by Sonia Nova
“This was all you, you know,” Arez said quietly, for Naomi’s ears only. “The women might not have made it out if not for your resolve.”
Naomi shook her head. “It’s my job,” she said. “And you know I wouldn’t have been able to save them without you.”
She smiled kindly at him, her amber eyes sparkling, and Arez couldn’t help the way his heart swelled and his mouth curled upward in an answering smile.
“How’s your shoulder?” he asked casually after a moment’s silence, noticing the blood on her shirt again. Anger built inside him and he struggled to hide how much he wished he could go back and break the spine of every damned Krezlian who had caused her any pain or fear on that ship.
“It hurts,” Naomi admitted. “But I think it’s stopped bleeding.”
Arez nodded seriously. Because the ship was on an automatic flight path, he leaned toward her to see for himself. He pulled the collar of her shirt down to reveal the wound – and the soft swell of the top of her breast. Swallowing, he let the fabric go and it returned to its more modest position.
“Yeah,” he said. “You’ll just need a bandage. No stitches.”
He tried to keep his eyes trained away, focusing on the movements of the Alliance speeders that were picking off the rest of the Krezlian resistance some hundred feet away.
“Look at me,” Naomi said after a moment, using that same soft, calm voice she had used with the scared human females.
So he did. He looked straight at her, taking in how beautiful she looked even after everything they had just been through. Her orange hair shone in the shuttle’s interior light – and from the explosions taking place outside – and her amber eyes gleamed. Her expression was serious as she looked into his eyes, and Arez swallowed again.
“Thank you,” she said sincerely, moving halfway over the panel of controls that separated them to kiss him on the cheek.
Heat flushed onto his cheeks at the touch. Arez took her head in his hands, her curls soft between his fingers, and guided her lips to his. Naomi sucked in a breath as their lips made contact, and warmth spread through his entire body.
The kiss only lasted a few seconds before Naomi pulled back and returned to her seat, tilting her head toward the human women in the back as an indication of her reasoning. But even though it was brief, the scent and taste of Naomi lingered on Arez’s lips.
She might be an Ambassador, she might be way out of his league, but while the Krezlian bastards were hardly in the right about anything, they were right about one thing:
Naomi was his.
She was his, and he was never going to let her go.
CHAPTER 26
NAOMI
They landed back on the surface of Agaria without further injury. But although they were both safe and sound now – or perhaps for that very reason – memories of how Mareb had betrayed her and her people kept creeping up on her.
Of course, justice would be served to the full extent of the Alliance law, but nothing would take away the image of her friends and coworkers littered lifeless across the floor like objects to be used. She tried to remember what it had been like to have Mareb as a friend and a coworker at her side, but all of those recollections were tainted now.
Naomi sighed as she climbed out of the tiny emergency shuttle. They’d seen the battle raging around them as they’d made their way back to the surface of the planet. Her only consolation was that her people were safe and unharmed and that Mareb would not go free.
But still, the betrayal seemed almost unbelievable.
Arez and the two women followed closely behind her as she got out of the shuttle, and as the other shuttles landed on the palace platform, Naomi quickly made a headcount to ensure they were all accounted for. At the platform, Lady Eneria greeted them, accompanied by King Abah, and a few other Agari representatives.
Naomi immediately noticed that she didn’t recognize the other representatives. There was no Mareb. No Sayhe. No Ayal. Instead, in their place stood two representatives Naomi had never even seen before, and a third she’d only seen at a meeting once but had never spoken to.
All of them wore equally solemn expressions on their faces. Not that Naomi had expected anything else.
King Abah stepped forward, addressing Naomi. “I am truly sorry for what my people have done to yours,” he said, looking regretful. “I never would have thought Mareb and the others to be capable of something like this. They have not only betrayed you and the Alliance, but their whole planet and their own people too. If I had known…”
Naomi shook her head. Nobody could have known or predicted this. She knew the actions of Mareb and the others were the actions of individuals, not the kingdom, and even less the whole planet, and she didn’t blame the King for it.
“Where are they now?” Naomi asked the King, but it was Lady Eneria who spoke.
“They are in lockup,” she said, her voice hard and steely – colder than Naomi had ever heard it. “Waiting for the Alliance law enforcement to come and pick them up for their trial.”
Lady Eneria made a strange disapproving face, and Naomi didn’t think she had ever seen the Va’ii woman like this. She knew Lady Eneria was all about the Alliance, and although the Va’ii were peaceful people, Naomi could understand that even they had no tolerance for traitors.
“I have spoken to the women you rescued through the intercom, as they were on the way back to the planet,” Lady Eneria said then, in a much kinder voice. “You were very brave. On behalf of the whole Alliance, I would like to thank you for your actions.” She turned toward Arez who stood behind Naomi. “And you, too.”
Naomi looked up at the Va’ii woman in surprise. Such direct praise was not given lightly by Lady Eneria.
“I was simply doing my job,” Naomi said, and Lady Eneria nodded.
“Look,” the woman said after a moment, nodding toward the sky. “The battle is almost over. The troops had orders not to hit the Krezlian motherships on the moon directly, as we knew there were hostages. But now that all the human women are all safe, the troops will easily be able to finish off the remaining Krezlians.”
