Page 46 of Fated to the Alien Hero

“Alik, my son.” She stands and presses her hands together against her lips.

Beck comes to an abrupt halt just before he runs into me and sits at attention. I brush my fingers over his head and scratch him. The coarse bristles of his fur is rough against my skin. A loud sigh of contentment escapes him and I continue walking into my mother’s embrace with Beck following on my heels.

“Hello, mother.”

“I am so glad you have returned.”

There’s a growing sadness at how frail she feels within my arms. We both know her time is coming soon although she denies it.

“It’s good to be home.”

She draws away and clasps my forearms. Her head tips back so she can meet my gaze. “Are you still determined to go through with this plan of yours?”

“You know I am.” While she is technically the queen, I am the true ruler on Bohna.

“And there is nothing I can do to convince you to give up this idea and think of something different?”

I brush the strands of faded hair off her forehead. When did her skin become so thin? “Ihavethought of so many different things, and none of them have worked. You know this.”

My mother sighs in defeat. She hates admitting I’m right. Not because she wants to see me fail, but because she wants the best for me and doesn’t want me to settle for less than everything. If she knew I had no intention of becoming a candidate myself, she’d fight me even harder.

“Promise me you will try,” she says quietly.

“Try what?”

“To find love.”

For a moment I hesitate until finally, I nod. “I promise.”

I can only hope she doesn’t hear the lie.

“Sorry I’ve kept you waiting.” I stride through the open doorway of the communications room where Eloise and Zedam are seated at the table.

“Your nene is well?” Zedam asks.

“She is, thank you. She is also anxious to meet you both at dinner tonight.”

“I’ve never met a queen before.” Eloise does a little dance in her chair and her eyes are alight with excitement, but then she sobers and glances down at the simple leather clothing shewears. She then turns her glare on me. “I’m way underdressed to be meeting an actual queen. Why didn’t you tell me? I would have tried to find, I don’t know,something, a little fancier to wear.”

“Relax Eloise.” I chuckle. “I promise you my mother doesn’t stand on formality. What you’re wearing is perfectly fine.”

She scoffs. “So says the man. Clearly you have no idea how women think.”

No, I don’t. Nor do I need or want to. While she is here to facilitate a meeting between me and Earth’s government, it is for my people’s benefit, not mine.

“Should we get started?”

Eloise side-eyes my attempt at changing the subject, but she nods. “Let’s do this.”

She gives me the frequency and call signal to enter. A few short beeps later, there’s static, and then a gray-haired woman wearing a dark jacket and red blouse appears on the view screen mounted within the wall in front of us. She stands behind a desk and leans forward with her palms flat on the surface of it.

“Who are you and how did you get through on this line?” Her icy glare penetrates mine.

“Madame President,” Eloise speaks up. “My name is Eloise Bannock. I’m a former communications crew member of the terraforming ship Helios 3.”

“That ship went down months ago,” she says.

“Yes, ma’am. We were attacked by space pirates. I—along with at least one of my colleagues—was able to safely eject usingthe escape pods. While I crash-landed on the habitable planet of Tavikh with a human colony already settled, my colleague Johnna Wolff landed on a neighboring planet. My Tavikhi mate Zedam and I travelled here today with a proposition from the leader of the Bohnari people.”

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