Safe? With the Erebus after her? As her stomach churned, the circle inched closer. It pulled at her like a vacuum, sucking her and Katrina into it mass. Katrina screamed. The mass pushed in on them before shooting them out the other side like a slingshot.
Katrina fell to the ground with a whimper. Slumping beside her, Lindsay willed her head to stop spinning. She’d heard the alien hunters used wormholes, but had never seen or traveled through one, and hoped to never again. Holding her daughter’s head to her chest, she stroked her hair. She’d vowed to keep Katrina from knowing of this life. Running and hiding. Earth was supposed to keep her from all that.
“Mom, what’s going on?” Katrina sat up and pulled away. “Please tell me this is all a bad dream.”
“I wish.” She reached for her daughter’s hands and held them tight. “There is so much I have withheld from you for your own safety. But, to understand what’s going on, you need to know the truth.”
Katrina glanced up at her, her bottom lip quivering. “What about Dad? Will he survive? Will I ever see him again? I know he only visits on my birthdays, but still….”
She cupped her daughter’s cheek. “I’m so sorry, sweetie, but the Erebus killed him. And....” Lindsay swallowed the lump in her throat. Time to reveal the lie. “Quinn is not your biological father.”
Katrina scooted away from her. “No. How could you, Mom?” She didn’t cry or scream, simply shook her head. “How could you keep so much from me? About my life? It’s my eighteenth birthday, and I’m supposed to be considered an adult. But all I want to do is hide, crawl into some dark corner and pretend everything I’ve seen in the last hour never happened. I mean, my dad is dead, and not even my dad. The backyard looks like a roofing company had an accident back there, but I’m not even at home. I’m stuck God knows where with you, an alien. If you’d have told me about any of this beforehand, I could have been prepared for today.”
“No! Nothing can prepare you for an Erebus attack.” Folding her hands in her lap, Lindsay glanced away. She thought she’d done the right thing, protected her daughter from harm and a life on Hemera controlled by backward politics. “When you were young, I thought it was for the best. And as you got older, I wanted to tell you, but there never seemed to be a good time.”
“So, you wait until the mutant tentacle creatures attack our house, when they kill the man I believed to be my father?” Katrina stood and paced in front of a small semi-circular table. “What the hell are we, anyway? What did that guy mean calling you a princess? I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.”
“I’m sorry. I never expected today to happen. I thought I’d left it all behind. Traveled far enough away the Erebus would never come here, that the life I once knew would never catch up with me.” Lindsay let her daughter digest the little bit she’d told her. Besides, nothing she had to say would make the situation better. Instead, she glanced at their surroundings for the first time since arriving. Bryce had sent them to a tiny A-frame house with a loveseat in front of the fireplace, a desk covered in various extraterrestrial electronics—most of which she didn’t understand—and a bathroom and petite bedroom holding nothing but a bed, at the back. A mini fridge sat against the wall in between the two rooms with cupboards above it. A small bit of counter rested on the outside wall near the bathroom, with a sink and built-in oven. In the middle of the minimalist space, a ladder touched the ground, leading up to another modest room. With every surface covered in a thick layer of dust, the owners must not have visited the place in a while. Lindsay had expected to be sent off planet, but, from the logs used as walls and supports for the house, and the 1970s furnishings, she doubted they’d left Earth. How long did she have before Bryce arrived? With the zuranium blade in his possession, she and Katrina would be dead by the time he showed up if an Erebus somehow found them. Yet, she had so much to tell her daughter, and painful memories to dig up.
Katrina stopped pacing and crossed her arms. “So, who is my father? Likely some extraterrestrial based on everything else I’ve learned today.”
Lindsay sucked in a deep breath. Only Lindsay and her parents knew the identity of Katrina’s biological father. They’d sent her away to keep it that way. The Defenders received respect across the galaxy, but she wasn’t supposed to fall in love with one. “Your father is Bryce.”
“The guy who sent us here?” Katrina touched the skin at the bridge of her nose.
