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HE WAS APPALLING. INCORRIGIBLE. And she’d never felt more comfortable with another person other than her sister.
After they ate, they returned to the upper level of the house, where Zee assured her it was safer. There was a balcony, which didn’t seem safe at all. But apparently the glass was Xeno Sapien enhanced—it could only be broken from the inside. An escape route. She wasn’t too sure about making the jump, but naturally Zee wasn’t worried about it. She eyed his massively muscled thighs before looking away quickly—because damn if images of hooking her thighs over his didn’t come to mind.
“How long before we can return to Xenia?” No matter what, she had to make sure Everly was safe for herself.
“That’s a bit of a problem. We need to wait a few days after she gets inside. Impersonating another is a felony charge, and we need the timing of the entry and exit logs to be very clear as to who is who, just to thwart any charges someone may stir up again. Then you’ll return as if you were on a trip, because as far as you know, your loving mate is waiting for you in the city.” He leaned in. “In case you’ve forgotten, that’s me.”
She ignored that. “But how will you get in?”
“The same way you originally did. Over the wall, through the hills, and to our house we will go.” He smiled at her.
She shook her head. “You’ve thought of everything.”
“The extraction team thought of everything,” he corrected. “When you select the reason for returning at the gates, you’ll choose return trip. You’ll see that your original reason for leaving has been amended to show you were visiting Ava’s grandparents. The story is you’ve become friends with them since you’ve lived in Xenia when they’ve visited Ava.” He pulled up a hologram using a device on his wrist. There was an image of Covet and Ava together, with their infant daughter, who was the spitting image of her father. The next image was of an elderly couple. “That’s Joseph and Marjorie. The couple you’re supposedly visiting. Robyn is about to let the videos of our hybrid babies out so the rumors about their existence can be stopped. The decision was made a few months ago, and the children will never leave the protection of Xenia, so everyone feels safe letting the truth out. But we’re going to pretend that the whole reason why you left so suddenly and without stating a reason was so that you could tell them in person that the identity of their grandchild was about to be revealed. They’ll verify the story if need be.”
“Everything’s happening so fast. I can’t believe something that huge is going to become public. And by the time I get back, you’ll be there?”
“Within a few hours. I‘ll have to wait until it’s dark to get over the wall.”
And she should be safe and sound in her own apartment by then. Doors locked and ready to resume her life.
“Don’t even think about it,” he warned.
“Think about what?”
“Pretending there’s nothing between us. My DNA will unlock your apartment door just as easily as yours unlocks mine.”
Her mouth dropped. There was no privacy from him even in Xenia?
He took the opportunity to capture her lips, his tongue sweeping her mouth. “Give us a chance,” he said.
He was living in some delusional fantasy. She pulled away.
“People fall in love, and then they get mated,” she reminded him.
They didn’t fall in love with each other’s sisters.
“We’ll change things up. Love will come later,” he promised. “Until then, I’ll give you a life like you’ve never had.”
She nearly snorted. “What could you possibly give me?”
“One of the side effects of me jumping into my primordial state, according to the doctors? My sperm has changed, making it compatible with humans.”
For a minute, she stared. Her brain didn’t seem to catch up to what he was saying. “You’re saying you’ll give me babies?”
“As many as you can stand,” he promised.
“Well, that’s putting the horse before the carriage,” she sputtered. “I’m on birth control. By choice.”
“I know.” He winked. “I peeked at your medical records before I left. You’re up for another dose.”
She started to laugh. “Are you serious? You’re seriously trying to tempt me with babies?”
“Cute, cuddly babies. They won’t look totally like me. They’ll have both of our traits combined. I promise. You’ll probably have to take a class on reproduction with Xeno Sapiens offered by Blaze’s mate, Irina, but...”
She held a hand up. “What do you mean, cute but won’t look totally like you?”
He squirmed.
“I need you to know that I find nothing ugly about you, Zealish,” she said softly.
“Then why won’t you consider being mine?”
She took a deep breath. “Because I won’t be second best. You saw Everly. You wanted Everly. When you couldn’t have her, you replaced her with me.”
The shock in his face was clear though she was sure it was because he’d just realized the same thing himself. “I was dreaming when I first saw Everly. My thought processes were in the midst of shutting down. All my instinctual side could understand was her scent was of my mate. But once I smelled my real mate—Angela, there’s never been any doubt. It’s you.”
“Forgive me for the lack of trust, Zee. But I just can’t—”
She was stopped from speaking by his finger placed over her lips. “Then don’t. We don’t have to go over this right now. Let’s just get to Xenia as friends. Mates on paper. An easy, trusting relationship. If you meet someone else or just want your freedom, we can discuss it then.”
