Love From Above: A Scifi Alien Romance (Yearning Book 1) Page 13

  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.

  “Is the child his?” she said, switching back to English. “There are sometimes problems for crossbreeds. Your child might be…”

  I cut her off. “No, the child is mine from my marriage.”

  “You’re married?” she said, looking at me with even more revulsion than before, which I would not have believed possible.

  “My husband is dead,” I said, reining in my temper at her prejudice against me. “And the child is my husband’s.”

  She pursed her lips, and then changed her tack. “What has he told you of space travel?”

  “Virtually nothing.”

  “What of our species?”

  “Again, he hasn’t told me anything, really.”

  She studied me for a long moment. “Did he tell you about his past? How much of what I told you did you already know?”

  I hesitated again, but then just decided to come clean. There was absolutely no point in me trying to lie. “I knew most of what you told me. But there were some things he hadn’t mentioned.”

  A pensive look came over her face.

  Zoe had been fussing since Voran’zi had begun questioning me, and I realized that she hadn’t eaten since before her nap. “My baby needs to nurse.”

  Voran’zi seemed irritated but left the room, saying she’d be back in half an hour. I tipped Zoe back into my arms and lifted my shirt. The baby was soon nursing quietly, eyes closed, and I thought about what I should do.

  I didn’t really have a choice, though. I had to tell the truth and hope they let me and Zoe go. I had absolutely no power or control over this situation. I was just a pawn in this game.

  And I would do well to remember that.

  When Voran’zi returned a half hour later, Zoe was asleep in my arms and I was gently rocking her, breathing deeply, and trying to stay calm.

  “I have an offer for you,” she said, without any preamble.

  “An offer?” I said, softly, hoping she wouldn’t wake Zoe. She would be a crabby little girl if her sleep was interrupted again.

  Voran’zi lowered her voice and went on. “We are willing to be lenient with you, because you’re a primitive and didn’t know what you were doing. And because you are a single mother with a child to care for.

  “We will dispense another tiger to the zoo to replace Lii’thoou. We will erase your memories, and essentially reset your life. All you have to do is give us your retina scan indicating your consent.”

  “What?” I said, not sure what she was saying.

  I felt like she was making an effort not to roll her eyes again. “We’re not going to prosecute you, though we are fully entitled to. We are being lenient.

  "That means we’re going easy on you. You’re getting a break. We will set you up for life with plenty of money.”

  She set a tablet on the table. “These are the terms of the deal. Read them.”

  Then she held out a small device. “Hold this to your eye and give us your retinal scan so we can get this in motion. It is the same thing as signing your name on a legal document.”

  I reached out my hand tentatively to take the device. “But no one will remember Lii’thoou was ever here?”

  “No one,” Voran’zi said, shaking her head as if I was the dumbest person she had ever met, and she finally gave in to the eye roll. “Including you.”

  I let the device drop, and Voran’zi swore again as she snatched it out of the air with one of her many arms before it could fall and break.

  “I won’t remember him?” I said, scowling. I didn’t want to go with him into space, but I didn’t want to forget him completely.

  “Did I mention that we won’t be prosecuting you for all the crimes you’ve committed in consorting with a criminal who’s breaking his parole?” She squinted at me as if she couldn’t believe that I wasn’t jumping at the chance to forget Lii’thoou.

  “But I didn’t know,” I protested.

  “Ignorance of the law is no excuse.”

  “What about ignorance that there was anything beyond my planet?” I said, being sarcastic in spite of the fact that it was probably stupid to piss off this female. “Because we don’t have that sort of technology and space travel and all that.”

  She shrugged. “It’s not my fault you’re a primitive.”

  I glowered at her. “We have smartphones. We’re not primitive.”

  And to my surprise, she gave a snort of laughter. Reluctantly, I smiled back at her. “Okay, not totally primitive,” she conceded. “Still, I suggest you take our deal. We’re really going easy on you because of where you’re from, you know that right?”

  “Yeah, I get it,” I said. “I’m just not sure…”

  Voran’zi stared at me, and her fierce expression suddenly softened. “You have feelings for him?”

  I lifted one shoulder, not sure what I felt.

  The door opened suddenly, and another alien came in distracting Voran’zi from her questioning. “Have you located him?” she said, looking up at the other alien, who shook her head.

  “No, we can’t find him.”

  “How can you not find him?” she said, looking irritated. “He has an implanted tracker.” She looked confused, and then vaguely sick. “He must have removed it himself.”

  The other alien nodded, looking nauseated as well. I assumed they were talking about Lii’thoou, and decided not to mention that it had been me who had removed it.

