by Sadie Carter
“Oh. Yes. About that.” Alek grimaced. “The female lied.”
Both he and Keely froze.
“She lied?” he whispered.
“Yes. Zandar did not attack her, one of the humans on board did. The captain of this ship.”
“The captain of this ship attacked her?” Keely asked, her eyes wide with disbelief. “So why the hell did she blame Zandar?”
Alek’s face grew grim. “Because the captain threatened her. He told her that he would hurt her child if she spoke the truth. Then he told her to blame it on Zandar.”
“But why?” Keely asked. “Why blame Zandar?”
“Because the captain is one of the humans who do not like the arrangement between Zerconia and Earth. He hid his true beliefs in order to get this assignment, but he was working to try and destroy our treaty with the humans.”
“What the fuck?” Keely asked, her voice rising. “That rat-bastard! Where is he?”
“Easy, my mate,” he tried to soothe her.
“Easy? Easy?” She broke away from him, her hands moving to her hips as she glared up at him.
“The truth has come out,” he told her calmly. “I assume the human captain is being detained.”
Alek nodded, watching Keely carefully. “Yes, he is.”
“I want to see him,” she demanded.
Alek turned wide eyes on him, clearly leaving it up to him to answer her.
“Keely, no.”
“No? You can’t just say no. This is my job. I demand to see him.”
“How is it part of your job to see him?”
“I’m here to find out the truth.”
Alek cleared his throat. “But we know the truth.”
“I’ll determine that.” Her eyes flashed with fire and he felt his shaft stir. She was magnificent. But she was also most assuredly not speaking to the human captain.
“I will speak to him. Now.”
“No.”
Okay, she was furious before. Now she could pretty much feel the steam coming off her head and out of her pores.
Alek was staring at her like she was a science specimen that he’d never encountered before. . .and probably never wanted to again. She knew these guys weren’t used to being argued with. Especially not with their mates. And particularly not with their mates in front of others.
She didn’t care.
Que was being a stubborn ass.
She took one breath. Then another. Then she turned to Alek. “I am here as the ambassador’s representative. I need access to the captain and also to the woman who accused Zandar of these crimes.”
“You may talk to the female, but not to the male. I forbid it.”
Forbid it? Forbid it? Was he freaking kidding her?
She scowled at him. “Listen, sweetcheeks, you cannot forbid anything.”
“I am your mate.”
“And as my mate, if you ever want sexy time again, you’re gonna lose the word forbid from your vocabulary.”
He leaned down so their noses were inches apart. “You are not going to meet with the captain. Not without me.”
She threw her hands into the air in exasperation. “Well, why didn’t you say that before? You can come.”
He stood back up. Then nodded at Alek. “Take us to the human captain.”
Alek looked back and forth between them, his eyes bugging out.
“I think we’ve rendered him mute,” she observed.
“He will recover quickly. He is a warrior. Nothing shocks a warrior.”
Alek, to his credit, did quickly rally. “Ah, yes. Let me just send a communication to the acting captain and the head of the security team.”
“Do we have someone watching the human captain?” Que asked Alek.
He nodded. “Jaex is there with a human male guard.”
“What about the woman? Is she being watched?” she asked.
They both turned to look at her, looking somewhat confused. She sighed.
“No,” Alek replied.
“Why not?”
“She is female,” Alek said as though that were explanation enough.
“Guys, this woman lied. She accused an innocent man of something he didn’t do, causing said innocent man who is Que’s long-lost thought-dead brother to take off with another woman, who possibly didn’t want to go with him and we have to get back. She is partly to blame for that. I get you said she was threatened but she could be lying.”
More silence.
Then Que surprised her by nodding. “Keely is right. There should be a guard on this female.”
“I shall be happy to provide that guard,” Alek offered immediately.
Her eyebrows rose at his quick offer and she thought he looked slightly embarrassed. But these guys didn’t get embarrassed, did they?
“She has a child. A little boy,” Alek explained. “He likes me.”
Huh. She studied the big, intimidating warrior. Hard to think that a little kid wouldn’t see this guy coming towards him and run the other way screaming. Then again, sometimes kids could see things other people couldn’t.
“Good,” Que said.
“Let’s go to her first,” Keely said. “Then we’ll know what her story is first.”
The woman’s name was Elise and she was a mess. Pale and scared-looking, she stared from Keely over to Que and gave a visible tremble. When her gaze hit on Alek, it was no less terrified even though her son, who was a gorgeous, bundle of four-year-old energy, was chattering non-stop to the big warrior.
Alek gave the small boy a smile and she heard Elise’s breath catch.
Hmm.
“Que, maybe you and Alek could take Hunter down to the cafeteria and get him some snacks?” she suggested.
“No.”
She sighed. “Que, you can’t just say no all the time when you don’t want to do something.”
“Why not?”
She gave him a look, hoping he’d get the idea that Elise might speak easier if she wasn’t intimidated by him and Alek.
“I shall take Hunter,” Alek offered. “If that is good with his mother?”
“Th-that would be good, thanks,” Elise said hesitantly.
Alek and Hunter moved towards the door.
“Hunter, do as Mr. Alek says,” Elise called after them.
