Page 73 of Shattered Silence

But Enki just shook his head, appearing more cryptic than ever. “I will consider your argument, but only on my terms.”

“I was expecting you to say something like that.”

“You presume to believe you know me so well, Layla of Earth?”

“What do you think, mercenary?”

He surrounded her with his muscular arms, radiating warmth, and she felt perfectly cocooned and safe. There was no trace left of green-eyed Anuk or vulnerable Enki, and it occurred to her that she might never see him raw and laid bare like that ever again.

“I think you’re very naked right now, human.”

“And?” Her heart fluttered.

“That you know me well enough,” he grunted as he shifted, his erection pressing into Layla’s hip. “Do not abuse this unholy power you have over me, female.”

“Power?” Layla snuggled against his broad chest, absorbing every drop of his warmth. “What the hell are you talking about? I’m just an insignificant human. I’ve got nothing on you big bad Kordolians.”

“Hmph.” Enki kissed her on the top of her head. “Says you.”

Something between them shifted, and their silence stretched into a familiar, comfortable thing, as if they’d known each other for years.

Layla sighed contentedly as Enki rose, his biceps flexing as he lifted her with ridiculous ease and carried her across to his pod. If someone had told her that her journey to Miridian-7 would end on a Kordolian space station, in the dark embrace of a deadly, heart-eating alien warrior whose body had been invaded by a desperate Tharian, she would have thought them insane.

But Enki was very real, and she didn’t ever want this dark, seductive dream to end.

Now all they had to do was set Anuk free.

It couldn’t be that difficult, could it?

Chapter Thirty

They stood in the center of Zharek’s lab, staring at the two human bodies that were suspended in separate blue-glowing stasis tubes. After her conversation with the Tharian, Layla had insisted on coming down here with Enki. He might be near-invincible, but still, she couldn’t help but worry about him, and as a human, she felt some sort of responsibility for these human bodies, which had been retrieved from the enemy warship and brought here to the Fleet Station.

The woman on the left had been the first person to greet Layla once they were all onboard the Malachi. “You escaping the dirty ol’ blue-and-green too?” she’d said with a sly wink. “I don’t blame you, honey. It’s a goddamn madhouse down there, and it’s only gonna get worse.”

A pang of sadness pierced Layla’s chest as she watched the woman’s body bob up and down, her long arms and legs swaying gently as some unseen current swirled through the stasis liquid. The woman’s skin appeared shiny and flawless like obsidian as the blue light reflected off it, casting an otherworldly pattern of light and shade that accentuated her toned physique. Zharek must have had some sort of respect for her modesty, because unlike in the mad scientist’s labs, when she’d been naked, she now wore a long, tight sheath-like garment that covered her body from the breasts down to the thighs. In death, she looked almost as regal and otherworldly as the Kordolians themselves.

The human on the right had shared her packet of delicious orbit-cakes with Layla as the Malachi prepared for departure. Now she hung in stasis, her brilliant blue eyes closed, her brown hair forming a wispy halo around her head. She looked strangely peaceful, almost as if she were just asleep.

If only that were the case.

How the mad scientist had managed to restore their bodies to such perfect condition, Layla would never know. When the Kordolians retrieved them, they’d been floating in the wrecked body of the Malachi, dressed in only their cryo-suits. Exposed to the cold, endless vacuum of space, their cells would have sustained significant damage.

Which one was the Tharian going to choose? Would this insane proposal even work?

“This is…”

“Difficult for you,” Enki finished, curving his arm around her waist and pulling her close. “I can sense the disquiet in you.” He rubbed the small of her back in a reassuring gesture. “It will pass.”

He didn’t say anything else, because there was nothing more to say. Instead, he just held her tightly as Layla contemplated life and death and the tenuous threads of her very own existence. “Hey, you’re the one with the disembodied alien consciousness stuck in his head,” she said dryly. “If anyone’s uneasy, it should be you.”

“I don’t get uneasy,” Enki replied, and Layla couldn’t tell whether he was being serious or not.

Abruptly, he glanced over his shoulder, and a weird feeling—a sudden sense of danger—made Layla turn.

Her eyes widened and her breath caught as three of the most dangerous, bad-ass looking Kordolians—apart from Enki, of course—entered the lab, with Zharek following close behind. They all wore that sleek black living armor, and they were all armed to the teeth—unlike Enki, who still wore his dark robes, and as was his habit, went barefoot.

Holy crap. How many of these guys were there? They looked as intimidating as hell, and only Enki’s protective arm around her waist kept her from feeling completely freaked out.

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