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My cheeks burned and I looked away, not wanting Xaixek to see the embarrassment written all over my face. I’d never felt any kind of sexual tension toward Roult. I’d never felt any kind of sexual attraction to anyone at all…until Xaixek.

“I don’t have an answer for you,” I retorted softly.

“Your beauty is very distracting. Perhaps he didn’t realize your plan to end him until it was too late. If you wish to walk away from all this, then you must confess. Was it an accident? Did you mean to kill him?” Xaixek gave me an accusatory glower.

I stiffened and tightened my jaw, giving him a steely gaze. “I refuse to confess to something I didn’t do. How many times do I need to tell you that the aliens were different? Cloaked. Invisible, maybe.”

Xaixek’s incinerating gaze practically burned a hole through me. “Invisible? Explain yourself.”

I shrugged, carefully gathered my words. “I couldn’t see. It was too dark. I’m certain that they were wearing cloaks and taking what they wanted from the cabin. It seemed as if their cloaks provided them with some type of barrier I’ve never seen before. Look, I’ve only been on Earth for a few months and before that, I spent time in cryo. Even before that, I never even knew alien and alien-human-hybrids existed. I don’t know jack about all this magical, spacial universe stuff. I worked in a lab with scientists using hardcore data and tangible elements and with men and women who could only dream of what you all have accomplished so far, so I suppose this isn’t all so far fetched, but why don’t you believe me when I tell you what I saw?”

I tossed him an apprehensive look before continuing. He was still guardedly measuring me with that distrusting stare.

“Must you be so hard-headed to think that you should only rely on your ǔre and nothing else? If so, I don’t know what else to tell you,” I said, growing frustrated.

Xaixek took a calculatedly deep breath and gazed at the ceiling briefly. He set his focus back on me after a moment.

“My ǔre has always been true to me. It is a part of me. My uncle is dead. You were the last person to have seen him alive. You have been hiding your mind from me, something I also can’t understand.”

“I’m not doing it on purpose—”

“I have a duty to make sure my uncle’s death is avenged. That means we must make sense of what happened and what is going on inside your head even if you can’t figure it out yet. You might be immune to the effects of my aura but there are others—make no mistake—who will be able to read your mind on demand.”

I wasn’t sure if he was bluffing, so I just glared back at him and decided to take his word for it. “Fine. Take me back to the colony, then. After I go to trial or get my mind read or whatever, I want an apology for all the torture you’ve put me through.”

Xaixek laughed cynically. “I didn’t put you through anything female. The beast was already descending right before I saved you.”

I huffed, appalled at his combativeness. “Thank you for saving me from the beast.”