“Yes. I met him at your age. He was assigned to guard the palace leading up to and during the Allorama, the spring celebration.”
“Palace?” Katrina wrinkled her nose. “You mean you really are royalty?”
“I was a princess on Hemera, the oldest child of my parents. I would have been coroneted as queen when my father became ill or passed onto the afterlife. But the Erebus attacked the day before the Allorama was set to happen. My parents were killed, and I was rushed off to Earth.” Pregnant, and completely alone after her handler died on the way to the new planet.
Katrina pulled out a wooden chair and sat down, perhaps finally ready to listen. “So, how did you hook up with my real dad?”
“I made a habit of sneaking out of the palace to get away from the suitors my parents wanted me to meet.” A pattern she’d started as a child, leaving the grounds to play with the common children or disappearing into the woods to be completely alone.
“They were arranging your marriage?” Her daughter’s nose flared. “Don’t think you can try that kind of thing with me. I won’t marry someone because you tell me to.”
“And I felt the same way.” Lindsay took a seat beside her daughter. “That’s why I went out for some air. They arranged several banquets in the months leading up to the Allorama, where I was supposed to get to know my suitors to decide which I would marry. I couldn’t take any of them, with their desire for money, and unwanted groping.” She shivered at the memory of a particular instance. “Bryce stopped me at the door one night. He wouldn’t let me leave but said I could spend the rest of the evening talking with him. I learned about his training and some of his missions. And I kept going back. I spent time with him every evening, went back to his quarters when he finished his shift. I fell in love.”
“And got pregnant.” Katrina winced. “I don’t need the details.”
“Yes.” The image of the digital readout of her pregnancy test flashed through her mind. She’d cried for joy, excited to tell Bryce the next time she saw him. But her parents learned the news first, catching her with the readout in her hand. Her mother convinced Lindsay the Defender had used her for sex, likely had bragged to the rest of his squad how he had tainted the princess. Once he left for his next mission, he would forget all about her. “My parents demanded I never see him again and arranged for me to travel to Earth after the Allorama to have you, and leave you at the hospital. But the Erebus attacked first.” She’d never wanted to believe her mother’s words but couldn’t avoid the doubts they implanted in her mind. Especially when Bryce didn’t come to look for her during the attack or search for her after.
Chapter Two
Bryce kicked a stray Erebus tentacle as he passed the creature. Immediately after he’d sent Lalia and her daughter through the wormhole, three of the aliens had busted down the front door and barged inside. Without the two women to worry about, he’d downed every one of the Erebus and established a perimeter at the front of the house.
“Here’s my report.” He tapped his tablet to the one belonging to Pollux, a Warwa who’d recently joined the cleanup crew and quickly risen to the top field position.
Pollux nodded. “I heard the lost princess of Hemera lived here. Who would have guessed she’d fled to Earth?”
Bryce’s thought, too. He’d searched for her a long time after the Erebus attack on Hemera, refused to believe she’d been killed along with her parents. Without anyone finding any trace of what might have once been her body, he continued to listen for rumors of her whereabouts with every mission. But the trail had remained cold no ma
tter which planet he visited.
“Yeah, I’ve gotta get to her and her daughter.” Bryce jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “Sent them through a wormhole to the safe house. You’re okay if I leave you?”
“Yes.” Pollux pulled his tablet to his chest. “You secured the perimeter, and we haven’t seen anything for hours anyway.”
“Great, thanks.” He pulled out his wormhole maker, WHM, ready to press the button to go to Lalia.
“Major, wait!” Pollux nodded toward the back of the house. “What do you want me to do about the deceased?”
Glancing out the patio doors, Bryce sighed at the sight of the thick black puddle formerly a man named Quinn. “The only thing you can do. Clean him up and create a cover story to explain the disappearance of the family.”
“Got it.” Pollux nodded then waved.
