by Susan Hayes
Eva tentatively stroked Keth’s cheek. “Hello, Keth. I’m Eva. You need to wake up, now. I’m alone on this ship, and I’m scared.”
The monitor registered a fluctuation. It was tiny, but by the Flames of the First Ones, it was there! “He heard you. Keep talking to him.”
Eva leaned over Keth, her blonde hair falling around her face as she lowered her head until she was next to his ear. Torel didn’t hear what she said, but there was a flurry of activity on the monitors.
Both he and Ista watched in silent amazement as Eva singlehandedly did what they hadn’t been able to do. Breath by breath, moment by moment, Keth was waking up.
“What made you think to bring her to be with our patient?” Ista asked.
“Haley.”
His second in command nodded in understanding. “Kastor and I have been together for so long, I forgot how consuming the bond can be in the beginning. Speaking of your mate, I think you should return to her. The emergency has passed. I’m officially taking you off-duty again.”
He grinned. “You’re enjoying your time in charge a little too much. Be careful, or when we get home, I’ll recommend you for a command of your own.”
Ista’s eyes widened. “You would?”
“I would. You’ve more than proven yourself ready.”
She beamed with pride as she pointed to the door. “Thank you. Now, go. You’ve been away from Haley too long as it is. She will be missing you.”
“She understands why I had to leave. I’m just glad I’ll be returning with good news.” He wasn’t about to admit to Ista that his mate hadn’t been happy when he’d left. And judging by what he sensed from her at this moment, things hadn’t improved while he was gone.
Despite Ista’s instructions, he didn’t rush back to his quarters. He needed a few moments to think about matters. Part of him wanted to continue believing that once the Scorching passed, he’d be able to return to his old life as if nothing had changed, even though he was coming to accept that wasn’t going to happen. If he couldn’t have his old life, what did he want?
The answer came too quickly. He wanted Haley. Not as a sexual partner he’d see once or twice a year, but part of his life. By the time he reached his door, he still hadn’t come up with how to tell Haley he’d changed his mind. He went in any way. They were two, rational adult beings. They’d find a way to make this work.
Haley was dressed and sitting by the window, her face screwed into a stormy scowl. The moment she heard him enter, she threw down the tablet she’d been reading and stood. “You want to explain to me what all this is?” She gestured to the table, which was strewn with his research and a stack of fresh printouts.
“It’s my research, and uh, whatever you’ve had the computer print for you. What’s wrong, otama? I sensed your unhappiness while I was gone, but I thought it was because I’d left you without an explanation.”
“I’ve got news for you, Tor. I’m more than unhappy, I’m angry! I got bored and started looking through your research. Do you know what I found?”
“I would assume you found my notes and textbooks, all of which are written in Pyrosian.” He had no idea why she was so angry, but something was seriously wrong. He wanted to fix this quickly so they could talk about what he’d realized while they were apart. “Why are you so angry?”
“Are you kidding me? Your research is all about how to turn human women into nothing more than brood mares for your breeding project.” She waved a printout in front of her. “You even call them breeders!”
“I did no such thing,” he retorted defensively.
“It says so right here.” She raised the printout higher and then screamed. The paper burst into flames.
He was at her side in a second, but by then the paper was reduced to ash. Her hand, however, was still covered in flames.
“Make it stop. Make it stop!” She flailed her arm helplessly.
“You are the only one who can do that. Calm your mind.” Apparently, his mate could control fire after all. This fact would only add to his argument that she belonged with him, on Pyros.
“Calm my—are you fucking kidding me? I’m on fire!”
“And you will be until you calm yourself. Close your eyes and visualize the flames growing smaller and then vanishing. If it helps, close your fist as you do it, as if you were extinguishing them that way.”
She stilled and closed her eyes. After a few seconds, the flames were gone.
“Well done.”
“I better not be,” she snapped and opened her eyes. She drew her hand in close and examined it carefully.
“Your flames will never harm you. That’s part of the magic.”
She lowered her hand and glowered at him. “You did this to me! First, it was sparks and sex and now it’s mates, magical freaking flames and breeding plans! I’m not doing this. Not any of it. In fact, once I get back to Earth, I’m going to tell everyone what you’re really up to. I saw your notes. You’re trying to find ways to turn more human women into baby factories so you can save your race, and to hell with what we human women want!”
“You’ve misunderstood. Sit down and we’ll talk about this.”
She shook her head wildly. “No. No more talking. I want to see my friend, and then we are getting out of here.”
“You can’t leave. We’re mated. I learned today that if we’re separated, it will be hard on both of us. I don’t want you to leave, Haley.” He reached for her, but she moved away. He could sense her emotions more clearly now, and they were a seething tangle of fear, anger, and…guilt? He didn’t understand. What was she feeling guilty about?
“Right. And you only just realized this? Yesterday it was fine for us to hook up and then move on, but now, suddenly, we can’t? That’s awfully convenient.”
His legendary control shattered, and his next words came out as a shout. “No, it’s not! I didn’t want this any more than you did. Remember?”
