“Because you’re analien.”
“Humans are aliens to me.”
Her wrinkled lips quirk to one side. “I know. But I don’t know how they didn’t catch your species earlier. Women are supposed to bringhuman menas security.”
“It was an unexpected necessity. After the spaceport incident just before her arrival.”
She nods as she looks through a file on her tablet. “I have the video. I see Lingon is back at it again. Came close this time.”
Rosy hands the tablet to another guard. “Take care of it.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He bows and then walks out through a door at the back of the room.
“As private security, do you have an identity concealer?” she asks me.
I tap the devices in my collar that bleed a medium human skin tone over my face.
“Perfect. Just wear gloves and don’t let anyone see any skin but your face.” She digs through a bin on the floor and tosses me a black hat. “Wear that, too. As much as I hate to hide you from the world, I know the risks of advertising your location.”
“Yes, ma’am.”Anything so I can stay.
Rosy looks me over with admiration. “Life debt, huh?”
“Yes.”
She walks up to me despite the protests of her guard, who tries to slip between us.
“Oh, stop.” She weakly guides his arm away. “If I had to die, I would love for it to be while seeing someone like Grelius again.”
Rosy reaches a shaky hand toward my chin. I let her, even though I am hesitant after years of surviving torture by others who wanted access to my serum. But also, by the slight waver of her heartbeat and the gloss to her eyes, I know she’s in pain. It’s not a simple cut or a temporary acute trauma. Her existence wanes.
I get down on a knee so she doesn’t have to reach and lower my voice so her guard can’t overhear. “How long do you have?”
She smiled weakly. “This race, maybe.”
“I can give you medicine —”
“I know.” She shakes her head. “But I’ve lived long enough.”
She takes my hand and places it between hers. She is frail, and I fear breaking her. “I tried to move on. But when we find our mates, the true ones, and we know it with every ounce of our bodies, we come to live because they live and die because they die. That is a truth that cannot be denied. It is too hardwired into our brains and cores.”
She pats my hand. “Tell me, Elix. Have you found one?”
“Yes and no.”
“Can’t have her?”
I try to keep my eyes down, but I try too hard and look away from the field.
“Oh.” She squeezes my hand. “Your Protected is the one who roused your core?”
My core heats in my gut and tingles in my spine from hearing another speak my truth. “I will honor her choice. That is all that matters.”
She braces my face like a doting grandmother from the Terran shows I put on in the background while I’m in deep space so I don’t feel so alone. “She can’t pick you.”
“I know.”
“If she doesn’t know how you feel,” she adds. “The numbers only have to be even at the start of the race. Anything can happen after. Some leave empty-handed and return during another heat.”
