by Stella Casey
“No way.” She folded her arms across her chest, drawing my attention to her breasts. I averted my eyes and fixed them on her face.
“If you don’t, they’ll catch me,” I said, serious. “I don’t know what they’ll do to me if they do.”
“Who’s they?” she said, suddenly worried.
“The Galactic Police Force.”
“Will they take you back to prison?”
I shrugged. “It’s highly likely. Or they might just cut their losses and lose me along the way. It happens. More than you think.”
“Shit, Lii,” she said, troubled.
“It’s the last thing I’ll ask of you,” I said, holding up my hands. “I promise. Then I’ll be gone, and you can go back to your regular life.”
She frowned at that. “Well … not your regular life. But you know what I mean.”
“Lii…”
I shook my head. “Please, just do this for me. It’s important.”
She took a deep breath.“Okay, then. What do you need me to do?”
I lay down on the couch, putting my head on the towel, and pointed behind my ear. “There’s a tracker in there. You can feel it.”
She put her finger behind my ear and pressed. “Jesus,” she said. Then she grabbed a pen off the table and made a mark on my skin.
“Just a little cut and pop it out,” I said.
“Without anesthetic?” she said, appalled.
I glanced at her. “I’ll be all right,” I said, blurting out my next words with angry sarcasm, not really thinking about whether I should say them or not.
“The last time I took something for the pain, I missed my parole check-in and became a wanted criminal again. So no anesthetic. Thanks anyways.”
“You missed a check-in? What check-in?”
“I have to check in periodically with my parole officer,” I said, wanting to hurt her the way she had me. But I wasn’t so cruel as to tell her that missing that check-in had lost me my chance to be free.
That would have been going too far. And it wasn’t her fault. She was the one who had tried to warn me against taking the drugs.
“Oh, no.” Her eyes were filled with sorrow, regret, and guilt. “You missed it because you were helping me.”
“No,” I said. “I could have still made it, if I hadn’t taken those drugs. You were right. I was an idiot. And now I’m paying the price.”
“I’m so sorry,” she said, but I waved it off.
“Doesn’t matter. If you would do this for me, though?”
“Right.” And I saw her face turn practical. She put on her work face. “No anesthetic.”
“Maybe you think you can take the pain, tough guy,” she said. “And no doubt you can. But you may move involuntarily when I make the cut. I have no desire to do brain surgery.”
I sighed and thought for a moment. “Put your knee on my head,” I suggested.
“Seriously?”
I shrugged. “If you’re worried about me moving…”
Alyssa huffed out her breath, though she had obviously made up her mind to do it. She sloshed some alcohol on the cloth and wiped behind my ear, putting her knee on my head and clamping me between her luscious thighs. I wished that I was between her legs under different circumstances.
Then she pressed my ear back towards my face and, without hesitating, made a quick cut right beside the tracker. I clenched my jaw against the sharp pain.
Then she squeezed around the tracker, and I felt it pop free. I breathed slowly. The pain wasn’t bad at all, compared to the agony of the broken leg earlier. I pressed the facecloth to the incision as Alyssa climbed off of me.
She dropped the bloody tracker on the coffee table. Then she stood up, gave me a miserable look, and headed to the bathroom — to wash up, I supposed.
“Thanks,” I called after her, feeling miserable myself. How dare she be so beautiful? And so sexy?
My heart ached.
And how come she didn’t want me? Why did I have to leave Earth without her and her beautiful little daughter? Why had everything in my life all of a sudden gone to shit?
It wasn’t fair.
No. It wasn’t fair.
But when had my life ever been fair?
18
Alyssa
I woke up the next morning in the little cabin feeling sadness and pain, which quickly turned to anger and resentment.
Lii’thoou had asked me to go with him last night.
Without even thinking the least little bit what that would mean for me. What it would be like for a primitive human — as he had called me — out there. And he certainly wasn’t considering what my life would be like when he died in space and left us to fend for ourselves.
And I knew that that was what would happen. It had happened with my dad. It had happened with Harris. They had both left me to fend for myself, sad and alone.
And I was sick of it.
I wasn’t going to lose Lii’thoou that way too.
I had to admit that maybe I was being irrational. But the fear and pain inside me were so strong that I couldn’t overcome the emotions with rational, sensible thought.
So I wouldn’t even contemplate going with him, not for one second. It was better to have a clean break. Just like this.
He would leave, and I wouldn’t have to grieve him, too.
If I just stayed angry, I wouldn’t even have to be sorry he was gone. Anyway, I had said from the start that it would be a one-time thing. A fling.
So I shouldn’t be upset. This was what I had wanted since the beginning. Some fun. Some great sex. And then over.
Right. That was what I wanted.
Besides, I was going off men/alien males forever. I would be celibate. I would focus on taking care of Zoe. On my work. On the things I liked to do.
I would find a new place that was safe for us, and I would definitely steer clear of aliens who got me in trouble with the FBI.
I would make a good life. Maybe it wouldn’t have passion, or love, or someone I couldn’t do without. But that would be a good thing, right?
