Starless
Half Light
Alyssa Rose Ivy
Contents
I. Angie
1. Angie
2. Angie
II. Noah
3. Noah
4. Noah
III. Caspian
5. Caspian
6. Caspian
IV. Angie
7. Angie
8. Angie
V. Rachel
9. Rachel
10. Rachel
11. Rachel
VI. Angie
12. Angie
13. Angie
VII. Noah
14. Noah
15. Noah
VIII. Angie
16. Angie
17. Angie
IX. Caspian
18. Caspian
19. Caspian
X. Noah & Rachel
20. Noah
21. Rachel
Thank You
Afterword
Forged in Stone (The Forged Chronicles #1)
James
Ainsley
Ainsley
Copyright © 2018 by Alyssa Rose Ivy
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
* * *
Cover Design: Cover Couture Photos (c) Depositphotos
Editing: Running Ink Edits
Part 1
Angie
1 Angie
I wasn’t interested in Kelby. Not in the slightest. I didn’t care that his smile could warm up my entire body in less than ten seconds. I barely noticed how good every part of him looked in his jumpsuit. I most definitely wasn’t impressed with the way he understood my conflicted feelings about my family and where my life was headed. And most of all, I wasn’t at all moved by the way he respected my opinion. I wasn’t interested in Kelby, and that was the end of that. Falling for an alien warrior was out of the question even if he was kind of cute.
“Hey, good you’re up.” Kelby marched into my bunk, turning on the lights as he went.
I rubbed my eyes. “I wasn’t up until you woke me.”
“Oh. Should I pretend to be sorry?” He grinned, his boyish charm annoying me in all the wrong ways.
“Yes. You should pretend.” I put my hands over my eyes.
“You don’t like pretending.”
He was right of course, but that didn’t fit with our banter. Nothing was supposed to move beyond that. “The damage is done. I’m up. Is there a reason for that?” I belatedly pulled the sheet up over my legs. I’d given up on finding pajamas. Evidently Lexas didn’t wear clothes when they slept so I’d had to make do by cleaning the shirt I’d been wearing when we’d left Earth and sleeping in that.
“You don’t have to hide your legs.” He gestured to the sheet. “They’re rather nice to look at.”
I tossed a pillow at him. “Shut up.”
“What? You don’t like pretending. I distinctly recall you telling me that.”
“Can you stop with that? I get it.” Did he have to keep throwing my own words in my face?
“Can you stop with all this mock modesty? I thought Rachel was an anomaly.”
“It’s not pretend.” It was easier to ignore his good looks when he said stuff like that. “And my legs have nothing to do with why you came in here. At least they shouldn’t.”
“Not directly.” He walked closer and rested a hand beside the foot of the raised bed.
“Okay. Spit it out. What’s up?”
“What’s up?” He grinned again. This time even bigger. “I love all these Earth-English expressions.”
“It’s really not that great.”
“It is. But that’s beside the point. The reason your legs are involved is that we’re going to be doing a lot of walking today.”
“Is there another part of this ship I haven’t seen yet?” I’d explored most of the ship after we’d left North Star the day before. I wished I knew exactly how many hours before, but I had lost all sense of time. The numbers on the watch thing I’d been given to keep in touch with Noah didn’t help at all.
“No.” He shook his head. “But I’ve got us an in. Well, Darto was the one who got it, but either way we have the training facilities.”
“Remind me again why we got stuck with this job?”
Malton groaned. “Will you two shut up? I am sleeping here.” He rolled over toward the wall.
“Don’t you find it weird that the dog sleeps with you?” Kelby bent down so he could look at Malton.
“Very. But you didn’t volunteer to have him sleep with you.” I laughed to myself just picturing the giant warrior curled up next to the little Shih Tzu. That would be picture worthy. It also would never happen.
“We could make him sleep on the floor.” Kelby straightened up. “Ever consider that?”
“No.” Malton jumped up onto all fours. Evidently he hadn’t been sleeping as soundly as I’d thought. “You heard King. I do not sleep alone. I need body heat. It’s bad enough you make me sleep on top of the covers.”
“Dogs do not go under the covers.” I pulled my legs away from him. “Especially not ones that talk.”
“You must stop confusing me with the dogs from your planet. I am worthy of all the love and affection other creatures are given.”
“Yet I let no one under my sheets. End of story.” I most certainly wasn’t budging on that rule while in space. These alien guys weren’t any better than the ones on Earth.
“No one?” Kelby raised an eyebrow.
“Do you want me to throw another pillow at you?” Part of me hoped I’d get a chance.
“You only had one.” He pointed at the empty space beneath my head.
That was true. But I could find a makeshift weapon. I could be pretty creative when I wanted to be.
