by Jody Wallace
Gregori shrugged, not taking his gaze off Adelita.
“I mean,” Adelita said, “I’m on you, Ship, as in on board you, and I fully appreciate the use of your clinic. Should there be reimbursement required, I am fully insured by American Universal and my deductible was met earlier this year.” She wondered if insurance would pay out for her missing digits. She’d have gotten more if she’d lost a leg, but she was happy not to be in that situation.
Then again, American Universal had had its headquarters in San Francisco. She probably wouldn’t be getting anything.
As for the digits…well, she was still not going to look.
Gregori inclined his head, a smile flickering at his lips. “We’ll talk later, Adelita. For now, all that matters is you’re well. And before you ask, any Terrans who wish it will be allowed to debark in due time. Ship has elected to remain in orbit during Terra’s difficult adjustment period.”
His speech sounded rehearsed, replete with a wealth of information he wasn’t sharing. She could read it all over his face. Politics. Code. Undercurrents. Evil machinations by a sentient computer. But it was what she’d read in the way he’d held her—the confident grasp, the desire, the lack of despair—that told her what she wanted to know.
“We aren’t being tossed in prison,” she guessed.
“I’ve been told the president of the United States wishes to speak with you. As do half the leaders on your planet. I don’t believe they intend to put you in prison.”
“That sounds interesting.” And it wasn’t something she could wrap herself around right now, not when he’d avoided her real question. “What about you?”
“I have been somewhat…demoted,” he answered with a wry smile. “But no, I won’t serve any jail time.”
She’d never been one to beat around the bush. Not in the classroom, not in life. She’d never backed down from a challenge, even when she suspected it was too much for her. Like, say, saving the world.
If something was broken, she was a fixer, and why shouldn’t she be? Those who could, must do.
So she told Gregori what would be happening instead of waiting for him to say it. “We’ll be staying together.”
“Yes,” he agreed, a lightness in his voice.
“On Terra,” she continued. His lightness buoyed her like joy. Like happiness. Like an apocalypse cut short.
Like an answered prayer. The Lord had heard her after all, and this was His response.
Gregori’s lips curved. “If you wish.”
“I do.” She had a bucket list, and now she had time to complete it with the man she loved, who might have a bucket list of his own. If he didn’t? Well. She could show him a thing or two. “Have I told you about Niagara Falls?”
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Acknowledgments
Thanks to Terese Ramin for the superior editing and for ensuring I neither made up too many words nor failed to explain the ones I did make up! Thanks to Natalie, Heather, and Bente for the beta reading and quotes. Long live SFR! And thanks to Monica and Billy for being friends and tour guides for my husband and me when we visited Yellowstone National Park. You know I had to get the lone buffalo in there somewhere.
About the Author
Jody Wallace writes science fiction, fantasy and contemporary romance as herself and as Ellie Marvel. Her resume includes college English instructor, technical documents editor, market analyst, web designer, and general all around pain in the butt. She currently lives in Tennessee with her family, where she works on fiction writing and occasional crocheting whenever Meankitty allows it.
Visit her at http://jodywallace.com/
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Don’t miss book two in the Maelstrom Chronicles...
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When Saffron Morin goes to the gates of the demon colony, Eden, in search of her sister, she meets an archangel who is curious one minute and hostile the next, and she ends up the colony’s “guest” against her will. Kestrel’s archangel psychic talent tells him the human woman’s life is in danger. Despite her family’s association with poachers who hunt archangels for their valuable feathers, he vows to save her life. Enemies by birth, lovers by choice, they give in to growing attraction as days pass. In order to find redemption, the Collector’s daughter and an archangel must first find each other.
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THE QUEENS WINGS
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FBI dragon Reed’s disdain for humans can’t mask the magnetic attraction he has for Carolyn, but when she tells him she’s going to shift into a dragon he thinks she’s crazy. A female hasn’t been hatched, or shape shifted, in over a thousand years. He’s proven wrong after Carolyn shifts and is named the new Queen on the block. When the Cult of Humanity kidnaps Carolyn to sacrifice her, Reed must face his fears—and feelings, racing to save the woman he realizes he can’t live without.
Table of Contents
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Acknowledgments
About the Author
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