“It’s not that bad, and I refuse to give any more money to those money-hungry doctors. Not when they’ll only tell me the same thing.”
Dad’s aversion to doctors is as legendary as his stubborn streak. Sometimes, there’s no telling him anything. I rest my head gently on his shoulder, and he circles an arm around my back.
“I wanted to find out how you’re coping with everything. It’s a lot to deal with,” he says.
“It is, but I’m doing okay. As well as can be expected, I suppose.”
He tilts my chin up, and our eyes meet. “Did you ever suspect, Victoria?”
I shake my head. “Honestly, no, because there was never any indication that I wasn’t human. Apart from never being ill, but I put that down to good health.”
“We went to great lengths to ensure you were kept away from medical checkups and routine blood exams, but it’s been easy to forget otherwise, because to us you’ve always just been our daughter. Where you came from didn’t make a bit of difference to us.”
I lean in and kiss his cheek. “I love you and Mom so much, and I can’t thank you enough for all you’ve done for me.”
“It’s been our privilege, sweet pea. You’ve been the light of my life from the first second I laid eyes on you, and there isn’t anything I won’t do to keep you safe.” He pats the top of my head, drawing a long breath. “I know those boys are here to protect you, and I believe them when they say they mean you no harm, but if they hurt you in any way or allow anything to happen to you, they will have to deal with me.” There’s a rigid slant to his jaw. “And I’ve told them that to their faces.”
I wish I’d been a fly on the wall for that conversation. I can only imagine how that went down.
I nuzzle into Dad’s side, carefully snaking my arms around his waist. “Thank you, Poppa. Thank you for always looking out for me.”
When Jensen pulls up outside my house Monday morning, I’m a giant ball of nerves. I’ve never gone an entire twenty-four hours without some form of contact with my boyfriend, so I’m jittery as I haul ass into his truck. He didn’t attempt to contact me either, but I know he’s blaming himself for Jack’s attack, and I should’ve found a window to at least send him a message.
I lean over the console, circling my arms around his neck and kissing him. He returns my kiss eagerly, and I can almost physically feel the stress leave his body. “Morning, baby,” I murmur, resting my head on his shoulder.
“I missed you yesterday.” He bundles me in his embrace.
“Same,” I say, even though it’s only partly true, and that exacerbates my guilt to new levels.
He thrusts the engine into gear, and we set off. An uneasy silence fills the space between us. “Am I losing you, Tori?” he asks after a bit, once we are out on the main road, heading toward school.
“Of course not.” I knot my hands in my lap, offering him a tentative smile.
“You don’t sound convinced.” He glances anxiously at me.
“I’ve a lot on my mind right now.”
“Like what?”
“Just stuff.” I peer out the window, wondering how long I can keep this up.
He sighs, and a new layer of stress filters through the air. Tears sting my eyes as the realization hits me. Reaching over, I caress his cheek with the tips of my fingers, leaning in to kiss his prickly jawline. I sniff, willing my tears to subside. “I love you, Jensen. I always will.”
His eyes pin me in place for a second. “Why are you on the verge of tears?”
I shrug, unable to explain it, and I’m fed up of lying to him.
When it’s clear I’m not going to answer, he shakes his head, gripping the steering wheel tighter with one hand and angrily flipping the radio on. No words are traded for the rest of the journey, driving an awkward wedge between us. When we reach the school, he parks and turns to face me. Determination is written all over his face as he unexpectedly hauls me over the console and into his lap. He nuzzles his head in my neck, and I rest mine on his shoulder. My soul bond is profoundly unhappy, the line snapping out, pulsing with frenetic energy, and I know the guys are close by. I wrap my arms around Jensen, clinging to him, because I know all this is coming to an end. Tears prick my eyes again, and this time I can’t stop them from falling.
Jensen tips my chin up. “I wish you’d tell me.”
“I wish I could,” I whisper, trying to stop crying, but the sharp pain jackknifing through my chest won’t let me.
Concern filters through the connection, and I stiffen, my tears freezing in place. I’ve never felt emotion through our bond before—the connection is apparently evolving. I look out the window, spying the guys lined up outside their SUV a few rows down, staring at Jensen’s truck. They look like some otherworldly avengers with their intense expressions, brooding good looks, and stiff body language.
Jensen’s tone is cutting when he speaks. “What do they want with you, Tori?”
“To keep me safe,” I whisper, praying he’ll drop it even though I understand he won’t and that this isn’t going away any time soon.
“What does that even mean?” Jensen’s eyes penetrate mine.
I open the door and slide out. “That they’re not the bad guys.” It’s weak, but it’s the best I’ve got.
“I saw you leaving with them yesterday morning. Were you with them all day?” I fix the straps of my bag over my shoulders, zipping my coat up to my chin as I nod. Jensen climbs out, locking the truck. He turns to face me, his skin looking a little green. “Doing what?”
His tone is laced with suspicion, and I hear the unspoken question behind the spoken one. “Not what you’re thinking. I spent most of the day with Maddox in their gym. He’s teaching me self-defense techniques, so I can protect myself.”
“I can teach you self-defense. You only had to ask.”
