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Turns out Layla and I both have a type. Hot alien.
When I first see Zaire, my first thought is how tall he is. I’ve gotten used to being surrounded by these gorgeous, tall Aelyds, but Layla is shorter than me and picturing her with this giant alien with golden skin and shining eyes is a little weird.
As soon as he steps out of the shadows, my gaze immediately lands on the long scar around the front of his throat. It cuts across his scaly skin, leaving a dark fleshy mark on his otherwise golden skin.
There are other scars on him. Too many to count. Whoever this man is, he clearly didn’t go down without a fight.
His eyes turn a deep dark red as his gaze flits between Keon and Atlas, finally landing on Corvus. He grimaces before he turns to me.
“You must be Penelope Lykaios,” he says. “Layla has told me a lot about you.”
“Funny. She’s never told me anything about you.”
He sighs. “It wasn’t because she didn’t want to,” he says. “We weren’t in seclusion for long. I was supposed to let Layla get in touch with her family, with her people back on Earth. But we were only there for one night before word spread about her pregnancy. People could scent her…”
“I’m sorry,” Keon says. He sounds genuinely upset, which makes me ache for him. I think he was genuinely trying to help.
“I should’ve taken her back to Earth,” Zaire says. “She shouldn’t have been on Aelydon in the first place.”
I shake my head. “No,” I say. “When word got out about her baby, she probably would’ve had to go into hiding there, too.”
“I don’t care where we go,” Zaire says. His voice practically breaks when he speaks. He sounds desperate. Like he’s genuinely upset Layla isn’t with him. “I just need to get her back.”
Layla has always had good taste in men. She’s also amazing, so I’m not surprised this Aelyd sounds as in love with her as he does. Still, my friend is in a different world, locked down somewhere…I can’t help but feel a little angry at him. If it was the two of us together, we would’ve protected each other. “Did you know?” I ask.
Zaire meets my gaze. “What?”
“That she would get pregnant,” I say, glaring at her. Layla has been cautious since I’ve known her. We went to get our birth control together when we first started sharing a room back in freshman year of college.
“No,” he says. “For what it’s worth, that was never my intention. When she got pregnant…”
He drops his voice, taking a step toward me. Corvus, Atlas and Keon watch us, but whatever Zaire is about to tell me, I think he wants it to feel like our secret. “I told her she didn’t have to keep it,” he says. “I didn’t want her to feel like the fate of our species rested on her shoulders. That’s a lot to put on one individual.”
I cross my arms over my chest. I really don’t want to like this guy, but he’s pretty disarming and I believe everything he’s saying. “But she wanted to keep it.”
“Yes,” he says. “She was happy. I only wanted to do right by her. I still do. She’s protected somewhat now by her pregnancy, but…as soon as our child is born, I think she won’t be protected anymore. I don’t even want to think about what will happen to our baby.”
“Layla will fight like hell to get her child back,” I say.
He frowns. “I know. That’s what worries me,” he says. “And the main reason we need to get her now, before things get worse.”
“Yes,” Corvus says, taking a step forward. “She’s in captivity now. In one of the Diavolo compounds, on Vahar.”
“They’ll shoot me on sight,” Zaire says softly.
Corvus nods. “Yes, but not if I pretend you’re my prisoner,” he says.
Zaire bares his teeth at him. “After what you’ve done, I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“You have to,” Corvus says, taking a step toward him. Corvus is a little shorter than him, with broader shoulders and darker skin. “I wasn’t the one to betray you. I didn’t know where the two of you were hiding.”
“But you set me up for it.”
Corvus crosses his arms over his chest. “No,” he says. “I didn’t argue against the plan to send you to Selene because, truthfully, I didn’t think it was going to be successful.”
Zaire glares at him, his eyes turning a deep, angry purple. “What did you think was going to happen?”
“Honestly? I thought the experiment would fail,” Corvus replies. “I thought you might end up finding a partner or having a short fling with someone you liked, but I never thought she would end up pregnant. It was a last resort. I didn’t expect it to produce any results…”