Bryce clicked the WHM and launched himself into the wormhole. He’d left Lalia too long, had so many questions for her. Yet, he dreaded having to face her. Over the years, he’d forgotten the feelings he’d had for her, what it felt like to run his hands over her soft curves, savor her quiet moans as they made love. Seeing her again brought everything rushing back, distracting him from his purpose. And because he hadn’t been fully alert, an Erebus had gotten past him and killed the man who had made Lalia happy, had given her a family. Something he’d never had the chance to do.
Flexing his muscles, he prepared for his exit. Coming out of the wormhole left many unbalanced, but he’d traveled through often enough to remain on his feet. As soon as he shot out, the hole closed behind him. In the safe house, he found the curtain drawn across the bedroom, but soft whimpers caught his attention from the other direction. He spun around to find his former lover on the couch, her knees pulled into her chest and head resting on top of them. With every sob, her body shook. And his heart broke. He’d caused her this pain.
Bryce grabbed the blanket from the edge of the sofa and draped it over her shoulders. “My dear, sweet Lalia.” Helpless to end her grief, he sat beside her.
She shrank back into the corner of the couch, away from him. “I’m so sorry.”
With effort, he refrained from cupping her cheek, tucking the strands of hair hiding her beautiful face behind her ear. She had no reason to be sorry. He’d failed her. “No, I’m sorry I didn’t save your Quinn. I should have been more focused.”
Lalia glanced up and wiped tears from her face. “No, not for today. I mean, for all those years ago, for leaving without telling you.”
He reached out to touch her, but when her eyes widened, he rested his hand on the cushion between them. “It’s okay. Earth proved the best place for you after the Erebus attack. I’m glad you didn’t perish along with your parents and many others on your planet. Plus, you came here and fell in love, had a child with your Quinn.” A fact he didn’t like but had to accept.
“That’s not exactly how things happened.” She shook her head. “My parents forbade me to see you again, because you were a Kalaren, and a Defender. They arranged my trip to Earth before the attack.”
Bryce stood and paced to the other side of the room, needing the distance between them. Stars, he’d been blinded by lust. She was a princess, royalty, too good for him. A fact he should have considered before inviting her affections, before taking her back to his quarters. After a deep breath, he turned to face her. “I’m sorry I sullied your reputation, had you sent away. It was inappropriate for me to have any desire for you. I see that now.”
All those years of wondering what life would have been like if the attack on Hemera hadn’t happened wasted. She never would have been his. Why had he let his heart guide him? No wonder Kalaren men didn’t form any serious relationships. He had, and his emotions distracted him from his responsibilities.
“So, that’s all you felt?” Setting her feet on the floor, Lalia sat a little taller. “Desire? Nothing else?”
“It doesn’t matter what I felt. It was inappropriate.” An invisible force pressed on his chest, making it hard to breathe. “We never could have been together.”
“Yet, you promised me the universe.”
Her whispered words tore at his heart. At the time, he would have given it to her, and more. But none of it mattered.
Rushing over to the console, he sat on the wooden chair and flicked on the beacon to call in his squad. Anything to get his mind off what he’d once shared with Lalia.
“So my mom was right. You only wanted sex.”
“No!” He stood, knocking the chair back. “How could you even think such a thing? I meant every word I said to you. I loved you.” Had she lived her entire life believing what they’d had meant nothing? He wished he’d been able to do the same.
“Then why didn’t you find me during the Erebus attack? Why didn’t you come find me here?”
Bryce kneeled in front of her, placing his hands on her lap. “My squad was tasked with guarding the barracks, protecting the citizens who had made their way to us. I didn’t have a chance to get you until it was too late. But I never once believed you dead.” He glanced up at her. “And I never stopped searching for you.”
A tear slipped down her cheek. “You need to know, I didn’t love Quinn, not the way I have always loved you.”
“But, he was your partner, the father of your child.” Why would she commit to him if she didn’t love the man? She had tried to escape such a life the night they’d met.
“My ex-partner. We haven’t lived together for several years. He was only visiting to celebrate Katrina’s birthday. And he is not her father. He was a good man in the beginning, took care of us both. I thought I loved him when we married....” Her voice trailed off. “But we grew apart.”
