Yoshi grinned and lowered her head.
“But you made Ally cry,” he said softly.
“She made me cry too, but they’re tears of joy. I’ve been waiting for her for a very long time. I’ve been waiting for you too. And you all just got here; I’m not letting you go that easily.”
“I’m glad we get to stay,” he said.
This time she didn’t resist the urge to pull him and Yoshi into her arms. “I’m glad you’re staying too. Now come on and let’s see your new apartment.”
“I’m the man of our family,” he declared. “You should show me the apartment first, to let me approve it.”
Eva raised a brow and looked up at Kiehle. “Filling his head with that nonsense already?”
“It’s not nonsense,” Kiehle stated simply.
Eva shook her head and rose. “I wanted to pick him up, but thanks to you, I suppose I can scratch that off my list.”
“I’m a man,” Max said, squaring his shoulders and confirming her suspicion.
Ally smiled down at him. “And he’s been a very good little man.”
Eva raised a brow. “Well then, we should get going if you’re going to approve the apartment, but may I suggest that you allow Ally and Yoshi to come with us?”
He flicked his gaze to Kiehle for direction. “I think that would be acceptable,” he said to Max.
The boy nodded. “They can come.”
“I like him already,” Taio said, approaching the group.
Eva rolled her eyes. “Of course you would.” She reached out for Taio and pulled him closer. “This is my mate, Taio.” She pointed to each of them in introduction. “This is Ally and her children, Yoshi and Max.”
Ally extended a hand, which Taio took and shook vigorously. When Ally mouthed “ouch”, Eva put a hand on his arm, stopping him. “Baby, not so hard.” And then to Ally she said, “Taio is still working on getting the hang of handshakes. His grip is a bit too strong.”
“Sorry,” he said. Then he looked down at the kids. “Welcome to my home. Consider this your home as well.”
He extended a hand but Eva pulled it back down to his side. “They don’t need to start off with broken bones,” she chuckled.
He turned to her with a confused look on his face. “Then how do I properly greet human children?”
“With candy,” Eva said.
“Candy?” Yoshi asked, any shyness quickly fading away.
Eva sheepishly pulled out the treats she had in her pockets and handed them to the kids. They took the treats and ripped into them with abandon. She looked at Ally. “I’m sorry I didn’t ask if they could have them first. It was a last-minute decision in case I needed to bribe them to like me.”
Ally put a hand on her heart. “That was so sweet of you.”
Eva pulled another treat from her pocket. “And I got this one for you.”
Ally’s lip quivered. “This is my bribe?”
Eva raised a shoulder and smiled. “You know, just in case…”
Ally rushed forward and grabbed her in a bear hug. “I don’t need a bribe. But I’ll take it anyway,” she said, snatching the candy away.
“Is that all I had to do to make you compliant?” Kiehle asked. “If I had known, I would have given you pockets full of treats,” he mumbled.
Ally released Eva and went to him. “I’m sorry, but yes, it would’ve helped,” she said, snacking on the chewy cocoa bar.
“Shall we get going?” Eva asked.
“Sure, but…” Ally rubbed her eyes, blinked and then rubbed them again.
Eva stepped to her and moved tendrils of hair out of her face. “Is something the matter?”
“I think there’s something wrong with my eyes,” Ally said. “I’m seeing spots of purple.”
“Oh! I’m so sorry. That’s Ship, my friend.”
Ally looked from Ship to Ally then back to Ship again. “That’s Ship? I was expecting something…?”
“With a body?”
“Ship doesn’t like appendages. He thinks they’re ‘gross’,” Taio said.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude. I know I owe him big for helping to look for me.”
Eva chuckled. “It’s me who owes him the favor. I suppose one day he’ll want to cash in.” She grabbed Ally’s arm, entangling it with hers and leading her closer to Ship. “But it’ll be worth it.”
“Hello, Allysan, Max and Yoshi,” Ship said as they approached.
The kids took a step closer to Ally and held on to her legs.