“Are you sure you wouldn’t like to get a snack, Que,” Keely pressed him again.
“No. I stay with you,” he said in an implacable voice.
Compromise, Keely.
“All right, but maybe you could take a seat or something? Be less intimidating.”
“It. . .it’s okay,” Elise said quietly. “He doesn’t trust me.”
Keely sighed. “We’ve had a few things happen on our trip and he’s a mite overprotective.”
“That must be nice.”
She blinked at the longing in the other woman’s voice. She had the feeling Elise’s life hadn’t been that easy. To uproot your child and put him on a transporter to an unknown place in the hope of meeting an alien mate smacked of desperation. It seemed to indicate she had something she was running from. Or someone.
She’d been prepared to dislike this woman. After all, she’d put Zandar through hell. He’d ran and he’d taken another woman with him. An innocent.
But it seemed Elise had her own demons.
“It is nice,” she agreed. And she meant it. Even though he could be frustrating as hell, knowing he had her back, well, it was more than nice. It was everything.
She shot Que a smile. His face remained hard, but she saw his eyes glint with warmth.
“You never had that with Hunter’s father?” she asked cautiously.
Elise snorted. Her hands were wrapped together, knuckles white with tension. “Hunter’s father was an asshole. How such a sweet boy came from that man, I don’t know.”
“Guessing maybe that had something to do with his mother.”
Elise met her gaze, looking shocked. “You don’t hate me?”
“Hate you?”
“For lying about that warrior. Zandar.” Elise hugged herself. “I feel terrible. I thought as soon as we got off the transporter and I was away from Robert that I could tell the truth and everything would be okay. Then I learned that we were returning to Earth and I figured that was probably Robert’s agenda all along, and I knew I couldn’t keep silent any longer. I’m so sorry.”
“Robert is the captain?” Keely asked.
“Yes,” Elise said quietly.
“Why don’t you start at the beginning and tell us what happened?” Keely said gently.
Elise took in a shuddering breath. “I know it seems wrong to many people, me uprooting Hunter and bringing him with me to a strange place filled with aliens.” She glanced up at Que and swallowed heavily. “But we needed to get away from Earth and I didn’t have the funds to hide,” she said so quietly Keely could barely hear her.
“Who did you want to hide from?” Keely asked.
“Hunter’s grandfather.”
“His grandfather?” Okay, that surprised her.
“Hunter’s father died six months ago. We lived in a small town. He was found in bed with the mayor’s wife. By the mayor. Who shot him dead.”
“Good Lord.”
“Yeah.” She didn’t say anything more. Just looked blankly at the wall.
Keely cleared her throat. “What happened with Hunter’s grandfather?”
“What? Oh. He, um, he isn’t a nice man. That’s why Hunter’s dad was the way he was. An asshole. A drunk. His father was the same, but he had money. He wanted custody of Hunter. I knew he had the funds to bribe whoever he needed to bribe to get custody and I wasn’t giving him my boy. I also didn’t have the money to run. When I saw a flyer for a transporter leaving soon for Zerconia, I grabbed my boy and we left.”
“That must have been scary.”
“It was. Terrifying.” Elise looked quickly up at Que, then away. “I’ve seen images of these guys, of course, but seeing them in real life. They’re huge.”
Keely reached out and grabbed hold of her hand. Probably not the proper way for her to behave, but she figured Mila would do the same. “They are big and scary looking. But I promise, they would never hurt you. Or your boy.”
“Harming a female or child is completely unacceptable,” Que added. “It is abhorrent to us.”
She looked from Que to Keely. “He’s your mate.”
“Yep.”
“And you’re not scared of him.”
“Nope.”
“You glared at him, tried to tell him what to do and he didn’t retaliate.”
“Like I said, these guys are made to protect not hurt.”
Elise just nodded. “Unlike Robert.”
“Tell me about him.”
“I was in the cafeteria a few days after we left Earth; I was having trouble with Hunter. He was over-excited and tired. Robert came up, he was charming. He was sweet to Hunter. To me. I was so tired, so relieved for some help that I didn’t keep my guard up. I didn’t notice that his smile never reached his eyes, you know? It was all an act. I don’t know why he chose me. Why does it keep happening to me?”
“It’s not going to happen to you anymore,” Keely told her fiercely. She couldn’t help but feel protective over the slight woman whose hand trembled in hers.
“He kept this up for the first few weeks of the journey. I thought he was wonderful, that he could take the time from his job to spend with us. Then we picked up the Zerconian warrior and something changed in him. He was excited. Animated. I didn’t understand why. The Zerconian warrior, Zandar, I didn’t see him but some of the other girls did. They said he was terrifying.”
“Terrifying?”
“Yeah, they said his eyes were cold. Lifeless. Except for Georgia, she said he looked lonely.”
“Georgia is the woman he took with him?”
“Yes. God, I hope she’s all right. It’s all my fault if she isn’t.” She let out a small sob.
Keely shook her head. “You were a victim too, Elise.” She saw that now.
“One night, Hunter was in bed and Robert started coming on too strong. I thought he was handsome. But there was no real spark. And I was going to Zerconia for a reason. I thought we were friends. He wanted more. He didn’t like when I said no.”
