Eventually, we had to get up to clean ourselves in the small, cold room, but even that didn’t dampen the warm, tender mood between us. I was certain that Daria felt a hint of hesitation when I pulled her back in my arms when we settled down to sleep, but she surrendered quickly. Even if her mind hadn’t accepted it yet, her body knew it was safe.
I wanted to sleep too, we’d need all the rest we could get for the battle up ahead. My mind was stuck on the obstacles still waiting, whirling with thoughts on the problems we still faced. Daria didn’t have all the proof she needed, though what she had was a good start. What would she plan to do to get the final part? And how were we going to leave this safe house? I was confident they couldn’t find it, but we had risked a signal. If the Dragnell or Praxidar were listening, theymighthave picked it up. Unlikely but… it was possible.
I thumbed my communications device back on and was instantly bombarded by a scolding from Callum. I waited until he took a deep breath between sentences before butting in. “I know, Callum. It’s a big risk. But wouldn’t you do anything for your Tally when you find her?”
That shut him up, and in whispers so as not to wake Daria, I tried to hash out future options with my handler. That he’d have to come to us with the ship was a given, I just couldn’t tell him where we’d be. I didn’t know yet. “Dawn is in a couple of hours,” he warned me. “After that, I can’t fly until sunset. You’d be on your own.”
I knew that, but Daria was as resourceful and skilled as I was. Between the two of us, we’d figure it out. With Callum waiting in the wings, watching over us as we rested, I surrendered to aquick nap too. I’d need all my energy to keep up with my mate for the next few hours, I was sure of that.
Chapter 14
Daria
I was warm when I woke up, which never happened when I was forced to crash in this safe house. The place was damp, cold, and usually left me chilled until I could warm myself elsewhere. Not this time. Not with Killian wrapped around me, one arm beneath my head, the other around my waist. Even with his legs, he hugged me, his thigh pressed between mine very intimately. No more intimate than what we’d gotten up to a few hours ago, but… I didn’t normally do the whole hugging and cuddling thing. I showed them the door as soon as we finished, no exceptions.
With the entire city looking for us, I couldn’t very well kick him to the curb, though, could I? That was the only reason he was still in bed with me. And the cuddling was just for warmth. I wasn’t fooling anyone, least of all myself. Killian had gotten under my skin, and all it had taken was a look at his pretty gray eyes, the dimple when he smiled, and those big hands as he held me tight. So now what?
The love-em and leave-em lifestyle hadn’t exactly prepared me for thinking of futureswitha guy in it. Until a few hours ago, I’d been thinking my future was over entirely. If my dad found me, I would be facing even worse than enhanced interrogation techniques in a black hole. If he got his hands on Killian…
My belly clenched painfully just thinking about it. In my mind, I could already see it, the coroner’s table, the bright fluorescent lights, and the eager scientists with their knives. Rationally, I was certain it wouldn’t come to that, not so fast, at least. But theimages were hard to shake. I didn’t do well with inaction, and now that I had reasons to survive past this night, I wanted to make a plan, to start moving.
His breathing changed, that’s how I knew he was awake. It filtered through my hair and brushed my ear, warm, safe. I was always the lone wolf, but I’d come to see him as my partner, my most trusted backup. How had that happened?
“You are thinking so hard, Tally,” he murmured. “Surely, we have a little longer before we must leave? We made such a ruckus, that they should still be searching. Unless you think they have their hands full with other news…” he trailed off on a hopeful note. My mind flashed to the data we’d distributed to my contacts, to Sami, who might now be in danger herself. It was tempting to grab the laptop and connect to the internet to search for news, tempting and dangerous.
“What does it mean?” I said, instead of answering his question. Deflecting again, because I didn’t know. Only this time it backfired. I’d asked the first thing that sprung to mind, and it brought me dangerously close to that intimacy I normally tried to steer clear of.
“Tally?” Killian asked. I nodded, and my chin brushed along his arm, the contact with his smooth skin reminding me of how entwined we lay. He drew a deep breath, his chest pressing against my naked back, and I realized he was fortifying himself. Why? Was he worried I would not like his answer? I felt another clench in my belly, definitely nerves, and I bit my lip to contain the words that wanted to rush out. I wanted to take back the question, and at the same time, I really needed to hear the answer.
