by Aileen Erin
First Published by Ink Monster, LLC in 2019
Ink Monster, LLC
4470 W Sunset Blvd
Suite 145
Los Angeles, CA 90027
www.inkmonster.net
ISBN 9781943858729
Copyright © 2019 by Ink Monster LLC
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof
may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever
without the express written permission of the publisher
except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Also by Aileen Erin
The Alpha Girl Series
Becoming Alpha
Avoiding Alpha
Alpha Divided
Bruja
Alpha Unleashed
Shattered Pack
Being Alpha
Lunar Court
The Shadow Ravens Series
Cipher
The Aunare Chronicles
Off Planet
Off Balance - forthcoming
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Off Balance
To My Readers
Acknowledgments
About the Author
For Isabella and Jeremy.
You inspire me every day.
I couldn’t do this without you.
Love you both more than words.
Chapter One
A chorus of shouts rippled through the room, sending a zing of energy up my spine. The warehouse’s old wooden floors creaked as the class launched into a jump kick. Not even the mats I’d scrounged from around Albuquerque could mask the noise of the battered floorboards.
The massive room was good enough for me to hold my martial arts classes in and not much else. I’d created a little makeshift locker room in the back with a floral curtain and a few cubbies where the students could stash their stuff. A few industrial lights hung down from the ceiling. They weren’t very bright, but they also didn’t cost much to keep turned on, which was essential since I was on a budget.
I’d shoved a small, battered desk I’d found abandoned in an alley into the corner so I could keep up with my flight training here if I needed to, and some outdated vidscreens hung on the wall. I didn’t watch much on them, but I liked to check the news and a selection of social channels—both legit and off-the-grid resistance sites—before leaving. It was dangerous out there, especially for halfers like me, but I was a girl who knew how to survive.
Except for the study area and the lockers, the warehouse was just one massive open space that looked like it could fall down on our heads at any second, but thankfully, it was sturdier than it appeared. My students didn’t care about aesthetics. The tiny fee they paid was barely enough to keep the lights on. My students came here to learn how to fight, and that was the only thing that mattered.
We finished the warm-up, and the students bowed. I took in the twenty-three people standing in front of me, their spines stiff. Most wore some type of active gear, but a few were in pajamas. I didn’t require white karate gis and I didn’t hand out colored belts. None of that was important in here. My only goal was to make sure these Earthers survived the walk home every day.
“Good job, everyone.”
My students relaxed their stances. This class was my beginner level. Most were only four years younger than me—fifteenish, give or take—but they seemed like babies to me. Probably because none of them lived under constant mortal fear like I did. I was pretty sure that kind of danger had aged me faster than most, but rampant crime—especially personal assaults—were at an all-time high on Earth. If these people wanted to make it through the next decade of their lives unscathed, they had to toughen up.
“We’re sparring tonight.” That got me a few smiles. Most looked a little nervous, but no one looked particularly freaked out. “This is going to be fun. I promise.” I gave them a grin, hoping to put them at ease. “It’s important to try what we’ve learned on an opponent because…?”
The room was quiet as my students looked at each other.
“Because SpaceTech doesn’t care about us. They won’t protect you. Ever. So, when shit goes down, you need to be able to protect yourself, and more than that, you need to be able to help those who can’t protect themselves. Roan!” I yelled for my best friend to join us, and he waddled out from behind the curtain where he’d been putting on thick, neck-to-toe padding.
“You all need to feel okay about beating the crap out of someone, so Roan’s going to be our punching bag.” Roan somehow managed to wrap an arm around me even with the constraining pads, and I nudged him softly. “Don’t be afraid to rip into this guy.”
“Hey,” Roan’s light green eyes filled with laughter, and he tugged on my long braid. “Don’t listen to Maité. I have plans tonight. Don’t want to mess up my face.”
“That’s why you’re going to put on the mask I gave you,” I said.
“You didn’t tell me Yvette was in this class,” Roan murmured in my ear. “Been trying to get a date with her sister for years. Think she’ll put in a good word for me?”
“Roan.” The word was a warning, but he looked at me with wide, innocent eyes. I elbowed him in the stomach—this time harder—and he let out an oof.
Roan wasn’t the least bit intimidating. At three inches shorter than me and a little too energetic to be anything but adorable, he was more like a speedy teddy bear than anything else. He could keep up with me and made me laugh constantly. Which is why he’d been my best friend for nearly a decade, but his timing needed work.
