Page 61 of The Alien Warrior's Mate

Sara

“I’msorry I couldn’t tell you,” Ga Eun whispered, setting her daughter on the floor to play. The baby chewed contentedly on one of her straw dolls, freeing Ga Eun to speak. “I really wanted to show Kenzi off, but we had to make sure you weren’t going to harm us.”

“I get it.” Sara squeezed Ga Eun’s hand.

“I didn’t want to lie.”

“Please, Ga Eun. Just stop. I know you were protecting your child. Two complete strangers turn up at your spaceship hideout, you stow away what’s precious until you can determine their intentions.” Sara smiled. “I just don’t know how you kept Kenzi quiet for so long.”

Ga Eun looked at her child fondly. “She’s a deep sleeper. Just like her mother.”

Sara glanced into the kitchen where Korben and Rune were talking. They were inspecting the Wi-fi chip that would be drilled into her head.

Ugh.

Drilled.

That was the exact word Ga Eun had used.

Her nerves tightened into a knot. “Is it going to hurt?”

“What?”

“The drill?”

Ga Eun cringed. “Uh…”

“That looks like a yes.”

“I don’t want to lie to you again.”

Sara moaned.

“Don’t worry. Rune knows what he’s doing. He’s the one who did mine. The pain is worth being able to talk to him. And there are a lot more perks that come with having that connection too.”

Sara shifted in her seat. “I don’t know…”

“Are you more nervous about the drill?” Ga Eun smirked. “Or talking to Korben for the first time?”

“Both? It’s just… so far our dynamic has worked for us.”

“He grunts and you get to pick and choose what that particular sound means?”

She laughed. “Okay, so it can be inconvenient at times, but we’ve managed to get this far without conversation. Korben shows me with his actions that he cares about me.”

“And if you can talk to him,” Ga Eun interpreted wisely, “you’ll have to ask him why he was at the beluda that night.”

“The guy took laser bullets and acid rain to the back. I don’t want to believe he can be anything but the good guy.”

“You love him,” Ga Eun said gently.

Sara's heart thundered as that frightening thought descended and took root.

“You know,” Ga Eun slanted her a lopsided smile as she cleaned the area behind Sara’s ear with a chemical. “You and Korben weren’t very quiet last night.”

Her pulse quickened. “What?”

“If Kenzi wasn’t such a deep sleeper, all that noise would have woken her up.”