusion, despite the fact that Freyxh had her back to him.

“Sex,” the woman said through gritted teeth, like the words were being dragged from her. “After…after what happened. I’d understand if you didn’t. If you feel like you owe me or some shit, don’t.”

Jason had to smile. It was kind of cute how the platoon’s loner badass was trying to be all noble. His hands moved up to massage her shoulders. Part of him was slightly worried that Shil’vati muscle structure would be different enough that it wouldn’t work on the alien, but he felt the usual muscles tensing under his fingers before they relaxed.

“That’s sweet of you to say,” he smiled, enjoying watching the alien practically melt under his ministrations. Freyxh was carrying a lot of tension in her shoulders. “But I’m fine.”

He meant it, too.

Was what happened earlier shitty? Certainly.

It had also been strange. Very strange. Was a foursome with three aliens in a bar bathroom his idea of a bad time? Not particularly. It sounded a lot like the setting for a cheap porno to be honest.

Of course, he knew objectively that had…something happened, he wouldn’t have enjoyed it. The very notion would have left him feeling…used.

Violated.

It hadn’t happened though, and the idea in abstract didn’t horrify him in the same way he imagined it might if he had been a woman. Rape wasn’t really something he thought about much as a guy. It wasn’t a source of dread for him because the idea that it might happen to him was so unlikely in his mind. Or at least, it hadn’t been before the Shil’vati entered the equation. Human cultural consciousness hadn’t quite caught up to account for their presence.

Sex was almost a universal positive in his mind. For a sexual experience to be a negative for him personally was odd.

That was it, really. It was just too strange for it to have really gotten to him. Sure, his guts churned with a whole bunch of complex feelings when he thought about what might have happened, but he could put them from his mind. He wasn’t dwelling on it. That was the trick, and he was going to keep doing that until it stopped working.

If it stopped working.

Was it healthy? Perhaps not. But it was how he operated. Repress. Compartmentalize. Continue. Not all that different from a lot of guys, to be honest.

So yeah, he was going to continue as he had before. He wasn’t about to let that experience ruin this for him. He’d intended to get laid tonight, and three assholes weren’t going to stop him from doing that.

He still knew he’d be talking it over with Tarcil when he got back to the dorms. He had a feeling the sarcastic little alien would, if not understand, then at least prove a better listener than the others. Nothing against them certainly, but there was something to be said for being able to speak to someone who was nominally of the same gender.

He could almost hear Freyxh’s unsure frown. “Are…Are you sure?”

Jason reached round to tweak a blue nipple, getting a small jolt from the alien. “I’m sure. Let’s just stop talking about it and enjoy the moment.”

The alien turned round to glare at him as he grinned impishly at her, but settled back down with a barely audible harumph. It was cute. Very cute.

Who knew teasing the seven foot murder tank could be so fun?

It was pretty clear Freyxh wasn’t used to being massaged, which, given her words, wasn’t surprising. She was certainly susceptible to it though as she pressed up against the side of the tub, dripping arms hanging out as her purple breasts ballooned against the tiles.

From behind, it was quite the erotic visage. Jason was put in mind of a great cat – or perhaps an Amazon huntress – lazing in the sun. A lot of the time, he cursed the circumstances that had brought him into the Shil’vati military. Moments like this though? They made it worth it.

Grinning, he continued his massage.

“You’ve got some big knots in here,” he said as he really used his thumbs to smooth them out of the rope-like muscles of her back.

“Knots?” Freyxh not quite moaned as he pressed his hands into her soapy and surprisingly soft flesh. He was surprised to see some scars here and there, minor nicks mostly, but more than he’d expected.

“It’s…never mind,” he said, as he moved his hands down the soft purple skin of her back.

Just as he’d predicted, the base of her spine was especially tense, and he couldn’t help but smile at the stifled “eep” that came from the woman as he pressed his fingers into the bundle of muscles there.

It wasn’t all that surprising. The Shil’vati were big and powerful, but they had large breasts to accompany that size. That kind of weight probably put all kinds of strain on their backs.