Naomi looked up at the sky, following Lady Eneria’s gaze. The battle was still all-out, but she could tell there were more Alliance troops in the atmosphere than there were Krezlians.
A relieved smile spread on her lips at the sight.
Had she really helped the battle reach its conclusion? Even as an Ambassador trained in nonviolence?
“I’m glad,” she said. She turned toward Arez, who had been standing quietly behind her. His eyes were trained on the sky too. Intent.
Naomi’s heart constricted in her chest as she looked at him. She could guess what he was thinking. He had wanted this. He had wanted the war to begin, so he could be out there, killing his makers. And although he had managed to take a few of them out on the Krezlian ship, Naomi could understand if that wasn’t enough for him.
He was a soldier. He wanted action. And this was the action he had waited for his whole life. His fate, as he’d called it.
The sense of worry only intensified the longer she looked at Arez – and the longer he stared at the skies. She was worried… for him. Because if he went out there, got on his battle speeder and joined the fight, he could get hurt. He might even–
A choked sob escaped her lips and tears threatened to form in her eyes at the thought. She didn’t even dare to finish her sentence. They had only just gotten back and were safe now. But if he went back out there…
Arez seemed to notice her staring, and he turned toward her. Naomi quickly pushed back her tears and swallowed, her throat feeling thick. She didn’t want Arez to go out there. She didn’t want him to join the fight. Didn’t want him to get hurt… or worse.
She didn’t want any of those things because… she loved him. She realized that now. Somehow, since bumping into him on the shuttle platform – which now felt like an eternity ago – she had fallen in love with him. And she couldn’t afford to lose him.
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“Are you going to fight?” Naomi asked him quietly, fighting back the tears, hoping he wouldn’t notice how sad the thought made her, because she was pretty sure she already knew the answer. And she dreaded that answer.
Arez turned to look at the sky again, frowning as the explosions went off beyond the atmosphere. Seconds trickled past, and with every passing moment, Naomi’s heart broke.
He was going to fight… It was what he had always wanted to do. It was what he himself had said he had been born to do. That if there was such a thing as fate, this was his.
Before she even noticed it or could do anything to stop it, a tear fell down on her cheek. Arez immediately snapped toward her, his dark eyes filled with concern. He stepped closer to her, wiping away the tear from her cheek.
“Why are you crying?” he asked quietly, lifting her chin up in his hands so she would face him.
Naomi’s throat was dry. She could hardly even speak. She didn’t really want to say the words out loud anyway. But after a moment, she forced them out nonetheless.
“Because you’re leaving me.” Her voice was barely above a whisper, and another tear rolled down her cheek as she said it.
Arez frowned, his eyebrows knotting in a deep scowl.
“Leaving you?” he asked, tilting his head in that odd way of his whenever he couldn’t quite understand something. How could he not? He must know what she was talking about. Must she spell it out?
“To fight,” she said, stating the obvious.
An amused smile spread on Arez’s lips. “Woman,” he said, still holding her face in his hands and looking deep into her eyes. “I could not leave you if I wanted to.” He turned to look at the sky again, with an inscrutable expression on his face. “And as for the fight…” He shook his head. “It looks like they have it under control.”
Naomi choked back her tears. He wasn’t going to fight?
“But… you said it was your fate?”
Arez shrugged. “I thought it was. I thought that with everything that had happened in the past weeks, I had been trained all my life for this moment – to fight my makers.” He paused for a moment, his dark eyes sparkling as he looked at her. “But then you happened… And I realized my journey wasn’t quite over yet. Before, I didn’t care if I lived or died. I simply wanted revenge. But now… There’s something else I want, more than revenge.”
Now, the tears Naomi had been trying to hold back streamed down her face freely, but this time, for a whole different reason. Was he saying what she thought he was saying? A sob escaped her lips, but before she managed to actually say anything in response, Arez continued, a thoughtful frown taking over his face.
“Now, I know I don’t deserve you, with you being Alliance and me being… what I am, but–”
Naomi lifted a finger to his lips, effectively hushing him. The tears had stopped running and she could already feel the smile spreading on her lips before she even said her next words.
“Shut up and kiss me.”
Arez’s eyes flashed in surprise, but then, without further encouragement, his mouth was on hers, eager and demanding. Naomi could feel his sharp teeth graze against her lower lip as he pulled her mouth into a kiss, but the feeling was surprisingly gentle.
He pulled her close to his strong body, his tongue twisting with hers, taking on a rhythmic dance. The intensity of his kiss erased all her surroundings. The rest of the world disappeared and she lost herself in his arms. All worries she’d had a moment ago melted away and she floated in a cloud of utter happiness. Feeling warm. Happy. Loved.
Unfortunately, the moment was fleeting.
“Ambassador Rourke?” Lady Eneria’s voice emerged behind her, and against her wishes, Naomi could feel some of the world return to her. She felt a presence over her right shoulder, although she wished for nothing more than for it to disappear.
Not now, she begged in her mind and pulled Arez closer to her body, continuing to kiss him with all she had. All the while knowing that she could hardly afford to lose herself in his arms when there was still an intergalactic crisis waiting to be resolved.