Could she live with him? See him every day?
But he sailed his point home. “Thane and I are friends. You and Everly are sisters. Whether we’re annulled or not, the four of us will be doing things together. Wouldn’t it be better for you and me to get along, no matter what?”
He was right, of course.
And it wasn’t like they were enemies. She nodded slowly. The smile that slowly spread across his face lit him up, making him more handsome than ever.
“I’d like to know if someday, someone like you could love someone like me.”
“Someone like you?”
He nodded soberly. “I thought at first you’d be turned off by my looks. But I realized you saw me in my primordial state, and I was even less pretty. Then, I thought it might be the violence inside me. I was never so glad to see you slaughter a man before my eyes.”
Despite his words, she smiled. “Um...thank you for accepting the fact that I slaughter people for a living? In the past, I mean.”
“It’s sexy. As long as you don’t mind this.” He motioned along his body. She knew the tightly bulging, almost obscene muscles were what he referred to.
“Zee,” she said softly. “Everly and I were raised with a lot of research material at our fingertips. Part of our studies were of Old Earth. We’re both well aware that people looked differently before the Great Terran War took out most of the population. Their muscles were larger since they used their bodies more. Now, with modern day conveniences and floating devices, our bodies have elongated and slimmed. But Everly and I remember. We remember those early bodies and how some people worked their muscles even larger than the norm. It was a sport. While you’re different from human men today, you’re not so different from the men who existed before. They weren’t considered freaks, and neither should you be.”
He held still as she held her hand out toward his face.
She smoothed his brow. “I think you’re beautiful. Your skin, your hair, your eyes.”
She brought her forehead to his. They closed their eyes.
This was a moment like no other. Surely his mate was coming to...love him. He had something to work with here. She just didn’t know it.
“And also...” she said softly. “Your dick.”
His eyes flew open.
There was nothing like the sound of her laughter.
“You were quite enthralled with your dick, you know,” she teased. “In the den. Always rubbing it on me like you wanted me to know it was hard.”
“I’m sure it never relaxed.”
She giggled. “For the most part, no. Do you remember those times?”
“Bits and pieces. Mostly...feelings. The feeling of euphoria that you were mine. Feeling protective over you. Territorial that someone might see you and want you—the way I coveted Thane’s mate.”
“You didn’t seem to understand language. Once in a while, it was like you’d snap into a more modern version and would understand a word or two.”
“I also remember you caring for me in the hospital.”
She nodded. “I did. Thane and Everly needed time alone, so I went to visit with you—”
“Because you couldn’t stand being away from me any more than I could stand being away from you,” he said.
“I wanted to make sure you were all right,” she said, narrowing her eyes. “Some of those guys who’d come to care for you weren’t very delicate. They treated you so rough!”
“It’s what we’re used to,” he whispered. “Sometimes when we’d get hurt in the labs, they’d make others care for us. If we were tender with each other, it would hurt worse when others weren’t. Does that make sense?”
“You’re not in captivity anymore,” she whispered. “It’s time you received some tender care.” His mate was a stubborn one, for sure.
“I thought you were an imaginary mate I’d conjured in my head,” he admitted. “Someone who cared for me. Someone who wanted me for me. I was so depressed when I woke in Medbay and there was no such mate around.”
“Did you wake up alone?” Her voice sounded forlorn as if she regretted not being there.
“Dr. Amanda was there. Robyn, your sister, and Thane came immediately. That was when they explained to me that my dreams were real and that you existed but had disappeared. Robyn assured us you’d be back, but then her baby, Kaden, gave us a vision that you were drugged.”
“Us?”
“Everly and me.”
“Damn, she must have been worried sick.”
He nodded. “She couldn’t stop crying. She had just found your apartment empty.”
“You’ve been awake since the night I left?” She sounded surprised. “I could have waited one more day, and I would have gotten to meet you”—she waved her hand— “like this.”
“Would that have changed things?”
She tilted her head as she studied him. “No. I came to care for you in your other form. But you wouldn’t have had to wake up alone and gone through your depression.”
“I still would have been depressed that such a gorgeous, beautiful woman was my mate in name only. And that she was leaving me.”
His sweet, sweet mate brought her forehead to his, pressing against him. “I only left to keep Everly safe,” she whispered. “Otherwise, I would have been right there, at your side, Zee. No matter your form.”
“And where would we be today?” he whispered.
She pulled back. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “Let’s just take it slow, okay?”
He nodded. He could do slow. But in the end, she would be his.
