Gage came back on the line. “Well, sort of.”
Diesel’s head tilted toward the sky. His eyes rolled when he asked, “What else is there?”
“Um…you have a…a visitor waiting to speak to you upon your return.”
“Tell whoever it is that I’m unavailable.”
“I’ll try. But I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”
“I do. I don’t have time for a confab with anyone. This new complication with our celebrity package rules all. We’ll see you in thirty minutes or less. NW team out.”
“Copy that. Base Station out.”
Wyatt missed hearing Valene’s voice and wondered why she hadn’t made the call. Was she dealing with the person waiting to see Diesel, who was now unavailable?
He didn’t quite understand why the Indigo Smith prisoner had been gone longer than the recently de-skunked alien.
Not that he wanted any dangerous alien criminals roaming the area, but he also hoped that with still one prisoner left to find, he’d be allowed to keep his memories for the time being. Then again, maybe only one escapee left to catch meant his time with Valene would shortly come to an end. They already had another sharpshooter on the other team, the pale alien named Luther. Maybe Wyatt’s services would no longer be required. That thought deflated him until a worse one occurred.
Would they warn him or just blast him and let him wander back into his life with a year of memories gone? Which would be worse? He wasn’t sure.
Wyatt kept an eye out for Cam or anyone else putting a hand on the Defender thing strapped to all of their belts. Maybe he’d be allowed one last-ditch effort to promise to love, honor and cherish their only sister. Or perhaps not. She mentioned not wanting to leave her family. Her brothers likely felt the same. Either way, he planned to keep his guard up for the trip back to Alienn and any possible Defender blasts to his person.
After secretly spending last night with Valene, he wasn’t certain what his future held. Would Valene share that? She’d been rather adamant that their night together should remain a confidential matter between just the two of them. They’d discussed it this morning.
Then again, they all worried he might give away their bigspacealiens living in plain sightsecret, so he understood the need for a memory wipe in his future, whether they warned him about it in advance or not. But he hoped for at least a chance to speak to Valene one last time, if that was the way it had to be.
Wyatt loved Valene. It was as simple as that. So when the time came, if they did warn him about the needed memory wipe, he planned to tell them he would marry Valene. He would go to their planet two galaxies away and live there with her for the rest of his life, even if it meant his family would never know what happened to him. It would be difficult, but he was determined.
He’d barely made his way through two weeks without her when they’d broken up.
Wyatt’s life without Valene was no way to live.
“What?!” Valene’s stomach felt like it dropped to the floor. She shook her head. She refused to believe it. Wyatt would never tell their alien secret. Never. She wanted to crush and destroy anyone who could dare repeat such a despicable story.
Nova opened her mouth to repeat the worst imaginable situation in an Alpha’s world. A human, and especially Daphne Charlene, discovering their secret. Valene put her forefinger up to Nova’s lips to keep her from repeating such a wicked, vile falsehood.
“No. Don’t ever say that again. It is a lie. She’s lying.”
Nova pulled Valene’s finger away. “It was in Daphne Charlene’s mind, Valene. She doesn’t know I heard her thoughts. At least you are forewarned. I’ll admit I was pretty surprised because I always thought of Wyatt as a standup, honorable guy.” They continued up the stairs until they reached the hallway near the upstairs back offices.
Valene stopped in the middle of the hallway that led to the convenience store. “Heisa standup honorable guy.”Besides, when could he have told that woman anything?
Nova put her hands up. “I’ve never doubted that before, but you should also know that I saw more and it’s worse.”
“More? Worse? I don’t believe it! I am already well over my capacity for horrific news.”
“Well, I believe you’ll think it’s worse.”
“Are we going to do good news, bad news again? Because I’m sick to death of that game.”
Nova slumped. “Her knowing that information is a big problem for all of us, Valene. I like Earth, too, just like all of us living here do. But this is dang near cataclysmic in the realm of bad news.”
Valene straightened, took a breath and tried to still her wildly stricken nerves. “Okay. I know. You’re right. What is the worse news?”
“Inside her mind I also saw a half-dressed version of Wyatt wearing sleep pants so low that I could see his appendix scar. I’m not certain if that means the obvious, but it’s probably best for you to know before meeting up with Daphne Charlene.”