“If anything happens to them because you were goofing off when—”
“Come on, Maité. I’ll do my job here. But that doesn’t mean we can’t make this fun.”
“This is too important to mess up,” I whispered. The truth sat like a ball of molten lava in my stomach. Life was dangerous out there for all kids. They had to be able to defend themselves. “All right. Who wants to go—Motherfuckingshit.” A sharp burn ran through my finger, and I couldn’t stop the curse from flying out as I shook my hand.
A couple of shocked gasps came from my students.
“Sorry. I…” I glanced at Roan, not sure how to fix this.
Roan looped his arm with mine. “One second. Gotta talk strategy with my girl before we start.” Roan dragged me toward the makeshift locker room.
“We’ll be right back,” I said, looking over my shoulder at the class. “Try doing bunkai number eight to stay warm. Yvette? You help lead.”
Yvette nodded, her chin lifting up as she steppe
d forward to take charge. “You got it.”
That gave us a second, and by the look on Roan’s face, I was about to get an earful.
“Jesus. You’re going to get us killed,” Roan whispered as soon as we were through the curtain. At least he wasn’t mad enough to start yelling. If anyone—even one of my students—found out I was a halfer, we’d both be as good as dead. “The implant still bothering you?”
“Bothering is too nice of a word.” I bit down on the tip of my finger for a second, feeling the microscopic chip beneath my skin. “It feels like a hot poker is stabbing my finger. The alerts from my contact lens were bad, but I turned them off. It’s been two weeks since it was implanted, and I’m still feeling the frequency shifts.”
Roan’s eyes widened. “How often?” His voice was threaded with worry.
“It feels like every other minute, but maybe more like every ten. I thought shutting down my email would help, but… I hate it.” I spat out the words. It was the truth. I hated every damned second that this piece of shit tech sat under my skin. “I have to get it removed or I’ll end up cutting it out or—”
“No. You can’t.” His tone made it clear he wasn’t kidding around. “Not after everything we went through to get it in the first place. The fake ID. The sketchy doctor. And I could get in so much trouble if they find out I was the one who took your blood sample. No fucking way, Maité.” He stepped closer to me, and I could almost feel the heat of Roan’s anger. “We’ve talked about this. You gotta start blending in better. Most people have their neural lace implanted straight onto their brain by now, and—”
“But I’m half alien.”
“Don’t say that word.” His tone was outraged, but for no good reason.
“It’s not a dirty word. It’s what I am. I’m half Aunare. And the alien side of me is stronger than the Earther side. My kind can’t have implanted tech. I’m too sensitive for it. This will kill me—or worse—drive me insane. There’s no way I’d survive lacing my brain, so don’t even start with that again.”
A neural lace hardwired all of a person’s apps, calls, games, and everything else they wanted straight into their cerebral cortex for maximum convenience. Earthers loved it, but if a simple finger implant and AR contact lens nearly drove me crazy with jolts of fire-hot pain, that kind of tech would kill me for sure.
“So what now?” Roan took a step back from me, shaking his head. “You get your dinky-assed implant taken out and then go back to using a wrist unit? And then what’s going to happen to you?”
“It worked before.” My words were mumbled. I knew I couldn’t go back to that. I’d stick out, and I already looked too Aunare as it was.
“It worked because we were kids. We all had wrist units back then. But in a few months, you’re going to be twenty. You can maybe pass for sixteen—maybe—but not once someone talks to you. You act and sound much older than you are. And I get it. But by sixteen most people already have the neural lace. You need this implant or you’re going to get caught. And we both know what happens then.”
He was right. I knew it, but I still wanted the implant gone. It’d been a couple of weeks, and the burning pain was getting worse. Maybe if I—
“No way. Stop it.” Roan cut off my thoughts. “I know that look. You’re about to argue with me, but you’re just stubborn, and you’re wrong. You’re just going to have to suck it up. SpaceTech will kill you if they find you. Your family and your friends. Anyone who spent any significant time with you. Which means me. You have to get your shit together and stop cussing every time that thing gets an alert. If they find out who you are, there will be war.”
I rubbed the bridge of my nose, trying to find my Zen. “I know. I know. I’ll figure something out and—”
Someone tapped on my shoulder, and I spun. One of my newest students—Hillary—let out a gasp at my too quick movement.
Shit. Shit. Just fucking shit.
Aunare weren’t like Earthers. They were an elegant race built for speed and fighting. It’s why I taught the class. Fighting for me was like breathing. But I couldn’t show these kids who I was. What I was. I couldn’t move that fast or they’d know.