I would be content. I would be safe. I would make a secure life for Zoe.
Speaking of whom, my baby girl was patting me gently on the cheek with her small hand. I opened my eyes, and she laughed.
I closed my eyes and then popped them open again suddenly. She giggled hysterically, she was so surprised. Her sweet laughter was a balm to my hurt, and I picked her up and danced her around the room.
I brought Zoe into the bathroom with me and sat her on the floor with a handful of toys. I tried not to think about the fact that Lii’thoou was gone as I hopped into the shower and got dressed. When I was done, I packed everything into the backpack that Callie had lent us and set it next to the door.
Zoe and I would be fine. We would get in the truck and go north. To Canada, maybe. That was a safe place, wasn’t it? They didn’t even lock their doors there.
Zoe was ready for her morning nap already, so I put her down in the bedroom. She fell asleep quickly, but I stayed sitting next to her, gazing around at the small room. It was tidy, with a bright blue quilt on the bed. It had only what was needed, very minimalist.
I wished, longingly, for a simple life, like a person might live in a cabin like this. But that was foolish. My life was so complicated I didn’t even recognize it anymore.
I needed to get my head back in the game. I had to be smart and strong for Zoe. But maybe, when we got to Canada, I could buy a little cabin like this and homeschool Zoe. We would live that simple life.
I gently kissed her soft, chubby cheek, giving a deep sigh.
Standing, I left the room. We would leave when she woke up. That would give me time to have breakfast.
As I was walking to the kitchenette, there was a sharp rap on the cabin door. I glanced around, instantly terrified.
What should I do? There was no back door to this place.
Then it occurred to me that the FBI wouldn’t bother knocking at this point
. Last time, they had basically kidnapped me. I was pretty sure they wouldn’t suddenly go back to being polite and giving me choices.
Still. Who could it be?
I tried to think what to do, and came up with nothing. With a shrug, I opened the door.
I don’t know who I expected to be standing there, but I had to admit that I was completely shocked to see a female alien. She was blue, like Lii’thoou, and wore a cape that hid the six arms. I guess she was hoping people would assume she had a blue face because she was going to comic con, or something like that.
I froze for a moment, and that was long enough for the female to look furtively around and push me back inside, shutting the door after her. “Who are you?” I said, as she glanced around the cabin.
“Where is he?” she said, answering my question with another question. She flipped back her cape, revealing her six arms and a dark grey uniform with what I assumed was the insignia of the Galactic Police Force.
I supposed that she wasn’t worried about me seeing her because she knew that I knew about them. Either that, or she wasn’t going to let me live, so it didn’t matter if I saw her.
I swallowed hard. How had my life gotten so crazy?
“Who?” I said, playing dumb.
“Don’t act stupid, little human. You may be primitive, but I know you know exactly who I’m talking about. And exactly where he is. Cooperate, and no one gets hurt.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, trying to summon as much courage as I could in the face of such an intimidating creature. “And please don’t call me stupid.”
She gave me a once-over that showed exactly how much contempt she had for my species. “Barely out of the trees,” she muttered.
“What did you say?” I said, taking a step in her direction.
“Ah,” she said, pasting a fake smile on her face. “Nothing. I don’t want to fight you, human. You won’t win. Now tell me where Lii’thoou is. I know he was here.”
“I honestly don’t know,” I said, with plenty of truth in my voice, because I really had no idea where he had gone.
“Little human,” she said, stalking over to me a hard look in her eye. “Tell me where he is.”
“Why should I?” I said.
“Because if you don’t, I will kill the life form sleeping in that bedroom,” she said, her face completely serious.
Okay. Time to talk. “I don’t know,” I said, my tone vehement, because I was suddenly so scared she would hurt my sweet Zoe. “He left last night.”
She shook her head, disgusted. “You’re going to have to come with me.”
“Why?” I said, backing away from her until I hit the bedroom door.
“Because if you don’t, I will kill your child.”
I felt a spike of terror at the thought. Okay, no more fooling around. I would do exactly what this woman wanted. No questions asked.
“Okay, okay. I’ll do whatever you want. Don’t hurt her.”
“Get the child,” she ordered. “Are these your things?”
I nodded, turning the door handle without taking my eyes off of the alien female.
She grabbed the bag. “Let’s go.”
We walked through the woods, the alien carrying our bag, me beside her with Zoe in my arms.
“My name is Voran’zi,” she said. “I am a parole officer. Lii’thoou is in violation of his parole, and I’ve come to take him in.”
Shit. That didn’t sound good.
“When he didn’t contact me yesterday, he was automatically traced.” I felt another stab of guilt that I had indirectly made him miss his check-in.
“The fool could have been free. But now he’s gone and screwed up again.” She shook her head, as if she couldn’t understand Lii’thoou at all.
Oh fuck no. This was terrible.
I felt overcome with guilt and didn’t say anything, but Voran’zi didn’t seem to notice. “How much do you know of his story?” she said, glancing over at me.
“A little,” I said, not wanting to give anything away.
“Lii’thoou’s family was in the middle of a hundreds-of-years-old blood feud. He should have been at his grandfather’s birthday party. Should have died with them.
