Noir Kioko had only ever seen one human before his undercover work brought him to the diner at the Luna Terminal, and that was at a distance. Humans are rare, most of them disappear without a trace, and he hopes hanging around the restaurant will give him a lead on the smuggling ring he’s investigating. There was no way he could’ve known the human would turn out to be his mate, and no way he can let it show without putting his mate in danger and possibly jeopardising his mission.<br><br>Max Welch is the proud owner of the only restaurant within a light year’s distance. He left Earth four years ago to create a better life for himself, but he hadn’t considered the possibility of scary alien pirates making his restaurant their favourite hangout spot. As a measly human there isn’t much he can do about it, but as one of the pirates starts coming by almost every day he has to come up with something before he loses all his customers. That the giant cat man is rather nice to look at changes nothing.<br><br>When rumours of another human arriving at the space station start to circulate, Noir's species trafficking infiltrate and observe only mission may need a revamp. But will Noir be able to protect his mate and another one of his rare species?

It Doesn't Translate

Xog stiffened, his lavender eyes narrowing. Noir was terrible at reading body language, and all species had their little peculiarities. He read surprise, but narrowed eyes meant pleasure or happiness, or it should, but that wasn’t the feeling he got. Was it suspicion? How could narrowed eyes be suspicious? After an eternity Xog nodded. He punched a few other buttons, and then Roach came sprinting, his piercings glinting in the overhead light and his long purple hair a tousled mess. “What the fuck is the emergency?”


“Emergency?” Noir glanced at Xog who shrugged.


“Yeah, I got an SOS on the intercom.”


Noir crinkled his eyes in amusement. “We’re going for coffee.”


“How the hell is that an emergency?” Roach sent him an angry glare.


“I’m going to take a chance and guess here.” Noir tried to keep any creases smoothed out by his eyes, but it was hard. “Xog’s leaving, so the emergency is that the harbour will be unmanned.”


Chapter 7