“I was only curious. I have let some beneath my sheets.” His eyes locked on mine.
I forced myself to look away. “And I’m going to stop listening. Get out of here so I can get ready.”
“See, you don’t want honesty. You want to hide from reality. Eventually you will have to face it.”
“I will never have to face your past, uh, partner history. It has nothing to do with me.” Nothing at all.
“One day it may have something to do with you.” His intense gaze didn’t waver.
Was he implying that I’d be an ex-partner, or a partner of his in general? Either way, I didn’t want to hear it. “Okay. Goodbye. Malton, go with Kelby. He will get you breakfast.”
Malton rolled onto his back. “I don’t see why you kick me out every time you shower. I’m a dog.”
“You can’t be both a sentient creature who is more than a dog and just a dog. It doesn’t work. You can’t have it both ways.” I made a shooing gesture at him. “Go with Kelby.”
“Fine.” He jumped down from the bed, landing perfectly. The first few days I’d put him down from high places myself. Then I realized he was only feigning the need for help because he liked when I picked him up.
“I know you don’t want to talk about it, but I promise I’d be much better bunk company than the dog.” Kelby winked before starting out of the room.
“Is my breakfast ready?” Malton hurried to follow Kelby out.
I waited for the door to close before pulling back the sheet and getting out of bed.
I needed a hot shower. But traditional showers were impossible to come by on the ship. Instead, it was an air shower. It cleaned you—quickly and fairly well—but it wasn’t the same. I did appreciate the automated shaving fe
ature though. That was one task I didn’t mind handing over, although it did freak me out at first. I wasn’t the trusting sort, and that included technology.
I pulled on my black jumpsuit as I thought over my current situation. I hadn’t volunteered to be paired with Kelby; he’d made the suggestion. And to be fair it wasn’t just us. Darto and the dog were along for the ride as well. As annoyed as Darto could make me, it was good to have someone other than a dog around to help ease the tension between Kelby and me, especially since Kelby didn’t seem to even notice it.
I’d wanted to stay with Noah and Rachel, but that idea got nixed quickly. We were short on time, and working with our new army while also trying to track down Caspian was just as important as finding Caspian’s starmate. I still had no clue what a starmate was, but I was getting used to this whole moving forward with no real information thing. It was frustrating, but it appeared to be the only way things worked with this bunch.
“Delthea, are you up yet?” Darto called from the hall. Seriously? Could I get a few minutes to myself in the morning?
“Yes. I’m up.” I tied my long hair back into a ponytail. “Glad my sleeping habits are so important to you guys.”
“To you guys?” The door flew open, and Darto stepped into the doorway. He was wearing his usual blue jumpsuit. “Where’s the other ones?” His bright blue eyes were wild, as if he was preparing for a fight.
“Kelby already came by. At least he took Malton out for me.”
“I still don’t get how you ended up with that dog.” Darto put a hand on the doorframe.
“That makes two of us.” The memory of the whole thing was fuzzy. Had there really been no other choice but to say yes? Was I a total pushover? I preferred to think of it as being dedicated to our cause. I’d do anything to protect Earth.
“Okay. That’s not true. I get it. I get why King gave you his beloved.”
“Why?” This theory I had to hear.
“You already know you’re gifted.” His eyes trailed over me. “Very gifted.”
“Because I don’t fall for your images?” Part of me still felt like it was all one big practical joke. But then Kelby had splashed me with water from a fountain I couldn’t see, and later I’d been scratched by a cat I most definitely hadn’t noticed. Hopefully, that was it. I didn’t want to know what the third times a charm experience would be.
He frowned. “It’s not falling for anything.”
“Oh yes. You mean because I can’t see them.” I’d call it whatever he wanted. Whatever would get him away from my little room faster.
“I want to study your mind.” He stepped into the room, instantly making it feel a whole lot smaller.
“Uh. No.” There was no way he was studying me in any way. He definitely wasn’t getting near my mind. My thoughts were not things I had any interest in sharing with anyone. Let alone him. Not that he could really read my mind. Although, maybe he could. I already knew he had at least one special skill.
“Why not? It might be fun.” He ran a hand through his blue hair.
“Fun? Yeah. I don’t think so.”
“But you don’t really know if it would be. All you are doing is jumping to conclusions.” He sat down in midair.
I groaned. He’d created another chair image. “Yeah, making images isn’t going to change my mind.”
He stood up and walked back toward the door. He closed us both in.
My hand went to my new watch. Was there a way to contact Kelby if I needed to? Not that I trusted him fully either.
Darto glanced at where my eyes went. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
“Would you mind opening the door?” I tried to hide my panic, but getting closed into a room with a guy I barely knew wasn’t on my top ten to-do list.
“Why? Missing Kelby?” He gave a lopsided smile.
