“As in the police?” I frown. “The brothers said?—”
“Can you trust Killan to tell you the truth?”
“The brothers saidthe Guild won’t have Earth listed in its database because Earth is a protected planet,” I say, speaking over the top of her.
The Guild has strict rules about species with advanced space travel contacting species that have yet to travel beyond their galaxy. Nobody was supposed to have visited Earth, let alone abducted three Humans (four if you count Chloe, which I don’t).
“Even if the Guild has another, top-secret database where it keeps the location of protected planets, it’s not going to tell us the coordinates because we asked nicely. It’ll ban us from ever returning because we’re too much of a risk. We know too much.” I shake my head. “If we’re going to get home, we can’t involve the police.”
“God, Lydia!” She gives me ayou’re so stupidglare that sends tendrils of anger uncoiling their way through my veins. “Why are you listening to Killan? He’s obviously lying to you.”
“No, he’s not.” He’s a bastard, sure. That doesn’t make him a liar.
“How are you so naive? It’s obvious he doesn’t want you to leave.”
I grit my teeth. “What are you talking about?” My panties were so not worth this bullshit conversation. I knew Chloe would try taking advantage of my desperation, and I was right. I just can’t understand what game she’s playing.
“You’re so—ugh!” She lets out a frustrated sigh and paces a turn of her near-empty room. “It’s so obvious that Killan doesn’t want you to leave. He wants to keep you all to himself. That’s why he told you it’d be impossible to find Earth.”
“You’re being ridiculous. Killan absolutely doesn’t want me?—”
“I’ve seen the way he looks at you. It’s like you’re a Birkin bag.”
“I don’t even know what that means.” I turn to leave. “I knew this would be a waste of my time.”
“It’s true,” she calls after me. “Pay attention for five seconds and you’ll see it for yourself. Then, you’ll come rushing back to me, begging me to get you onto that Freighter.”
“The Guild isn’t going to help you,” I remind her, confident she’s wrong.
Killan doesn’t want me. Quite the opposite. He can’t wait for me to leave.
He has no reason to lie. Right?
Chapter Five
Killan
Taking my shoes off in the passageway, I creep into my bedroom. Lydia has left the bathroom light on, and it outlines the partially closed door, leaving thick shadows over the bed. Exhaustion pulls at my body, but I do not rush. Instead, I step slowly, keeping my movements measured so as not to wake the female.
She sleeps every night in my bed, but she is not mine.Not mine,I silently repeat, a mantra designed to harden myself against the weakness that always seems to settle over me at the end of a long day, when I am so tired my mind threatens to gift my imagination license to roam through the impossible.
Lydia has her back to my side of the bed. One hand is cupped under her temple, and her shoulders are hunched. Even asleep, she is guarded—against Ril II. Against me.
Her hairs fan out behind her, and I am bending over the bed, a hand outstretched before I stop myself.
She rolls over, and I straighten so fast my shoulders crack.
“You are awake,” I say dumbly.
“Yeah.” She sits up, resting against the headboard. “I think we should talk.”
“No.” I speak my first instinct, lying down with my back to her.
“Bloody hell, Killan. What do you mean,no?” There is the sound of her hands hitting the mattress, then she is pushing at my shoulder, trying to turn me.
I refuse to be moved. “I mean no.” Every time we talk, I say something stupid, or she misunderstands my meaning, and we end up in another one of our arguments. I do not have the energy for that tonight.
The mattress creaks as she climbs off the bed. A moment later she is standing at my side, arms crossed, glaring down at me. A thin strip of light from the bathroom falls across her face, illuminating her bright eyes.