“It means beloved,” he said, his voice calm, serious. It was a tone that conveyed the truth and nothing but the truth; he was stating a fact. “It means lover, it means mate or wife. On Afir, my homeworld, it is a word reserved for only one person in a Terafin male’s life.”
He fell silent, his arms growing tight around my middle before they eased up. I realized it wasn’t him that caused the air to get stuck in my chest. Well, not his grip at least. Holy crap. That was the biggest bomb that had ever been dropped on me, and I didn’t know how to respond. I couldn’t even tell how it made me feel. He’d been calling me that from the moment we’d kissed back at the museum, was he insane?!
“I know,” he mumbled, his arms sliding open until I was free to move, to get up. But I was frozen, caught by a wave of unfamiliar indecision. “It’s a lot. This isn’t how humans go about such things, but my species does. We always know.” Those open arms told me he was willing to let me retreat, willing to set me free if that’s what I wanted, and it made my heart ache for reasons I couldn’t name.
I started to open my mouth to respond, to saysomething, but I couldn’t find the words. This was so out of my comfort zone, and worse, I didn’t even know the answer. Anyone but him and I would have laughed and pointed them to the door. But this was Killian, my strange golden alien that I’d been drawn to from the start, and who had helped me with what would have otherwise been an insane suicide mission. Helped me when he didn’t have any reason to and put himself at significant risk while he was at it. Nobody had ever done that for me before.
“Ah, damn it. Callum, could you work on your timing?” Killian growled suddenly. He jerked upright on the cot; it creaked so loudly that I feared it would collapse beneath us. We’d certainly not done it any favors in the wee hours of the night. I’d been saved from responding to what was possibly my strangest declaration of love, ever.
I pulled the blankets tightly around me as I sat up on the cot and watched what my alien did. Was it me, or was he looking even more unnaturally golden tan this morning? And did his eyes seem brighter? The dark ring that circled his iris was pitch black against the glowing gray of his eyes. The two were too sharp of a color to look real, as if he’d donned a pair of those fancy cosmetic contacts. It was more likely that his disguise was wearing off somehow. There was no way he could cross a street looking like this without drawing massive attention. Not good.
I had to admit, though, that it was nice to look at. He was otherworldly handsome, a little impish even with those pointed ears. Every ridge of muscle, every bulge, showed in sharp contrast beneath the LED lantern light. He didn’t get dressed either, still completely oblivious to any cold. Following his side of the conversation made it a bit more complicated, but it was my job to understand much from very little. I made do.
When he fell silent, I knew we had to move fast. “How quickly will they get here?” I asked. He didn’t even seem surprised, and though he shot me an appreciative look when I slipped naked from the blankets, he didn’t make a move. As I got dressed, he did the same, pulling on last night’s tuxedo and all the hidden gadgets he carried.
“Ten minutes. Callum says to expect a Dragnell special operations unit. We need to move fast.” That did not sound good, but it made sense, and excitement rather than fear thrummed through me. When the humans failed, they sent in the aliens, and if I could get that on film… An aggressive alien force chasing after me would be exactly what I needed to get the public on my side.
I’d yanked on jeans and a dark gray hoodie, stuffing my feet into combat boots that took a moment to lace up. Then I made sure to stuff the laptop in a backpack and took a precious moment to attach a body cam to my person. Killian didn’t tell me to hurry or to refrain from doing that. He watched me with a knowing look and a nod of approval instead. He knew my plan, and he agreed. That mattered a lot to me, far more than I expected it. After that, there was no more time to think, we could only act.
Chapter 15
Killian
I would follow Daria anywhere, and help her complete any mission if she so desired, but my heart was pounding wildly in my chest the entire time. That was close, too close. We’d slipped from her safe house and out of the alley only moments before the net closed around that location. Callum was murmuring warnings and updates in my ear that entire time. His precise location on the Dragnell forces was the only thing that kept us from walking directly in their net.
It was still dark, and the streets were now mostly deserted. Only a few stragglers were still out as they made their way home, and fog dampened the previously rowdy noise of the city. It was gloomy, and a more fanciful person might think ghosts or monsters were hiding in the gray soup that surrounded us. I was grateful for the cover it provided.
We slipped quietly through the streets, but at a fast pace, and I didn’t ask where Daria was headed. This was her plan for now: her mission to expose the truth to her people. I could only admire her for that and try to support her where I could. Even if that meant all I could do was be a barrier between her and bullets, or her and the Dragnell.
