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OZ MANAGED TO WAIT until after breakfast the next day to head out from his apartment in Osais to the Aorsan countryside where Crowze’s family estate was located. It was a palatial building, but smaller than some aristocratic holdings that Oz knew were in the area. The temperature was perfect and the sun shone bright overhead. It was a beautiful Aorsan day, and he hoped the humans would agree. They knew they were stuck here, but at least they could see that it wasn’t all bad.
He wanted to sneak in and find Emily, but he couldn’t risk upsetting Crowze’s clan, not when the family of Crubok Scofoyl was soon to be out for blood over his death. Having one set of aristocrats upset at him was more than enough. So instead of infiltrating, he drove his vehicle up the main drive and through the front gates, giving his name to the guard at the entrance and stating his purpose. The appearance of a dozen humans who’d been stolen from Earth was becoming news, and Crowze had upped his security to keep them safe from curious onlookers.
Luckily, his crewmate didn’t seem eager to keep him waiting for long. After a quick greeting he pointed Oz in the direction of the outbuilding and let him go. The path was idyllic, grass and flowers and gravel making it possible to forget that the bustling city of Osais was less than an hour’s drive away. But when he made it to the outbuilding, peace dissolved into chaos. The humans had the place in disarray: decorations strewn everywhere, furniture rearranged, and he was pretty sure that the garden bed out front had been dug up.
A servant walked out of the house scowling and only barely managed to recover his expression when he caught sight of Oz. He gave a slight bow and continued on the path back to the main house walking so fast Oz was afraid he’d trip.
What was going on?
When he tried to walk through the front door, a human blocked his path. It wasn’t one of the few he recognized. “May I come in?” he asked.
The man glared at him, arms crossed. “We don’t have to let you in. This is our place now.”
“I’m not trying to remove you from it,” Oz assured him. Had Crowze given them ownership of the house? Oz had assumed they were only staying temporarily. “I’d like to enter so that I can see Emily.”
The man didn’t budge. “This house is for humans.”
“For Christ’s sake, let him in, Kyle, that’s Emily’s boyfriend.” Lena came to his rescue and half-shoved the man out of the way.
Boyfriend?
They walked quickly through the front hall and Oz almost had to jog to keep up. “She’s claimed one of the rooms as her office. Please go rescue her before she goes crazy.”
Before Oz could ask any questions about that, Lena was shoving him toward a room and through the door. She shut the door behind him.
Emily was in the middle of pushing a pile of boxes to one side of the room. Her hair was messy and falling out of the ribbon she’d used to tie it back. Her eyes looked a bit sunken, as if she hadn’t slept, and she moved with a sluggishness that he’d never seen in her before.
“Did you sleep?” he asked. It had been a full day since he’d seen her and she should have been rested. Not this.
She looked out the window and thought. “The sun didn’t go down.”
“We’re not on Kilrym,” he reminded her. “Aorsan days are different.” He should have prepared her for what life on Aorsa was like. It was another regret to add to the pile, another thing to fix.
“I was going to sleep before you got here.” She slumped against the boxes, but the one on top slid and she had to readjust. “Things got busy.”
“I can see that.” There was a small couch pushed off to the side and covered in even more boxes. Oz moved the debris and took a seat, patting the cushion beside him. “Take a seat. You need to rest.”
“If I sit, I’m going to fall asleep,” she warned him.
“Then fall asleep. I’m not going anywhere.” Oz patted the cushion again and smiled as she slowly moved toward him. He’d rather take her to a bed where she could get hours more of sleep, but he wasn’t sure she could make it without being carried.
“There’s a lot to tell you,” she muttered as she settled in next to him. And then she leaned against him, snuggling up to his side. It didn’t take long for her to readjust once more until her head was in his lap and her legs were hanging off the edge of the couch.
Oz rested his hand on her head and ran his fingers through the silken strands of her hair. It didn’t take long for his Match’s breathing to even out as she surrendered to exhaustion. And as she slept he watched over her, content.
***
EMILY’S BODY WAS TWISTED in knots, and not the fun kind. She vaguely remembered Oz showing up and enticing her to sleep, but now her head was propped up on a lumpy pillow and she didn’t see him. But before she could even wonder where he was, the door to her new office opened and he stepped inside, carrying a small tray.
He set it down on the desk and smiled when Emily sat up.
“How long have I been out?” she asked. It had to have been longer than she thought. “You cleaned?” The place wasn’t spotless, but most of the random boxes she’d been dealing with were gone.
“A little,” he answered. He picked up a glass and handed it over to her. “Thirsty? And you’ve been asleep for a few hours.”
She took the glass gratefully and drank deeply. It wasn’t water, but it was sweet and a little fizzy and really delicious. “You didn’t have to hang out while I slept.” She felt a little guilty for that. Oz surely had a life of his own to get back to and things to do now that his mission was over.
