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“What do you mean he wasn’t violent? He killed two of our men.”
“Because we attacked first. He felt threatened and responded the only way he knew how. The same way you ran, out of instinct.”
His face flushed again, and I felt a little guilty for rubbing salt in his wounds. I decided to skip past that, feeling that I’d made my point.
“I was hurt. He found me and took care of me. He’s better than most humans I know.”
Finn scoffed in disbelief. “Do you have Stockholm Syndrome?”
I shook my head. A little voice in my head told me to stop. Finn would never believe me anyway. But I couldn’t seem to control myself, now that I was finally saying what I had wanted to say the entire time.
“IMRA are the bad guys, Finn. I know, it’s a bitter pill to swallow. But it’s true. The centaur has been on Earth for five years, and never hurt anyone. We showed up and invaded his space, for no reason.”
“What if he were violent?” he insisted. “What are you saying? We just let aliens roam the Earth freely, and hope it all turns out okay?”
I could feel myself getting angry. “I’m saying we shouldn’t assume they’re a threat to us just because they’re different. People can justify a lot of horrible things by pretending they need to do it. By pretending the other side is too scary and can’t be trusted. But sometimes, that’s just an excuse so they can keep doing horrible things and feel okay about it.”
“How do you know you can trust them? The alien monsters?” he shot back, getting just as heated.
“Try talking to them instead of shooting first and asking questions later? You should have seen his house. He lived alone with a little vegetable garden. He studied Earth by reading children’s books and encyclopedias. He taught himself our language that way. Does that sound like a big, scary monster to you?”
He stared at me, his eyes wide and cynical. “Did you hit your head or something? You need to go back to the doctor who gave you a clean bill of health, or better, go see another one and get a second opinion. You are clearly not well.”
I stood up, seeing red. “That’s it. Get out.”
“What?”
“You heard me. Get out. Out of my house, now. If you really think it’s fine to go around deciding what’s best for everyone, literally hunting people down just because they’re different, I don’t want you anywhere near me.”
He stood up, setting his cup of coffee on the table. He looked shocked at my response, but I didn’t care. I had finally seen the light, and I wasn’t going to listen to him try to normalize what IMRA was doing. They were wrong, period. If he couldn’t admit it to himself, that was his problem.
I walked him to the door, slamming it shut behind him. My nerves were on fire, and my heart raced in my chest. I never handled confrontation well. My adrenaline had spiked in the last few minutes and was now coursing through my body.
I glared at the coffee cups on the table. Then I walked into the kitchen. With sweaty palms, I rummaged through my cabinet, looking for something stronger than coffee.
I didn’t drink much, so it took me a while to find it. But finally, I pulled out an old bottle of bourbon. It took some maneuvering for my shaking hands to pour without dropping the bottle.
Just as I was putting the lid back on, the phone rang. I jumped, startled by the sound. I was already on edge, and the unexpected noise wasn’t helping.
I set the bottle down on the counter and went to fetch my phone. “Hello?”
“Claire Davies?” a female voice replied.
“This is she.” What now? How had I suddenly gotten so popular, when I was supposed to be at home on leave?
“This is Janelle Rogers,” she explained. “Dr. Grant’s secretary. She asked me to call and deliver a message. Please return to her office as soon as possible. She needs you back here.”
“Okay, I’ll be in right away.”
I hung up, and a giddy little smile spread across my face. I was sure that whatever reason they had for calling me, it had something to do with Athos. My heart skipped a beat, feeling conflicted. A small part of me couldn’t help but be nervous, hoping that he was all right.
But somehow, I doubted that they’d report to me if something was the matter. I had a feeling that he had asked for me. And whatever he’d done to convince them had worked.
I was going to see him soon. I smiled again at the thought. Letting the bourbon sit on the counter, I ran to fetch my car keys.
Chapter Fourteen
Claire
