by Erin Raegan
“I’m coming with you,” Noah said, standing.
“No, just Theo,” Oren said.
Noah’s face mottled red.
But Oren shook his head. “Leo will restrain you if need be.”
I swallowed hard as I walked to Oren, avoiding Noah’s burning gaze.
“Be careful, Boots,” Sal told me softly.
My smile wavered as I waved to him. None of us could do anything in this situation. We were laughably outnumbered.
Oren and Leo walked me down the hallway, an immovable force between me and the aliens on board. I still felt their eyes though. There was a startling difference between how they looked at me now as opposed to when I had come out here last night. Gone was the hostility. Just curiosity.
We walked for a long time. With every step, I got more and more impatient. More and more anxious.
When we finally arrived, it was to a large room with dozens and dozens of holographic screens and wide tablet-looking devices. Dozens of aliens roamed the area, all of them backlit by an enormous window with a view of Earth and the field of debris floating around it.
Oren spoke to an alien that looked like Leo. The gruff male nodded toward the back of the room. I looked that way and saw a closed door.
“Come on,” Oren urged, lightly giving me a shove toward the door.
We walked inside and I saw Killian sitting at a long table, a huge screen in front of him.
“No,” he said. “Send someone else. My time is done here.”
“It does not work like that, my friend,” a Dahk alien said from the screen. His head ridges weren’t short like Lahn’s and Kayd’s but long, falling past his shoulders like limp snakes.
Strange. They were both speaking English.
“Do not dare lecture me, young king,” Killian drawled, his clawed hands resting behind his head as he leaned back in a chair. His booted feet were crossed on the table.
“He runs like a coward,” a lower voice rumbled from the screen.
Killian chuckled. “Tahk, I will meet you at any time of your convenience so you may impress your little mate.”
Killian saw me then. His body briefly tensed before he relaxed again.
“What is it?” the first voice asked.
“Nothing,” Killian rumbled, nodding for us to go to the other side of the room, out of sight.
Oren guided me to a chair.
The male on the screen sighed. “Kil, the Xixin are already pulling back. We need you to remain where you are.”
“No,” Killian said calmly.
Oren rolled his eyes to the ceiling.
“I’ve fought this battle your coward brother started for long enough. Come clean it up yourselves.”
The lower voice, Tahk, cursed long and loud.
“Who do you suggest then?” the male on the screen asked with a tired sigh.
“I’ll make some calls,” Killian said distractedly, watching me. “Perhaps Chyn will leave his mate’s bedchamber for a time.”
Both Dahk cursed then. “You cannot be serious.”
Killian dropped his feet and leaned forward. “Deadly. I hate to cut this short, but something far more interesting has caught my attention.”
Both Dahk shouted something, but Killian clicked a button and the screen winked black.
“The Dahk commander will be in a fit for that suggestion,” Oren said.
Killian snorted. “I care little of his slight against the assassin. Chyn will come.”
“I somehow doubt that,” Oren said under his breath.
“He will come if I make Burin ask.”
Oren looked around. “Where is the human?”
Killian shrugged. “Not bothering me.” He stood. “Now leave us.”
Leo stomped right out, but Oren hesitated, looking at me.
“Now,” Killian rumbled low.
Oren clenched his jaw and left.
I watched Killian walk around the large table toward me. I shifted nervously in my seat. “You said Burin. Vice President Burin?”
“The very same.”
“How do you know him?”
Killian grinned. “He’s been a pet of mine for some time now.”
“You’re controlling him,” I deduced, frowning.
Killian stopped, narrowing his eyes. “No. Not usually.”
“But you have.”
Killian rubbed his face and backed away from me, walking to a window. “I’m not proud of many things that I’ve done, Theo. But Burin was and is often still a necessity.”
Mind control was never necessary. It was wrong. “A necessity for what?”
“After your humans have been removed safely from this planet, he will be released, unscathed.”
I scoffed and folded my arms across my chest. He hadn’t changed at all.
“I have,” he said low, not looking at me. “I have changed.”
“How? Apart from the obvious.”
He looked down at himself and then at me. “You once told me you liked my true form.”
“I was drunk.”
“Yes.” He nodded, his eyes twinkling.
“I was lying,” I lied.
Killian chuckled. “Come now, sweets, even now you shout your thoughts to me.”
I sighed and dropped my head into my hands. “This isn’t working.”
I heard him move closer to me. Then warm hands were on my knees. I tried so damn hard not to look up, but he had a pull on me that was impossible to ignore.
His alien face was soft and apologetic. “Let’s talk.”
“We are talking.”
“No.” Killian shook his head. “I’m going to stay out of your mind and we are going to speak about everything.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“On my honor. On my ship. On my crew. As the last surviving Kilbus Lord, I swear to you I will leave your mind be,” he said solemnly but then added with a twist to his lips, “For now.”
I shook him off and stood, moving away from him. I didn’t believe a word he said to me. “Okay. What do you want to talk about?”
“All of it,” he said quietly. “Ask me anything and I will answer truthfully.”
“So it’s up to me then? I have to do this?”