“Ah- Ah-What are you....” Freyxh gasped, twitching as he worked his magic.

It was all kinds of fun. Playing the massive, powerful alien’s body like a fiddle.

“Just easing out some of that tension.” He chuckled. “Who knows? After I’m done, you might be a bit less of a bitch.”

A little crude perhaps and certainly a way to offend a woman. Freyxh was less a woman than a Shil’vati though, and a Marine besides. Worse got slung around the dorms on a pretty regular basis.

“I’m not a bitch,” she grunted out as she arched her back once more.

“A survey of our dorm might say otherwise.”

“They’re a bunch of prissy little bitches,” Freyxh said, frustration audible. “I like being alone. Is that such a fucking crime?”

In a different profession, no. This wasn’t a different profession though. They were training to be Marines and a large part of that involved people coming together as a team. Shared adversity formed powerful bonds. Anyone who chose not to become part of those bonds became an outsider by default - and there were few things a closely bonded group could abide less than an outsider amongst their number.

Jason moved Freyxh’s white locks out of the way as his hands slid up the woman’s soapy back to the base of her neck, seeking out the joints there. It was a testament to just how relaxed the alien was becoming that she didn’t protest. He had a feeling a few hours earlier she would have balked at anyone touching that vulnerable spot.

Though it probably helped that he was the ‘weaker’ gender in this situation, and thus less of a threat.

He used the momentary pause as his hands moved to think over how to phrase what he might say next. He hadn’t gotten into the bath with the intention of this being a therapy session – he’d mostly been thinking with his lower brain at the time – but now that he was here, he figured it might be a good opportunity to at least work to improve Freyxh’s standing with the others.

He owed her that much – as a fellow member of the cadre, if nothing else – even ignoring what she’d done for him earlier. That act along with the last few minutes of conversation proved there was more to her than just being an anti-social asshole and the group’s black sheep.

How much more remained to be seen, but he owed it to the cadre to at least try and unearth some of it.

“No, it’s not a crime,” he said slowly, “but…fuck, try having a single conversation with someone, anyone, back on base when we get back.”

“I just said…”

“I know,” Jason said placatingly. “I get it, you want to be alone. The big badass lone bitch. Unfortunately, that’s not going to fly in our current surroundings. As it stands, everyone seems to think that you think you’re better than them.”

Freyxh shifted slightly, and Jason got the feeling that his previous statement wasn’t entirely untrue. Freyxh did think she was better than the others. Or at least tougher, which was part of why she was so determined to win at everything and refused to accept help unless it was thrust upon her.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Why? Shitty home life or rampant feminine machismo? Which was apparently called marianismo, according to his latest data-net search. Point was, he didn’t know. He didn’t much care, either.

“A single conversation for five minutes where you don’t taunt or insult anyone could go a long way to dispelling that perception though.” His hands shifted lower once more, tracing her spine. “Something to show that you aren’t standing on some pedestal looking down on everyone.”

Freyxh shifted again, though this time for a different reason as he worked out another kink.

“Who the fuck would-” She started to say, only to stop, changing her tack. “Who should I talk to? As you said, most of the cadre won’t even give me the fucking time of day anymore.”

“Nuiy or the twins would be a pretty safe bet,” Jason said. Of his small list of ‘associates,’ they would probably respond. The usually affable Raisha, the almost as surly Adrilla, and the frosty Tarcil were all right out for a bunch of different reasons. There might have been others in the cadre, but he didn’t know them well enough. “Nuiy would love to see you be brought into the fold. She only really cares about the unit functioning properly. And despite your best efforts, or maybe because of them, both of the twins think you’re cool.”

Birds of a feather and all that. The mini-rebels looking up to the groups big-rebel.

“The twins, huh?” Freyxh said, though Jason didn’t miss the hint of distaste that came over her face. “Too excitable. Too preppy.”

Jason almost slugged her in the kidney right there. Big or not, she’d have felt it. Fortunately, he got his irritation under control.

“You aren’t exactly a catch yourself.”

To his surprise, Freyxh chuckled quietly. “No idea what that means, but I can guess. And I suppose not. Still, Nuiy’s decent enough. Doesn’t talk too much. Talking with her wouldn’t be too intolerable.”

