Page 7

The elderly woman before me wears an Abr badge that boasts the symbol of a solar system above it. She calmly answers a holovid call from concerned Retterwan about the security of the Alien Bride Race. She reassures them but clearly states that it is categorized as a reality game show where anything can happen, and contestants must accept the terms to participate.

“Now—” She closes the holo screen and looks up at me. “My name is Rosy. I am the founder of this organization. You’re probably wondering why I can speak your language.”

I straighten.

“Years ago, I was married to a Larisien for some time. I learned everything I could to make him feel at home.” Rosy turns something on her wristband, and a milky sheen slips from her body.

“Ma’am,” her guard protests. “You should not drop your shield around an unfamiliar threat.”

She scowls at him. “He won’t hurt me. It’s not in his core. I’m more likely to be stabbed in the back by someone who’s worked hard to get close to me.”

The guard’s eyebrows lift, and he gives her room to walk around her desk.

“Do you have any descendants?” I dare ask.

She shakes her head. “But I know how many eyes are going to be on you if you leave the observation rooms looking like you do. Racers are going to get distracted, females and males.”

“Because I’m Lazariot?”

“Because you’re an alien .”

“Humans are aliens to me.”

Her wrinkled lips quirk to one side. “I know. But I don’t know how they didn’t catch your species earlier. Women are supposed to bring human men as security.”

“It was an unexpected necessity. After the spaceport incident just before her arrival.”

She nods as she looks through a file on her tablet. “I have the video. I see Lingon is back at it again. Came close this time.”

Rosy hands the tablet to another guard. “Take care of it.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He bows and then walks out through a door at the back of the room.

“As private security, do you have an identity concealer?” she asks me.

I tap the devices in my collar that bleed a medium human skin tone over my face.

“Perfect. Just wear gloves and don’t let anyone see any skin but your face.” She digs through a bin on the floor and tosses me a black hat. “Wear that, too. As much as I hate to hide you from the world, I know the risks of advertising your location.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Anything so I can stay.

Rosy looks me over with admiration. “Life debt, huh?”

“Yes.”

She walks up to me despite the protests of her guard, who tries to slip between us.

“Oh, stop.” She weakly guides his arm away. “If I had to die, I would love for it to be while seeing someone like Grelius again.”

Rosy reaches a shaky hand toward my chin. I let her, even though I am hesitant after years of surviving torture by others who wanted access to my serum. But also, by the slight waver of her heartbeat and the gloss to her eyes, I know she’s in pain. It’s not a simple cut or a temporary acute trauma. Her existence wanes.

I get down on a knee so she doesn’t have to reach and lower my voice so her guard can’t overhear. “How long do you have?”

She smiled weakly. “This race, maybe.”

“I can give you medicine —”

“I know.” She shakes her head. “But I’ve lived long enough.”

She takes my hand and places it between hers. She is frail, and I fear breaking her. “I tried to move on. But when we find our mates, the true ones, and we know it with every ounce of our bodies, we come to live because they live and die because they die. That is a truth that cannot be denied. It is too hardwired into our brains and cores.”

She pats my hand. “Tell me, Elix. Have you found one?”

“Yes and no.”

“Can’t have her?”

I try to keep my eyes down, but I try too hard and look away from the field.

“Oh.” She squeezes my hand. “Your Protected is the one who roused your core?”

My core heats in my gut and tingles in my spine from hearing another speak my truth. “I will honor her choice. That is all that matters.”

She braces my face like a doting grandmother from the Terran shows I put on in the background while I’m in deep space so I don’t feel so alone. “She can’t pick you.”

“I know.”

“If she doesn’t know how you feel,” she adds. “The numbers only have to be even at the start of the race. Anything can happen after. Some leave empty-handed and return during another heat.”

She’s pushing me too far and making me think about Zariah in ways I shouldn’t. I get up and step back. “I will not put her into that predicament. She is racing for a reason. Now, I would like to get back to my post.”

She clicks her tongue. “Your kind do not deserve to perish. We need many more like you if we hope to save this universe with our morals intact.

I’m not so sure about that. She doesn’t know what I’ve done to get in here. And if I’m going to keep my plan intact, I need to get back to watching Zariah and out from under the microscope.

“Please let me know if I can help in any way with your transition,” I offer.

She reaches for me as I open the door. “Are there any others left?”

“A few. I recently freed a solar sister.”

She smiles shakily. “Then not all are lost, and I am at peace. Now go on. But please remember what I said. All of it.”

Donning the hat and some gloves, I check my look in the mirror on her wall.

“That will suffice,” she says. “Facial recognition will have trouble mapping you this way.”

“Yes, ma’am.” As I leave the room, I hear her speak quietly with her remaining guard, “It’s a shame to have to hide such a stunning life form. We should have idolized them, not abused them. This universe can be so heartless.”

I ease toward my prior post, watching Zariah, but I don’t want Keo to figure out it’s me. It’s easier to be ignored when I’m no longer an eyesore among the crowd of bodyguards, so I find a new spot to watch.

Zariah stands beside Teol along a white railing. Rosy appears below, walking to the podium with great effort.

Another guard cants toward me. “You know that old coot like 200?”

She was married to a Larisien. I’m not surprised. Everyone from my solar system has that adaptation. But I respond how humans on my holovid shows often do while trying to shave off the Lazariot accent. “No fuckin’ way. For real?”

“Yeah,” he says. “Been here quite a few times. We’re specifically private Abr bodyguards for hire. Sixteen of us. You private?”

I notice the transport carrying the males entering the shield, and because I don’t want to answer him, I point. What do people say at the start? “Show time.”

He walks away to watch.

I find Zariah again. She’s calmer than the others but looks ready to run. Her tight bodysuit accents her curves in all the right ways.

My spine heats, and my core pulses just looking at her through the glass. Desire stirs like liquid fire in my hips. I want to bond with her, but it’s more than that.

She risked her life for mine when we were just kids.

Please win so we can just get on my ship and leave. I’ll take you anywhere.

I pray she doesn’t get picked. I’m not sure I can stop myself from breaking him, whoever he is. And if I lose her, I think my core might just collapse.