Page 80 of Wanted By the Alien Warden

“No!” I hadn’t heard anything about this. But it certainly made sense. It would explain the fear I’d seen in her on EloraStation. And it would also explain why she’d been so anxious to come to a world as isolated as this one.

“She was tracked here by a member of that organization,” Tenn went on. “He attempted to kidnap her, and would have killed her if he’d succeeded. Silar killed him instead.”

I didn’t answer at first. My own breathing was so loud inside my ears that for a while, it drowned out even the cacophony of the rain.

“So Silar was protecting her,” I finally said.

I expected Tenn to agree instantly, but instead he sighed, and said, “Well. Not exactly.”

“What do you mean, not exactly? Why else would he have killed someone!”

I rubbed my temples. I wasn’t sure if it was the shift in the weather or the stress of this situation, but my head was beginning to pound something fierce.

“I want to be completely honest with you, Tasha. And, in the spirit of that sort of honesty, I must admit that Silar easily could have subdued the human male without killing him.”

Oh, Jesus.

“It was a human?” I groaned.

“Yes. It was a human. Silar killed him out of anger. Because he would have hurt Cherry. Because he put his hands on her, and aimed his weapon at her.”

“And you’re just telling me this now,” I said, bitterness creeping up my throat. Why the hell should I be surprised by this? Why should I feel betrayed? Tenn had kept information from me before. He could have told me about the men’s convictions long before that check-in call. But he didn’t.

And he didn’t tell me this. This, which was so much worse.

“You should have told me before now,” I said quietly. “The ironic thing is, humans actually have a legal defence for a caselike this. It sounds like it was a crime of passion. Where rage renders you incapable of thinking and behaving rationally.”

“I believe this would apply in Silar’s case,” Tenn said after a moment. “I am surprised that is an acceptable legal argument among humans. Your authorities must be quite lenient.”

“We’re lenient? You’re the one who completely let it slide! You hid it!”

“I did hide it,” he admitted fiercely, almost angrily. “Because it would have destroyed him, Tasha! Destroyed them both. You were not there. You did not see Cherry’s panic at the idea her husband would be taken from her. She was willing to make a false confession and take the fall for his crime. Did you know that?”

“No! Of course I didn’t. I-”

“And now, for the first time,” he interrupted viciously, “I finally understand. I understand what it’s like to care for someone so deeply that you’d go to the mines for her. I understand what it’s like to know, in the deepest parts of yourself, that you would kill another man simply because he’d laid his hands upon her.”

“Her…”

“You, Tasha!” he thundered. “I mean you.”

Real thunder boomed, as if to echo him.

I blinked rain from my eyes.

Only it wasn’t rain.

“What are you saying?”

“I am saying that I would do anything to earn your trust back. Starting with telling you my very last secret. The only other thing I’ve hid.”

Oh, God. What else? What else could possibly be so bad he hadn’t told me so far?

What else could be worse than murder?

“I love you.”

His eyes seared me.

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