Killian cursed beneath his breath. “No, no. I’ll start.” He stood and leaned against the desk as I stood across the room. “We came to your planet then for your resources.”
“I know, all those car parts and crap.” I glared at him. “None of which you paid for.”
Killian winced, his sharp fangs winking at me. “After you knew what I was, it was the furthest thing from my mind.”
“I’ll be sure to let Sal know his life’s work held so little importance to you.” I slapped my thighs. “Come off it, Killian. You had no way of paying us, barring robbing a bank.”
He raised a brow and I let loose a choked breath.
“Whatever, so you come down for scrap metal, and we’re the unlucky victims,” I said and Killian winced again. “Then you just decide you’ll control the pathetic humans to do your bidding?”
“Yes.”
It was my turn to flinch.
Killian stood fast, balling his hands into fists. “I didn’t know you then, sweets. It wasn’t until I met you that I realized how wrong my actions were.”
“So why didn’t you stop?”
He sighed, cursing.
“Look, this is getting us nowhere,” I said tiredly. “I know why you did it. I hate you for it, but I know why. That isn’t want I want to know.”
“Ask me,” he implored.
“Why are you here now? Why are you working with the Dahk?”
Killian looked at me—a pointed, serious look.
“No.” I shook my head. “You’re lying.”
“No, sweets. I would have come when the Dahk King asked me to regardless, he is my ally, but I pulled my Kilbus away from a very valuable mission. Had it not been for you, I would have made him and the earth wait.”
“No
. You’re lying! You’ve been here a year!”
“I couldn’t find you!” he shouted back. “I looked everywhere!”
“You didn’t come for me, Killian!” My voice caught on his name, my breath stuttering into the beginnings of a sob. “I called you and you didn’t come!”
“They hid you from me! You were nowhere that cretin Howard said you’d be! Not one pathetic human could tell me where you were!” He stalked toward me. “And I made sure to interrogate them thoroughly. I broke their minds,” he whispered darkly. “Every last one of them, I left a broken shell. Not one knew where you were.”
I shook my head, holding my hands up to ward him off. “No, no, I don’t want to hear it!” I was openly sobbing, my tears soaking my face.
“You will hear me, Theo. I will not tolerate this from you a moment longer.”
“You didn’t come when I called, Killian. I called you on that stupid black box and you didn’t come!”
Killian froze. His face washing of color. “No, you didn’t.”
“I did.” I nodded, crying and slapping the tears from my cheeks. “Ten days after you left. They came for me and I pressed that button, but you never came.”
“No,” he whispered and prowled closer to me. He backed me into the wall. “You didn’t.”
I nodded, pushing his hands away as they grabbed my face. He cursed and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me to his chest.
I cried into his chest. “They took us away. They locked us up like lab rats. But you didn’t come.”
“I didn’t know, love. I swear I didn’t know. I thought you wanted me to stay away. I couldn’t come for you if you would have just turned me away. I didn’t know you tried to contact me.”
“You said that box would call you,” I wailed, hitting him.
He held me tighter. “It should have.” He pressed my back into the wall and clasped my face in a tight hold. “I would have come, Theo. I would have come right to you.”
I shook my head against his cheek as it pressed against mine. He shushed me, whispering apologies.
I didn’t know which one of us moved first, but his lips were on mine. They were hard. Impatient and demanding. Our hands grabbed at each other. We were careless. A little too rough. My hands sank into his hair, pulling sharply to get him closer. His in mine were just as sharp.
He used his lips to spread mine wide, shooting his tongue into my mouth. He groaned, pulling me from the wall and walking me backward toward the table.
He tasted the same. Everything about him was different but he tasted exactly the same.
“I missed you,” he breathed into my mouth. “You have no clue, sweets.”
I yelped when he lifted me by my thighs and set me on the table. My back met the smooth table and he leaned into me, holding me down.
“Killian,” I whispered into his mouth.
He growled something and bit at my lips, shoving my shirt up to my neck. My hands clawed at his back, tearing his shirt up to his shoulders. He ducked and his shirt flew off and behind me. His chest was bare and my hands shook as they melded to every smooth dark curve, exploring him like it was the first time. It may as well have been for all the differences I was seeing on him. My bra was torn down and Killian ducked, scraping his sharp teeth along the curve of my breast.
“Killian,” I moaned again.
There was a sharp knock at the door before it swung wide open. Killian turned his head and roared at the intruder, his chest blocking me from view.
“You’re needed,” Oren called dryly.
I trembled, my hands shaking as I yanked my shirt back down. Killian panted above me, his head turned to the door. I ducked, sliding off the table.
“Don’t,” Killian rumbled.
But I was already gone.
Finally Home
Theo
Sal looked at me apologetically. “I don’t think I can make the trip.”
“Honestly, Theo, I don’t think he can,” Bets said worriedly.
Just talking about it had Sal sick to his stomach.
“It’s okay,” I insisted. “We won’t be gone long.”
Sal cursed and stomped away. Bets watched him go.
“Just write a list,” I told her. “If there’s anything left, I’ll grab what I can.”
