Janae's eyes got wide, and she looked like she was about to freak out. “What?”
“She was right there, and when the pad gave out, she fell, along with a few others.” She choked on the words as she said them, and damn, those tears came out anyway. She tried to hold them back but she couldn’t.
It was just too much.
The final bolt flew loose, having to tell Janae.
Janae covered her mouth. “I can't... That's just...”
Khalzin put his arm around her. “I am sorry your friend is lost too.”
Adryel wiped her eyes.
Stron took a step toward her and put his hand on her shoulder. “I am sorry about your friend.”
She patted his hand. It was a nice gesture, considering how much his grumpy—not to mention shapely—ass made her nuts before. “Thanks for that.”
“What are we going to do?” Adryel asked. “How are we supposed to leave?” She looked at Stron, who was the one who seemed to have taken over, or at least was working with the ones in charge because everyone was asking him what to do.
Not that she was watching or anything.
Nope.
Not her.
“You're going to stay here. We are securing everyone’s residences where we can keep all of you safe and protected,” Stron said. “We have an embassy for the Galactic Alliance. There is plenty of room there for you to reside, and we can make sure all of you are safe.”
“For how long?” Adryel asked.
“As long as necessary.”
“What about the experiment? The exchange program?” Adryel asked.
Khalzin glanced at Janae. “I think we'll have to put it on hold for a while.”
Janae met his gaze and nodded.
“So we’re stuck here.”
“It could be worse,” Janae said.
Adryel glanced to one of the windows, where she could see some of the jungle green.
“It could be a lot worse.”
11
STRON
Stron stepped onto the lift with Khalzin. His friend had reached out to him after he'd left the landing area. Stron had barely been able to retire to his home and get out of his formal garb before Khalzin had asked him to meet at the Galactic Alliance Embassy.
He wanted to arrange a special transfer for his mate. To have her friend, Adryel, in his building, so they could be close and have that relationship.
Adryel.
She kept falling into his orbit. It seemed she was everywhere from the moment he saw her.
In fact, he headed now to fetch the bright red-haired female and bring her to Khalzin's building. While the embassy had many residences available, it wasn’t enough to house everyone, so some were moved to different residential apartments in the vicinity.
