“Your matedoes not possess powers?” another Eki asked as all three hoods turned to stare at Ziggy.
Hearing Zig openly referred to as mymatemade our bond shimmer with approval, but I could tell he was struggling to remain respectfully non-aggressive after the unexpected attack. Meanwhile, our hosts were clearly addressingmewith the big questions, as if my powers automatically made me the one in charge.
Commander Babygirl, reporting for duty.
I cleared my throat and stood a little straighter, desperate to salvage my rep. “On Earth, some of the population has powers while others don’t. We are not entirely sure why.”
That wasn’t completely true. We’d learned alotabout supe DNA in the past couple of years, but there were still quite a few unanswered questions floating around.
Gotta keep the franchise going.
“I have never met anyone with powers like mine before,” I added, bringing their focus back to me. “Even my parents and siblings all had…havedifferent powers.”
The two Eki in the background began whispering amongst themselves, but they kept their voices too low for my translation device to pick up on.
“And the baby has not displayed powers either?” The first Eki pointed a long finger at where Pedro was curled up inside SWOL-E’s sling, making me tense.
“N-not that we’re aware of,” I stammered, which was the truth… in a way. “We discovered the egg, and then they hatched on our ship, but we don’t know what species they are.”
“Where did you find the egg?” the one in front of me asked as they cocked their head, staring into my soul from deep within their hood.
“Stellaria,” Ziggy replied, saving me from fucking this whole thing up.
The best partner.
“Youstolefrom the Stellarians?!” they hissed while the others gasped and looked skyward, as if the infamous body snatchers might appear at any moment.
Who’s gonna tell them?
Not me…
“No,” Ziggy continued, so effortlessly cool and sexy, I almost swooned. “The egg had been abandoned near a gem dealer’s stall. Before we could attempt to find the parents, Irathians attacked the planet.”
“Irathians?” they all murmured, their confusion apparent even without being able to see their faces.
I was pumping so much pride through our bond, Iknewmy man could feel it, but when I glanced at Ziggy, his pretty blue eyes were fixed on the Eki.
So effortlessly badass.
“Yes,” he confirmed, continuing to watch our hosts closely. “It seemed like odd behavior from what we’ve heard… Unless you know otherwise?”
Space Daddy is on the case!
Hunting down undocumented intel…
Guilt gnawed at me once again as I thought of the potential intel Ziggy left behind on Marox in favor of rescuingmydumb asswhen I let a goddamn Maroxian onto the ship.
“It certainly sounds like ill-advised behavior,” the first Eki mused before glancing at the others. “Bad advice, perhaps?”
There was something off about their tone, but Ziggy shrugged, flashing that goofy jock smile from when he was undercover back on Earth. “Yeah, well, it didn’t concern us, so we grabbed the egg and flew to the nearest Muonova.”
“Why not simply leave the egg behind?” our interrogator asked.
My gaze snapped to where Ithoughttheir eyes might be. “Because it was a helpless baby!” I blurted out, breaking our script by getting emotional all over again. “Because no one else was around to protect it.”
“Because it’s what heroes do,” Ziggy quietly added, but when I glanced at him, I could tell hethoughthe was only talking aboutme.
Why don’t you see yourself the way I do, Zig?