Jason rolled his eyes, but he figured that was the best he was going to get.

“Fuck me, it’s a conversation, not surgery,” he muttered. “You’re talking to me just fine.”

“We’re about to fuck,” Freyxh said. “A gal can put up with a lot if it means getting her twat pricked. This massage thing is really fucking good, too.”

“Charming. I bet you’re rolling in guys with lines like that.”

He was smiling, but it was kind of brittle. He’d actually be kind of pissed if the woman had just been humoring him to get laid…and wasn't that an irritation he'd never expected to experience, let alone be on this side of.

“More guys than you might think,” Freyxh said. “As you said, the bad girl aesthetic has an appeal all of its own. Guys who never got enough love from Daddy? They’re a sucker for it.”

Jason resisted the urge to sigh. Perhaps it was too much to hope that Freyxh would learn a little tact after heart to heart and a little conversation.

Still, it certainly made his plan to work out his current frustrations at the world by fucking the shit out of her a lot less morally compromised. He certainly couldn’t have done the same to the earnest Raisha, the excitable twins, or even the quietly kind Nuiy.

Freyxh though?

She was a perfectly acceptable target.

“Up. On your knees.” He patted her on the back.

Turning her head round to smile sardonically at him over her shoulder, the alien nonetheless obliged.

“Going to do my legs next? I’ve got to admit-”

Jason had no idea what she had to admit as he slid smoothly into her, eliciting a surprised squeak.

He’d been kind of worried that the water had washed away her natural lubricant – which was a lesson he and a former fling had learned the hard way – but either he’d been lucky, or Shil’vati were just built different because Freyxh’s insides were just as warm and wet as he’d hoped.

More importantly, they gripped him like a vice as the alien unconsciously clamped down in response to his insertion.

“Big badass bitch?” he grunted as he wasted no time before starting to thrust. “I don’t know about that, that squeak was pretty cute.”

Freyxh looked like she wanted to argue, glaring at him, but his sudden thrusting interrupted her, and the massive purple alien was reduced to gripping the side of the tub as he started pounding away.

“Empress above,” she gasped, seemingly unconsciously, as water sloshed over the edge of the tub in great waves.

Jason loved it. The sensation of power over her as he felt her insides clenching at him. Beneath him, one of the aliens that had conquered his planet. That had thrown his life into chaos out of an honest mistake. Someone of the same race that had tried to…do things to him earlier that evening. It was an outlet for a sense of frustration that had been building for a long time.

...And he had a lot of frustration to work out.

“You like that?” he hissed, bringing a hand down with a loud slap of flesh on flesh. Normally, dominance play did little for him, but on this occasion he was willing to make an exception. He didn’t even mind that it was his own hand stinging.

Freyxh’s messy hair had fallen over her face, but as she turned around one eye peered through the damp locks to glare at him. He simply brought his hand down again, daring her to do something about it.

She didn’t though.

Her flush and the way she twitched, the small gasp that escaped her as his hand came down again on the wet springy flesh of her backside told him exactly what he wanted to know.

She liked it. Which, as surprising as it was to him, seemed even more so to her.

Apparently little miss badass had a hidden submissive side.

It wasn’t like she was gasping in pain. Just watching two Shil’vati go at it in the sparring ring told him that his little love taps would barely register to the massive alien. He was also making sure that his slaps were nowhere near the mottled blue bruise that had formed on Freyxh’s side.

This was supposed to be fun for both of them, after all. A form of therapy for him perhaps, and little more unorthodox for Freyxh than she had expected, but fun nonetheless.

“I don’t normally go in for this male-dom crap,” Freyxh said, trying to appear unphased.

Jason wasn’t fooled for a moment.

“Shut up, bitch,” he said, getting into the role as he grabbed a lock of hair, yanking her head back. “You’ll talk when spoken to.”

He didn’t miss the way Freyxh’s insides jolted around him, or the way her eyes fluttered as they looked at the ceiling.

Yeah, she was into it.

