At least, Toryx hoped that’s how this would all work out.
In any case, the fact that Skoria had at least agreed to an audience with him was a good first start. It meant she still remembered him and still appreciated how he’d saved her life all those years ago.
When the heavy wooden door to Skoria’s office flew open, Toryx was surprised at the sight of her. She looked quite different than the Skoria he remembered. She had gained a lot of weight, and her hair was completely different. She’d styled it in a long, poufy style that wasn’t typical of Mognerthian women, and it was also dyed neon green. She wore eccentric clothes too—frilly styles with crazy colors and a lot of glitz. For a moment, Toryx was so taken aback by the sight of her that he couldn’t help but gawk. She was a far cry from the simply sophisticated girl he’d known long ago. Apparently money and fame had brought out the crazier parts of her personality.
She laughed loudly when she saw his surprise. “Toryx, darling, don’t act so surprised to see me! I know I look a bit different but the changes are good, wouldn’t you agree?”
She grabbed his face in her hands and noisily kissed each cheek. Toryx wasn’t sure that he did agree that the changes were good, but he wasn’t about to say that to the woman who might be the key to getting the credit he and Evie needed.
“You look very happy,” he said. That was true, at least. He pointed to Evie. “This is Evie. She’s here with me from Zocrone.”
Skoria raised an eyebrow at Evie, but didn’t acknowledge her otherwise. “She isn’t Zocronian.”
Toryx wanted to make a sarcastic comment congratulating Skoria for stating the obvious, but again he bit his tongue. He couldn’t afford to offend her right now. “Yes, Evie is human. She and a few of her human friends moved to Zocrone a few years ago.”
Skoria raised an eyebrow. “Ah, so your Chief finally decided to allow human immigrants. I hadn’t heard.”
Toryx nodded. “Yes, we’re allowing immigrants now. But that isn’t why I’m here. Have you heard about the storms in Zocrone?”
Skoria nodded, waving her hand dismissively. “Ah yes, the storms. A mere anomaly. They will be over soon. They’re only happening because of the weird moon phases of the nearby planet Vuytis.”
Toryx felt his heart leap. He’d been prepared to beg and plead with Skoria for her to say that the storms were ending soon. He hadn’t expected her to already be so sure that they would be ending soon. But it sounded like she’d already decided on her own that this was the case. “Do you know when, exactly, the storms will end?”
Skoria shrugged. “I cannot put an exact date on it. But I would bet my reputation on it being within the next six months.”
Toryx considered this information. Zocrone would not last another six months without their water supplies being replenished. But the good news was that if Evie and he could get back with some water, that would be more than enough for the Zocronians to survive the next six months. Then, according to Skoria, the storms would be over.
“Skoria, I need your help!” Toryx quickly explained the situation, and asked if Skoria would be willing to talk to Xeywyn. Evie stood beside him without speaking. She didn’t look happy, but Toryx would have to ask her about it later. Right now, he needed to focus on convincing Skoria to help. He didn’t think it was going to be that difficult, since she owed him one and she already had come to the conclusion on her own that the storms were ending. But he had learned over the years to never be sure of something until it was, in fact, sure. And there was a strange glint in Skoria’s eyes right now that was bothering him.
Sure enough, she did not immediately say yes. Instead, she gave him a devious look and fluttered her eyelashes at him. “I’ll agree to help you on one condition.”
Toryx glanced uneasily at Evie, who looked just as worried as he did. What would Skoria’s requirements be?
“Okay…?” Toryx asked, his stomach clenching up as he waited for the answer.
“Oh, don’t look so nervous, Tor,” Skoria said. “I just want you to have dinner with me. For old time’s sake.”
She reached up and ran a finger down the side of his cheek in a decidedly flirtatious way. Toryx stiffened, and out of the corner of his eye he saw Evie’s scowl deepening. He was confused. Was Skoria actually hitting on him? They hadn’t even seen each other in years, and she’d made no attempt to contact him. It had never occurred to him that she might have any sort of feelings leftover for him. Besides, she was rich and famous. She could have just about any guy she wanted in the Seven Galaxies. What could someone like Toryx possible have to offer her?
