“Right. So we should be getting commendations for this. Especially N’kal. He’s not a cop, not even on Xalan; he risked more than I did today. I was just doing my job.”
Steve scoffed.
“You’re both lucky you weren’t arrested. The local authorities are pissed, and my bosses aren’t too keen on what you did, either. Can you imagine the absolute shitshow that would happen if the Xalanite heir had been hurt or killed in the crossfire?”
A low growl rumbled in my throat. It was not Timber’s fault that I was endangered. I wanted to see the panel, not her. The entirety of the morning’s events were due to my choices. It had been my wish to see the panel, and it had been my decision to remain inside the auditorium to aid Timber in apprehending the AXL fiends.
I surged to my feet, food forgotten as I made my way to the bathroom. I was not about to let Timber take the brunt of the blame in this. I pounded on the closed door with my fist, shouting to make myself heard to Agent Peterson.
“The Xalanite heir is his own person and is perfectly capable of making his own choices in his life. I do not like your implications that Timber is in any way at fault.”
The conversational lull lasted so long that I wondered if Timber had disconnected the call. I waited outside the bathroom door until the lock clicked and she emerged, the phone still at her ear.
“Let me guess,” she said, leaning against the door frame, “you heard everything.”
I nodded. “Xalanite hearing is excellent.”
“Figures.” She took the phone away from her ear and pressed the screen. “Well, Steve, since he can hear it all anyway, might aswell put you on speaker. Chew us both out at once, save yourself some time.”
“Has he been able to overhear us this whole time?”
Timber cast a wry grin at me. “Probably.”
“Yes,” I said, “I have.”
Soft cursing came from the phone’s speaker.
“Well, then I guess it’s pointless to try to have a private conversation around him. I’ll have to notify my superiors. I bet there have been numerous potential breaches here because of that little tidbit that no Xalanite ever bothered to relay to us.”He chuckled.“Fuck. I wonder just how much intel has slipped because we were stupid enough to think none of them could hear us.”
I found that humorous. While I doubted any Xalanites had hidden this racial ability from the humans on purpose, it likely had been quite entertaining to any of us who had been, as the humans say, within earshot of a sensitive conversation.
“If it is any consolation, Agent Peterson, I do not usually pry with intent, nor do most Xalanites. We simply can hear better than humans.”
“The better to hear you with, my dear,” Timber muttered, shaking her head. “Anyway, so we’re in deep shit. I get that. Fine. I still wouldn’t have done things any differently. There were dozens of innocent civilians in that room. If N’kal hadn’t thought fast and pulled the fire alarm, things could have gone a lot differently. A lot worse.”
“Look, I’m not saying I disagree. My superiors don’t quite see it that way, though, and I’ve just gotten out of a very long departmental meeting about the incident. The Xalanites here are up in arms, too. They recognized N’kal from the video footage that’s all over the news, and they’re blaming us for putting him at risk. I doubt any of them are under the assumption that he made his own choices, and I doubt we canconvince them otherwise. Short of holding a press conference with N’kal telling his side of things, they’re just going to continue to blame us humans for it. And before either of you get a wild hare to do just that, let me stop you right now. Wecannothave you in the public eye right now. Messages from Xalan are getting heated, and even your own delegate, Q’on, can’t calm down your dad.”
I scowled at the mention of my father. He had not wanted me to visit Earth at all, especially not prior to my military duty. I would not have met Timber had I listened to him, would not have found my bonded mate.
“Your people are in contact with King Jiinal, Agent Peterson?” I asked.
“Yeah. Well, our director is. Everything between them gets filtered down through the proper channels.”
“I wish you to tell him that I will not return to Xalan. I have decided to stay on Earth. I will go to school here, and I will obtain employment after.” I looked into Timber’s green eyes, holding her gaze. I wanted her to see my resolve, to see that I meant my words. “I renounce my claim to the throne of Xalan. He will have to find another heir. I do not care who.”
Timber frowned. “N’kal, your friend hasn’t had much time to try to arrange for your papers to go through. Are you sure you want to cut yourself off before she gets the chance to get all that ready for you?”
“I do not care. I will get papers on my own. I am an adult; of proper age to choose my own destiny. I am not beholden to my father or anyone else.”
On the other end of the phone, Agent Peterson sighed.
“This is not going to go over well, but I’ll relay the message.”
“Good.” Before Timber could say anything further, I pressed the red circle on the screen as I had seen her do before, disconnecting the call.
“You do realize this is going to make things extremely complicated on your home planet, right? You guysjusthad a political upheaval, and now you’re throwing a monkey wrench in what little stability you’ve managed to cobble together in the aftermath.”
I blinked at her. “What does a primate’s tool have to do with anything?”