“You like that?” he grunted, stopping his thrusts to simply grind his head in as deep as it could go, feeling the flesh within squelch and yield under it. “My human dick inside your alien twat?”

Freyxh said nothing, massive tits sandwiched against the rim of the tub as he probed around inside her, chest heaving.

He couldn’t have that.

He reached around to grip a blue nipple, pinching the rubbery hard nub between his thumb and forefinger, eliciting a gasp from her.

“I want to hear you say it,” he hissed into her ear – or at least, as close as he could get, given their relative size difference. “You like my human cock inside your slut, prudish little alien cunt? How it’s better than any of your limp dicked males?”

To tell the truth, he actually had no idea how male Shil’vati acted in the bedroom. For all he knew, they were uninhibited madmen the moment the clothes came off. He doubted it though. Adrilla had certainly seemed impressed by his enthusiasm.

“I-Guh.” Freyxh grunted from his attack on her nipple and the way he remained still inside her. He could feel her insides writhing and twisting around his cock, and the way the springy flesh of her purple ass pressed against his hips as she vainly tried to thrust back against him from her position.

He didn’t let her, holding her completely still via his hold on her tit and her hair. Which was harder than it sounded when his every instinct wanted him to continue railing into that hot feminine softness.

That and the water in the bathtub was all kinds of hot. The temperature kind, not the sexy kind. He wasn’t quite feeling faint from the heat and the steam, but he wasn’t exactly far off, which was something Freyxh wouldn’t be feeling nearly as bad, given their relative ideal body temperatures.

He probably could have picked a better location for this ‘ambush.’ No use crying over spilled milk though.

“I- I,” Freyxh started to say.

Jason twisted her nipple some more. “Say it.”

“I like it,” she admitted, looking both angry, yet relieved. “It feels – oh, Empress – it feels amazing.”

“I thought so,” Jason grinned. “Your tiny males don’t stand a chance, do they?”

Freyxh shook her head as best she could. “No, they – Empress – they’re not this… passionate - Goddess!”

Judging by the way the alien’s legs twitched and her insides spasmed, he assumed she’d just had her first orgasm.

Personally, Jason would have preferred something alluding to the massive size of his member, but even a quick glance at Tarcil’s junk told him that it wouldn’t be true. The alien male wasn’t bigger – at rest at least – but he wasn’t smaller either.

His train of thought was almost completely thrown off as the unmistakable sensation of an impending orgasm slammed right up against his self-control. He brought himself back under control at the last second though.

Fuck, he was apparently getting more into this dominance thing that he thought.

“Out of the water,” he instructed, yanking the alien’s hair like a leash.

A moment of irritation flashed through Freyxh’s eyes as he stood up, pulling out of her with a slurp, but it was buried under a sheen of arousal as he yanked on her hair again.

Soon enough he was sitting on the rim of the tub, the massive alien crouched between his legs. She looked magnificent, her toned purple body shimmering under the light, her golden eyes staring imploringly up at him.

“Suck it,” he instructed.

“You-You aren’t going to do it inside?” she asked, a hint of discomfort in her voice. Which wasn’t all that surprising, given that Shil’vati guys could apparently only go once.

“I’ll go where the fuck I want to go,” he grunted, allowing himself to sink into the role. “And right now, it’s your stupidly talkative mouth, not that saggy piece of shit you aliens laughably call a cunt. A human girl would have been five times tighter.”

He shuddered as Freyxh nodded submissively and leaned forward, taking his sensitive member into her warm, wet mouth, that long alien tongue wrapping around him.

“Guh,” he said, unable to stifle the sound as he leaned forward, placing both hands on Freyxh’s head for support as she started bobbing, pillowy lips sliding up and down his shaft.

He didn’t last long from there. Soon enough, he was firing jets of seed into the surprised alien’s mouth. He didn’t let her move though, holding her in place as his ejaculate streamed down her throat. To Freyxh’s credit, her surprise didn’t last long and soon she was gamely swallowing his cum.

Finally it was over and he released her, leaning back against the tub, a fine layer of sweat covering him.

