"I thought..." He cleared his throat, and I heard the roughness there, the emotion he was fighting to contain. "I thought Teddy's father was dead."
"I thought he was, too." My voice cracked. "But he's here. He's alive. And I..." I pressed my hands to my face, trying to hold back the fresh wave of tears threatening to overwhelm me.
"Hey." Craig's hands were on my shoulders, steady and warm, and it was so like him to comfort me, even now. "It's okay. It's going to be okay."
But it wasn't. Because I could see it in his eyes—he already knew what I was going to say.
"I need to figure this out," I whispered. "For Teddy. He deserves to know his father, and I need to understand what this means."
Craig was quiet for a long moment, his jaw working. Then he nodded slowly. "I understand."
"Craig..."
"No, Ruby. I do." He gave me a sad smile. "I always knew there was a part of you I couldn't reach. I told myself it was just because you'd been through so much, that maybe with time..." He trailed off, shaking his head. "But it was him, wasn't it? It's always been him."
The tears spilled over, hot and shameful. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. You've been nothing but good to me, and you deserve someone who..."
"Don't." His voice was firm but not unkind. "Don't apologize for your feelings. You can't help who you love."
The words hung in the air between us, unspoken but understood. Because he was right. I'd been in love with a ghost for five years, and nothing—not Craig's kindness, not logic, not common sense—could change how that made me feel.
"I should go," Craig said quietly. He leaned in and pressed a kiss to my forehead, gentle and final.
"Craig, wait..." But he was already moving toward the door, and maybe that was for the best.
He paused at the threshold, looking back one last time. His eyes were shadowed, haunted, but there was something else there too—a resigned acceptance that made my chest ache. "For what it's worth? Cristox is a good male."
Then he was gone, and I was alone with the wreckage of what I'd just done and the terrifying knowledge of what came next.
But even through the guilt, through the chaos of emotions, one thought rose above the rest, clear and bright and undeniable.
Teddy was going to meet his father.
And nothing—not my fear, not my confusion, not even my own broken heart—was going to stand in the way of that.
Chapter 5
Cristox
I paced the length of the guest house, my boots wearing a path in the woven floor mat.
Ruby.
Her name was Ruby.
It suited her—warm, precious, rare. I'd never known her name before. Never thought I'd get the chance to learn it.
My tail lashed behind me, completely beyond my control. The appendage whipped back and forth with such violence I'd already knocked over a decorative vase and sent a chair skidding across the room. I couldn't stop it. Couldn't calm the frantic energy coursing through my body.
She was here. Here. On Tau Ceti.
I'd almost fainted when I saw her face. I'd actually stumbled, my vision going dark at the edges as my heart hammered against my ribs. Of all the places in the galaxy, of all the possible paths her life could have taken after that nightmare, she'd ended up here.
My mate.
The word echoed in my mind, as it had for years now. Ever since that terrible, wonderful, impossible night. I'd never thought I'd see her again. I had resigned myself to a lifetime of wondering, of carrying the weight of what happened between us.Of knowing my mate was out there somewhere in the universe, forever beyond my reach.
And now she was on the other side of that door.