“How can I trust anything you’ve said after what I’ve read? I was going to honour Jeff’s memory and stay single. I wasn’t ever going to let my heart get crushed again. Then you come along and the next thing I know we’re…we’re…” she threw her hands in the air. “I don’t even know what the hell we are.”
“We’re true mates. A divine match. I didn’t understand what that meant at first, but I just saw Eva bring her mate back from the brink of death simply by speaking to him. We were meant to be together forever, not living on opposite sides of the galaxy.”
“I’m not going to let you take me away from my home and my friends.”
He blew out a frustrated breath. “Your friends are mated to a Pyrosian and a Romaki. If you go back to Earth, then you’ll be going alone.”
“Not once I tell them the truth.”
“You don’t know what the truth is. If you’d just sit down and let me explain, we could get this sorted out.”
“I know what I read.”
“You read a translation of complex medical jargon and abbreviated notations done by a computer that is not programmed for that kind of task. Now, sit down and let me explain.”
She folded her arms over her chest and glared. “Don’t you dare bark orders at me right now. Sexy play time is over.”
“It’s only over until the next time the Scorching hits. We've not finished the cycle, yet.”
“Oh, yes we are.” She threw out an arm and pointed to the door. “We’re very finished. And since I don’t have anywhere to go right now, I’m asking you to leave. I’ll let you know when I’ve spoken to Aria and I’m ready to leave the ship.”
“You’re not leaving. If you leave, we’ll both suffer,” he was so frustrated he almost snarled the words.
She waved her hands in the air in front of her, highly agitated. “I don’t know if I believe that. I can’t talk to you right now. Just go!”
The last thing he wanted was to leave Haley alone. He needed to fix this. To explain. To make her understand how wrong she was. He just didn’t kno
w how. Not yet. “Alright, I’ll go for now, but I will be back when you are calmer.”
She pressed her lips together in a tight line and frowned. “Hmph. Free piece of advice for future reference. Nine times out of ten, telling a human woman to calm down will have the exact opposite effect.”
“I wasn’t…” He didn’t bother finishing his sentence. There was no point.
Chapter Seven
Haley stormed over to the bed and dropped onto it with enough force she bounced. “Fuck!”
She hadn’t meant for things to get so out of control. She certainly hadn’t planned on talking about her feelings, or yelling, but everything had kind of exploded out of her -- including actual flames. That had been the last straw. The end of her ability to cope with anything else.
It didn’t excuse what she’d done, though. She’d accused Torel of lying to her, and now that she’d said it aloud, it didn’t feel right. She’d let her emotions run rampant, and that was never a good idea. Hell, in the past hour she’d broken just about every rule of journalism. Don’t get emotionally involved. Don’t make assumptions. Double check all your facts, and always get both sides of a story.
Her emotions were still bubbling over in a messy froth that made it impossible for her to think straight. One of the things she’d learned during her grief counselling sessions was to never make important decisions when emotional. It was time she followed that advice.
“I really hope he doesn’t come back and see me tied up like a pretzel,” she muttered as she sat up, folded her legs into the half lotus position, and set her hands atop her thighs, palms up. Once she was comfortable, she closed her eyes and tried to remember the breathing technique Aria had taught her during their sessions.
It took time to recall the pattern, and much longer to actually start to feel centered. By the time she was clearheaded again, some of the tension had left her body, and she paused to flex her shoulders and roll her head from side to side. Once she was relatively calm, she started working through her feelings, untangling them bit by bit. Anger at the idea Torel might have tricked her. Guilt about how she felt about her sexy alien match. Then there was the issue of what the hell she actually felt for Torel. Was it lust, or something more? Was it even real? What was she going to do if it was real?
She started to tense up and ended up going through the whole breathing thing again. She still felt silly, but like Aria always told her, you have to go with what works. “I’d feel better if I could talk to Aria about all this,” she mused aloud.
“Are you referring to the same Aria Frasier you wished me to locate earlier?” The computer’s query startled her.
“Uh, yeah. I am.”
“Would you like me to enable communications with her?”
She started to nod vigorously, then realized the computer needed a verbal response. “Hell, yes I’d like you to do that.”
“Sending a communication request, now.”
Before she had time to ask any other questions, the request went through and Aria’s face appeared on a monitor a few feet away from the bed. “Hi, Haley. Everything ok—shit. Clearly not. Why are you crying? And where’s Torel? Wait, is he the reason you’re crying?”
“No, everything is not okay. I’m not crying. Well, I was, but I stopped. I threw Tor out of his room, I uh, have no idea where he went. And to answer your last question, yes, he’s part of the reason I’m upset. Also, I set some paper on fire. And my arm. Turns out, I got the full Pyrosian freak package. Think I can get a job as a superhero when I get home? Girl of Flame? Captain Firestarter?”
“Home?” Aria frowned. “You’re going home? And what’s this about setting things on fire? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” She held up her hand. “No burns, see? I have no idea how I’m going to explain the gold eyes and new party trick to my parents, though. They’re going to lose their minds.”