Toryx glanced at Evie, who gave him a slight “no” shake of her head.
He felt trapped. He knew enough about women to know that Evie wasn’t going to be happy with him going on what was essentially a date with another woman. But what choice did Toryx have? If he didn’t agree to dinner, Skoria wasn’t going to agree to help them. And they needed Skoria’s help if they were going to be able to save Zocrone.
Toryx ignored Evie for the moment and looked back at Skoria. “Okay. As long as it’s just dinner. Nothing more.”
She winked at him. “Of course, darling. Nothing more.”
“And you have to talk to Xeywyn first. We need this process started right away. It can’t wait until later this evening when dinner is done.”
Skoria waved her hand again. “Of course. Whatever. I’ll go talk to Xeywyn right now, as long as you give me your word you’ll meet me at the Mognerth Orb restaurant this evening.”
Toryx grimaced as he felt Evie reach over and squeeze his arm tightly. “Fine,” he said. He knew there would be fallout from this. But surely, Evie would understand.
He’d just have to do damage control later.
As quickly as he could, he excused himself from Skoria’s office and headed toward the exit. As soon as they were out on the street again. Evie turned and looked at him with fury in her eyes.
“What was that all about?”
Toryx raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. “I don’t know. She was acting weird. But we don’t have a choice other than to play along with her if we want her help.”
Evie narrowed her eyes at him. “You told me that she was just a friend. That you guys hadn’t dated for a long time and there were no romantic feelings left between the two of you.”
“That’s true,” Toryx insisted. “At least, as far as I’m concerned there are no feelings left between us. And I swear to you that whatever she might feel for me means nothing to me. I’m much more interested in you, and in a life back on Zocrone, than in anything she could offer me.”
But Evie didn’t look convinced. Her expression had turned cold, and she crossed her arms across her chest as she glared at him. “I should have known. I thought you were different, and that you might be someone who would commit to me long term. But you’re taking the first excuse to go off and have dinner with another woman.”
Toryx’s heart sank, and he felt frustration and anger boiling up inside of him. “Evie, I’m not looking for an excuse. But you know as well as I do that we need Skoria’s help! I promise nothing will happen between us except dinner. Don’t you want to save Zocrone?”
“I do. But I also want a man to care enough about me to stand up and say I mean something to him. You barely mentioned me when we were in Skoria’s office. It’s like you purposely didn’t want to clue her in that I might mean something to you romantically. Sludge it, maybe I don’t mean something to you romantically. We haven’t really talked about it, after all. Maybe I’m just someone you can bang when you need to scratch an itch, and then you can run off to have dinner with another woman and avoid commitment.”
The anger Toryx had been feeling boiled over completely. “You know what? Forget it. I’m not going to beg you to trust me. If you don’t believe a word I say then that’s your loss, not mine. This is why I never date. I’m never good enough for anyone. There’s always some reason that I’m falling short, even though I’m just try
ing to be a sludging good guy and do the right thing.”
“If you wanted to do the right thing, you would have told Skoria that I was your girl, and asked if I could come to dinner with you two. But I guess I’m not your girl, am I? I was a fool to think that I was just because you kissed me a few times and then slept with me.”
And with that, Evie stormed off. Toryx considered calling after her, but then he decided not to. Instead, he turned and stormed off in the other direction. He wasn’t even sure where he was going, but he knew he wasn’t going to go back to the hotel until he absolutely had to.
He could feel his heart breaking at the fact that Evie didn’t trust him, but sludge it all if he was going to feel badly for going to dinner with Skoria when he was only doing it to save Zocrone. Maybe he should have said something to Skoria, but he hadn’t remained silent about Evie to try to act like he wasn’t with her. He was just trying to give her space because she’d looked so angry, and that’s what he thought she wanted.
