by Roxie Ray
I buried my face in his chest, breathing him in, never more grateful than I was in this moment that I had him. I knew he would protect me with his very life if it came to it.
He stroked my hair, breathing me in as well, his heart thundering. After a while, he murmured, “I’ve never been so afraid. The thought of something happening to you…” His voice broke, and I clutched him tighter.
“I’ve never been so frustrated either. I have to get to the bottom of this. I will get to the bottom of this. I promise you I will find who’s behind this and make them pay.”
I had no doubt he would, and I didn’t blame him for it one bit, even though he kept apologizing. I bit my lip, pulling back just enough so I could see his face.
“It’s not your fault, Niall.” I paused, unsure I should say what was on my mind but knowing it probably needed to be said. “Please know that I don’t blame you. But…do you think it might have something to do with you? Because you’re the crown prince? Could someone have it out for you, and they’re using me to hurt you?”
He sighed heavily. “The thought has crossed my mind.” Then he mumbled something else under his breath that I couldn’t quite make out before he sighed again. “I promise this will all be over soon.”
Bending his head, he cupped my face and pressed his lips to mine, kissing me long and deep, making me forget everything for one glorious moment while I lost myself in him.
“I’m so grateful you came into my life, Brittany,” he whispered against my lips, kissing me softly once more. “And once this is all behind us, I’m going to show you just how much. We’ll go away somewhere, just the two of us—perhaps to visit Macros like Rahl suggested—and we can focus only on each other.”
I sighed, the idea of it sounded amazing. I wanted that. I wanted to be able to just be together without all of this other craziness. I wanted to explore our relationship and figure out what our future held.
I just hoped I would live long enough for us to have that chance.
17
Niall
Brittany and I spent the whole weekend up at the main palace. By the time I left for work on Monday morning, leaving her there asleep in my old bed, I was hoping she felt comfortable with my parents and Soren. She should definitely feel comfortable with the additional security.
Father thought I was going overboard with nearly doubling the amount of royal guards, but my mother just smiled a secret little smile. I didn’t even care at that point. Let her scheme and plan and stick her nose in my business. As far as I was concerned, Brittany was all I wanted, and Mother seemed more than on board with the idea.
Sitting in my office after my third meeting of the morning, I couldn’t quite focus on work, though. I wanted to be back with Brittany, not just to keep an eye on her myself, but because I just loved being with her. The best way to make sure that happened was to find out who was behind the attacks. It was obvious now she was the intended victim, and the other attack on her wasn’t some random assault as Brittany had first thought.
So I cleared my schedule for the rest of the day, and called in my elite team, and we got to work trying to figure out how the shooter—I winced every time I thought of the word—got onto our property in the first place. We scanned the surveillance cameras and over and over, hoping to uncover something we’d missed.
There was one camera positioned just outside my home that caught the side angle of a face as the person ran away, but they were wearing a hood, and the features weren’t distinguishable to our eyes. Fortunately, with the advanced tech I’d helped develop, we were able to run some software to help us with identifying the perpetrator.
I’d just hung up with the technician who was overseeing the detection software as it ran multiple scenarios and probabilities, cross-referencing it with IEP surveillance to help pinpoint where potential suspects were at the time of the offense, when there was a buzz on my communicator from my personal administrative assistant.
“Sir, you have a visitor.” The tone of her voice was carefully void of emotion, so I switched on the camera that covered the private lobby of my personal office. The holoscreen flickered on, and I lifted my eyebrows in surprise.
Yivonne. What was she doing here?
“Send her in,” I told my assistant, my mind racing as I tried figure out what could possibly have brought Yivonne to my office. I really hadn’t spent that much time with her, though I’d known her for years, just as I knew most of the prominent families on Hollander. I certainly didn’t know her well enough to warrant a personal visit. Or maybe it was business related, since this was my office. I couldn’t for the life of me think of what business she might have with either my tech enterprise or the IEP.
I stood and went to the door, opening it just as she lifted her hand to knock.
She gave me a pleasant enough smile, but there was a gleam in her eyes I didn’t like. Nor did I like the way she ran her gaze up and down my body. It made me feel more than a little uncomfortable.
“Yivonne,” I said politely, working to keep my voice even. “What brings you here?”
She breezed by me, entering my office before I could invite her in, her arm brushing against my own. I quickly stepped back, giving her a wide berth before I closed the office door.
She stopped and turned to me. “I need to have a serious conversation with you, Niall.”
I frowned, wondering what the hell this was about and why she hadn’t bothered to make an appointment. I was close to asking her to do just that, but manners took over. “Of course. Please, won’t you have a seat?” I gestured to the two chairs in front of my desk. “Can I get you some refreshments? Tea, perhaps?”
Instead of taking one of the chairs, Yivonne moved to the other side of my office and sat on one of the sofas near the window that overlooked Hollander’s central business district.
I fought to keep from showing my frustration. This was just like her to take liberties.
“Tea sounds lovely, darling,” she purred.