“But he didn’t. And he arrived just after it happened.” She turned her head to meet my eye. “The corpses weren’t even cold.”
I shuddered.
“He wanted revenge, and I don’t blame him,” she said, taking a big step over a fallen log. “I’d probably do the same.”
The birds in the forest fell silent as we moved through the trees, and she walked on without speaking for a while, so I thought the story was over. Then she started to talk again.
“He killed everyone connected with his family’s deaths. Over the space of a week, he killed six people. And then he was going to kill himself, but we caught him before he could.”
I frowned. He hadn’t told me that.
“A hundred years he spent in prison,” she said. Her voice sounded sad, and I suddenly wondered what the nature of their relationship had been. Whether she was only his parole officer.
“And now, at the end of his parole period, he does something like this.” She looked disgusted. “He could have been free.”
I held my tongue, too overwhelmed by her revelations to say anything. “And for what?” she said, gazing at me in disdain. “A human?”
She might as well have called me a maggot. “Um, I don’t think he planned…”
She slashed her hand across in front of her, cutting off my words. “It doesn’t matter,” she said. “He’s broken the law, landed planetside, violated his parole, and consorted with a primitive species.”
I took offense at once again being called a primitive species, but I didn’t dare say anything to her for fear she would hurt Zoe.
“He will have to pay for his mistakes.” She shook her head. “Again.”
Voran’zi pushed aside a bush and revealed a sleek, matte-grey spaceship in a clearing. It was the flat shape of a sunflower seed, the front slightly more pointy than the rear.
“When will he ever learn?” she said, quietly — more to herself than to me. “Come inside,” she told me, as a door opened and a ramp slid out. She stepped into the spacecraft. “I need to question you.”
I turned to face her and planted my feet. “Do you swear that my child will not be hurt if I come in?”
She rolled her eyes. “Yes, I swear. We’re the highest authority in the galaxy, human. Not some two-bit criminals. Now, let’s go.”
I scowled at her. “You threatened to kill her at the cabin.”
She shrugged. “That was only to get you to come with me. I would definitely lose my job if I went around killing the babies of primitive species.”
I wrinkled my nose when she called me primitive again, and at the thought that she had tricked me into coming here.
The alien rolled her eyes and spread her hand, opening a screen in the air. She pulled up a file with her picture and credentials, pushing it towards me. I read it, but obviously she could have forged things.
But just the technology that she was using convinced me that she was legit. And besides, what choice did I really have if she wasn’t? If she wanted me in the ship, she could just force me to board. She must have some sort of weapon.
With a resigned breath, I stepped forward. I sure hoped the enjoyment I’d gotten from last night and the past few weeks with Lii’thoou was worth it, because it seemed that I was going to pay for it.
One way or another.
19
Alyssa
When we got inside the Galactic Police Force spaceship, Voran’zi took me to what appeared to be a questioning chamber.
It was just like in the movies. Bare room. Bright glaring overhead light. One table, with the suspect sitting on one side. On the other side, good cop and bad cop. Except in this case, Voran’zi was the only cop, and she seemed to be all bad.
My stomach tightened as we entered
the small room, a trapped feeling coming over me. I was scared for myself. But I was more scared for Zoe.
She didn’t deserve to be mixed up in all this mess. She was an innocent little baby.
What had I been thinking, hanging out with an alien, as if that was normal? As if there would be no consequences to my actions? As if I didn’t have a small helpless child depending on me to make good decisions?
Voran’zi indicated a strange blob that I assumed was a chair, and I gingerly aimed my butt at it. As I touched it, it morphed and formed itself to my body, creating perfect support for me at just the right height.
Cool.
I held Zoe on my lap and she looked around, eyes wide. She tried to stick her fist in her mouth, but I caught it before she could.
Who knew what sort of space germs were on this ship?
Voran’zi began pacing back and forth, barking questions at me. “What is your relationship with Lii’thoou?”
I was silent a moment, wondering what I should say. “I met him at the zoo where I work. He was staying there in tiger form.”
The female muttered something in a language I didn’t understand. But whatever she had said did not sound complimentary.
“He had to shift…”
“Had to?” she interrupted, a skeptical look on her face.
I explained the instance of our first meeting at my house, and if anything, she looked angrier.
“So, you are… friends?” she said. And somehow, I knew the question was more than her just doing her job.
“Yes,” I said, positive that this at least was true.
“So, you aren’t involved romantically?” she said, narrowing her amber eyes at me. I hesitated. “You are,” she said, seeming intensely displeased by the thought.
I didn’t contradict her. I was a terrible liar. I should just tell the truth. They would probably find out anyway.
“We were,” I said. “But we’re not anymore. We fought. And I’m pretty sure we’re not together.”
“She’s pretty sure they’re not together,” she muttered. Then she made some notes on a tablet.
“Have you mated with him?” she said, looking as though asking the question was like swallowing bleach for her.
“Yes,” I admitted. She let out a string of words that were mostly consonants, and that I was sure were absolutely the most filthy curse words she knew.
