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

“Lizards? I still have no idea exactly what a lizard is. It translates as reptile from Earth.” Quam grabbed Max’s hand in his larger one—always larger, everyone was always larger. “No offence, Max, but not once during the last four years have I popped wood while thinking of you.”


“We can fake it.” They could. Max was a master of fooling people, including himself.


“Absolutely not. There is no one-soul mate-crap but you have to find a mate that’s compatible with you, there has to be attraction, desire.”


Yeah, no, Max didn’t have it. He had gratefulness in spades, though.


“I knew this was coming, Max. I took the job because a trading terminal gets a lot of traffic, the chance of meeting someone here is a lot larger than in many other places.”


“Does it have to be a Reptoid? You could mate Noir, he’s handsome, right?”


Quam looked like he was going to throw up if Reptoids could do that. “No, Nekoids and Reptoids is not a good fit, I’m not saying it’s impossible, but...no.”


Chapter 13