Freyxh remained in place a few more moments, his cock tingling as her tongue cleaned away the last few remnants of his release. When she finally released him, it was with an audible pop as she stood up once more.

None of the submissiveness from earlier was on display as she cockily wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

“Not bad, human,” she said. “Certainly an experience. I can officially say I’ve never been fucked like that before.”

The moment was over and the pair of them were back to their usual personalities, as evidenced by the way that the alien Marine’s eyes promised retribution if even a word of her getting ‘dominated’ – and enjoying it – slipped out.

Jason just grinned at her.

“Don’t be counting me out just yet,” he said. “Give me five minutes and I’ll be ready to go again.”

Last time he’d had a month without release. This time he’d had a week. He’d be ready to go again, but he needed a minute first. On the bed this time. The last thing he wanted to do was pass out mid-stroke. Fucking in a bathtub was fun in theory, but in practice was more awkward and uncomfortable than not.

“Yeah, I’ll just….” Freyxh started to say, only to cut herself off. “Again?”

Yeah, Jason thought, enjoying her look of disbelief. That’s never getting old.

-----------------

According to the Pillars of Enlightenment, a soul that was pure in mind but foul in act, would not enter the Forest of Eternal Bounty upon death. Nor would they be dragged down into the Sea of Heavy Souls where all those who were wicked in life dwelled.

Instead, they would be held on the borders of life and death, in a state of the most sublime ecstasy and soul-rending agony. Held in balance until they could once more enter the cycle of rebirth to attempt enlightenment on the mortal plane once more.

Nuiy had always thought that was a load of horseshit, despite the best attempts of her deeply conservative parents. You lived, you died and then you rotted in the ground.

…For the last few minutes though, she’d been forced to concede that maybe those religious wackjobs were on to something.

“Guh.” She most definitely did not whimper as the human slid into her well-lubricated entrance once more.

At this point, she could do little more than lie on the bed, head down, ass-up, as the human rode her like a prized Turox. Freyxh would be no help. The surly recruit was sprawled out on the bed next to her, Jason’s previous ‘deposits’ leaking from her spread legs like a river as she slept like the dead.

If the dead snored.

Point was her fellow recruit had essentially been fucked into a coma. A fate she was not too far off from herself.

Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, the end came before that happened.

Jason let out a grunt, and Nuiy felt something warm trickle inside her. Barely anything, which at least told her that human virility had some limits, ridiculous as they seemed to be.

Spent, Jason collapsed onto the bed, sweat covering his heaving chest. Nuiy did much the same, everything from her legs to her arms aching with the most delightful soreness.

The two – no, three – lay there for a time, each basking in the afterglow.

“So what happened last night?” she finally asked, propping her head up on one arm. “My memory kind of drops out after drink three.”

“Oh, now you want to talk?” the human asked, a slightly goofy grin on his face as he stared at the ceiling. “After practically jumping me after you and Freyxh discovered my morning wood?”

Nuiy cocked her head at him. It wasn’t her fault that human males were so ridiculously lewd as to pop a boner each morning.

Meh, it didn’t matter. She was much more interested in the events of last night - and how they’d ended with her, Freyxh and Jason having a threesome.

Funnily enough though, she didn’t exactly remember having any ‘deposits’ in her before they started the mornings activities? Had Freyxh hogged them all?

---------------

Jason told her.

She took it as well as could be expected.

“I’ll wring that skinny little bitch’s neck!” Nuiy raved, as she, not quite limped, around the room.

“Freyxh said that would be a bad idea,” Jason pointed out. He wasn’t against it, per se, he was just trying to get a better idea of the situation.

Nuiy paused to look at where the woman was still snoring. “Oh, she’s right. It would be a terrible idea. You don’t fuck with the Interior, even if they fuck with you first.”

Ah, well that was disappointing. For both him and her. The older woman looked like she wanted to pound the wall with her fists.

“Still doesn’t mean I’m not tempted,” she grunted finally. “Interior’s always been bad, but these last few years they’ve been like a rabid dog. That new director of theirs.”

