Page 30 of Alien’s Love Child

CHAPTER 30

JESSE

T he kitchen reeks of copper and something burnt. Paraxan lies sprawled near the stove, his gray fur matted with blood around a nasty gash on his temple. Leo's tiny fingers dig into my leg as I kneel beside our mechanic.

"Par?" My hands hover over his chest, unsure where to touch without causing more harm. "Can you hear me?"

His whiskers twitch. One amber eye cracks open, then the other. "Captain..." His voice comes out raspy. "Taluk, he?—"

"Shh, we know. He's gone now." I grab a clean dish towel from the drawer, pressing it gently against his head wound. "That little snake won't hurt anyone else."

"Should've seen..." Paraxan's ears flatten against his skull. "Was making his favorite stew when..."

"None of that now." The towel's already soaking through. "You couldn't have known."

Leo inches closer, his bottom lip trembling. "Is Par-Par gonna be okay?"

"Of course, sweetie." I try to sound more confident than I feel. "Why don't you go play in your room while we help him?"

"No!" Leo wraps his arms around my waist, burying his face in my side. "I don't wanna be alone."

From the living room, I hear Davin cursing at the knots binding Rena. She's giving him detailed instructions on how to untie them, peppered with colorful suggestions about what we should do to Taluk when we catch him.

Paraxan struggles to sit up, his claws scraping against the tile. "Captain, if he gets away, he'll-"

"It's okay," I tell him softly. "It's okay. We're letting him go."

"And why exactly are we letting him go? With the kind of information that could get an entire planet killed?"

Davin storms into the kitchen, his boots leaving dark smears on the tile. "You told me you destroyed that data." His silver hair bristles, skin flushing a deeper blue. "Now I find out you've been carrying it around this whole time?"

I press the towel harder against Paraxan's wound, too focused on helping my friend. Leo's tiny fingers dig deeper into my side.

"Answer me, Jesse." Davin's voice drops low, dangerous. "What game are you playing?"

Rena appears in the doorway behind him, rubbing her raw wrists. "Oh, calm down, big guy. You're scaring your kid."

"I'm scaring—" He cuts himself off, running a hand through his hair. "That data could get us all killed. Could get Leo killed. And you just handed it over to that treacherous?—"

"Daddy's really mad," Leo whispers against my hip.

Paraxan's whiskers twitch as he lets out a wheezing laugh. "You've got a lot to learn about your mate, bounty hunter." He winces as he shifts position. "The captain always has a backup plan. Always."

"He's right." Rena leans against the doorframe, arms crossed. "And if you're going to be part of this family, you better get used to it."

I secure the bandage around Paraxan's head with medical tape, my fingers steady despite the tension in the room. "There. That should hold until we can get you proper medical attention."

"So, Jesse." Davin's voice carries that military edge I remember from our first meeting. "What's the backup plan for keeping Taluk from selling a bioweapon to the highest bidder. Because if there isn't one, I have a criminal to chase down."

A laugh bubbles up from my chest, unexpected and slightly hysterical. Leo's grip on my side loosens as he peers up at me, confusion written across his little face.

"Take a deep breath, soldier." I wipe my hands on my pants and stand, scooping Leo up with me. "That data stick? It's got nothing but an old grocery list on it. The real data was destroyed months ago, just like we agreed."

Davin blinks. The muscles in his jaw work as he processes this. "You're telling me?—"

"That Taluk's about to try selling a shopping list to the highest bidder?" Rena snorts. "Oh, I'd pay good money to see that meeting."

"But he seemed so sure..." Davin's expression shifts from anger to bewilderment.

"Because I sold it." I bounce Leo on my hip, earning a tiny giggle. "Come on, you've seen me work. Half of smuggling is confidence. Make them believe what you're selling is worth something, and they'll never question it."

Paraxan's whiskers twitch with amusement. "You even had me fooled. And now he's burned his bridges with both the crew and his potential buyers."

"Exactly." I step closer to Davin, close enough to see the tension bleeding from his shoulders. "I meant what I said about wanting a quiet life. No more weapons, no more data that could get people killed. Just us, our family, and maybe the occasional legitimate cargo run."

Rena doubles over, clutching her sides as laughter echoes through our kitchen. Her split lip starts bleeding again, but she doesn't seem to care. "Oh stars, Jesse. You beautiful, devious woman."

"Care to share the joke?" Davin shifts Leo in his arms, our son playing with the collar of his father's shirt.

