Page 58 of Kissed By the Alien
“It seems you know me rather well,” he says.
“Would your brother want you to use his death as a reason to isolate yourself?”
Lutan growls. When I take an involuntary step back, his face softens, but he doesn’t approach me.
He lowers his head, barely able to look at me. Things have moved too fast, for both of us. We’ve also said too much in the heat of the moment.
“I should go.”
When he doesn’t stop me from leaving, my heart sinks. What girl doesn’t want the guy she’s falling for to chase after her after they’ve fought? It’s that feeling that no matter what was said, whatever is wrong, he’ll fight for you.
Except Lutan’s not fighting for me. It’s like he doesn’t care and would rather be rid of me.
I fly down the corridor, find the steps, and sail out the front door of the embassy. No guards stop me.
Within a few minutes, I reach the embassy gates. More guards watch, but no one interferes. When I turn onto the road on the other side of a long row of hedges and the tall stone wall surrounding the embassy grounds, I spot a zyanthan male darting from tree to tree, keeping his distance, but definitely following me.
When I turn around to confront him, his horns curve back and there’s surprise written on his face. Lutan sent him to watch over me. Probably told him not to let himself be seen.
“Come on,” I say over my shoulder as I continue walking to the bus stop. “Unless you plan to walk the entire way back to L.A., there’s only one bus that comes out this way and I don’t plan to be late.”
He jogs to catch up to me. “I’m not following you.”
“Is that what Lutan instructed you to say if I spotted you?”
“Yes.” Horns twist at the top. “I mean no.”
“Okay, then it’s a good thing I never saw you.”
I board the bus, with my zyanthan guard boarding after me. Most of the passengers aboard move to the back when they see him, freeing up seats for both of us. I smile, remembering how I used to be like them. And now I have my sweet warrior watching over me, even when he can’t be with me.
CHAPTERTWENTY
LUTAN
With one tap on my comm, I request a status update from the two teams of zyanthan guards, twenty males in all, surrounding the clearing most suitable for an og’dal ship to land in Topanga State Park. Hunzu commands another team, watching and waiting in a second clearing.
Twenty guards and warriors normally assigned to defend the embassy and its personnel crouch in silence, waiting for any sign of og’dals or humans dealing in blasters. The location is secluded enough, but with eleven thousand acres in the park, we cannot cover it all.
And something feels off about the location. Because of its size. Any ship could pinpoint precise coordinates for a meet, but how would Moses without any technology find the location? The og’dals would have to pick a unique landmark.
An alert flashes across my comm. Our embassy is under attack.
“Assaz ti!” I yell to the guards and warrior who have received the same alert.
This so-called meet was a ruse to lure us away from the real target.
I’ve been played. And put my people in danger….
* * *
The battleat the embassy is a bloody one, drawn out longer than it should have. The Brotherhood overwhelmed the forces Hunzu left behind, but the humans underestimated the personnel inside, many of whom are former warriors.
Hours pass as we infiltrate our own territory. One by one, we immobilize the intruders, and finally end the threat. Fifteen dead humans and another ten captured alive. No dead zyanthans, but fourteen were wounded. One gun shot, the rest knife wounds. Fortunately, the medics have sufficient skills to handle the injuries.
As I take the last of the injured to the treatment rooms, Hunzu stops me. “This isn’t her fault. She was tricked, like the rest of us.”
It never occurred for me to blame, Lexi, but I appreciate him defending my sholani, even though it irks me that he would think I’d blame her.