Right… The crisis.
Reality came crashing down on her at that moment, and with a sigh, Naomi broke off the kiss and released herself from Arez’s embrace. She looked up into his eyes and although they were still wild with desire, she could tell that he knew it too. She couldn’t stay.
“Going to have a busy day,” she said with a half-cocked smile. “I bet there’s going to be at least a dozen crisis meetings and not a moment’s break. And of course… discussing the punishment of the traitors.”
Her thoughts darkened as her mind returned to Mareb. No matter how much she wanted to simply forget and bury herself in Arez’s arms, she still had her duties.
Arez grunted in acknowledgement, his eyes shifting to Lady Eneria behind them. “Because you’re important.”
“Yeah, well, for one day in my life, I’d like not to be.” An exasperated sigh escaped her lips. “You think a girl could get a break after being abducted by aliens, but no such luck.” She rolled her eyes, trying to lighten the mood once again, and was happy when he chuckled at her words.
Silence fell between them then, neither willing to let go of the moment but knowing it had to be done.
For a moment, Naomi didn’t know what to say. Her cheeks flushed as they simply continued to stare into each other’s eyes, and she felt like a schoolgirl again, talking to her first crush. Naomi could still feel Lady Eneria’s presence behind her, and although the woman hadn’t repeated herself, Naomi knew she had to go.
“Later?” she asked hopefully at last, awkwardly twirling the sleeve of her shirt as she often did when she was nervous – or at least, as she had used to do. During her Alliance training, she’d had to rid herself of the habit and keep her emotions cool, but it seemed that with Arez, she couldn’t quite control her emotions as she’d like.
But when a mischievous grin spread on Arez’s lips and the sparks of desire returned to his deep black eyes, some of that nervousness disappeared, replaced by a rising heat within her. He bent over her, whispering into her ear in a way that made pleasurable shivers run along her spine as his warm breath puffed against her ear.
“You can count on it.”
CHAPTER 27
AREZ
It didn’t take long for the Alliance to take back the moon.
Arez watched happily as Naomi and the other Alliance representatives greeted the soldiers who had just returned from battle, thanking them for their service. He stood by the wall at the side of the shuttle platform, observing her from a distance with a smile on his lips.
The human women were already recovering after their ordeal, and Arez was glad to see Naomi so happy and doing her job so effectively.
It seemed that all was well in the universe once more.
A sudden beep on his wristband startled him, and Arez frowned as he looked down and saw that he had received a message. Who could possibly be messaging him?
He swiped the screen to open the message, his brows shooting up in surprise when he noticed the sender.
It was from Zeon.
“I HOPE YOU GOT TO KICK SOME LIZARD ASS. I KNOW I DID.
TIME FOR ME TO GO. MAY WE MEET AGAIN, MY FRIEND.”
Arez stared at the message for a long moment, unsure of what to make of it. He knew Zeon hadn’t been happy with the Alliance, knew he hadn’t been comfortable with the discrimination he’d felt.
Hell, Arez knew that discrimination well himself. The odd look Lady Eneria had given him the day before when he’d kissed Naomi had been a reminder enough.
And maybe his people would never be completely accepted in the Alliance – they were unnatural beasts after all – but the people discriminating them weren’t the whole of Alliance. There were good people in the Alliance too, like Naomi. And Arez couldn’t understand Zeon’s wish to leave the Alliance behind. Especially when he himself had found his happiness in it.
“My friend
.”
The words stood out to him. Were they friends?
They had been in training together, had fought together, talked, eaten breakfast, lunch, and dinner together. Complained about things together. Maybe even laughed a time or two. And he was going to… miss Zeon’s company.
He frowned at the word, wiping his finger over it on the screen.
He didn’t like how he was feeling after receiving the message. His heart constricted in an odd way he’d only felt a few times before in his life, and he finally understood the feeling. He was sad. He wondered whether he would ever see Zeon again. If the man was leaving the Alliance for good… Probably not.
And that made him sad.
He guessed perhaps they were friends. Or at least, they had been. His only friend.
Naomi suddenly walked up to him, placing her small hand on his arm. She looked up at him with concern in her eyes.
“Are you okay?” she asked, and Arez felt a slow smile curving on his lips at the question. What an odd thing to ask. Wasn’t he supposed to be the one to ask her that? After everything she had been through.
“I’m fine,” he said, swiping the message away from his screen and turning to Naomi. “Are you?”
“Me?” Naomi’s brows rose in surprise. She smiled at him. A bright, wide smile that immediately made him feel good, that heated up his whole being and made him forget all about Zeon and the message he’d just received.
“Considering all my people made it out in one piece, I couldn’t be better.” She stepped closer to him, placing the soft palm of her hand against his chest, making his skin tingle and his heart skip a beat as it made contact with his heated body. “Besides, due to everything that’s happened now, I’ve been granted some vacation time.”
She stepped closer, so close that her breasts now pressed against his body, and Arez groaned at the softness of them.
“So, I was thinking…” she continued, walking her fingers up his chest. “That maybe we could… do something together?”