“So we’re not going to do anything?” Jason asked, struggling to keep the irritation out of his voice. He’d pretty much accepted that would be the case last night, but in the light of the day it still stung.

Nuiy looked at him sympathetically, basically collapsing into a chair. “Not much we can do. Sure, we could report it, but the Interior would just make it disappear. Hell, they’d probably turn it back around on us. Charge us all with something.”

Jason’s hand tightened into a fist.

The moment was interrupted though by the sound of the hotel door opening. In staggered the three missing members of their party, each looking thoroughly hung over and carrying little plastic boxes.

“Well hello ladies,” Nuiy smiled, all signs of her previous anger hidden away. “It looks like you’ve had a fun evening.”

None of the three younger Shil’vati said anything as they stumbled to a halt. The trio were staring wide eyed, vision switching between the two well fucked women in the room and Jason’s own nude form.

“Oh, come on!” Vieysha howled, breaking the silence as she threw her little plastic container onto a nearby table. “I kind of expected this might happen with Nuiy, but Freyxh too!?”

Her twin looked just as aggrieved. “Especially after we struck out with that cute guy with the earrings.”

Vieysha whirled on her sibling. “I kept telling you that you were coming on too strong!”

“Me!?” Vieyshi scowled. “You were the one who was practically humping his leg!”

“You were, too! And stop yelling, my head is killing me.”

“Your head!? I feel like mine is-”

Jason turned his gaze away from the bickering twins, even as he found himself chuckling at their antics. Instead, his focus turned to the one member of the trio who hadn’t spoken yet.

“You ok, Raisha?” he asked. “We were all a little worried when you didn’t show up last night.”

Which was true. In a sort of off-hand, barely considered way. He and Freyxh had bigger problems at the time, and Nuiy had been passed out until an hour ago. The three were big girls, they could look after themselves.

“I didn’t sleep with anyone!” Raisha said quickly, snapped from her trance. “We slept on a bench. I didn’t cheat! That was the twins.”

Jason glanced over to where the twins were still bickering before turning back to Raisha.

“Well, even if you had managed to land a guy at the club it wouldn’t be cheating, given that we’re not in a relationship,” he pointed out.

Raisha opened her mouth as if to say something, before shutting it and nodding morosely. Jason almost felt a little bad. He hadn’t said anything wrong though. They were friends, but that was it. He liked Raisha. Even if he ignored her constant attempts to come onto him, she was a funny goofball who was constantly upbeat. She lit up a room just by being in it with her endless innocent optimism. Some of the other members of the cadre seemed to find it grating, but Jason honestly found it endearing.

Perhaps it was because it was such a contrast to his own outlook.

“It’s sweet that you were willing to ‘miss out’ for me though,” he admitted.

Raisha’s frown turned almost instantly into a shy smile. Jason smiled back. Even as he did, he found himself wondering if he was leading her on by being polite. He’d just wanted to cheer her up a bit though.

…Was this the kind of shit women on Earth had to worry about? People taking their friendliness for something more?

That sucked.

Fortunately, he could soothe his conscious with the fact that he did intend to sleep with Raisha eventually. After all, they both wanted it.

Just not now, he thought as he felt a twinge of protest from his slightly chafed nethers.

Both Freyxh and Nuiy seemed to think he was some kind of sex god but he was, most assuredly, all too mortal. Five times in one night was definitely pressing his youthful virility to its utmost limits, even with the Coolidge Effect in play. He probably wouldn’t even be looking at another member of the opposite sex for a good few days after this.

Deliberately covering himself with a bed sheet, he glanced at the box in Raisha’s hands. “So what have you got there?”

Raisha’s momentary disappointment at the loss of her eye candy disappeared as she walked over with the proffered item.

“The twins and I were hungry when we woke up on the bench. Well, they woke up on the bench, I was on the grass. Point is, as we were walking back to the hotel, we found a stall that had genuine human food from Earth!” Raisha slid open the box, displaying the food items within. “Apparently they’re called ‘waffles!’”

Jason smiled down at the circular slices of syrup covered fried batter within.

“Pancakes,” he corrected. “They’re called pancakes.”