I pressed my lips together and went to the refreshment stand, which allowed me to offer drinks for my guests—not that I would ever consider Yivonne a guest. I brought over a tea service and placed it on the table between the two sofas.
Yivonne smiled, patting the seat next to her. I pretended not to notice, and took the seat opposite, fixing my attention on pouring two cups of tea. “So, what did you need to discuss?”
“Well…” She pursed her lips and smoothed her dress over her legs before crossing them, revealing more than her fair share of skin. “As you know, for years and years the plan has been that you and I would end up together.”
My eyebrows flew up. The plan? More like her plan. I opened my mouth to deny there was any plan as far as I was concerned, but she pushed full steam ahead.
“We aren’t getting any younger, darling.” The way she said darling had my skin crawling. As did the look in her eyes—like she knew me intimately. “I do think it’s time we stop playing games.”
“I’m sorry? Games?” What in the galaxies was she going on about? I shook my head and brought my tea to my lips.
Yivonne heaved a long-suffering sigh and reached for her own teacup. “Yes, Niall. These games are for children. Don’t you think it’s time you stopped delaying the inevitable and started courting me?”
It was a good thing I hadn’t taken a sip yet or I might have spewed my tea all over her overpriced dress. I coughed, buying myself a minute to figure out how the fuck to respond to that.
“Yivonne,” I said slowly, wishing we weren’t having this conversation right now. There had never been any type of formal arrangement. Yivonne and I had barely spent a moment alone together in all the years we’d been acquainted. Honestly, what she was saying was completely irrational. Had she truly deluded herself into believing we would be together?
I sighed as she lifted her eyebrows, waiting for me to go on. “Look. I’m sorry, but I think you’ve gotten the wrong idea. I’m not sure what has led you to believe that I’m playing
games, or that I’m waiting on anything, but I have no plans on courting you.” I didn’t know how else to put it.
She set her teacup on the table with a clatter. “Excuse me?” She let out a tinkling laugh, but it had a hard edge to it. “I think I must have misheard you.”
Okay, she wanted to play it like this? Fine. I’d lay it all out for her, so she had no chance of misunderstanding.
“I realize you believed our friendship—” That was a huge stretch of the word, but whatever. “Might become something more at some point. But I’m sorry to tell you that there isn’t going to be anything between us, Yivonne.”
She laughed again, but it was much more forced this time. “Perhaps you just need a little time—”
“No. Time isn’t what I need.” This was getting ridiculous. “There won’t be anything between us. Not now, not ever. You see, Yivonne, I’ve already chosen a wife.”
I hadn’t actually talked to Brittany about how she felt about that, but as I spoke the words, nothing had ever felt righter than the idea of making her my wife—claiming my mate for all eternity.
Yivonne’s eyes turned stormy, and she set her mouth in a hard line. But as she stood and placed her hands on her hips, the rage in her eyes didn’t fade, and her anger was still palpable.
“Surely you’re joking, Niall. You simply can’t be serious. I mean, come on. Making a human slave your princess?”
“Brittany isn’t a slave.” I rose to my feet, my voice a clear warning that I wouldn’t tolerate her speaking of my future wife that way.
Yivonne scoffed. “You’re making a huge mistake, Niall. And I’m certain you’ll live to regret it.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Do you really expect our people to accept her? Hollanders may accept humans as workers, and maybe companions in rare instances. But you’re talking about making her your princess—the future queen! You know as well as I do that no one will accept her.”
Heat rose in my chest, and I clenched my fists to keep my temper from exploding. How dare she? But she wasn’t done. Impossibly, she seemed to think I would agree with her if she kept pressing the issue.
“What you need, Niall, is someone who understands the ways of this planet and this species. Someone who knows how to lead. What you need is someone like me.” She lifted her head high, jutting her chin out. She may have thought she looked regal, but to me she just looked like a bumbling, arrogant speciesist.
“I disagree. I know my people better than anyone, and I know nearly everyone will accept Brittany with open arms.”
Nearly everyone. There was a small faction of Hollanders that were prejudiced against all other species but their own, but they were a tiny portion of the population.
Yivonne’s eyes continued to burn bright with anger, and that was when it hit me. Speciesists. They were almost certainly the ones behind the attacks on Brittany. How had I not thought of it sooner?
It was exactly the breakthrough I’d been waiting for, which meant I needed to get back to work.
“I’m sorry, Yivonne,” I said, not really sorry at all. “But I have a lot of work to do.”
I moved toward the door and opened it. There was no clearer indication that this meeting was done, but she still had one more thing to say.
Stopping in front of me, she glared at me. “You’re going to regret this.”
This time I didn’t stop myself from rolling my eyes. “I appreciate your concern, but I’m certain it will be fine. And just in case it wasn’t clear, we will never be more than acquaintances, Yivonne, so please don’t come back uninvited.”
She clenched her jaw, huffing out a breath before spinning on her heel and stalking out of the room.
I groaned as I shut the door behind her. Good riddance. I would say her visit was an utter waste of my time, but I’d at least gotten a lead out of it. Hurrying to my desk, I pushed all thoughts of Yivonne out my mind and got to work.