“Maddox has, like, a black belt or something,” I say, trying to stick to the story I concocted in bed last night.
“I’m not good enough for you now, is that it?” He yanks the zipper up on his jacket, his eyes simmering with anger and jealousy as he walks away.
I run after him. “Jensen, wait. That’s not it.”
He slams to a halt. “Then what is it, Tori?” Hurt ricochets across his face, and I hate that I’m doing this to him. “What is it with you and them? I’m rattling my brains trying to think what it is, but I cannot, for the life of me, understand what the hell is going on around here. All I know is you changed the instant they showed up, and I want to know why. If you won’t tell me, I’ll find out by myself.” Then he storms off, leaving me and my shattered heart in pieces on the sidewalk.
“Are you okay?” Beck asks. It’s the last period before lunch, and we’ve a free class, so we’re in a secluded nook of the library working on our science project.
“Not really,” I admit truthfully.
“Is it Jensen?”
I nod, hating how tears automatically well up.
“I’m sorry.”
“Me too.”
The air is thick with emotion as we return to our books.
After fifteen minutes of going over and over the same page a million times, I give up. I can’t concentrate today. “Beck?” I whisper, and he looks up. “Could we go for a walk outside? I’m too wired to study.”
He immediately closes his book, stuffing it in his bag. “Of course, whatever you need. Let’s go.”
My heart melts at his willingness to drop everything for me, and I can’t help grabbing him into a hug. “Thank you,” I whisper, quickly letting him go when his muscles tense up underneath me.
We shove our bags in our lockers and head outside, wrapped up in coats, scarves, and gloves. The weather is almost Baltic at this time of year, and I smell another snowfall on the horizon. “So, your gift is super memory,” I say, rubbing my hands to keep warm. “How exactly does it work?”
“My brain has huge capacity for retention and storage of information, beyond what is humanly possible and beyond the
reaches of most Verronian’s brain ability.” He says this real matter-of-factly, as if it’s normal. “Visualize the largest hard drive, picture that in your head, and then imagine that’s what I’ve got up here,” he adds, tapping the side of his skull.
“Okay. Think I got it. So, basically, if the guys want to know something, they ask you instead of Googling it?”
He chuckles. “Kinda, yeah.”
We walk around the rear of the school building, automatically picking up our pace as the chill in the air turns even colder. “Why are we bothering doing our project the traditional way then? Don’t you just have the knowledge in your head?”
He looks surprised. “You’d cheat?”
I shrug. “Seems like we’ve more important things to be focusing on than school, and if you can save me a few hours of study time, it’s more time to work on developing my skills.”
“True, but you were the one to point out how normalcy and routine is important.”
I sigh. “Yeah, you’re right, but a lot of things that seemed so important to me before seem utterly pointless now.” He doesn’t reply, and when I look at him, small worry lines furrow his brow. “What else can you do with your gift?”
“I can project knowledge to others, and they absorb it as part of their own memory or experience. That’s how we were able to acclimate as fast as we did once we arrived on Earth. It’s as if we’ve lived here our whole lives, as if we’ve always spoken the language, and the humans are none the wiser. We fit right in.”
I stop, taking his arm to hold him back. “Back up there a sec. Do you mean to say you guys haven’t lived here your entire lives?”
He shakes his head. “We only arrived on Earth a year ago. When we were separated as babies, you came here, but we were sent to a … special training facility on a neighboring planet. We were hidden until we were fully trained. When we were deemed ready, we were sent out to search for you. We’ve spent the last five years moving around different planets trying to locate you.”
My mind is blown. They were sent out in the galaxy, by themselves, when they were twelve? Then again, I remember how advanced I was at twelve. The teachers were quick to label me a child prodigy, but my parents resisted all attempts to push me down a certain path. Guess now I know why, and it’s another reason to be extremely thankful for Mom and Dad. They’ve been protecting my identity this whole time.
“Wow.” I tap a finger off my chin as we resume walking, my mind conjuring more questions. “And you only figured out who I was, and where I was, after I ran into that freak, the Herassan one who wanted to kidnap me?”
A wealth of emotions flickers across his face. He stops walking, tentatively taking my arm and turning to face me. His Adam’s apple bobs in his throat as I wait patiently for him to unload whatever is on his mind. “That day was one of the best and worst days of my life,” he admits. His cheeks flush a little. “I can still feel it. The moment the connection surged to full life when you joined the bond.” An awestruck look appears on his face. “We were all speechless. For a few seconds, all we could do was stare at one another, and I knew my brothers were feeling it too—this singular moment of complete and utter joy.” His voice is choked, and his cheeks darken a deeper shade of red. “We’ve searched for you for years and then, just like that, you connected with us and we all felt you. It was an incredible moment.”
My heart swells with emotion, and I don’t hesitate, reaching out and hugging him. For once, Beck is relaxed in my arms. We don’t speak. We just stand there, in the freezing cold, hugging one another. If anyone was around to witness this, they’d think we were crazy.
“Then that euphoria gave rise to fear,” he explains, gently easing out of my arms. “And we were terrified we wouldn’t get to you in time.”
I take his gloved hands in mine. “But I was okay. I survived it.”
