Page 125 of Fractured Souls

“I am only just getting to know you human, but I’m already obsessed enough to know that I’m keeping you. There’s no going back now. Understand?” He caressed her cheek possessively.

“Oh yeah.” Alexis was already too far under his spell to even question it. They had a lot to discover about each other, and the scars of their pasts wouldn’t just magically disappear, but they were good together.

When she was with him, everything just felt right.

“I’m taking you back to Earth,” Nythian declared, shifting to one side. What was he doing? She couldn’t see a thing in the darkness. Suddenly, light flooded her vision, making her blink.

There he was, holding her guide-light in one hand, looking down at her with a gentle smile on his face. How his harsh features were transformed when he looked at her like that. He really was breathtaking. “You shouldn’t be afraid to set foot on your own planet, Alexis. I will make everything right. You’re with us now.”

And just like that, he tightened his hold on her heart just a little bit more.

Thirty-One

Four months later

Alexis self-consciously rubbed her cheek as she stared at the old house on the hill, her fingertips grazing the smattering of scales on her left cheek. The appearance of the shimmering blue scales had come as a huge shock to her, and she hadn’t even found out until she returned to the Fleet Station from Tharos.

Nobody had thought to tell her, not even Nythian. He’d just kept on telling her she was beautiful. It was only when they reached the Fleet Station that Abbey had spilled the beans.

After she’d gotten over the strangeness, the scales had kind-of grown on her. According to Zharek, they weren’t harmful, they were just the result of changes to the DNA in the keratin-producing cells of her skin.

She didn’t even bother trying to cover them up once she returned to Earth. All kinds of body-mod things were fashionable nowadays, and artificial scales was probably one of them. People might think she was a bit strange, but she wouldn’t stand out in a crowd.

Actually, she rather liked them. Like her hand, they were tangible evidence of her link to Tharos.

Even now, she felt the red planet calling to her. It was as if her Universe now had two poles: Earth and Tharos.

“The lights aren’t on,” she murmured, a feeling of unease creeping up on her. It was Christmas on Reunion Island, and Mama would always set up a swirling holo-snow display on the front porch. Reminded her of home, she said. It looked ridiculous amongst the scarlet poinciana trees and the dense foliage of the mango trees, but Virginie loved it, and the neighborhood kids loved it too.

For a brief moment, Alexis closed her eyes and inhaled the fragrant tropical air. The sun was setting, and a cool breeze rustled through the leaves, bringing with it a hint of ocean salt.

Home.

She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed it. The other mates of Kordolians whom she’d met at Abbey’s aunt’s ranch—a.k.a. yet another Kordolian outpost on Earth—had invited her to their Christmas get-together somewhere in the Swiss Alps, but she’d politely turned them down.

She appreciated the gesture, but it was too much, too soon.

Réunion had been on her mind the whole time. Once, she’d been forced to accept that she would never see the place again, so when they’d flown over its soaring jungle-covered peaks and cliffs, she’d actually teared up.

Besides, she needed some alone time with Nythian.

What better place to spend that time than in one of her favorite places on Earth?

“I can’t hear any movement inside,” he said softly, looking perfectly dangerous in the shadows even though he was wearing what passed for casual attire in the Kordolian world—black boots, loose black pants, and a sleeveless tunic that left his massive silver arms bare.

Sweet mercy, he was a sight to behold. They’d avoided scrutiny by landing on an abandoned airstrip in the jungle and taking a Stealthstalker to this sprawling orange bungalow on the outskirts of Saint-Denis, and she was glad for that, because he would have attracted a lot of unwanted attention.

A lot.

“Let’s go,” she whispered, her anxiety mounting. Why wasn’t anyone home? Virginie had nowhere else to go. Her adopted sons Kylian and Felix—Alexis’s brothers—looked after her, and they were more than well equipped to deal with any sort of threat, not that anyone would bother coming up the narrow, winding gravel road to this ramshackle paradise.

The house was hundreds of years old; it wasn’t even connected to the Networks, and Virginie didn’t like bots.

“Easy, my love.” Nythian put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “I’m here with you. Could be that they’ve just gone out and will be back soon.”

Alexis couldn’t accept that so easily. At her age, Mama hated leaving the house. She preferred to be home with her cats and her rambling garden, where the verdant jungle crept in amongst the bougainvillea and fruit trees.

Something didn’t feel right. The lawn was too long; Mama never let it get that overgrown. The porch looked dusty and unkempt, with brown and yellow leaves scattered across the worn deck. And the big wrought iron security doors were locked. That rarely happened.

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