"Don't you get it?" Rena wipes tears from her eyes, smearing a bit of blood across her cheek. "Our little Taluk's got two options, and they both end badly for him."

"Three, if you count running," I correct, helping Paraxan into a chair. "But we all know he won't do that. He's too greedy."

"Exactly." Rena's grin turns predatory. "Option one: he goes to a criminal gang. They test the data, find out it's worthless, and—" She draws a finger across her throat.

"And option two?" Davin asks, though I can see understanding dawning in his eyes.

"He tries to turn it in to the Alliance." Rena snorts, setting off another round of giggles. "Claims he's got proof of bioweapon dealings. They'll throw him in a holding cell while they verify the data. And once they realize he's wasted their time..."

"Bureaucrats hate nothing more than having their time wasted," Paraxan adds, his whiskers twitching despite the pain. "They'll bury him in so much red tape, he'll be lucky to see daylight before he's old and gray."

"Either way," I say, retrieving the first aid kit from under the sink, "he won't be bothering us again. Rena, come here, let me treat that wound."

"Mama's smart," Leo declares proudly, and my heart swells.

"Yes, she is," Davin agrees, pressing a kiss to our son's forehead. "Terrifyingly so."

I sink into a kitchen chair, the adrenaline finally wearing off. The antiseptic stinks as I clean Rena's split lip, but my hands stay steady. "You know what gets me? He really was exactly what he claimed to be – just a kid way over his head."

"A kid who held your son at gunpoint," Davin reminds me, his voice sharp.

"Not defending him." I cap the antiseptic. "Just... remembering how he used to drop things whenever anyone walked in. How he'd stammer through status reports."

Rena winces as I apply the bandage. "That wasn't all an act? Stars, I thought he was playing it up."

"No, that was real." I lean back, reminiscing. "Remember when he tried to help with inventory? Knocked over an entire shelf of protein packs?"

"And then tried to clean it up," Paraxan adds from his chair, "but kept slipping on the powder?"

"Exactly." My chest tightens. "He was genuine in his incompetence. Just like he was genuine in his greed. If he'd just... waited. Learned. Built trust with us..."

"He could've been something," Rena finishes. "Instead, he's about to learn the hard way that patience isn't just a virtue – it's a survival skill."

Leo tugs at my sleeve. "Mama, was Taluk bad all along?"

"No, sweetie." I pull him into my lap. "Sometimes good people make bad choices when they're scared or desperate. They convince themselves there are shortcuts to what they want."

"There aren't," Davin says firmly. "Not ones worth taking."

"No," I agree, running my fingers through Leo's hair. "There aren't."

The kitchen's quiet except for the clink of utensils against plates. Paraxan's stew sits untouched in the pot on the stove – none of us have the heart to eat it after everything. Instead, we're picking at reheated leftovers.

Leo pushes his vegetables around his plate. "Uncle Par Par, your head still hurts?"

"Not so much now, little one." Paraxan's whiskers droop despite his reassuring tone. "Your mother's quite good at patching people up."

"Better than your cooking skills," Rena tries to joke, but it falls flat. She sets down her fork with a sigh. "I keep thinking about all those times he helped me calibrate the nav system."

"Or when he'd volunteer for night watch." My throat tightens. "Remember how he'd bring us drinks during long hauls?"

"Small kindnesses to build trust." Davin's voice carries no judgment, just understanding. "It's a common tactic."

Leo crawls into my lap, abandoning his dinner entirely. "I don't want anymore bad people, Mama."

"Oh, sweetheart." I press my nose into his silver hair, breathing in his clean, baby smell. "I'm so sorry you had to see that."

"He's not eating properly," I whisper to Davin later, after we've cleared the plates. Leo's curled up on the couch with Paraxan, listening to one of the mechanic's rambling stories. "And he flinched when Rena moved too quickly earlier."

Davin's hand finds mine under the table. "He's got Kaleidian blood in him, Jesse. We're built to weather storms."

"Half Kaleidian," I remind him.

"And half you." His thumb traces circles on my palm. "That makes him twice as resilient."

Rena snorts into her drink. "Stars help us all when he's older. Stubborn as a Kaleidian, clever as Jesse – he'll be unstoppable."

"Already is." I watch Leo giggle at something Paraxan says, the first real laugh we've heard from him since the incident. "Look at him. Still a toddler and he's bouncing back."

"Like I said." Davin squeezes my hand. "Resilient."