He nods. “You were awesome.” I blush under his praise. “Your parents cloaked your birth DNA to provide you with additional protection. It’s how you were able to stay hidden all these years. No one could detect your true identity because it lay dormant beneath your human identity. When that guy found you, his touch ignited your hidden DNA, awakening your secret memories and the knowledge your parents infused in your memory before they sent you to safety. That knowledge kept you alive that day.”
I nod, because it did. Instinctively, I knew how to protect myself. “And that wave of energy I felt, the one that nuked the power for miles, that was all me?”
“Yeah, you emitted an invisible signal that extended as far as the galaxy.”
“Shut. Up,” I screech, coming to a halt again. “How the heck was I able to do that?”
He smiles. “You’re very powerful, Tori, and you haven’t even tapped into your core strength yet.”
A shiver crawls up my spine as an ugly thought emerges. “If I sent a signal that far-reaching, then there’s no doubt those bounty hunters are coming for me.”
His smile fades. “I intercepted and blocked the signal as soon as I discovered it, and I’ve hidden your exact location, so all they know is you are on Earth, but, yes, there are people coming for you.”
I shiver all over, the reality check terrifying me, especially as it puts certain things into perspective. My heart aches at the knowledge of what I must do, and I only hope I’m selfless enough to follow through.
“Should we leave? Go somewhere no one can find us?” I suggest.
Beck shakes his head. “We’ve discussed this, but Dane believes Earth is the best location right now as it’s not simple for non-humans to roam around undetected. We assimilated because we have the knowledge and incentive to fit in, but most that’ll come here won’t care about that. They’ll be easy to spot. I am monitoring all government bodies and agencies connected with space exploration and extraterrestrial life, and I’m keeping tabs on some key players who post widely across the web—those members of the public who are fanatical about alien life, conspiracy theorists, UFO spotters, and the like. If someone picks up on anything odd and reports it or posts it online, I’ll receive the intel. I’m also monitoring satellite feeds and odd distortions in space.”
He pats my hand awkwardly, and my skin tingles even through my gloves. The connection is always at its happiest when I’m close to one of the guys. “We’ll know when someone is coming, and we’ll be ready for them.”
A chill dances over my soul, and I shiver profusely. “Do all aliens look like humans?” I ask a question that’s been playing on my mind. “Or are they shape shifters or something?”
“Some species have a similar physical appearance to humans—like us Verronians— others look absolutely nothing like humans, and there are some races who can alter their appearance to appear in human form.”
I wet my lips, composing my next question. “So, everyone looks human back on our home planet? Is that what you’re saying?”
“Yes.”
“And do we have the same lifespan as humans? The same physiological makeup?”
“Verronians have a life expectancy of two to three hundred of your human years, and while most of our biological composition functions the same way, we are not completely identical to the human form.”
I’m hung up on the whole live to three hundred years thing when the bell rings, signaling lunchtime, drawing our conversation to a close. We head back inside the building. Beck gives me a book with a leathered, musty brown-stained cover when we’re back at my locker. “This contains some of our basic histories. I thought it might help drag some of your memories and hidden knowledge to the surface. It would also be useful if you found time to read it before we start our sessions.”
“Sessions?”
He leans in to whisper in my ear, and his warm breath ghosts across my cheek, doing funny things to my insides. “Technically, I can project the histories from my mind to yours, but it takes a certain level of mind control before I can do that without overloading your brain or risking potential damage, so I have a safer way of shar
ing my knowledge with you. I can show you anything you need to know, and we’ll cover some of them in our sessions. Didn’t Dane give you the schedule yet?”
I rear back, arching a brow. “A schedule?”
He nods, clawing his hand through his hair, and I have a sudden urge to replace his hand with mine. His green eyes entrap me, and a fissure of awareness sparks between us. His muscles lock up, and that’s how I know he feels it too. He clears his throat, his cheeks flushing in what is becoming a familiar pattern. “We all have things to teach you, and time is limited, so Dane prepared a schedule for the next couple weeks. He’ll probably give it to you today.”
“Okay. I need to ask him a few things anyway.” I tuck the book in the side pocket of my bag. “Thanks for the book. I’ll start reading it tonight.”
We walk to the cafeteria together, separating once inside. I go to my usual table while Beck joins his brothers at their regular table. Kenzie has her head buried in Kylie’s shoulder, and Kylie is comforting her, rubbing a hand up and down her back and whispering in her ear. Unease spreads over me. Zara leans over the tabletop the instant I sit down. “Why didn’t you tell us about Jack?”
“What?” I ask her the question, but I look directly at Jensen. His defiant expression tells me everything I need to know. “You told them?”
“They’re your squad, and I think they’ve a right to know. Especially now Jack is officially missing. His parents reported it today.”
“That wasn’t your call to make,” I say quietly, trying to rein in my temper.
He snorts. “I didn’t realize it was another one of your dark secrets.”
I don’t like his scathing tone or the insinuation. I lower my voice so only he can hear. “I asked you not to tell them for a reason, and I can’t believe you betrayed my confidence. The Jensen I knew would’ve taken that secret to the grave.”
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