“It’s all right,” Kiehle said. “Ship is a true friend. You can trust him.”
“Kiehle’s right,” Eva said, trying to soothe the kids, knowing that hearing Ship’s voice coming from all different directions was a little scary at first. “He helped me find you.”
“Thank you so much for finding me,” Ally said. “I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you.”
“Don’t think of it further,” Ship said. “I was at Eva’s mercy. She was relentless in her pursuit of you.”
Ally squeezed Eva’s arm. “So I’ve heard.”
“I think the little humans are afraid of me,” he said.
Ally looked down at the kids. “Max? Yoshi? He’s a friend. It’s okay.”
Neither of them moved.
“Maybe after they’ve adjusted they’ll be more receptive to you,” Kiehle said.
“I can take some getting used to. My knowledge and brilliance can be overwhelming at first.”
Eva choked. “Is that how you’re describing yourself now?”
“Lo’Ren described me as such and I happen to agree with her.”
“She didn’t by chance need a favor from you, did she?” Taio asked.
“That’s irrelevant,” Ship said.
“Who is Lo’Ren?” Ally asked.
Eva tugged on her arm, leading her out of the transporter bay. “Wait until you meet her. She’s a hoot. She’ll be coming back from visiting with her sister in a couple of days.”
“She’s an alien?”
“Think pink—a lot of pink,” Eva said, waving a hand through the air. “With a flair for silver.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Eva, I can’t believe you have children.” Ally cradled the baby girl in her arms. She looked exactly like Eva. Well, except for the lavender-colored eyes that seemed to be the only alien characteristic about the infant. But even those were beautiful, with dark lashes framing them. Her skin was olive-toned, just like Eva’s, and much different than her father’s and even her older brother Josanis’.
Ally ran a finger down the curvature of her round cheek. Maliya turned her head, trying to latch on to Ally’s finger and smacking her lips. “No, no, no, little papoose. I’m not the momma,” Ally cooed.
Eva held her hands out. “You can give her to me. That’s the signal that it’s time for her to eat.”
Reluctantly, Ally gave her back. This was the first time she’d held a baby since being on the Loconuist vessel, and the first time she’d seen one since Adrienne’s. The vision of Adrienne’s half-human, half-reptilian baby—coated in slime and with a misshapen head—swam back to her, making her nauseous.
Adrienne’s baby hadn’t lived even an hour. It didn’t make Ally sad that it had died. She hated herself for feeling that way, but the baby had been so deformed. Human and reptilian DNA didn’t match. At least it hadn’t for that baby.
She pushed the memory from her mind. If she thought about it too hard the nightmares would start again. It had taken almost two years for them to stop in the first place. Ally shuddered. She didn’t want those nightmares anymore.
Eva helped Liya, as she called her baby, to latch on to her nipple. She looked up at Ally. “I’m sorry. I didn’t even think about your feelings.”
“About what?”
Eva nodded down to Liya. “This. The baby. I know most of the women in the brothels were sterilized.”
“As they should be.” She’d seen firsthand what damage could be d
one if they weren’t.
Eva shook her head. “I can’t even try to imagine what you’ve been through.”
Ally sat back. “I wouldn’t want you to. But know this—I am very happy that you survived, found love and didn’t have to go through what I did.”
Eva’s eyes watered. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “I blame myself for you being left on Xenaris. If I was—”
“Was what?” Ally scooted closer so she could wrap an arm around Eva’s shoulders. “Weren’t almost killed trying to come back to me? Not tasered to unconsciousness? Not saved by Taio? None of that was your doing and frankly, if those events hadn’t happened, you wouldn’t be here and we both probably would’ve been separated anyway.” She brought her head to Eva’s. “And we wouldn’t be with each other now.”
Eva’s body began to shake. She sniffled. “You don’t know how guilty I’ve felt for not being able to tell Taio and Rasha to get you too. I kept thinking that if I had been a little stronger, I could’ve woken up sooner and told them about you.”
