by Aileen Erin
“Well, you’re the girl he wants. Haden showing up to talk to me? That takes balls.”
“I guess, but don’t you think it’s a sign that you’re my best friend and you’re not friends with him?”
“No. He’s in the Crew, just like us. Which means he’s already been vetted. And I’m not in the relationship. That’s just you and him. He really wants to try to see what’s between you two, and you say he’s perfect on paper, so maybe he’s worth another shot?”
Christ. Enough with this already. “Don’t make me feel bad about it. I didn’t feel a connection with him, and I tried. That’s it. It’s over.”
“But did you try? Did you open up to him?” Roan raised his voice over the sounds of the people around us as we moved through a crowded intersection. “Did you tell him about your dad?”
“Are you crazy? No. Of course I didn’t tell him about my dad.” The only people that knew exactly who and what I was were my mother, Roan, and Jorge. Telling Haden was too big of a risk. One I couldn’t afford to take.
“Maybe you should’ve.”
I shrugged off his suggestion. “I just didn’t get that feeling. That click. And I knew I couldn’t tell him the truth.”
“But you told me like five minutes after we met, and I’ve never said anything.”
I glanced at Roan for a second as we waited for the next crosswalk to light up. There were too many people around to really talk openly, but I knew what he meant. Roan could’ve turned me in and become one of the richest people on Earth. The bounty on an average halfer was big enough to set a person up for life. But the bounty on me and my mom? It was astronomical. But he hadn’t turned me in. I’d be shocked if he told me he’d even considered it.
Roan stared at me pointedly, giving me his best see, it’s okay to open up expression. But he was wrong. For me, opening up meant death.
“You’re different. I trust you.” I wasn’t sure what was different about him, but it was a gut feeling. I’d learned the hard way to trust my gut, and it said that hanging out with Haden was okay—he was damned pretty to look at—but nothing more.
“You could always just date me,” he said way too loud, and I laughed. He gave me one of his big, infectious grins.
The light changed, and we started making our way closer to the intersection. Some girl pushed me into Roan as she wove past us. “Aww! Give him a chance. He’s cute!”
I snorted. “Nope. Not happening.” The idea of being with Roan was icky. I didn’t have a sibling by blood, but Roan was more than my friend. He was my brother. He felt the same way, but we hung out so much everyone liked to think we were a couple. It’d turned into an inside joke with us.
Roan cupped his hands around his mouth. “Thanks for the support.” He climbed up the light pole to stand above the swarm of the people moving across the intersection in all directions. “Maybe you could meet me one night? I chill at Starlite every Thursday. It’s iced,” he shouted.
The girl laughed and waved as she disappeared from sight.
Roan looked down at me. “I might have scored a date!”
His grin was infectious. “Dude. You’re living in dreamville. She didn’t even turn to wave at you.”
“No way. I’m so in with her. Trust me.”
I laughed a real, gut-deep laugh for the first time in weeks.
He gasped, pretending to be hurt. “If I didn’t know you as well as I do, I’d be offended right now.”
“That’s why I love you. Now will you get down from there before we get into trouble.” He was attracting way too much attention.
“Don’t worry so much.” He hopped down. “I love you, too. I just wish you could be happy.”
“I’m as happy as I can be given my circumstances.” That had to be good enough.
He dragged me across the intersection as the light changed to yellow.
I jerked my hand from his. Roan knew I didn’t like to break any laws—even jaywalking—but it was already too late. We were the only people in the intersection now and that was bad. I hurried across, dragging Roan behind me.
“Chill out. It’s still yellow,” he said as the light turned to red.
Shit.
“Freeze!” A booming voice came from behind us. “IDs. Now.”
I froze as ordered and closed my eyes. The words echoed in my ears. IDs. Now. IDs. Now.
I couldn’t show him my ID. It would never pass an official inspection, but running now would be worse.
This so wasn’t happening. It was a bad dream. A nightmare.
I opened my eyes to find a SpaceTech police officer standing in front of us in his navy and gray uniform. He didn’t have any medals over his right pocket, so I knew he was a newbie, but that was almost worse. Newbies liked to find ways to prove themselves. The traffic and commotion around us had stopped as lookie Louies all stared, waiting to see what the officer was going to do to us.
“What’s the problem, officer?” I asked in what I hoped would be a calm voice, but the sound came out way too high-pitched.
Roan grabbed my hand, and I wove my fingers with his.
“After your buddy here climbed that light pole—which as you know is official SpaceTech property—you crossed the intersection on a yellow.”
“I’m sorry, officer. We didn’t notice it had turned yellow until we were already in the intersection. It won’t happen again,” I said a little too quickly.
The cop’s eyes narrowed as he spotted something behind me. “Halt! Right now!” He lunged past me.
Across the street, some kid took off running. People started yelling as the kid pushed into the crowd, holding a bag in his arms. The cop dashed across the street, missing a speeder by a fraction of an inch.
Roan dragged me to the curb so that traffic could start again, but I could barely move. I stood there frozen as people moved around us on their merry way. Meanwhile, my world had been seconds away from ending.
I tried to calm down, but all I could hear was my heartbeat thundering in my ears, as if it was urging me to run-run, run-run, run-run, yet my feet stayed firmly in place.
“Maité?”
I swallowed, but I couldn’t speak. Not yet. I wasn’t even sure how to process the fear that still coursed through my veins. I felt Roan’s arms wrap around me and I crumpled against him, my forehead resting on his sternum.
“Just breathe.”
Roan was quiet for a second and a moment later, the sound of a pod stopping to hover in front of us made me jerk away from him.
