Page 30 of Mated to the Alien Rogue

“I did.” She held up her comp. “I triggered a built-in failsafe that prevents it from leaving the property.”

“Why? We were almost gone. We’d have been out of your hair.”

“Did you not hear me?” Her lips twisted, and emotion broke through. A mix of frustration and… sadness? “They caught you on the security feed. I’ve suppressed it being shown to the authorities for now, but that won’t last long. They’re going to identify you, and I won’t be able to stop them from capturing you.” Mother’s voice cracked on the last words.

“Wrin, what’s going to happen to us?” Vivv asked.

Mother’s eyes latched onto my mate. “It sounds like it’s speaking. Can you understand it?”

“It?” Vivv screeched. “Did she just call meit?”

“She’s not an ‘it.’ She’s a sentient being.” The isolationism of my home planet meant didn’t surprise me that Kirel’s update hadn’t made it to Zaar yet. I pulled out my comp and sent the Hyoo-mon language to my mother’s translation chip. “Mother, meet Vivv-Ee-Aan Lee, captain of theARK 1. Vivv, meet Senator Devalia of Zaar.”

The kreecat yowled, and I guessed his complaint and added, “And this is Maximum Good Hunter.”

“What are you?” My mother’s eyes roved over my mate.

“Did you not read a single one of my messages?” I asked. “I’ve sent you several over the past weeks outlining all the new information we’ve uncovered about Hyoo-mons, about the Grug.”

“I couldn’t. No matter how much I wanted to.” Pain laced her voice as she held up her comp. “All of my comms are heavily scrutinized. They might not be able to break the encryption and read the messages, but they wouldn’t need to. All my rivals would need to do is to report that I’d opened a message from one of those sent to Roam, and my career would be over.”

“Yes, your career was always important.” Hurt laced my words, and I let it show.

“Don’t you get it? Don’t you know what I’ve worked so hard on ever since the day you”—her voice broke and she swallowed hard—“you were banished? I’ve been the voice of moderation in the Senate. I’ve lobbied to help those sent to Roam. The off-world programs that give the newly banished three months of food and board while they find their feet… where did you think those came from? They’remyprograms.”

What? Surprise zipped through me. Zaar kept a lot of internal information from making it off planet. I hadn’t known.

“I did it for you, my son.” Mother stepped forward and held out her hands. “Even if I couldn’t offer you the same all those years ago.”

Shock kept me frozen to the spot until Vivv gave the small of my back a little shove.

We met in the middle, throwing our arms around one another. A shudder went through me, and Mother openly sobbed.

“I thought you’d forgotten me,” I said in a hoarse whisper.

“Never.” She shook her head, tapping our lower horns together in little clicks. “I could never forget you. I love you.”

The shell I’d wrapped around my heart all those years ago cracked open, pouring love and hurt into me in equal measure.She still loves me.It felt amazing.

Yet it didn’t stop this from being a very short and final reunion. I pulled back to stare into my mother’s eyes. “Did you know what they were doing to her at that facility?”

“I didn’t even know it existed until that shuttle blew up.”

“No matter what happens to me, you have to protect Vivv. She has to get off world and to her people. You can’t let her go back there.” My hands tightened on her shoulders. “Promise me. It’s my dying wish.”

“I promise.”

“Dying wish!” Vivv stomped over to us, her entire body radiating barely contained anger. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Did my son not tell you? He was never to return to Zaar.”

“He said it was forbidden, sure.” Vivv shrugged.

“Oh, it’s more than forbidden,” Mother said, and her façade cracked, letting all of her worry and love show through.

It was small comfort, considering the truth of her next words.

“It’s a death sentence.”

---