Ally pulled her closer, doing her best not to disrupt the baby between them. “I blamed myself for not breaking out of the confinement and stopping them from taking you,” Ally said with a shaky laugh.
“How would you have done that?”
Ally chuckled. “I have no clue, but it didn’t stop me from placing all the blame on my shoulders.”
“You couldn’t have done anything.”
“And neither could you.”
Eva sniffled again and wiped her cheeks. “If you tell anyone I cried, I’ll have to beat you,” she joked.
“Why? Crying isn’t allowed on Drazlan?” Ally asked, wiping away her own tears.
“I’m a warrior. Warriors don’t cry—especially twice in one day. I just got my enlightenment tattoo. I don’t want Taio to find a reason to revoke it or something.”
Ally pulled back to look at Eva’s face. “I like it. It’s beautiful.”
Eva ran her fingers across the design. “It marks that I’m a warrior. You don’t know how many people I had to kill to get it.” Ally raised an eyebrow at her. “I’m serious. I had to earn this. I’m the only female who’s ever had one,” she said proudly.
“Leave it to you to break the mold.” Ally traced a finger over the intricate markings. The tattoo covered one of her eyes in a blue and red design. It was a scaly arm with large claws. The design trailed down her face, neck and covered part of her breast. “What is it? It’s different than Kiehle’s.”
“It’s a varitizar. Two, actually.” She unlatched Liya from her breast. Liya whimpered and frowned but that didn’t stop Eva from smiling and lifting up her shirt to show off the complete design.
“Wow, that’s…beautiful.” Ally reached out her hand and trailed it over Eva’s stomach. “Was it painful?”
“Heck yeah!”
“They didn’t give you anything for the pain? I know it had to hurt like hell.”
“They could’ve. But that’s part of the whole experience. I was not going to bitch out and ask for pain meds. It took a lot for Taio to agree to let me have one. I didn’t want him to think I couldn’t handle it.” Eva lifted Liya higher and put her back on her nipple, where she latched on again.
“So what was the requirement for getting one? A high kill count? If that’s the case, then my body should be riddled with them.”
“Oh my sweet Ally. I don’t want to imagine you killing anyone. You shouldn’t have had to.”
Ally rolled her eyes. She hadn’t heard “sweet” in the same sentence as her name in years. “Yeah, well, the sweet little Ally is long gone now.”
“No she’s not. I’ve seen the way you interact with Max and Yoshi. You didn’t birth them but you are definitely their momma.”
At the mention of Max and Yoshi, she felt her demeanor soften. She was their mother. She would do anything for them. “They saved me. I had a death wish and they saved me. Without them…” She shook her head. “Kiehle would’ve been claiming a body.”
“And that’s why I plan to spoil them rotten.”
“Thank you for getting clothes and toys. We had to leave the stuff Kiehle bought for them behind. They hadn’t forgiven me for that, but I think they forgot when they saw the things you bought for them.”
Eva shook her head. “I’ve never heard anyone scream so loud. For a minute there I thought my eardrums were busted.”
When they had arrived at the apartment, the kids had been happy and excited, like she had been. But at the sight of their toys piled high in their rooms, they’d lost it. Ally had wanted them to calm down, to be quiet in case their neighbors complained. But Eva had only encouraged them to scream their little hearts out. By then, Mazel, Taio’s personal assistant, had joined them with Josanis, and he had joined in on the screaming as well. It had been one big scream fest, each trying to outdo the other.
Ally laughed. “I’ve never seen them happier.” She looked down at her hands. “It was nice of Kiehle to stay with them so I could hang out with you for a little while. I missed our talks.”
“So did I.” Eva was silent for a minute. Then she said, “I have a confession to make. I was afraid that you didn’t like me anymore and that you didn’t want to talk to me.”
Ally looked up. “I was afraid that you wouldn’t like me.”
“Why wouldn’t I like you? I love you.”
Ally shrugged. In her mind she had listed all the reasons why Eva wouldn’t want to keep her around. “I’m not the woman I was. I was afraid to come, but Kiehle talked me into it.”