I blinked a few times at the bright yellow, double-capacity pod. I almost didn’t believe it was there. “You called a cab?” They travelled on tracks above the human-driven vehicles and had a sharp fee.
“I think we’ve had enough excitement for one night. My treat.”
As we sat down in the cab that smelled way too much of body odor and cheap booze, I wondered how long I could actually keep hiding. My heart-shaped face made me look all too much like a female Aunare. I wasn’t as tall as their women—they were six feet at a minimum and I was five feet, seven inches. But if the shape of my face didn’t give me away, the size of my eyes might. They were a little too big. Thankfully, I had my mother’s light brown eye color instead of the brighter shades of Aunare blues and greens. Still, if anyone looked too closely, they’d know I was a halfer.
Roan took out a small case from his pocket. He carefully opened it, pulled out the fingernail-sized device inside, and flipped it on. The tiny piece of tech would disrupt all video and sound recording that SpaceTech mandated for every public transportation vehicle. Which meant that now we could safely talk. “Are you okay?” Roan said, breaking the silence.
My breath shook as I released the air I’d been holding in. “That was too close.”
Roan pulled me into his chest, squeezing me tight. “It was my fault. I shouldn’t have rushed through the light. And I really shouldn’t have climbed the light pole. My flirting almost got us killed and I’m so fucking sorry. I just… That w
as so iced. Seriously, Maité. STPF never does that. They never stop people on the street. They have bigger problems and they—”
“I know.” That wasn’t the point. That wasn’t why I was freaking out. “How much longer do you think I can keep hiding? Really. I mean, let’s be honest here. It’s only a matter of time before I do something wrong or someone notices. I can’t change what I am. I’m terrified that—”
Roan pulled away and grabbed my face. “You won’t get caught.”
“You don’t know that.” There was every chance that sooner or later, someone would catch me. Every couple months SpaceTech would remind the world who my mother and I were. My mother had altered her appearance some and the aging they’d done on my toddler picture wasn’t totally accurate. It was the only reason no one had turned us in yet. But someday someone would look at me and they wouldn’t see Maité Martinez. No. They’d see Amihanna di Aetes. Daughter of Rysden di Aetes, head of the Aunare military and second to the King.
And when that happened, there would be no more running from my fate.
CHAPTER THREE
I’d never been happier to be home as I was that night. Roan had paid the exorbitant cab fare and then left on foot to Starlite as soon as I’d entered the apartment building. He’d asked me to join him, but the close call with the cop had me on edge. All I wanted to do was hide in my darkened room for the next day or ten. But as I approached my front door, voices seeped into the cement-lined hallway.
For a second, I dismissed them, but Mom’s sing-songy voice rose above a deeper one and I stopped walking.
We rarely had anyone over at all and never at this hour. Something was going on, and it couldn’t be good.
I tip-toed the rest of the way, pressing my ear to the door.
“I tried to get ahold of you. I really did.” Mom’s voice was muffled, but I could make out her words. “But how could I know if he’d come for Maité after all these years?”
It felt like a noose slithered around my chest and tightened. Someone had come for me. But who?
In between the next three heartbeats, a few scenarios ran through my mind.
One. The cop from earlier had sent another officer to bring me in, but SpaceTech Police Force didn’t move that fast, especially for an idiotic ticket.
Two. SpaceTech had found us. Two of Earth’s Most Wanted. But if that were true, then there would be fighting and screaming and the sounds of my mother begging for them to leave me alone.
And then the third idea came and I took a big breath. There was only one other possibility. They were here. The Aunare were here. I’d stopped dreaming my father or the Aunare would show up to rescue us years ago. I wasn’t sure what this meant except that my life was about to change in a huge way.
The fluttering in my stomach started small and crescendoed into thousands of flying butterflies. I wasn’t sure if it was excitement or nerves, but specifics didn’t matter.
Better face this now.
I slid my backpack off my shoulders and unlocked the door.
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Off Planet, Book One of the Aunare Chronicles.
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Aileen Erin is half-Irish, half-Mexican, and 100% nerd—from Star Wars (prequels don’t count) to Star Trek (TNG FTW), she geeks out on Tolkien’s linguistics, and has a severe fascination with the supernatural. Aileen has a BS in Radio-TV-Film from the University of Texas at Austin, and an MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University. She lives with her husband and daughter in Los Angeles, and spends her days doing her favorite things: reading books, creating worlds, and kicking ass.
For more information and updates about Aileen and her books, go to: http://inkmonster.net/aerin
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Acknowledgments
This series has been a journey. I started Becoming Alpha as my thesis project for my MFA in Writing Popular Fiction at Seton Hill University. Never in my wildest dreams did I think it would turn into a series this long or with this many readers.
Thank you to everyone who has been on this journey with Tessa, Dastien, and their friends.
I had a few mentors at Seton Hill, but I had so many amazing professors and critique partners that helped me get the first book into shape. I don’t think I can list them all, but they know who they are. ;)
Two critique partners stand out above the rest because they turned into my developmental editors. Kime Heller-Neal (books 1-2 & 7-9) and Lola Dodge (books 1-7). They both got me through all of these books and helped me keep my sanity.
Sharon K. Garner is my copyeditor. She catches all my typos.
Ana Cruz Arts did all the covers. She’s amazing, y’all.
I find the acknowledgements harder and harder to write. It’s usually the same old thing, which is why I just listed off people above.
But I’m still writing this because I wanted to say thank you again to the readers and fans. You guys are the best. I would’ve stopped the series so much sooner if you guys hadn’t been around, urging me to keep going, asking for more, and I’m so thankful for each and every one of you.
