Ari stopped rocking. His mouth fell open. “Are you kidding me? You…youhad to leave Earth to find a man?“ Damn. No wonder she left. She’d been surrounded by complete imbeciles.
Crossing her arms, she slid down in her seat. Her blush deepened. “Yes… I mean, no. I didn’t leave Earth to find a man.” She sat up with a huff. “I left because an alien race somehow penetrated our city shields to not only find me but to take me off planet. I felt it not only put us in danger, but that they’d somehow let the Titans loose.”
Ari’s brows furrowed. “So, your government sent you as some kind of agent to spy on these aliens?”
Morgan pursed her lips and squirmed. “Well… not exactly. When I approached Grandfather with my concerns…”
“Grandfather?”
Her eyes narrowed. “Yeah, the Akurn I told you who saved most of the people from that scientific outpost, Rummeh, is my distant grandfather.” She raised a hand to stop him. “We can go into that later. Much later,” she mumbled. “Anyway, they brushed off my concerns, so I went ahead and joined the Zerin exchange.” She shrugged. “I figured I could investigate how they penetrated our defenses and then go back with proof of the danger they brought.”
Ari sat back, stroking his scruffy jaw as he studied Morgan. What he got out of that narrative was more than she was saying. Here was a strong-willed woman who had grown up in a society where she felt less than those around her. Someone not taken seriously, even when she brought to light a danger they might be facing. His admiration for her grew. She was a woman who didn’t let others define who she was and made things happen, with or without anyone’s permission.
For some reason, he related to her circumstances on a personal level. Was he, too, viewed as someone less than those around him? What a sobering thought. “Go on,” he encouraged with a nod.
“Not much more to tell.” She shrugged and looked away. “A Zerin caught me snooping where I wasn’t supposed to on their ship, someone who’d been secretly kidnapping woman to sell on the galactic black market.” He once again became her focus. “And through several flukes, I ended up here with the Ozevroc.”
Ari waited a beat. Just to see if she had anything to add. When she didn’t, he gave her a wide grin. He couldn’t resist ending the fairytale the right way.
“And then she met the man of her dreams and they lived Happily Ever After.”
Morgan chuckled. “You’re such a dork.”
“Yeah, well, someone’s got to lighten things up,” he quipped. “Otherwise, it’d be all dull work and no funzies.” His gray eyes narrowed. “But I still don’t understand what that has to do with me. None of that sounds familiar.”
Morgan watched his face twitch, as if he was trying to remember something. It was gone as soon as it came.
“Like I said, I’m pretty sure you’re a powerful psychic.” She took in a deep breath. Should she take a chance? Like, what choice did she have? With the ship’s systems behaving more erratically than ever and dead bodies piling up, their window of escape was rapidly closing.
“I think you’re a Titan that somehow escaped Aethralis.”
Ari’s whoop of laughter caught her by surprise. She frowned. Why was that so funny?
His deep belly laugh ended with a chuckle as he knuckled a rolling tear away. “Me, a Titan.” He snickered. “That’s rich.”
“Why do you say that?” Morgan sat straight and fisted her hand on the table facing him. “It makes perfect sense! Let’s look at the facts, shall we?” She raised her hand to highlight each point by ticking off her fingers. “You got rid of thenuteshsnare. You teleported out of this room. Not once, but twice! You have supernatural healing. Anyone else would’ve died, as broken up as you were when you got here.“ She leaned forward to make sure he saw the intent in her eyes. “And last, let’s go ahead and mention that Dreamwalk we shared.”
His bright gray eyes darkened. “Yeah, I’m all for mentioning that Dreamwalk.”
“Oh, for goddess’s sake, Ari!” Morgan slapped the table with her palm. “Get serious, would you?” Trying to keep him focused was like catching a puff of smoke with her bare hands.
“I am serious, Morgan,” Ari stated with a straight face. “I may not know much, but that’s something I know for sure.” He frowned and got a faraway look in his eyes before they swiveled back to her. “Listen, I bet you’ve got pictures of the Titans on your doohickey there.” He pointed to her multicorder. “Now see if you can find me in there.” He sat back with crossed arms. “I guarantee I’m not one of those big, dumb dickheads known as a Titan.”
Morgan pursed her lips. Why didn’t she think of that? She glared at him. It was his fault he had her so discombobulated she couldn’t think straight. Grabbing her handheld, she deftly typed in the command to bring up the images. Scouring through each one, her frown deepened. He was right. He might be a tall man, around six foot five, with a muscular build, but he wasn’t near the height of the shortest Titan at an even seven feet. And none of them had gray eyes and light-blond hair like he did.
She let out a hiss of relief. Him not being a Titan was reassuring, but she remained convinced he possessed powerful psychic abilities. Glancing at him, she narrowed her eyes. “Why did you think it was so funny when I called you a Titan?”
“Because I spent my whole life avoiding being confused with one of them.” He blinked slowly, as if he surprised himself.
“Really? You were around when the Titans were created?” How could that be? He’d have to have been alive on Earth when they were. Okay, enough of this second-guessing. “No, never mind. Just give me your finger.”
Ari’s brows furrowed. “You want me to give you the finger?” He glanced at his middle finger as if stopping it from standing at attention.
Freakin’ man. “No, notthefinger. A finger.“ She waved her multicorder at him. “I’m going to take a sample of your blood. Which I should have done when I first saw you.” See, discombobulated.
“Okay.” He held out his hand.
It only took a quick prick from the tip of his forefinger for her to get what she needed.