“This is where I wanted to be,” he assured her. “And the boxes kept me busy. Why are there so many?”
“Crowze said this place has mostly been used for storage for years. I guess they just shoved anything they didn’t need into the available space. He said we could go through the boxes and as long as it didn’t look important we were free to use it or throw it out. Not that we know what important things are.” She took another sip of her fizzy drink. “Can you hand me those glasses?” She pointed to the thick-rimmed pair on the edge of the desk. Thank goodness Oz hadn’t gotten rid of them.
He handed them over. “I didn’t realize there was an issue with your vision. We can—” He cut himself off, as if reminding her that she lived on an alien planet with alien technology now might upset her.
Emily slipped the glasses on and braced for the momentary disorientation. “My vision is fine,” she assured him. “But these allow me to read all the writing on the boxes. My translator only works on things that are spoken. Crowze mentioned something about contacts, but those would need to be specially ordered.”
“I’m glad he could provide them.” There was something strange about Oz’s voice. Something... resentful?
“What’s the matter?” she asked. She was done with miscommunication and secrets. If Oz had something to say, she wanted him to say it. They’d never work otherwise.
Oz took a good look around the room and then hopped up to sit on the desk. “It looks like Crowze has been able to provide all you need.” She thought that was all he would say until he added, “I live in a one bedroom apartment in an old building in New Osais. That’s a district of the city, and not a fashionable one. My parents both work. There’s no money or history to my family, not like this. I can’t provide...”
“I’m going to stop you there.” Honesty was one thing, but she didn’t need Oz beating himself up over something he couldn’t control. “I’m not going to suddenly fall for Crowze because he let us use his house and got us the contact information for some relevant people who can help us.”
“He did that too?” Oz asked, but it was more mutter than question.
Emily pushed up from the couch and crossed the room. She set her glass down on the desk and cupped Oz’s cheeks, kissing him soundly. “You saved my life,” she reminded him, “many times over. And we’re so compatible that you made me grow wings.” She flashed them out to prove she was learning. “I didn’t only stay up through the night because I didn’t realize the sun didn’t set.”
“No?” he asked.
“I didn’t want to fall asleep if I wasn’t next to you,” she admitted.
Lightning flashed in Oz’s eyes, and then his arms were around her, erasing all the distance between them so he could crash his mouth against hers. It was a branding kiss, one that left no doubt that she belonged to him.
It sent a thrill through Emily to belong so wholly to someone, not because she could perform a flip or write a brief. He wanted her because she was her.
When the kiss ended she was breathless, but there was still more to go over.
“Who did he get you in touch with?” Oz asked.
It took Emily a moment to remember how to speak. “An immigration advocate. No matter what planet you end up on, apparently moving generates a lot of paperwork. And when the others found out I went to law school, I kind of got nominated to work with the advocate on everyone’s behalf.” She pointed at her glasses and added, “That’s why I need the writing translator. I’m going to be kind of busy while we get this sorted out.”
“Too busy for your... boyfriend?” He said it like he was sounding out the word.
And hearing it on Oz’s tongue did strange things to her. She hadn’t really thought of him like that. Which was weird, now that she thought about it. “Are you really my boyfriend if you haven’t taken me out on a date?”
“But I showed you all the sights Kilrym has to offer.” He grinned at her and kissed her again. “So you’ll be working out of this house. Do you need to stay here?”
“I could be persuaded to not share a house with a dozen people. If someone gave me the right offer.” She couldn’t help but smile at the thought. It was probably way, way too early to consider it, but she didn’t want to be parted from Oz. And if things went south, well, she could stay the night at the humans’ house. It wasn’t like she had no options.
Oz’s face grew serious. “I should have told you the truth about your situation as soon as I realized you didn’t know. You have my word that I won’t keep things like that from you again.”
Something inside her chest unclenched and Emily felt like she could breathe again. It had felt so good to see Oz again that she hadn’t realized she was still holding onto that anger. “Good. I don’t want to start fighting with you or anything. I want to live with you, and love you, and build a life together. How does that sound?”
“Love?” he asked. His gaze darkened and he pulled her even closer. If he tried to get any closer she’d be sitting in his lap. Though that didn’t sound like a bad thing.
“Love,” she confirmed.
“Let me take you home so I can properly show you how much I love you.” He scooped her up as he slid down to the floor, and Emily had to hold on to keep from falling.
The trip back to the city was a blur. She got an impression of tall buildings that didn’t look that different from what she’d seen on Kilrym, and vehicles that were much the same. It was a sober reminder that the Apsyns and Synnrs were both Zulir. The same, and yet so different.
When they got to Oz’s apartment, she could see it was clean, but then he was scooping her up and carrying her once more until he could place her gently on his bed.
And when he tore his shirt off, Emily didn’t care what the rest of his apartment looked like, not when she could look at him.
Life with her alien warrior was looking up. And Emily could definitely get used to it.