“So, if Quinn’s not the father, who is? Who else did you hook up with on this planet?” Maybe she wasn’t the woman he’d thought. They had only kept company for a short time. And she had obviously assumed their relationship nothing more than a fling, the first of many perhaps. As it had been with his own parents in creating him.
Lalia took his hands and pulled him to sit beside her. “Bryce, I was pregnant before I was sent to Earth. That was the main reason my parents insisted I go. They didn’t want anyone to find out.”
His chest ached with the realization of the meaning of her words. “So, that means—”
“Yes, you’re Katrina’s father.”
Head spinning, he planted his palms on the cushions. He was the father of a grown daughter. All those years not knowing. If he had, he would have searched harder for Lalia, for both of them. “Cosmos!” Unsure of what to say, he wiped his hand across his face.
Lalia sat back, and smoothed the front of her tar-covered pants. “You’re mad at me.”
Reaching out, he guided her onto his lap. “No, not at all. I’m in shock. A little mad at myself for not thinking to search for you here.”
“I think my parents planned it that way.” She rested her head on his shoulder. “They didn’t want anyone to see me pregnant. I was unwed, and you weren’t of royal blood, weren’t anyone they would even consider marrying me off to. They didn’t care about my feelings, and definitely didn’t believe you cared for me. My mother told me to have my child here then leave her behind when I returned to Hemera. Though, I wouldn’t have, even if the attack hadn’t happened.”
“And over the last eighteen years, you never thought to contact the Alliance?” Time he could have spent with her, helped to raise his daughter.
Lalia sat up. “I had no idea how. And even if I did, I worried they would make me leave my daughter behind like my parents had insisted.”
“Nice to know Grandma and Grandpa didn’t want me,” Katrina said, standing a few feet away.
Bryce gulped as he stared at the young woman. Another man’s daughter when he’d first met her. Now his kin. The result of his love for her mother.
***
Lindsay hopped off Bryce’s lap. “Katrina! How did you sleep?” Her daughter had been through so much already. She didn’t
need to witness an intimate moment between her parents.
“Fine, until I heard the two of you talking.” She raised her eyebrows. “Tiny house, and the curtain doesn’t really block any sound.”
Dread washed through Lindsay, weighing down her heart. How much had her daughter heard? “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”
Katrina shook her head. “It’s fine. Information I needed to know anyway.”
“I hope this doesn’t make you think anything less of Quinn. He was a good man.” She folded her hands and sighed. “He took me in, no questions asked, gave us a good life. I loved him for it.”
“But when you looked at him—even when you seemed happy—it wasn’t the way you look at Bryce.” Katrina crossed her arms. “At least now I know I’m not the reason you two grew apart.”
“No, never.” She rushed to her daughter and wrapped her arms around her. “I did what I thought best. Tried to give you a good life on a planet foreign to me. But I couldn’t be the wife Quinn wanted.”
“I wondered, when you told me you were getting divorced. I mean, you guys never had a fight. Even Angie’s parents, who had the best relationship, still fought.” She pulled out of Lindsay’s arms. “I wish you’d told me the truth earlier, so today hadn’t come as such a surprise. Finding out I’m not from this planet, that the man who rarely visited wasn’t really my dad? Happy birthday to me.”
“I wish I’d known, too.” Bryce stepped closer, the contortion of his face revealing his discomfort. “I would have been there for you. Helped to raise you.” Leaning forward, he attempted to hug Katrina.
She backed away. “Whoa. I know you’re my biological father, but you’re still a stranger. Give me some time.”
He nodded, but the slump of his shoulders couldn’t hide his hurt. Lindsay yearned to do something, repair the relationship kept secret from both of them for so many years. They both knew now. No more secrets. Yet, she worried how life would change. Her life on Earth over, where would she go? Would Bryce take Katrina from her?
BRYCE (Galactic Defenders Book 1) Page 2