“I never said that! And I do notthinkyou are my mate. Youare.” He rounded the table and reached for her hands. Even as mad as she was, she didn’t pull back. The heat of his skin was soothing.
Was she that touch starved?
“So what? Are you going to leave?”
“I must.” He sighed. “I crash-landed here because I was on a mission. I was very close to exposing Barvarti. I was undercover on his crew. I was discovered and managed to escape, but not before I was shot out of the sky.” His grip on her handstightened. “If Katan has reached out this way, something has happened.”
Delaney’s eyes widened. He hadn’t exactly chosen to come here, she knew that but this... After what he told her last night…
She swallowed, her throat working.
“Can… can you come back after this?”
Maelic’s eyes softened. His antennae drooped.
“Little human… I have mentioned those laws to you. Those protections for your species. It is referred to as Interdiction Protocol. I am not meant to be here, and once I leave…” He paused. “I cannot return.”
Her heart skipped. She felt a little nauseous. She wasn’t sure what to say.
What could she say?
“Del, come with me.” His voice was soft. Pleading. “I understand you must be unsure. Of course you would be. You would be leaving your planet. But you have nothing here.”
His grip on her hands tightened.
“You know you have nothing here. You have expressed that this farm will not last. I am sure you could survive…” He paused,thinking carefully. “But you deserve more than to just survive. I want you to thrive. You deserve to put yourself first. Your grandsire would have wanted that for you. If you come with me, I can show you the universe. We can enroll you in whatever studies you wa—”
“Shut the fuck up.” Del snapped at him.
She ripped her hands from his. He blinked, startled.
“What? Do you think you even know me?” Her voice climbed higher. “This is my home. This is everything. I have to do this. I have to save this place! Do you think I’m supposed to just drop my entire life? My entire home and species? This is where I’m meant to be!”
Maelic’s face closed off. He took a steadying breath.
“Del, you have nothing and no one on this planet. You are letting yourself choke to death on the fumes of your grief and misplaced sense of duty.”
Delaney jerked back.
“Oh, and you would know all about that. Wouldn’t you?” Her eyes narrowed. “I’m not like you, Maelic. I can’t just run away and traipse across the galaxy because I want to pretend I’m not wounded. You can say you do this to protect others, but that’s not what this is about. Is it?”
Maelic’s wings shifted behind him.
“You do not know what you are talking about.” His tone lowered. Colder than he’d ever directed at her.
She didn’t back down.
“No, I think I do. You haven’t even gone home once, have you? Why is that? You think running will make things better, and maybe it has. But you have never once faced your own trauma.”
“Oh? Am I to wallow in it, like you have?”
“I am not wallowing! I am doing the right thing by my family.”
Maelic snorted. Shook his head.
“No. You are hiding away in this old cabin and pretending that you can fix a situation that has been building since you were a child. You are being a fool.”
Del’s eyes widened.