  “You have the image of his usual human form, though?” she asked. “And his heat signature, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, then access all the cameras you can, and see if you can spot him. Also have the ship scan for heat signatures. Send officers out on foot and find him that way. Make sure they’re well disguised.”

  Voran’zi seemed annoyed by her insubordinate’s inability to figure out how to solve the problem. When she had finished speaking, the other alien slapped all three sets of palms together, in what I assumed to be their salute, and then left.

  With another wave of her
hand in the air, a second blob appeared on her side of the table. She plopped down onto it as if she were weary.

  “Lii’thoou and I used to date,” she said, and I rocked back and forth as Zoe slept on and Voran’zi confided in me. “We grew up together. I knew his family.

  “The massacre … it was horrible. I don’t know how he didn’t go insane. And when they apprehended him and put him in jail…”

  She grimaced. “It was awful.”

  “You were still together when he was caught?”

  “I waited for him for fifty years, but after that…”

  I lifted my eyebrows. “Fifty years…”

  “I still loved him, but it was no life with him in jail. Never seeing him. Spending my days, wishing that things could be different…”

  She stared off into space, her eyes first sad, and then hardening as she turned to look at me. “If he hadn’t sought revenge, then we would still be together right now. We could have been happy.”

  “That’s awful,” I said, unable to comprehend what it would be like to be as long-lived as these people and have so many terrible things happen in those many years.

  “It was very bad luck that I ended up his parole officer. It’s been torture, really.”

  “I can’t imagine,” I murmured, feeling compassion for the female.

  “I didn’t tell you this story to make you feel sorry for me,” she said, getting pissed off. “I told you to warn you.”

  “Warn me?” I said, bewildered. “Against revenge?”

  “Against getting any more involved with Lii’thoou than you already are. That guy is reckless. He’s unpredictable. He has control issues. He’s going to get himself killed.

  “Look at him, breaking his parole to live as a tiger on Earth. How stupid is that? Now he’s broken more laws, and will probably be charged and convicted of his crimes. And because of his past record, he’ll most definitely go back to jail.” She closed her eyes. “And he could have been free.”

  Her words hit me like a slap in the face. Lii’thoou was going to get himself killed, just like my father, just like my husband. And he would leave me all alone. Again. Just like they had. It was like she was confirming what I had believed all along.

  “That’s why you should be glad that you’re going to forget him,” Voran’zi said. She set the retina scanner on the table next to the tablet with the terms. “I’ll give you some time to think about it.”

  I watched the door close behind her and felt a feeling of dread fill my guts. Then my eyes lit on the scanner before me.

  God damn it. What the hell was I going to do?

  What was I going to do?

  I leaned forward and scanned the terms of the deal they were offering me, my eyes widening when I read the financial part. Zoe and I really would be set for life. And Lii’thoou was only going to break my heart in the end. Still…

  What was I going to do?

  God damn it. There wasn’t anything to do. They were going to reset my life to the way it was before Lii’thoou. I didn’t have a choice. And I was going to be grateful for it, as Voran’zi suggested.

  But something inside of me shrieked that I didn’t want to forget Lii’thoou, and even if they erased every memory of him from my mind, something would always be missing if I didn’t have him in my life.

  Shit. Shit. Shit.

  I didn’t want to forget Lii’thoou. I didn’t want to forget him.

  So, what was I going to do?

  The way Voran’zi had put it, there was no choice in the matter. Sure, she had said she would let me think about it. But she wasn’t really going to let me say no. She probably just wanted to avoid tranquilizing me in front of my baby.

  God, things were so much easier when I had loved a human.

  I jerked so violently at this thought that Zoe whimpered a bit in my arms, and then went back to sleep.

  Did I love Lii’thoou?

  And the realization hit me like a five-hundred-pound silverback gorilla on a rampage.

  Holy shit.

  I did.

  I loved Lii’thoou.

  An alien.

  A shapeshifter.

  A frickin’ tiger who had been freeloading at my zoo.

  It threw me for a second, but then I realized that this had been growing for some time. I had just been too scared to face it.

  I loved him.

  And as the thought settled inside me, I felt my resolve strengthen.

  Well, if I loved him, then I damn well wasn’t going to let them erase my memories of him. So how was I going to get out of here without them brain wiping me?

  20

  Lii’thoou

  Alyssa was gone.

  She was fucking gone.

  I had failed her.

  I had fought with her. I had upset her. And then I was unable to protect her when it counted.

  History was replaying itself. This was just like what happened with my family. Okay, not exactly the same, but it felt the same.

