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“I know you don’t believe me, but I am. I don’t want anyone else but you.”
“But our relationship was a lie.”
He shook his head.
“That’s not true,” He said. “My feelings for you are not a lie. Our countless disagreements, they weren’t lies.”
He tried stepping just a little closer.
“When you laugh at my jokes, that’s not a lie.”
Nova shook her head and, without realizing, took a step toward him. He dropped his mouth to her ear.
“The noises you make when I touch you, they aren’t lies.”
Her stomach fluttered.
“I know you, Nova, the real you, and I want more.”
His mouth left her ear and grazed her lips, sending heat coursing through her body. She leaned forward and put her mouth on his. She’d been wanting to do that for three long weeks. The soft touch sent shivers down her back, and she moaned as she wrapped her arms around his neck and took a step closer. Lost in his smell, she opened her mouth and kissed him back. As always, Altair took control, and before long they were fighting for control of the kiss while her body melted into his. She had to pull away before she lost herself completely.
“What am I going to do with you?” she asked, leaning her forehead on his and trying to catch her breath.
“Help me escape. Leave them and join me.” His eyes darkened in anger. “They are not good people, Nova. I don’t know what they told you, but they work for Devon. Rex is a known murderer, and Elizabeth wasn’t supposed to be brought to Mudden in the first place.”
She’d never heard that about Rex, though she’d noticed how people were afraid of him, more than just his size warranted. As for Elizabeth, she’d never told her how she’d gotten here. She’d assumed like all the other kidnapped victims, but it really didn’t matter to Nova. She herself wasn’t supposed to be here, and Altair had said he didn’t want her to leave.
“I don’t know why they sent you to spy on me, what information they want on me or my parents, but if you knew the truth, you wouldn’t be on their side.”
Nova took a step back. He didn’t know their plans after all. He thought this was about the feud between his father and Devon. Elizabeth had said not to tell him anything, but she hadn’t known that he hadn’t told anybody. Nova wanted to give Altair a chance to make the right decision. He was right about one thing. It hadn’tallbeen a lie between them. She had come to know him in the last couple of months, and she’d found that she’d been wrong about him. Yes, he was arrogant, and yes he did what his messed up family asked of him, but he did these things out of loyalty and a sense of responsibility to keep the peace. If he were given a different point of view, a different cause to be loyal to, would he choose the right side?
“This isn’t about your father,” she said. “It’s about the women that your family kidnaps.”
He frowned, clearly not understanding her meaning.
“Your family kidnaps hundreds of women every year and marries them against their will.”
He frowned. “The women of Mudden may have a hard time at the beginning, but in the end, they are very satisfied in their marriages. That’s why we have the algorithm.”
The heat left her body.
“Maybe a few are,” she conceded, without truly believing it. Well, Lauren did look satisfied, and Elizabeth too, but Karen wasn’t. “But many are miserable, taken from their families, careers, and home planets. Some are even abused.”
He shook his head. “You know there is no other choice.”
In his voice, she heard an echo of her own voice. How many countless times had she used that excuse to justify stealing. She swallowed a lump in her throat. This wasn’t about her.
“There is always a choice.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “We want to stop the kidnappings.”
His face contorted into an expression of disgust. “You’re rebels.”
She shook her head. “There is nothing rebellious about wanting people to have the freedom to decide their own lives.”
“It would destroy the Mudden clan. Bring our population to extinction.”
“The Mudden clan would lose its power, yes, but the Mudden people would live on, freed from their oppressive government.”
Altair shook his head. She wondered if he would still think he was in love with her after this conversation. The look on his face was disgust and anger.
