Page 2 of Tavarr's Mate
He’s done terrible, unspeakable things to earn his hefty paychecks on this planet.
Of course, I never thought I would end up depending on Harry financially for so long. After I agreed to marry him, he had promised Earth governments would soon start sending children to Tallia with their parents who came here to work. He said I would easily land a job teaching elementary school, but the Tallian government—a new council of elected leaders in charge of Capital Acres and the surrounding areas inhabited by humans—had once again unanimously voted to continue excluding minors from visiting Tallia, let alone living here.
All the other jobs available in Capital Acres are Earth hires shipped in by the various companies that own businesses here. I can’t walk into a hotel, café, or store and apply for a job. It doesn’t work that way on Tallia, so for two years I’ve lived with Harry and relied on him for everything—a fact he has held over my head from the first week, when he not so eloquently laid out his expectations for me.
Not long after our arrival, he announced that Imustcook, clean, and keep house for him, because in his mind, Iowedhim. I would have been happy to contribute to our household in any way, including performing all the domestic chores, but when he repeatedly said things like “Try not to fuck up dinner tonight” or “Christ, woman, did you never learn how to iron a shirt properly?” I realized too late what an awful mistake I had made.
To keep his insults at bay, I tried to be the perfect homemaker, only to hear things like, “About time you learned how to make a simple dish like spaghetti” or “I bet you took these shirts to the cleaners and spent more of my money.”
Of course, not all of his insults revolved around my housekeeping skills. Many of them targeted my appearance. Just last week he said, “I’m glad you finally got those laser hair removal treatments. Your legs and pussy used to look so gross on the days you were too lazy to shave,” and “Your face looks chubby when your hair is that long.”
Sickness rises in my stomach. I shouldn’t dwell on the awful putdowns, but sometimes his spiteful words play over and over in my mind, stuck on repeat no matter how hard I try to block them out.
The twin moons become a blur and I blink rapidly to dispel my tears.
I refuse to cry over Harry.
Not ever again.
He never loved me, not really, and the love I’d felt for him has already dissolved under the endless barrage of his harsh insults.
Thank God he’s working late tonight and won’t be around to stop me. I know he would do everything in his power to keep me here. His status as a lead scientist in Project KH09 makes him one of the most powerful men on Tallia.
With a single phone call, he could have me thrown in jail or detained in a top-secret location.
A cold shudder passes through me, because no matter how much I don’t want to believe it, I know he could probably have me killed too.
He’s that ruthless and obsessed with his work.
I gaze at the crowd in the café, wondering if any of them know about the research that goes on in the secretive labs that sit outside Capital Acres, the tall buildings that rest beyond the landing platforms. I wonder if any of them know about the aliens who call Tallia home, the humanlike beings unethical scientists like Harry are studying.
Kleaxians.
My heart aches as I think about the aliens.
Another reason I need to sneak back to Earth.
Harry wasn’t supposed to tell me about Project KH09, nor was he supposed to show me images and videos of his horrific experiments on the Kleaxians. But he has. Many times. The fucker sure likes to brag.
Gasps draw my gaze back to the sky.
What the hell?
TheStargazerhas come to a standstill. Numerous blinking lights surround it, blue and green lights that appear to belong to other ships.
Other ships.
My stomach flips. No other vessels are scheduled to travel through the wormhole anytime soon. In fact, an interstellar ship only travels to and from Earth once every few months.
Something is very wrong.
The crowd grows tense, and hushed voices and gasps ripple across the café, a wave of fierce apprehension that prompts my sudden unease to deepen. The knots in my stomach twist tighter with each passing second. I shift to the edge of my seat.
One of the unknown vessels shoots a white beam directly at the wormhole.
I grab my suitcases and stand up at the very moment there’s a blue flash behind theStargazer. The flash is so bright, the crowded streets of Capital Acres are illuminated for a brief instant, a sea of wide-eyed frozen bodies bathed in blue.
Oh God.
