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Evie sighed. Great. Now her brother was going to harass her until she gave him all the details. So she did, explaining everything. It was easier discussing it with him, mostly because Cazar was at her side, silently encouraging her to continue when she paused or when she let out a ragged breath.
Once she was finished telling her story, Tristan was shaking with rage. “That slimy motherfucker.Thoseslimy motherfuckers. When I get back home, I’m going to end that fucking senator and his piss-ant, littleshitheadson.”
“Don’t go doing anything rash,” Evie warned him. “You could get thrown in jail or your career with the military could end if you confront either of them.” She didn’t want her brother to get in trouble on her behalf, especially since, in the end, she felt like she was precisely where she belonged. “What they did sucks, obviously. But it led me here, and I’m happy. Like,reallyhappy.“ Evie turned her head toward Cazar, eyes softening when their gazes met. “I’m so lucky to have met you. You really are the best thing–”
“Alright, alright,” Tristan cut her off with a grimace. “I get it. You’re happy and in love. No need to flaunt it for us perpetually single people. And I’ll be doing whatever I want when I get back to Earth. It’s not like you’ll be there to stop me.”
Well, that was true. She wanted to offer Tristan the option to stay on Aragnok, if it was even a possibility, but he loved his job with the military too much. She didn’t even know if he could or would want to relocate here.
Cazar wrapped his arms around Evie, picking her up and depositing her right onto his lap, releasing a happy sigh as he dropped his chin onto her shoulder.
“Still no luck with the ladies?” Evie asked Tristan, her fingers digging into Cazar’s forearms as he held her.
Tristan snorted, finishing off his corsna with one large gulp. “Can’t say that I have. Maybe it’s just not in the cards for me.”
“Don’t say that.”
Tristan looked up at her with a sad smile, followed quickly by an odd frown. “Why are you upside down?”
And then her brother toppled from his chair, collapsing to the kitchen floor with a loud snore.
Chapter 29
“Well,Ihavetosay, so far I’m not too impressed with Aragnok, or its capitol. What’s it called? Ragtar?” Tristan said with disinterest, eyes narrowed as he took in their surroundings.
They were visiting Ragtar’s city center with a group of other humans as part of the requirements for Tristan’s visit. It was part of an initiative to ‘humanize’ the Aragnokans by showing their visitors how, though they were more advanced, they weren’t too different as a species.
There must have been at least one hundred humans present, and another twenty capitol guards that kept them moving along in an orderly fashion.
The Aragnokan equivalent of a tour guide was pointing out various structures and shops, announcing the construction date, purpose, and how it benefited their society as a whole. The humans were oohing and aahing at appropriate times, but Evie didn’t know how many more grocery stores she could see without abandoning Tristan to his fate. It was all soboring.
The guards seemed completely indifferent to it all as well, holding their firearms stiffly in their hands while glaring warily around the crowd. She’d never seen any of them carrying weapons before, but these guards did. It was a bit daunting, but she couldn’t exactly blame them for taking such drastic measures to keep their city safe after what had occurred last time.
Tristan had been fascinated by the weapons, explaining that the alien guns were modeled like assault rifles but that he could see something glowing from the inside where bullets were usually stored in a magazine. His guess was that they were kind of advanced round, far more potent than anything they had back on Earth.
She’d take his word for it, given that he was the weapons expert in the family.
Evie snorted, shoving at his arm playfully. “There is no way I’m buying that. Look around you! This planet is unreal.” She pointed at the various buildings lining the street.
“Yeah, I’m looking,” Tristan grumbled, speaking low enough that the people around them couldn’t hear. “Cars hover off the ground, the sky is pink, and buildings climb so high into the sky that they disappear into the clouds. If I wanted to see this, I’d watch a sci-fi flick at home.”
Evie rolled her eyes. “Only you could travel to an alien planet and think it was lame.”
“It’s not lame, just unoriginal. Besides, I’m here to see you, not one of their pastry shops,” he concluded, waving a hand dismissively toward one of several bakeries lined up on this particular street.
She didn’t want to be here, either, so she understood his irritation. Unfortunately for them, it was mandatory. To make the trip even more so a waste of time, only humans were allowed to attend, meaning Cazar couldn’t even keep them company.
Despite being over the moon at her brother’s arrival, Evie was already antsy to be back at her mate’s side. She was meeting him at his lab a little later while Tristan went back to the capitol for a visitor-only meeting. Cazar wanted her to watch him work, but she was pretty confident that was his way of saying he planned on having her legs spread out on his counter as soon as possible.
She could already hear her mate’s voice, claiming it was for ‘research purposes’ as he attempted to get her to squirt for him again. Evie cleared her throat when desire pooled low in her belly.
She nodded toward the Aragnokan now droning on about the clothing store to their right. “Well, if you don’t care about what the tour guide is going over then tell me about your trip here. Did anything exciting happen? What about these friends you made? You barely mentioned them last night. Are any of them taking the tour with us?” As far as she was aware, the visitors had been split into two groups.
“The trip was fine. Space sickness is a thing though, so I was out of commission for the first few days, just holed up in my room until my body adjusted. We were given ear implants so we could talk to everyone without issue. And the friends I made are over there.” Tristan pointed toward the front of their group. “I don’t see Seth, but this crowd is massive, so maybe I’m just missing him. Either that or he’s just MIA, wanting to be alone.”
“Oh? Is something going on with him?” she pried.
“He was trying to win his girl back after some kind of argument before he left to come here, and his father passed away right before our ship took off.” He shrugged. “I don’t blame him for wanting to avoid interactions for a while; it sounds like he’s been through a lot. He didn’t seem in the right headspace when I met him, which makes sense given his circumstances.”