First order of business was calling my team to let them know about my new theory. I called a quick meeting, telling them to look into every case of known speciesists, starting with those who had committed hate crimes against humans. It had to lead somewhere, surely.
Honestly, I felt sick to my stomach for not thinking of it sooner. Brittany had even said she could have been in the wrong place at the wrong time and whoever had shoved her into the road might have disliked all humans. I should have picked up on it then, and maybe Brittany wouldn’t have been targeted the second time.
As soon as the meeting was adjourned, I called it a day and headed straight back to the palace.
“Where is Brittany?” I asked of the first royal guards I came across.
He bowed slightly. “I think she was in the study the last I heard.”
I didn’t wait to hear more, striding down the hall toward the massive study off the library where I had first discovered the existence of the mating gene. How long ago that seemed now, even though it had been just a little over a month. So much had changed, most of all my relationship with Brittany, including the intensity of the feelings I now had for her.
I found her sitting in a chair with her back to me, and I started to speak before I realized she was napping. I stopped, just looking at her for a moment, taking in her beauty. She truly was the most beautiful creature I’d ever seen, and I’d traveled to enough planets and seen enough beauty to know.
I noticed she had a book on her lap, and I edged forward quietly to see what she’d been reading before she drifted off.
A language book, one of the first that Hollander children used to learn other languages. This one taught the language spoken on Earth. A smile curved my lips as I realized she must have been using it to learn more about my native language.
My heart swelled, and I loved her all the more for it in that moment. She cared enough to try to learn Hollander. She was making friends. By all indications, she looked like she might be planning to stick around.
I hoped so, with all my heart. I’d known for a while now that I wouldn’t be able to live without her, but if she no longer had feelings for me, if she decided she wanted to go home, then the pull that kept us together would wither and die. It would be as if the mating gene had never connected us, and I couldn’t stand it if that happened. I was in love with her and had been perhaps from the first moment I’d seen her. I’d felt it in my bones that morning at Novis Station—that I needed her in my life, that she belonged with me.
I watched her sleep for a few moments, reflecting on all that had happened since that day. I couldn’t even imagine what my life would be like now if I hadn’t intervened in her auction and brought her back here with me.
But then, even as I was thinking it, a wave of doubt washed over me. What if I had let her leave on the ship that day? What if I hadn’t manipulated the auctions? Then she’d be far away on another planet, in an entirely different galaxy. My heart ached at the prospect, but at the same time, I couldn’t help but think that if that had been the case, her life wouldn’t be in danger now.
Was it my fault, then? Was she in danger because of me? I didn’t want to go there and think like that because I felt so strongly that I’d had to bring her here. That she belonged with me. I still felt that and believed it. We were meant to be together. How else could anyone explain a resurgence of a long-dormant gene?
But now that the idea had been planted, I was wracked with guilt. Brittany was in danger. It never would have been this way if I hadn’t selfishly taken her for my own. And I had no idea what to do with that fact.
18
Brittany
I’d come to the pool, hoping it would help relieve some of my pent-up energy and provide an outlet for my ever-present tension. But it wasn’t doing much good. There were two guards stationed where I could see them, watching as I swam laps. And who knew how many more were stationed where I couldn’t see them.
It had been a week and a day since the second attempt on my life, and I was going even more stir-crazy now. I thought it had been bad before,
when I was in Niall’s home and Kain accompanied me everywhere, but at least then I’d had a modicum of privacy. Now I was never alone unless I was in Niall’s bedroom.
Oddly enough, I was starting to feel thankful when it was Kain’s turn to act as my bodyguard. At least we had somewhat of a friendship going on and it didn’t quite feel like he was watching my every move. Today, though, it was coming to a head, and I felt like I was losing my mind.
I prided myself on my independence and working hard while I was on Earth to be free of the government controlling my life. Yet here I was now feeling like I had absolutely no freedom to do what I wanted to do, all because someone decided my life wasn’t worth living.
I pushed myself harder, swimming faster, hoping to tire myself out and drain some of the negativity out of my system. I knew it could be so much worse, something I’d constantly told myself, and I shouldn’t complain. After all, I was living in the lap of luxury. Everything I could possibly desire was at my fingertips, and I had a kind and caring man by my side keeping me warm at night.
But I liked to remain busy. I was growing weary of the same thing day after day, and it was starting to affect my entire mood. By the time I dragged myself from the pool, my body was exhausted, but my headspace wasn’t any clearer. I grabbed a towel and wrapped it around my hips, pointedly ignoring the guards watching my every move, and then I headed back toward the main house, following a garden path I’d traveled at least a hundred times in the past week. I probably knew these grounds inside and out now.
I rounded a bend, feeling sorry for myself, and feeling equally angry that I was having such a pity part, when I ran into none other than Yivonne.
I stopped in my tracks, surprised to see her here. “What are you doing here?” I asked, not at all happy to have to deal with her. If I’d thought my mood was sour before, it was nothing compared to now.
Yivonne looked me up and down, taking her time, a look of disgust on her face.