“Elise,” she said gently. “Did he rape you?”
The woman jolted then stared at Keely, tears dripping down her face. “No.”
Keely let out a relieved breath. Thank God.
“But he was going to. And he. . .he touched me. Bruised me. Hurt me. My cries woke Hunter. He didn’t come out of his room, thank goodness. He just called out. That’s when Robert told me that he would hurt Hunter unless I did exactly as he said. He told me I had to blame Zandar for my bruises. I didn’t want to. I’d never even met him. But he said he would hurt Hunter.” The other woman buried her face in her hands, her shoulders moving up and down with her sobs.
“Oh, Elise. Shh, don’t cry.”
Keely moved over to sit next to the smaller woman on the sofa and looked up at Que. He stared down at the woman, his jaw was tight, his eyes flashing red with anger. Not at her, Keely knew. At Robert.
“It’s all right.” She rubbed Elise’s back, feeling how thin she was.
“It’s not. That poor man. I accused an innocent man. And he took Georgia when he left. I don’t know if she’s all right. She was kind to me and now she could be in trouble and it’s all my fault.”
“Listen to me,” Keely told her, grasping hold of her chin and raising her face so she stared up at her. “None of this is your fault. It’s all his fault. Robert. He did this. Not you. No one blames you for protecting your boy and I’m sure Georgia won’t either.”
“She stuck up for him. Zandar,” she whispered. “She told everyone that he couldn’t have hurt me as he was with her. I don’t know if that was the truth or not, but Robert said she was lying. Some of the women believed her, others believed me. I haven’t left my rooms in days, I’m so ashamed. Alek has been bringing me food.”
“Has he?” Keely rocked her as she cried, looking over at Que. “Elise, honey, stop crying. Everything will be okay.”
“How? How can I go to Zerconia now, with what I did? Will I get into trouble? Will they send me straight back to Earth? What will I do there? I have nothing. And poor Georgia.”
“You will still come to Zerconia,” Que told her, making both of them jump slightly and look up at him. “You will be well taken care of there. Even if you do not find your mate, you may stay.”
“I-I can? But w-won’t this Zandar h-hate me?”
“My brother would not hate you if he knew the full story,” Que told her.
“Oh God, he’s your brother. I’m so sorry. So sorry.”
“Shh, honey,” Keely whispered to her, holding her. “Everything will be well. Que doesn’t make statements like that lightly. If he says you’re welcome to stay on Zerconia then you are. And you’re not in any trouble. This is not your fault.”
“I should have told someone the truth, but I didn’t know who to trust.”
“You can trust me and Que. And Alek.”
Elise wiped at her tears. “Alek has been very nice to me and Hunter.”
“He’s a nice guy,” she told her. Not that she had any idea, but the way he’d taken care of Hunter seemed to indicate he was. “We’re going to assign him to you, not because you’re in trouble but to help take care of you and Hunter, okay?”
“Will you both stay on the ship until we get to Zerconia?” Elise looked from her up to Que. Keely looked to Que as well.
“Yes,” Que told them both.
“See? Everything is going to be fine.”
16
“That guy is a complete asshole,” Keely raged as she strode along the passageway.
Que agreed with the sentiment. He knew asshole was a human insult. And the human male who hurt Elise was that and worse.
“I can’t believe he is refusing to talk!”
He hadn’t said a word while Keely shot questions at him from the passageway. Que would not let her enter the room with him, so she spoke through the doorway, which had an electric forcefield to keep the human captain in the room while still allowing his guards to look in at him.
Throughout all of her questions, the captain had sat on his bed and just stared at Keely with hatred in his eyes.
“He will be made to talk once we arrive on Zerconia,” Que promised her. They were being shown to their rooms by one of the human guards, and he turned to give them both a look.
“What?’” Keely asked the man. “You don’t think he deserves that?”
Que had actually been waiting for Keely to protest.
“No,” the man replied. “He deserves it. And more. Here are your rooms.”
Que entered first. He took in their surroundings. They were in the living area, which had a screen on the wall and a small couch facing it. At the opposite end of the room there was a door, which he assumed led to a bedroom and attached bathing area.
“Wait here while I check to make sure the rooms are empty,” he told Keely.
The human male frowned at him, as though insulted, but didn’t say anything. He strode over to the door. There was a bed inside, no masic as this was a human ship. The bed was built for a human-sized occupant and his feet were going to hang off the end. He grimaced. Then he checked the bathing room. He would be lucky to fit in the cleaning chamber.
But it would have to do. He walked back into the living area and nodded to the human male. He left and Keely stepped inside.
After a quick glance around, she started to pace back and forth. “I want to be in on that interrogation when we get to Zerconia.”
“No.”
“Que!”
“No,” he repeated. He strode towards her. “You threatened to withdraw joining.”
“What?” She looked confused.
“You said that you would make sure I had no more sexy time unless I stopped using the word forbid. Does sexy time not mean joining?”
“Oh, caught that, did you? How come you know what that means but you have no idea what screwed the pooch means?”
He continued to stalk her. She moved back until her legs hit the sofa. She sat, staring up at him.
