Page 20 of Monsters in Love

Soft and sedate decor hides a whole load of sleek tech and modern amenities. Like this table. It even let me message my folks via email. I send them a lame excuse that my phone broke, and I would need to replace it.

Believable enough. My parents answer me, assuming I had been delayed in transit. They say they wouldn’t have worried about me for another few hours yet.

What felt like an eternity for me was only a few hours for my parents.

I chat with them for a few minutes more before telling them I need to get going.

“Where is the rest of the Nexus?” I muse out loud. All the talk of houses seem like entire worlds and planets.

“In the heart of a wormhole,” Adalyn answers. “It’s how the Taurines could scatter throughout the galaxy, looking for a home that can accommodate us. And then, well, someone eventually realized that the Nexus itself can be our home.”

It makes sense now. “Why need one planet when you can be on many at the same time?”

“Exactly!” Adalyn says. “The older generation tried to cling to bits and pieces of our ancestral home. There are many who still seek to claim it. But honestly, I’m of the opinion that home is where you make it.”

“Agreed,” I say. My heart tugs thinking of Bronn, of who he is in relation to the magnitude of this place.

He’s practically the president of this country, and he left to rescue Adalyn.

And found me.

Good lord, what a mess? What would have happened if we stayed in that labyrinth?

Or had gotten him killed?

I would have ruined all of this…

Adalyn needs to meet her clients, but she makes me promise to meet her again for dinner tomorrow. I plaster a smile on my face, and tell her I’m looking forward to it.

“I can find you a comm so that you can talk to Bronn?” she offers, not wanting to leave me alone.

Funny thing is that I prefer a little solitude, at least to help me process….everything All this external chatter has been trying on my nerves. “Don’t worry about me. Bronn told me how to contact him.”

Adalyn beams at me. To her, Bronn makes the universe spin. “Well, let me give you some privacy and I’ll get a little of my own.”

She skips away to wherever she’s needed, flanked by an army of guards.

No one’s taking chances with her.

I collect my things from the hostess station and head toward the engineering bay. With every step, I tell myself that Bron is in his element here. He has his network of people and places he has to go. If I stay here, I would just be a distraction for him.

The Taurine who works the portal is confused at my presence, and even more so, at my request. But I channel a bit of Adalyn’s energy and repeat myself, this time with zero question in my tone. “Please connect me to this portal,” I say with authority wrapped in kindness as I hand him the card with the coordinates Adalyn uses to gain access to Earth.

“I will let Bronn know where you are,’’ he says.

“You don’t have to,’’ I say. “He already knows.” That’s more or less true. Bronn knows everything. Sometimes, the timing is delayed.

When the familiar shimmer of the portal appears, I wait for the go-ahead signal from the engineer before stepping through.

Somehow, I will adjust to a new normal knowing that space stations exist, aliens are real, and that I crave the touch of one alien male in particular, and it’s for the best that I walk away from him.

Karis

Ifind myself on the same train platform as I arrived. Though it’s been a couple of days for me, it’s only been a matter of hours here. The Taurine engineer manning the portals offered to take me back to my parent’s house. There is a direct drop and everything. But I opted to go back to the city.

It’s a matter of pride. After all, I intended to be a tourist for at least a week, and dammit, that’s exactly what I’ll be. And I don’t need Liam or any of his connections, either. Especially not after I figured out how to reverse my payment to Liam, so now I’m pretty flush with cash.

And the first thing I do is book a hotel with a spa. It’s Adalyn’s favorite place, so it’s pricey, but worth it to me. After the taste of it earlier, a full on spa day tomorrow would likely kill me with pleasure.

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