“I’m glad he could talk some sense into you.”
Ally nodded. “I’m glad he did too. I was prepared to beg you to let us stay here. The kids were so worked up about coming, I thought I would mess it up for them.”
Eva reached for her hand and gave it a light squeeze. “I was prepared to beg you to stay.”
Ally lowered her head, trying to blink back her tears. She didn’t want to cry again, but couldn’t help it; her emotions were stuck on high. “I guess we both were worrying a lot.”
“And it sounds like we both have guys in our lives who care for us.”
She sniffled and wiped her eyes. “Yeah.”
“What’s going on between you and him, anyway?”
“Nothing.”
“Is that the story you’re sticking to?”
“It’s not a story. He helped us escape from Yinnis and he brought us here.” She shrugged. “Don’t read too much into it, I haven’t. The last time I did, it got me sold to another brothel.”
“No one is selling you anywhere, so don’t worry about that. Besides, there’s something between you two. I can tell by the way he looks at you. He watches you like you’re the only person in the room.”
“Really?” She shook her head and then shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m not going to go there.”
“I think you’re already there, sweetheart.”
“I wouldn’t know the first thing about carrying on a relationship. Next subject.”
Eva laughed. “Sure thing. Oh,” she said, as if she’d just remembered something. “Everybody knows that I found you, so be prepared.”
“Everybody?”
“My crew.” Then she began to use her fingers to count out the names as she said them. “Lo’Ren, Sa’Mya, Jess and Taraj. Consider them your crew too.”
A crew? She’d learned long ago that female friends were one in a million. The brothels were cutthroat. No one could be trusted. “I’m not sure if I want a crew yet.”
“There’s no way around this. They’ve all been sticking with me while I tried to find you.” Before Ally could say anything, Eva continued on. “I asked everyone to give you a couple of weeks to get acclimated before they came, but Taraj is the only one who will follow my request. Sa’Mya’s hardheaded, so she’ll probably be here tomorrow. She’s Kane’s mate. Kane is human, he used to be a space pirate but now he’s a member of the Galactic Council. I have to ask one favor before you
meet Sa’Mya though.”
“Um…sure,” she said, trying to take in everything Eva was saying.
“Don’t kill her.”
“Why would I want to kill her?” She let out a chuckle. “Should I want to kill her?”
“There will be a million reasons why. She’s the Queen of Laconia and she can be a spoiled bitch. But I love her. So I ask for some restraint.” One side of Eva’s mouth pulled up. “She’s pregnant and I didn’t think it possible, but she’s acting bitchier than usual.”
“Don’t kill Sa’Mya. Check.”
“And since Sa’Mya is coming, I can bet my left tit that Jess is going to come. She just had a baby but that won’t stop her from one-upping Sa’Mya. She escaped from a brothel too, so if you ever need to confide in someone besides me, Jess will be a great sounding board. She used to be a member of Kane’s space-pirate crew but now she helps to run Sonis with her mate, Rasha. He used to be the captain of the royal guards. Now he’s Taio’s top advisor.”
Ally’s head swam with all the information, but she nodded and Eva must’ve taken that as a sign to continue.
“I already told you about Lo’Ren, she’s my partner in crime. She’s visiting her sister on Bri’El. You’ll love her. Taio hired her to be my friend when I first came to Sonis.”
“He hired a friend for you?”
Eva laughed. “Yeah. None of the other females would have anything to do with me. The bitches. But honestly, we would’ve ended up as friends anyway. Taio is still depositing credits in her account for the job.” She laughed again. “But she’s also the kids’ nanny.”
Ally nodded. “Friend and nanny. Check.”
“She’s pink. I mean, really pink.”
“Okaaaay,” Ally said.
“And Taraj is a dignitary from Holis, but like I said, you’ll have some time before she comes for a visit. She’s the only one who can show any kind of restraint.”
Ally stared at her.
“What?”
“I was waiting for you to keep listing people.”
DangerouslyForever Page 19