She nodded, tugging on her bun. “I miss our home, but there’s nothing there that’s more important than you’re safety.
I hugged her. “I’ll be fine.”
“I know,” she said. “Noah’s going with you.”
No, he wasn’t, but I wasn’t going to tell either of them that.
Oren had already laid down the rules per Killian’s instructions. Jeremy, Holden, and I were permitted to go, but no one else. Except Oren and Leo. As well as a frigging army of Kilbus.
I didn’t know if Killian was coming. I hadn’t seen him since that morning.
Noah and Mike had left with a Kilbus a few minutes ago. Where they were taken, I had no idea. But we would be gone before he realized.
Wes and Iris wanted to come, but Lahn and Kayd held them back as Oren guided Jeremy, Holden, and me from the room.
“In and out,” he said as we walked through the halls. “We haven’t scouted the area.”
I nodded. I didn’t want to get caught by anything. Vitat or Mother Nature.
Holden was bouncing on his toes. Jeremy was just as anxious.
We boarded a ship like the one we’d come in yesterday. Leo was already there, along with Jareth and a few other mixed-raced Kilbus aliens. Kilbus seemed to encompass them as a whole even though they didn’t all look like Killian or Oren. Actual Kilbus.
“How long?” Holden asked, strapping into the restraints on the bench.
“How long what?” Oren asked, strapping me in.
“How long can we stay?”
Oren looked at Holden. “Why would you want to stay?”
“She might not be there,” Holden said impatiently. “It might take time to find her.”
Oren looked at him blankly, emotionless. “We’re going to your home. Nowhere else.”
Holden cursed, but Jeremy put a hand on his arm. Quieting him. I narrowed my eyes at them.
Oren didn’t miss their strange behavior either.
Something was going on with them but I hadn’t had the courage to grill them about it.
We waited a while. Too long. Even I started to get impatient. Then Killian boarded the ship. He looked right at me as he walked onboard. He said something to Leo then walked to me and sat beside me. Wordlessly, he checked my restraints as the ship rumbled to life.
I didn’t look at him. My face was hot. Fire engine red. I slowly counted the lines on the floor. One at a time so that it was all I was focusing on.
So that it was all he could read from me.
The ship was loud, distracting me from the warm figure beside me.
He didn’t say a word to me, and I didn’t know how to take that. What we’d done. What we’d been doing before Oren interrupted. That wasn’t okay. I wasn’t ready for that. Not after everything.
But it had happened. And it wasn’t his fault or mine.
I had been just as desperate for him. That had been all me. I’d felt it burning in my gut long before he showed up again.
Killian could have been controlling me. I knew that. But I didn’t believe he was. I didn’t feel the warning signs. There was no headache, no hazy missing memories. Now that I was familiar with how it felt, I thought I could tell.
Then again, I couldn’t before. Maybe these very thoughts were a manipulation. How was I to ever know?
I didn’t want to ask him. He would just lie.
But I had to ask myself. I’d thrown myself at him. I knew that had been all me. Not him. I—I didn’t think Killian was messing with me now. Maybe he hadn’t at all since yesterday.
So much had happened in such a little bit of time, it was hard to keep track. My emotions were so all over the place, I didn’t even recognize myself anymore.
I watched as we descended on Earth. The experience was eerie and mesmerizing all at once.
Then we were above our state.
Our county.
Our town.
And I couldn’t tear my eyes from the window.
Jeremy’s hand clamped down on my arm. His shaking just enough that my own started to tremble.
Our home was gone.
All of it.
I choked back tears as we saw our town had been completely destroyed. Ship wreckage littered the ground. Buildings had been razed. A giant crack in the earth spread a mile wide.
“Jeremy,” Holden said, low and anxious.
“Just wait,” his brother warned. Both of their voices were tortured.
We landed in the field, the grass dead and browning.
Cloudy smoke still filled the air from a crashed ship a few yards away. It wasn’t a Vitat ship. It must have been from the others that had come for us. The Galactic Order. That had been over a month ago, but that ship looked as if it had been burning only days ago.
What kind of fuel could do that?
I walked from the ship on numb feet and gaped at the scene down the hill. The salvage yard. It was just gone. Completely leveled. Not even a scrap remained in the burnt earth.
“The house,” I mumbled. Then I was running up the hill.
Killian shouted my name. But I couldn’t stop. I had to see for myself.
As I crested the hill, my feet slowed and tripped. I fell to the ground, my knees hitting hard and sinking into the burnt soil.
It was gone. The whole house.
Just gone.
“I didn’t want you to see,” Killian said behind me quietly.
“You knew?” I choked out.
“It was the first place I looked.”
All that time ago. It had been gone all this time.
My home. The one place I had been loved and accepted had been wiped from the earth as though it had never existed.
Jeremy walked down the hill and kicked at a broken board. It was white and peeling. A piece of the porch.
I whimpered. Small and pathetic, I whimpered looking at what remained of my home.
“How did you know we were even alive after seeing this?” Jeremy asked, shocked.
“I knew,” Killian rumbled. “I would have felt her die.”
I shook my head, not really hearing him.