“Probably,” Aria agreed. “But why are you planning on going back to Earth? Is Torel staying, too?”
“Torel’s not staying. At least, he hasn’t said anything about it. I’m going back because I don’t think this is going to work, and well, I don’t think I can trust him.”
“Why not?” Aria asked in a tone Haley hadn’t heard in a long time. Aria was in counselor mode, asking probing questions without judgement or comment.
“Torel and I only went through with this mating thing because we didn’t really have a choice. He promised me that once it was over, I was free to go home if that’s what I wanted.” She paused, then mentally cursed herself for a fool. She really had let her emotions get in the way of following the facts. She should have remembered that. It threw a big wrench into her theory that Tor and the others were tricking women into going back to Pyros with them. He’d told her he didn’t want her to leave, but he never once said she couldn’t.
“Is that what you want?”
“I don’t know. Torel had to leave for a couple of hours today, and while he was gone, I got bored and started looking around for something to do.”
“What did you find?” Aria asked.
“Torel’s research. He left it in our—his room. I started flipping through it. I couldn’t read any of it, but I got the ship’s computer to translate it for me.” She took a breath, not sure how to tell Aria what she’d discovered. “Did you know that the Pyrosians are studying human fertility and genetics? They’re even trying to find ways to manipulate our genetics to match more of us to their unclaimed males. Having read all that, I don’t know if I can trust Torel anymore.”
Aria pursed her lips in thought, then asked, “What did Torel say when you asked him about all this?”
Trust Aria to go straight for the question Haley didn’t want to answer. She twisted a lock of hair around her finger and sighed. “I might have hit him with a full broadside when he came back.”
Aria’s lips twitched a little. “How so?”
“I kind of accused him of plotting against humanity, and uh, that was the moment I lit up like a torch,” she confessed.
“You must have been very upset. That’s what happened to Gwen, too. She got angry, and that’s when her ability manifested.”
“Gwen? Spokeswoman for the Star-Crossed Dating Agency, that Gwen?”
“Yes. Did you know she’s got a little girl almost the same age as Melody?”
“You’ve spoken to other women? Are they happy? Do they know about the breeding plan they’re part of?”
“I’ve met with Princess Maggie, Gwen, and their friend, Lisa, and yes, they’re happy. I had doubts of my own, and they helped me work through some of them. In fact, I had just left them when I ran into you.”
Well, that shot another hole in her theory. “I was so sure…”
Aria’s expression softened. “I know. But what you’re saying doesn’t match with what I was told, or what I’ve seen. Believe me, these ladies aren’t the kind who would just agree to something like that. They’re smart, independent women who are very much in love with their mates.”
Shit. She sighed heavily as logic finally won over her suspicions. “I think I might owe Torel an apology. Or at the very least, a chance to explain. He asked for that, but I wasn’t in any mood to hear him out.”
“Do you know why you were so ready to believe the worst?” Aria asked.
“Not really.”
Her friend just stared at her in silence.
“Okay, maybe I have some idea,” she finally admitted.
Aria just continued to look at her, waiting.
“It’s about Jeff.” She threw her hands up in frustration. “Everything always seems to come back to him in the end.”
“How long has he been gone?”
“Three years. You know that.”
“So, why do you think you haven’t let yourself move on? Why does everything ‘come back to him,’ to use your words?”
“Because he was my husband, and I swore to love him forever. He was my soulmate.”
“And now you’re bei
ng told you’re destined to be with someone else. That can’t be easy to reconcile.”
“It’s not! People don’t get two soulmates, that’s not how it works.”
“Who made that rule?” Aria asked.
“I, uh. I don’t know.”
“People lose the ones they love every day. It doesn’t mean they never get to be in love again.” She smiled gently and threw her words back at her. “That’s not how it works.”
“But Jeff and I were a team. We were going to change the world. Tackling injustice and holding the ones in power accountable for their decisions. We were an unstoppable team…and then the cancer came and we weren’t unstoppable anymore.”
“I know. But Jeff didn’t want you to stop trying, did he?”
“No, but I didn’t know how to do it alone. I…I gave up.” The confession hurt. She’d known what she was doing for a while, now, but knowing it and naming it weren’t the same thing.
“You didn’t give up, you just put everything on pause.”
Now she’d admitted the truth, she didn’t bother trying to dress it up. “Three years isn’t a pause, it’s a choice.” Especially since during that time, she’d reverted back to the person she’d been before meeting Jeff. Returning to the family business, trying to appease her parents, focusing on work instead of living any kind of life.
“Let’s call it a non-choice. A holding pattern,” Aria said.
“Okay.”
Aria leaned toward the screen. “Are you ready to step back into the fray again and restart your life?”
She thought about that for a few minutes, pushing aside her fears and doubts to get to the real answer buried beneath. “I think I am, yeah.”
“Then the question you need to ask yourself is this. What does that life look like?”
Haley started to answer, but Aria put up her hand and shook her head. “Take some time and be sure of what you want before you answer. We’re standing on the brink of some seriously big changes.”