“Women,” he spat out angrily.
But even though he tried to act like this little disagreement was all Evie’s fault, he knew that it didn’t matter much to him whose fault it was. The fact was that all he wanted was for things to be right between Evie and him.
Unfortunately his hands were tied. He had to save Zocrone. He just hoped that Skoria wouldn’t try anything crazy tonight, and that after the dust settled that he and Evie could work out this misunderstanding between them.
He had to hope for that. Because no matter how angry and confused he felt right now, he knew one thing for sure: Evie Riaz had captured his heart, and he wasn’t going to be able to just walk away from her.
He also wasn’t going to be able to let her walk away. He was going to show her that she was his, if it was the last thing he did.
When a Zocronian man decided he wanted a woman, he wasn’t going to stop until he made that woman his. And Toryx had decided that Evie was his. A simple little task like saving a planet wasn’t going to get in the way of their love.
Chapter Nine
Evie sat on the hotel’s patio, fuming. She was just as angry with herself as she was with Toryx. She understood why he had done what he did. She knew he had no choice but to agree to Skoria’s weird demand to go to dinner. Still, couldn’t he at least have said something about the fact that he and Evie were together? Sure, they hadn’t actually talked about being together, but they had made crazy hot love together. That had to have meant something to him.
Or maybe it hadn’t. Had Evie assumed too much? Did she really have any right to claim Toryx as her own? He hadn’t actually agreed to anything.
And now I’ve acted like a crazy jealous girlfriend, even though I’m not actually his girlfriend.
Evie knew she should send a message to Toryx’s e-assistant to apologize, but she wasn’t sure what to say. And every time she pictured him checking his e-assistant, she pictured Skoria sitting next to him at the restaurant. Then she turned green with envy and couldn’t manage to put together a coherent message.
This is ridiculous. Evie considered just going down to the restaurant and interrupting the dinner. She was Toryx’s business associate on this whole deal, after all. She had every right to be at a dinner with someone who was helping them with their mission to get credit.
But Evie knew that Skoria didn’t want her there. And as angry as that made her, she felt deep down that Toryx was right: they were at Skoria’s mercy. Without her help, they couldn’t get the credit they needed and they couldn’t help Zocrone.
Evie dropped her head into her hands. She should go for a walk or go sightseeing. Sitting here in the hotel room was only making her drive herself crazy. She stood and walked toward the door, grabbing her jacket on the way out in case the night was cool. She reached to push the button that would open the electronic sliding door, but before she could press it, a sharp knock sounded at the door.
Startled, Evie jumped and accidentally hit the button to open the door. When the door slid open, she saw that Xeywyn was standing there.
“Xeywyn! What are you doing here?”
“Hello, Evie. Is Toryx around?”
“I’m sorry but he’s not here. Can I help you with something?”
The giant Mognerthian let out a huge sigh. “I suppose you’ll have to do. I would have preferred to talk to Toryx in person, but I’ve received an urgent call from one of my remote trading sites in Galaxy Six. I have to go take care of a crisis over there, and I’m leaving immediately.”
Evie felt her heart drop. Did this mean that Xeywyn wasn’t going to help them with the ship they needed? But before she could even ask, Xeywyn was putting her fears to rest.
“I’ve secured the ship and water you need. It’s already waiting for you at the Docking Station.”
Evie’s jaw dropped. “Really?”
Xeywyn nodded. “Yes. Toryx is an old friend and I wanted to help him out. I hope he understands that I had to ask him for assurances before extending credit—I don’t have much of a choice as a Mognerthian trader. But since he got me those assurances, I got him what he needed as quickly as possible. Please tell him I’m sorry I couldn’t see him again before I left, but that I wish him the best and I hope he’ll be back in Mognerth sooner rather than later. I’d love a chance to catch up with him over some Mognerthian brews.”
Evie nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, of course. I…I don’t know how to thank you, Xeywyn.”
