The Terafin were advanced, but we were just a small nation in the Alpha Quadrant. The Dragnell and the Praxidar were our biggest threats, and we’d heard far too many rumblings that theywere looking to expand. My government didn’t want them to expand to Earth. Such a populated planet would provide endless bodies to start a war. One we might very well lose, and at Earth’s cost.
She relaxed in my grip, her expression turning thoughtful rather than suspicious or mutinous. “So you’re the good alien? And you’re here to help? I’m supposed to believe that?” Her dubious tone made me want to smile again, and this one I didn’t restrain.
“Iamone of the good guys. I’ll prove it.”
Chapter 7
Daria
My legs were wobbly when Ian let go of me to set me back on my feet. Without my heels, he towered over me, his wide shoulders looming, the gold of his hair glowing in the lights. I was starting to see it more now, the alien parts of him. His cheekbones were too sharp, and that tan of his was too golden, actually holding hints of a glimmer like he was a precious gemstone. Or covered in pixie dust.
I wanted to believe in him. Every instinct, gut feeling, whatever you wanted to call it, told me to do so. How could I, when he was the very thing I’d come here to fight? Whoever was talking in his ear, his handler, they’d informed him of a rogue CIA agent, and that was me. Ian was right about that, I had gone off the reservation to start my quest for the truth. If he knew, others knew. No wonder I was receiving death threats and had received immense scrutiny the moment I stepped inside the museum this evening.
“How are you going to prove it?” I asked him. My fist closed tightly around the pin with the data; it was my lifeline. With that thing, I could hopefully expose what the government was up to and maybe put an end to it before it was too late. He was right about one thing. If they knew I was the thief, though technically I wasn’t, I would never get out of here with it. Not without help.
“By saving your life, for starters. My analyst already confirmed the data, it proves an alliance is forming called the UAR. Praxidar, Dragnell, and humans. If we don’t stop it, humans willbe endless fodder for their war machine, and my planet will be annexed.” Well, when he put it that way, it did sound like we would be likely allies. The enemy of my enemy and all that.
I shrugged out of his arms, although I didn’t want to leave that safe circle of protection. Distance was what I needed to figure out what my next course of action should be. We couldn’t linger in this hallway much longer, any second risked the discovery of the missing pin.
The two alien species he’d called out by name matched the intel I had on this situation. I knew my friends had fought with agents for the UAR, and with a Dragnell just before Stella escaped with her sexygoodalien into outer space. My breathing faltered as I considered that. My friend had found an alien in her chimney last week and rescued him. It prompted me to start this mission to stop the formation of the UAR.
“United Alliance of Races, that sounds inherently wrong, don’t you think?” Ian pushed. “It’s not an alliance if the humans are made to be the foot soldiers. That’s what’s going to happen. The Praxidar are few and weak, but ever so smart, and the Dragnell are all brutal purists…”
Yes, I knew those things too. I’d read enough secret data to know those facts. I just hadn’t gotten any proof that would convince the public. Something that would want to make people stop this before it started. “Okay, what do you suggest?” I glanced at my fist, curled tightly around the data. “You know what’s on this? If we leak this to the media, will that convince them aliens are here? And they’re looking to use us for their own gain?”
Ian’s features grew tight, his gaze turning inward for a moment. I appreciated that he took his time to answer, but when he gave a subtle head shake, my stomach plummeted. “That they are real, yes. That they are here for an alliance? Also yes. I don’t believe it’s enough to turn the public against it.”
“Come, we must try to leave this place,” he added, and his hand found the small of my back. I felt numb as I let him lead me through the art-lined hallway back to the party. I’d pinned all my hopes on this data. If it wasn’t enough, then what options did I have? Leaking the data would prove that I had turned against my government, I would not be safe anywhere.
Not on this planet, and yet, I had to try.
Chapter 8
Killian
Daria was in turmoil as I led her back into the festivities. She paused at the doorway to slip her heels on her dainty feet, and she visibly pulled herself together, a mask sliding in place over her pretty face. I saw how much she put on a persona when she stepped into the limelight and rubbed elbows with the rich. I knew her intimately, not intimately enough yet, but I knew so much more. I knew this wasn’t her truth. She wasn’t showing herself to these people, but I’d seen her, and I was honored.
“Oh, it’s almost midnight,” she murmured when she’d politely brushed off some couple in fancy clothing, the woman studded with glittering diamonds. She gestured with a graceful hand toward the brightly lit, cheerful screen on the far side of the dance floor. Huge numbers were showing the time, and they indicated only a few more minutes were left of this calendar year. That would be the perfect moment to slip away, everyone would be distracted.
A waiter popped up at my elbow, offering more tall glasses of pale, bubbling drink. I started to brush him away, but Daria snatched up two glasses with a grateful smile. “We’ll stand out if we don’t have these, trust me. Didn’t they teach you how to read a room and blend in?”
I took the glass she held out to me with a mild grimace, worried I’d have to actually sip the drink. That made her laugh, which eased the sting of her earlier criticism. “I got the data, didn’t I?” I said. I’d slipped it from the general’s coat without anyonenoticing. They still hadn’t from the looks of things, because the male was mingling at the party and his guards looked no more alert than before.
“True,” she agreed, but her eyes had left my face to carefully scan the crowd. It had gotten louder in here since last time, and people were converging in front of the large screen with the countdown. It wasn’t long until the big moment everyone was waiting for, and that’s when we needed to move. I scanned the exits and the guards that flanked them as I contemplated our best course of action.
Daria took me by surprise when she led me closer to the crowd, she even waved at the general when he glanced our way. It was not exactly inconspicuous, but nobody saw anything amiss by the way she held my hand. The little holographic decoy I’d swapped the general’s pin for was doing its trick, but it wouldn’t last much longer.
I could take the guards at the door, just a pair of them. If they blocked our way, I’d strike them at choice points and they’d be disabled long enough for us to run, without them coming to serious harm. Callum was waiting not far away. We’d have to cross a few roads and then go through an access door up to the roof of a building. Our small vessel had silent engines and technology that hid it from any detection technology the humans had, though we were still visible to the naked eye. The cover of darkness and the fireworks would do the rest.
“Almost,” Daria whispered, and her eyes went from the countdown to me, big, luminous, and a gentle brown that could never naturally occur among my species. “I’m trusting you, Ian. You have no idea how much. Don’t disappoint me.” The wordswere a heartfelt plea, filled with a hint of dismay that she’d even uttered it.
“It’s Killian,” I said, unable to let that stand without her knowing my full name. “And I won’t let you down, Tally. Never.” A promise that a human might consider too much, based on the research I’d done on them, but Daria just nodded.
Around us, people started counting out loud, their voices blending together in one bright, harmonious chorus. I began to pull on her small hand in mine, but she resisted, and then it was too late. As everyone shouted ‘Happy New Year!’ she caught me by the lapel of my jacket and pulled. Our mouths connected and my senses spun and swirled, trapped in a moment of heat and passion.
Vaguely, I was aware of others reaching for their partner for a similar embrace. No, not quite the same. Ours was considerably more passionate, fireworks exploding between us that were mirrored in the skies outside. When others laughed and let up, Daria clung to me and I let her. I wanted to linger as long as she let me. Our safety and our mission be damned.
When she pulled back to the sound of laughter and several bemused looks, I realized that we’d drawn far too much attention. Why had she done that? Not that I objected to kissing her, not at all, but we’d missed our window of opportunity. I scanned around us for options while my female clinked her glass against mine and loudly started well-wishing those around us.
