“What are you talking about? You aren’t even real.”
He lifted my hand and held it on his cheek. “We sent the life sign data to the prison system ourselves so no one would be suspicious. No one can ever know what we did today.”
“What?” I finally opened my eyes to find his big, gorgeous face hovering, looking deeply worried.
“I am here. Helion and I made a bargain once more.”
“What was the deal?” Hope blossomed in my chest. Could this be happening?
“Like with Reji, he arranged to fake my death.”
“And? What did he want?”
“A clean conscience, I believe. He said he had enough blood on his hands already.”
No doubt about that. Asshole. Asshole. Asshole. “I want to claw his eyes out.”
Kovo, my mate, smiled at me. “I can never return to Atlan again, nor any Coalition planet which the I.C. monitors.”
My lungs were getting hot. I was breathing too fast. Nothing made sense. “So where are you supposed to go?” Was he going to leave me again? Go to some distant galaxy? Run away and hide?
“I’m going home with you, to Earth.”
“They don’t monitor us?”
“No. Not like they do the more advanced planets. On Earth, I can melt into the population and get very, very lost.”
I sat up a bit straighter and looked my mate in the eyes. “Are you telling me that you faked your death and didn’t tell me?” I was going to kill him. And Helion. And Warden Egara. “Did my family know?”
He shook his head. “Only Max. I needed him to make sure you didn’t do anything foolish.” He placed a hand on my leg and moved it around as if checking my recent injury.
“Like jump from two stories up and break my leg?”
“Exactly like that. What were you thinking? You could have broken your neck.”
“I wasn’t thinking. I had to get to you. I had to save you.” I cried. Laughed. Cried some more.
“You already did. My mating fever was severe. I would not have lasted even a few more weeks. You found me, you claimed me, and you accepted my beast. That is what saved me. My bargain with Helion would not have been possible if I had not already been mated to you.”
“Does this mean I can’t hate him anymore? I was really getting good at it.” I sniffed, not quite ready to let that one go.
He chuckled. “Many people have that particular talent.”
I wiggled out of his arms and stood between his legs. I wrapped my arms around his neck and breathed him in. “Why didn’t you tell me?” This was the question that hurt the most. He knew I was going to suffer, and he had done it anyway.
“You saw the news people, those that chase gossip. Your reaction had to be real. Authentic. I am sorry my love, but I could not tell you.” He gave a command and the normally bare wall next to us transformed into a giant television screen. And there was Kovo’s face, followed by an exciting retelling of today’s events. When they got to me, to my scream, my jump from above, the way I lunged at Helion, there was no doubt it was real.
I had to look away. “Turn it off.”
The screen went blank immediately and I had to spend long minutes calming down again. Watching it, seeing it brought up every memory and emotion. The pain. Anguish. Despair.
“I never want to see that again.”
“Then you never shall. Please, love, tell me you can forgive me. I had to protect you and my brother. I could not fail. If even one of my enemies, or one I.C. officer suspected your reaction was false, thought, even for a moment, that I might be alive? You would be in danger. Reji would be in danger. I could not allow that.”
“So you hurt me.”
“Forgive me. I had no choice.”
