Page 97 of All You Need is Alien Love
I begin to blubber in Kai’s arms. “I can’t believe what those fuckers were trying to do to you. If I’d been too late…”
“Hush, love. Everything’s okay. I’m fine and your plan worked.” With a gentle caress, he strokes the curls off my forehead. “You and Nirblob saved the day with your brilliant minds.”
I tilt my head back and search his beautiful amethyst eyes. And just like that, I’m overcome with all the motherfucking feels.
“I fucking love yousohard,” I whisper, calming down a bit.
He grins. “I fucking love you so hard too.”
Ellie clears her voice, reminding us that we’re not alone. “Ahem. Let’s save the reunion romantics until later.” She arches an eyebrow at her son. “You get your ass down to the med lab, mister, pronto.”
He gives her a mock salute and she rolls her eyes.
As we make our way toward the med lab, there’s a flurry of activity going on around us. HQ personnel are busily moving to and fro, cleaning up and tackling paperwork after the attack.
When we finally arrive at the med lab, Kai makes a beeline straight for Zamir, who’s perched on a waiting chair outside an operating room. He’s uncannily still and almost statue-like.
The large Vroknu warrior’s usual ebony skin is almost ashen, and he’s still covered in dried blood, most of which I know is Wilder’s.
Lu-Ren sits next to him, with Roxy curled in their lap, but when she sees us, she rises to shaky feet. Her eyes are red-rimmed, her cheeks wet with recent tears.
She pulls us both into a fierce hug. “Thank the galactic gods you’re all right.”
I crush her to me. “Forget about us. How are you? What’s the status on Wilder?”
She takes a shaky breath. “They’re operating on him now. It”—she bites back a sob—”doesn’t look good.”
Kai starts pacing, anguish written all over his face. “How did Wilder even escape from his holding cell?”
“That’s still unclear,” Lu-Ren says, her voice low and quiet. “In all the confusion, we don’t know how he got out.”
I suspect Wilder had been preparing for this moment ever since we last spoke with him. He made sure he fulfilled his one objective—keeping Zamir safe from his father.
Remembering the end result of that makes me shudder. I glance at Zamir, wondering how he’s handling having his father try to kill him and his former lover executing his dad and almost dying in the process. His face is blank but his eyes have a haunted look in them that makes my heart ache.
Poor guy has been through some shit today.
Kai kneels beside him and takes hold of his hand. “How are you holding up, my friend? Is there anything I can do?”
Zamir blinks at him. “I just don’t understand why he did it.”
“What?”
“Risked his life to save mine,” he manages to say, his voice raspy.
Roxy’s face crumbles and she starts weeping again. “Because he still loves you, you big doofus!”
I nod enthusiastically. It’s so obvious, but Zamir seems to have trouble accepting it.
The big man leans forward, placing his head between his knees, and clutches the back of his neck in an iron grip. “He’s the one who ended our relationship, betrayed me, got embroiled with Layne Madison. What we had is long gone. Dead and buried.”
Galactic gods, save the world from stubborn men!
Roxy clings to Lu-Ren and wipes her eyes, sniffling. “My brother’s an idiot who tends to make the worst possible decisions. But I truly believe he thought he was protecting you by doing all of those idiotic and illegal things. It doesn’t make up for the hurt that he caused you, but I think he was doing what he felt was necessary to keep you safe. You’re the only person Wilder’s ever given his heart to. It didn’t matter if you hated him, he would still do everything in his power to keep you safe—even at the expense of his own life.”
Zamir closes his eyes and makes a pained noise.
The weight of Roxy’s words hang in the air, thick and heavy. I can’t fully begin to understand how they all feel. Their love, their fear, their resentment and betrayal. Wilder really fucked with all their heads—and hearts.
