Page 58 of Secretly Mated To My Monster Alien Boss
“That bastard. That’smywork. The one he said wouldn’t have a chance in hell of succeeding.” Darcy glowered, her lower lip sticking out. Then she shook her head. “But I still want someone to verify it independently. I’m tired and biased. I might be wrong. Richard might be innocent.”
“Then why did he vanish,” Mykon’s ghostly voice floated from above.
Deryg’s gaze snapped up, a grin on his lips. The shadowy bastard had managed to climb onto the fallen beam without Deryg or anyone else hearing him. That’s why Mykon deserved to be on his security team, no matter what anyone else said.
Once all the robots had been annihilated, thanks to Darcy’s jamming frequency, and Alien Inc.’s own comm system had been restored, Mykon was the first Deruzian Deryg had called–with a very special mission.
“What did you find?” Deryg asked.
Mykon leaped from the beam, spinning in the air, and landing gracefully on the floor, without a sound. “Richard is not at his residence–and it looked like he left in a hurry. I found screens with footage from inside Alien Inc. The chair in front of them was still warm.”
“The robots can record in real time through their eyes,” Darcy said. “Wait, you managed to break into Richard’s fortress? That’s impossible. He has every security system on the black market.”
Mykon didn’t reply. Instead, he threw a black rectangle Darcy’s way, which Nazyn caught. Good thing, too. Darcy was brilliant, but Deryg had seen her trip on nothing but air more than once.
Darcy’s brows rose. “You got his lighter.”
“Open it,” Mykon said.
When Nazyn did as instructed, the black rectangle gave off a blue light instead of flames. A signal beam.
“He must’ve used this to control them.” Darcy snatched the device from Nazyn’s hand. “I didn’t create this. But I can pick it apart and see how it works. It’s remarkably small. Maybe he used some kind of–”
“My love,” Nazyn said patiently, though his muscles were still coiled, ready to pounce on someone, anything. “What did we say about sleep?”
Darcy rolled her eyes playfully. “That I need to do it in order to function optimally. Which I will–after I pick this apart.”
Nazyn huffed a laugh and just shook his head.
“Speaking of optimization, we need to have a serious discussion about our laboratory and its features,” Darcy said, poking a finger in his chest. “I amnotas tall as a Deruzian, there was no way I could have reached the ventilation panel on myown. Thank the universe Leyra was there, or we would’ve turned into a crisp.”
Ah, yes, Leyra. Deryg pulled Kiara closer as his gaze jumped to where Leyra and Rexan were having a heated discussion. They were both gesticulating far too much for Deruzians. Interesting.
They must have felt his stare, because the both of them looked Deryg’s way. Leyra muttered something and gave a pointed look to Rexan, who sighed in annoyance. Then both of them began walking this way.
“About my brother,” Deryg whispered to Kiara.
“Let’s talk about it once we’re out of here,” she said with a smile. “We’ve had enough drama for one day.”
Rexan apparently didn’t think so.
He stopped in front of Kiara, stiff as the pole he’d used to fight the robots alongside Deryg. “Kiara Earhart, I apologize for misleading you with the information I freely gave once you inquired who–”
Leyra poked his shoulder. “The apology you told me you’d say, not this elder council speech.”
“Very well.” Rexan sighed again. “Kiara, I’m sorry I lied. I thought Leyra and Deryg would work through their differences. I was wrong and, thus, I misled you. I truly am sorry for it and will atone for my mistake on Deruzia.”
Deryg was still angry at his brother, but he didn’t envy him. He had a monster task of undoing the mating contract with Leyra once he got back home to their planet.
“It was an honor to fight alongside you,” Leyra said to Kiara. They exchanged a warm smile. “I have learned more about humans in one night than I ever could have from our texts. You are a great representative for your species, as I hope I was for mine.”
“You were awesome. But before you leave, I want to show you another human tradition.” Kiara left Deryg’s embrace andthrew her arms around Leyra. “Over here, we hug it out after we survive gun-wielding maniacs.”
Leyra got over her surprise fast and hugged Kiara back. “I like this tradition.”
“Oh, we’re hugging?” a female shouted from the other end of the atrium. “Darling, I want you to meet the girls.”
The older woman that had fought in the laboratory approached, dragging an even older man behind her. He had a bright smile on his face, despite the tear marks on his wrinkly cheeks.