“No. I just have no desire to be closed in a room with you.”
“Yet you are closed in with Malton all night.” He crossed his arms over his chest.
“He’s a dog.” Sentient or not that’s what he was.
“What does that matter?” Darto opened the door halfway.
“It’s different.” I figured that was pretty obvious, but since he’d actually listened and opened the door, I’d play along for a few minutes.
“Why?” Darto’s expression was deadpan.
I went with the most basic answer. “He’s not a person.”
“How do you define a person?” Darto sat back down and put his feet up. Was it an invisible ottoman or table? It was impossible to know.
“You know exactly what I’m talking about.” If he was going to play stupid, I was done with the game.
“Do I?”
I gritted my teeth. “A person. Someone like you and me.”
“Oh. Are we alike?” His eyes twinkled. As in actually twinkled with little blue sparkles.
“Not in all ways but in some. Yes.” Not that I really knew who or what he was, but our species couldn’t be all that different. Other than his weird image abilities and that sparkly eye thing he seemed pretty human to me.
“In some ways.” He leaned back. “I can’t wait to hear this.”
“I don’t know what you want to hear from me. How about you tell me so we can get this over with?”
“I want to know why we’re alike.” He put his hands behind his head.
“I feel like I’m in class.”
“Pretend you are.”
“Why? Do you have some hidden dream of being a teacher?” I started to wish Kelby or Malton would show up to get me out of this conversation. I was feeling like I’d walked into a trap or something. What answer was he looking for?
“No trying to change the subject, dear.”
“Don’t call me dear.” I leaned back against my bunk. If Darto was polite he’d have made me an imaginary chair too.
“I can’t call you Delthea or dear? Do you have something against words that begin with that sound? Or is this an Earth issue?”
“No. It’s a call me by my real name issue.”
“In other words, you are attached to Angie. Interesting.” He put his index finger on his chin.
“Why is it interesting that I like the name my parents gave me?” I’d never gone through that stage of wishing I could change my name. It had always seemed to suit me fine. It was fairly short and easy to say. People rarely pronounced it wrong.
“You have parents?”
“Yes. I have parents. Don’t you?” I didn’t think about my curt response until the words left my lips. What if he didn’t have parents? What if they’d died? Could I be less considerate? Probably not.
He shook his head “No. So there’s a hint. We don’t have everything in common.”
“I never said we had anything in common let alone everything.”
“You did. You were differentiating me from Malton. But go ahead, thanks for bringing us back to that conversation.”
I sighed. “I did not bring us back to that conversation.”
“Yes, you did.”
“Ugh. Stop. Now.” I put my hands over my face.
“Stop what exactly?”
“Annoying me.” I was stressed out enough already. I didn’t need him confusing me and making me doubt my most basic assumptions. Or maybe that was his point? Be careful about making assumptions? Probably not. He likely just wanted to annoy me.
“Stop evading me.”
“No. I am under no obligation.” I wasn’t in class. There was no grade for this.
“Who said anything about obligation? We’re friends, aren’t we?”
“I think you define friends far more loosely than I do.” I straightened up. Why was I just sitting there and dealing with him? I was free to move around.
He smiled. “Do I?”
“Friends is a term reserved for those closest to me.”
“Is Kelby your friend?”
“I haven’t known him much longer than you.”
“Yet you yearn for him.”<
br />
“I do not!” I yelled far louder than I meant to.
Darto burst out laughing. “I love this. Absolutely love this. No one has given me so much joy and entertainment in—well, never. It’s never happened. I’m glowing, aren’t I?”
He was. Not in a glow worm kind of way or anything, but there was a sheen to him that hadn’t been there before.
“This is exactly what I needed. A recharge. I owe you big time.”
“I’m so glad I can entertain you.”
“It’s more than entertainment.” He hopped to his feet.
“Okay. No more talking about that.”
“About how you feel about Kelby?” He inclined his head to the side.
“Yes. No more. I’m not into him. You are being ridiculous.”
He laughed. “You aren’t the only one with gifts. And I’m not talking about my images.”
“Oh yeah? You have the gift of bullshit, huh?”
He laughed louder. “Even if Earth-English isn’t my first language I know what that means.”
“I’ve changed my mind. Malton is more like me than you are.”
“Does that mean I can sleep in your bed then?” Darto hopped up on my bed.
“Nope. Never. Get out.”
“Stop trying to get in her bed.” Kelby strolled in.
“Ugh. Both of you stop.”
Malton slipped in between them. “We should get rid of them both.”
“Oh yeah? Go it alone?” I narrowed my eyes at the small dog.
“Yes. Well, until King comes back for me. Then you can stay with us. King will find a place for you. I’ll make sure of it.”
Starless: Half Light Page 1