Page 70 of Alien Rescue

“Yes.”

“I think it comes from my family’s labs.” From what she’d researched, it originated there. There were just too many coincidences.

“That is what you have been working on?”

She looked down, hunched her shoulders. “Yes. I tracked their communications about deliveries to my family’s business.” And some very interesting memos exchanged between scientists. All filed very neatly on Morgan’s TC.

“Your former blood is guilty?”

“I think my father is.” She clasped her neck. “I don’t know what to call him. I’m not sure about my brother. I’ll know when I can confront them.”

“We will go tomorrow and face the man who is not your father.” How apt a description for the man who didn’t raise her.

That night, while they sat on the couch in their dwelling, she asked him, “So what is bothering you?”

He sat quietly for a long while, and she thought he wouldn’t answer, but then he said, “I will kill another eduki for you and I will invite Larz and my fellow warriors to consume the meat of the eduki I hunted for you.”

Why would that prospect make him so gloomy? From what she could tell, killing things made them happy. “I’m sure you will enjoy that. So why do you look so unhappy?”

“Warriors would not feast with someone who has no blood.” He took her hands in his and stared down at their clasped hands. “They do not know yet that I am now blood of the Parenadorz.”

And he was afraid they’d refuse his invitation. That’s why he didn’t invite them when he’d killed the first eduki. Her heart broke a little for him.

Rose leaned over and cupped his cheek. “You are brave and honorable and a good card player and the best warrior any woman can hope for. Your friend Larz will feast with you, and if no other warrior wants to, it is their loss.” And she’d find a way to make them sorry.

His eyes blazed redder than she’d ever seen them. “You honor me, my breeder.”

“My pleasure, my Komodo.”

Something told her the other warriors would come and feast with him. Zanr did not see himself the way she saw him: a strong warrior, with honor and humor, and a capacity for love much bigger than his massive body.

Chapter Twenty

A week later, Rose stood staring at the house she’d called home for such a short time in her life.

“They won’t let me in,” she told Zanr and felt her cheeks warm. He was invisible again. They’d decided that for the time being he would stay in camouflage. They’d parked a way up the street, lined with big, elegant two- and three-story houses, but she could see the guard station of her father’s house from where she stood—a guard station that had been built after she’d forced her way inside the grounds one school holiday.

Rose squared her shoulders and faced the large gate that kept unwelcome visitors out. How many people had to get past security to be able to speak to their own father? How could he blame her for acting like a frightened child that horrible night? How could he throw her out when she needed his support so much? Then she remembered. He wasn’t her father and he must know that.

A soft grunt came from the invisible alien next to her.

“I knew you’d come here,” a nasty voice said behind her.

Rose sighed and turned; nothing would save him now. She looked at Morgan and shook her head at him. “You should’ve disappeared. I won’t be able to keep you alive now.” He’d always been well dressed and handsome. Now his clothes were rumpled and dirty, his hair looked as if it hadn’t been washed in a year, and his black, leather shoes looked the worse for wear.

He sneered at her, looming over her, and she’d never been so grateful to have Zanr’s large body by her side. “I don’t need you to help me stay alive. Still creeping around your father’s house?”

A week ago, that question would’ve hurt her. Now she barely felt a twinge.

His lip curled back and he looked her up and down. “I thought I’d killed you with those two shots, but you seem to be indestructible.”

“How could you do that? We’re on the same side.”

“We have never been on the same side, bitch. And if your pet alien didn’t get in a lucky shot, I would’ve finished you off with a head shot.” He tried to give an unconcerned shrug but he looked like a rabid dog to her. “My bad for wanting to make you suffer first.”

“You hate me that much?” It was unsettling to be hated that much by someone she’d never done any harm to.

“I hate you and your family more than you can imagine. By the time I’m finished with you, you will wish I’d killed you with those shots.”

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