Xeywyn waved away her excitement. “No need to thank me. It’s just a business deal. It’s what I do. I’ve sent the codes for the ship to Toryx’s e-assistant. Should be no trouble for him, but he can always send me a message if there’s any confusion.”
With that, Xeywyn was turning to leave. Evie called out another thank you after him, then ran back into the hotel room and started packing up her things. She packed up the few things that Toryx had left behind, and then left as quickly as she could. On her way out, she started typing a message to Toryx, telling him that they had what they needed and could leave the city immediately. She knew he’d be as eager as she was to get going.
By the time she reached the Docking Station, she still hadn’t heard from Toryx. So she decided to head to the restaurant. She didn’t care anymore if she crashed Skoria’s little party. She and Toryx had what they needed, and since Xeywyn was leaving town Evie didn’t have to worry that Skoria would try to get Xeywyn to change his mind about the ship. Xeywyn would be too busy with his own journey through a wormhole to Galaxy Six to worry about Skoria right now.
It took Evie about thirty minutes to get to the Mognerth Orb restaurant, and when she arrived there she wasted another minute or two just staring in disbelief. The place was huge, and obviously catered to Mognerth’s wealthiest citizens. Everything from the sign over the front door to the tables Evie could see through the large front windows looked incredibly expensive. Evie looked down at her clothes and knew she was horribly underdressed for a place like this. She hoped the hostess wasn’t going to laugh her out the front door.
But the hostess turned out to be impeccably polite, and when Evie gave her Toryx’s name and said she urgently needed to speak to him, the hostess pointed her toward a secluded table near the back left corner of the restaurant.
Evie had a feeling that Skoria had specifically requested the table because it was hidden behind a giant decorative palm, a realization that made Evie’s blood boil. Skoria had to have realized that Evie wasn’t just a simple friend. Even if Toryx hadn’t said anything, he’d walked into Skoria’s office with his hand on the small of Evie’s back. That’s not something you normally did with just a friend.
Skoria was after Toryx, and she didn’t care that Evie was in the picture. In fact, Evie was pretty sure that the only reason Skoria had even agreed to help them with Xeywyn was that Skoria wanted a chance to get inside of Toryx’s pants. Evie normally would have questioned why a woman as rich and famous as Skoria was after an alien from the distant, small planet of Zocrone. But n
ow that Evie herself had experienced what an amazing lover Toryx was, she had a feeling that Skoria also knew that no one in the Seven Galaxies compared to Toryx.
But Toryx belongs to me. Even if they hadn’t had “the talk” or made anything official between the two of them, Evie was claiming him as hers. There had been something special between them when they made love. She might not be an expert on romances, but she knew that she and Toryx were meant to be. Surely, Toryx felt that way, too.
And Skoria was just going to have to get over it.
As soon as the restaurant’s hostess was sure that Evie had seen Skoria’s table, the hostess scurried off to attend to other duties. Evie approached slowly, keeping herself mostly hidden behind the giant palm for the moment. She was trying to decide what she was going to say. Part of her wanted to rip into Skoria, now that she knew they didn’t need the eccentric Mognerthian’s help anymore. But another part of her knew that the smartest thing to do was to get Toryx and get out of here with as little drama as possible.
Evie took a deep breath and started walking forward. She would take the high road and simply tell Toryx that she’d had some urgent news and they needed to get out of here immediately. But before Evie could make her presence known, she saw to her shock that Skoria was leaning over the table toward Toryx—and unless Evie was a total idiot and completely misinterpreting the situation, Skoria was intending to kiss Toryx.
Evie felt her blood boiling, and she opened her mouth to shout at Skoria. But Toryx beat her to it. He pulled back from Skoria’s intended kiss and stood abruptly, knocking his chair backward.
“What are you doing, Skoria?” he yelled.
Evie shrank behind the decorative tree as all eyes in the restaurant turned toward Toryx’s table. Skoria rose to her feet as well, moving much slower than Toryx but looking just as angry.
The Alphas of the Seven Galaxies Page 50