  I had watched the cabin all night.

  In the morning, feeling exhausted and heartsick, I had gone to the gas station to get some caffeine to wake me up. My leg was healed completely, so the short walk had been pleasant in the sunshine.

  I had come back with two coffees, and had seen Voran’zi marching Alyssa — who was carrying Zoe — into the forest. She was taking her to the ship, I assumed.

  Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

  Alyssa didn’t want me. She didn’t love me. She didn’t have any desire to come with me when I left the planet. And now, she was going to suffer because she had met me.

  I shook my head, feeling so frustrated that I wanted to tear all six of my arms off. Not that I had six arms right now, since I was in this stupid human form.

  Voran’zi was my parole officer and former girlfriend, and she was no doubt taking Alyssa back to her ship for questioning. She was good at her job, and Alyssa was no good at lying, bless her, so Voran’zi would get everything out of her. Which meant that I had been caught breaking the terms of my parole and also breaking galactic law, being on a primitive planet and consorting with a primitive.

  I felt the heaviness of being a prisoner. Of not having the freedom to go where I wanted and do what I wanted. And now, because I hadn’t checked in, Voran’zi knew I was violating my parole.

  I found a few curse words in the back of my mind that I hadn’t used yet. Really, I ought to run. I ought to take off and disappear into the galaxy — go to that star cluster, Camargo 438. I ought to give up trying to be a good person, because maybe I wasn’t a good person after all.

  But no. I couldn’t leave Alyssa there in the custody of the Galactic Police.

  I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to decide what to do.

  Would I have done anything differently, if I had known that by helping Alyssa I would end up in this situation?

  The answer was immediate and unequivocal.

  No. I would have saved her all over again, even if it meant I would give up my own life. And that’s what I was going to do again.

  She was on Voran’zi’s ship, and knowing how harsh my ex-girlfriend could be, she was likely to be charged with whatever Voran’zi could find. And it might be even worse if she realized that Alyssa and I had been involved.

  Voran’zi had a romantic streak, but it was buried deep and it rarely came out. She never showed anything but toughness at her job.

  There was nothing for it. I couldn’t count on Voran’zi suddenly developing a heart and helping us. I had to get Alyssa and Zoe out of there. Even if it meant risking my freedom, and possibly my life. The police wouldn’t hesitate to use guns to bring in a known murderer.

  But none of that mattered.

  I couldn’t leave Alyssa and Zoe on that ship.

  “Freeze,” said a slightly familiar voice from behind me, at the same time as I felt cold metal pressing against the back of my head.

  I stopped walking and put my hands in the air.

  “Well, well, well,” th
e male said, coming around to face me, still keeping the gun to my head. He was an officer that I recognized as one of Voran’zi’s team.

  “Looks like I got you, Lii’thoou. Voran’zi thought she’d have to use the girl as bait, but now I’ll get all the glory.” He chuckled. “Might even get a promotion for bringing in such a dangerous murderer.”

  My jaw tightened, but I didn’t say anything. He was baiting me, I knew. Trying to get me to react, to make the first move, so he could beat me up.

  He hadn’t been charged with police brutality yet, but it had been close a couple times. He was a sneaky bastard. He knew exactly the spots to hit where it would hurt but not show.

  When I didn’t respond, he pushed the gun harder against my skull. “Let’s go, pretty boy. You look really nice with only two arms,” he said, clapping the cuffs on my wrists. These were K’nythian handcuffs, so there were three sets, but since I was in human form he only used one pair, leaving the other two pairs dangling. “Your ex is going to be very happy to see you.”

  I stifled a sigh and complied. There was nothing else to do with a gun at my temple.

  When the sentry spotted us, he jumped down from the tree he had been hiding in and they began to chat. I watched as the officer’s attention was drawn further from thinking about me and more into the conversation. When he actually looked away from me for a moment and at the sentry, I made my move.

  I brought my cuffed hands up as quickly as I could and smashed him in the side of the head, the extra cuffs swinging. I supposed there was an advantage to only having two frail little human hands, namely that I was much quicker. I never could have gotten the jump on him with six wrists cuffed; I would have been too slow.

  He fell to the ground with a thump, unconscious.

  The sentry had already taken off. I ran after him as fast as I could, knowing if he got to the ship before me I would have a big problem. He was fast, but I was desperate. I caught up to him and jumped, taking him down.

  We rolled over and over until we finally stopped with me on top. I straddled his chest and pressed my forearm to his neck, cutting off his air. His eyes got big and his mouth gasped.