When I taught my classes, it was painfully hard not to give in. Not to let my body move like it could. And in that one second, I’d given myself away.
Hillary’s eyes were wide as she stared up at me. She’d had a close call a couple weeks ago and ended up in my class a little battered and bruised, but I saw the will to fight burning inside her. I wanted to make sure that next time, she’d fight and win.
“Are you—? Was that—?” She was too afraid to ask what I was.
Roan was right. I hadn’t lived this long to be stupid now, but the implant was distracting me. It was making me too on edge, and I couldn’t afford to forget my Earther facade for even a second.
“Sorry. You startled me.” I’d found that if you explained a movement away as being scared or excited or some other extreme emotion, most Earthers dismissed it. They didn’t want to find an Aunare living on this planet, especially if it’s someone they’d been spending significant time with. Hillary had been here every night for three weeks. She didn’t want me to be Aunare.
“Oh. Sorry,” she said, and her shoulders relaxed. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“Everything okay?” I asked.
“We only have twenty minutes left in class.” She swallowed. “I need the practice.” Her words were barely audible.
“Of course. I’m so sorry I got distracted. Apparently, I’m having a day.” I shoved through the curtain. “Okay, everyone. I promise to stay focused on your training for the rest of class.” My finger burned again, and I bit my tongue. I swallowed the coppery tang of blood in my mouth along with another curse that was begging to slip out.
This might not get any easier for me, but these kids? I could help them. Volunteering here three hours a day, six days a week took its toll on me. Especially since I also had my shifts at the diner. But if teaching them to survive was the only thing I did before SpaceTech caught me, then that was something I could be proud of.
“We’re going to work off of the bunkai we were just practicing while sparring with Roan. Each movement in the bunkai is something that can be used to fend off an attacker. Roan is covered in padding, so don’t be afraid to let loose,” I said as I settled back into teaching.
Everything was going to be fine. I could do this. I could stay hidden, teach my classes, and save my money. One day, I’d be light-years away from here and safe. Until then, I’d dream about making my escape from this godforsaken planet.
Chapter Two
I sat at my desk in the dark and watched the news on the vidscreens. The students had all left hours ago, and Roan was now changing in the back. He’d stayed to spar with me, sans padding, after my classes. It was nice of him, especially since he knew I was going to kick his butt.
It’d been a good workout, but I was still on edge from my slip-up with Hillary. If I wanted to relax, then I needed to let my body really move. But I couldn’t do that, even with Roan. He could barely keep up with me at half-speed.
Now that everyone was gone, all I wanted to do was go home and hide. It was getting harder and harder to hold myself back. One of these days I was going to do something I couldn’t talk my way out of, and that one slip-up was going to be the death of me and everyone I loved.
I scanned the screens for any sign of trouble outside. I could always tell my mom I was sleeping here if there was a riot or the police were out searching for their latest target. She wouldn’t love it, but spending the night in this shithole of a warehouse was better than risking my life to get home.
Supposedly, it hadn’t always been this dangerous. Way before I was born, SpaceTech—the biggest corporate conglomerate—took over all of Earth’s governments. I didn’t know the specifics, but I hoped whoever thought that was a good idea was rotting in hell. It’d turned into an unmitigated disaster for everyone on Earth. As long as it did
n’t hurt SpaceTech’s bottom line, they didn’t care what happened to us. They didn’t care that we lived in a world with too much violent crime, corruption, and poverty.
SpaceTech was good at one thing—expanding to grow a stronger power base. Their colonization and trade routes spread across the galaxy and they’d found dozens of other species to exploit along the way. In all their greed to find more profits and expand colonization across the galaxy, SpaceTech finally met a race that was stronger, smarter, and had better tech than them.
From all the stories, it had been nice between Earthers and the Aunare for nearly a decade, but a few weeks before my seventh birthday, SpaceTech assassinated all high-level Aunare officials living on Earth and then started hunting everyone else on any of their colonies with ties to the alien race. In less than two weeks, most Aunare or part-Aunare people living on a SpaceTech-controlled planet were murdered. Except the few of us that got away.
That was why I forced myself to watch the news multiple times a day. I couldn’t get caught. Especially since my mother and I were the only two high-level Aunare targets that managed to run before SpaceTech could murder us. There was a hefty reward for anyone who had information on our whereabouts. And if someone actually turned us in, their whole family would be set for life and then some.
