Page 52 of Loved By the Alien King
“Just leave me somewhere, Maxx,” he groaned out, guessing the direction of my thoughts. “Send someone to get me. Or don’t. Just get yourselves to safety.”
“There’s no telling what they’ll do to you if they find you. They shot you because you helped spring me from their headquarters. Because you’re helping to protect Nera. You’re one of us now.”
The words surprised even me when they fell out. My mortal enemy was one of us, part of the alien race we’d been at war with for centuries, the aliens I’d been born to hate.
But what I’d said was the truth. This Killian and I had been fighting on the same side since day one ofAlien Love Island.
Fighting on Nera’s side.
He blinked several times at me, trying to see clearly or trying not to pass out. Maybe both. “I’m one of you? And what are you?”
“Traitors to their cause,” I said simply. “We know too much.”
“And yet…”
Oh goddess, here we go with that big brain and those never-ending questions of his.
“Earth Space Fleet only captured you, not Nera. You only raised the alarm that they might be after Nera too last night. What changed? How did you know about this big conspiracy before Nera did?”
“I didn’t,” I said honestly.
“So they captured youbeforeyou knew anything. Got it. That’s some great preplanning right there.”
“Look, I don’t know Space Fleet’s reasoning, okay?”
“But you do know they don’t just capture some rando, right? Or hire assassins to take some rando out?”
“The king of Xenoxx is hardly some rando,” I bit out.
“Exactly. You’re an important rando who’s even more important to them. Why?”
“Should we turn around? Go ask them? Demand to know why they shot you in the shoulder?”
“Instead of my head or my hearts. Yeah, I get it,” he deadpanned. “I’m really glad they didn’t though so I can pester you with questions you refuse to answer.”
“Continue to pester me, you mean. You’ve never stopped.”
He chuckled and then heaved a groan. “Don’t make me laugh.”
“If it makes you shut up, I’ll become a damn comedian.”
“I was going to tell a time-travel joke, but you didn’t like it.”
Sighing, I adjusted his arm around me as we continued through the water. “I saidIwould become the comedian. You’re just being a pigeon licker who tells bad dad jokes.”
He barked out a laugh that turned into a nasally moan. “Damn it, Maxx.”
“My Roxxanne calls me the king of dad jokes,” I admitted, unable to keep from smiling. “Once when we were holding court, she accidentally hit a voice mail message from me on her communicator with me saying ‘Dad puns are how eye roll.’ This was in front of everyone, and the meanest, most hardened Xenoxx warriors laughed so hard they cried.”
A pained smile crossed over the Killian’s face. “Yeah, that was no accident.”
“Obviously.” I chuckled at the memory while my hearts twisted with how much I missed my daughter.
After her mother’s death, we’d fallen into a natural rhythm of togetherness for years, just the two of us as we clawed our way out of our grief. She’d never once complained that I was being too overbearing or protective or clingy and had never run off to her room to be alone. We were all the other had left. That was simply the way it was.
I hadn’t wanted to leave to chase after Earth Space Fleet’s Faid-detecting weapon. I definitely hadn’t wanted to be gone this long from her.
When we could, when it was safe, I would bring Nera to meet her. Watch as the two most important women in my life bonded like I had no doubt they would.
