Page 60 of Xefe
“But you did choose me.” Her purple cheeks brightened, and she blinked large lavender eyes. “It was a knowing. I felt it here.” She placed her hand over the middle of her chest.
I was rendered speechless, touched yet worried for the trusting alien. How had she survived on this killer planet when she was so…sweet? It reminded me far too much of my love-crazy sister, and I couldn’t respond. I blinked away a sheen of tears.
Even Querida stopped sharpening her metal shards and stared at Nheenya.
“That… that’s a big chance to take. On Hera.” Nieve cut me a look, and I didn’t even protest. She was right. No one should put that much trust in me.
We stayed quiet as Sunny and Loxo pulled us off the hover board and escorted us through more dark, never-ending tunnels.
When we didn’t head toward Sunny’s quarters, I pulled at my wrists, but his grip didn’t budge. His hold wasn’t hard enough to hurt me, but it also had none of the care from the night before.
No me importa.I didn’t give a damn, although his actions made me feel stupid. I hated feeling anything other than spectacular. So, maybe, I did care. “Where are you taking us? Exactly?”
No answer.
“Am I going with you?”
“No.”
“You have to talk to me.”
“I don’t.”
With each monosyllabic response, heat flamed through me. It sparked in my chest, spreading up into my throat and cheeks. Furious was too inadequate a word. I’d just fought for my life, somehow pulling off an impossible win, and this was how he treated me? And when I got mad, bad things usually flew out of my mouth. “Is this because of yesterday? Because of what happened between us and your vibratingpito?”
“Vibratingwhat? What happened yesterday?” Nieve asked, her head bobbing back and forth between us, as if she were watching atele-tennismatch—her innerchismosaon high alert. She knew there was tea, and she wanted it spilled.
His shoulders tightened, then released. He felt emotion, then went cold. And he still wouldn’t look at me.
“You’re ignoring me? You seemed pretty engaged when I ‘best orgasmed’ the hell out of you last night!” I fought to get out of his hold, but he held tight.
“Orgasms?” Querida whispered, her gaze riveted below Sunny’s waistline. “With what?”
“Silence, earther!” The frost melted for a second. “Speak of this to no one!”
“I will speak to whomever I want. About whatever I want!”
The tunnel opened, giving the impression we’d moved under a whole new mountain. It felt different. A little wilder. Unkempt. At this point, I was so turned around, I wouldn’t even know how to make it back to the arena. We came to an abrupt stop at the edge of a natural gorge so deep, it looked bottomless.
Well, this is it.I’d mouthed off one too many times, and now Sunny was going to push us over. “Just know,pendejo. If you throw us off, I will haunt you for the rest of your life.”
“Throw us off?What the hell?” Nieve screeched. She and Querida huddled closer.
“Haunt? Do humans possess this ability?” Loxo tapped his double thumbs against his chin. “Fascinating. What does that look like exactly?”
All hell broke loose. Nieve wailed. Querida whipped out her metal shards and got real stabby, and Nheenya cried.
And I… I stared Sunny down.Let’s see if this wakes him up.
“Silence!” His brows shot down in his signature frown. Instead of talking to me, he whipped out his staff, tapped a few buttons, and particles floated out, gently landing in front of us, igniting a long bridge. As the substance moved, the walkway became more substantial.
My mouth dropped open. Some of the technology on this planet seemed barbaric, and then I see something like this—a reminder of how advanced these aliens really were.
Before I could protest, Sunny pushed me in front of him. I yelped after the first step but was relieved the bridge held. It was solid under our feet. After a good quarter mile, we came to a wide opening, protected by the metallic glint of a portal. The entryway was much larger than anything we’d seen before.
Holy hell. Where is he taking us?
We stepped into the portal, and the voices returned in full force. But this time they whispered,fight, fight, FIGHT.
