Page 87 of Stardusted

“Okay.” He raised his palms again, took a slow step sideways, and braced a hip against the kitchen counter. Folding his arms, he stood there, watching me. Drips slid from his clothes and pooled on the laminate flooring in a steadyplop-plop.

“All right,” he said at last, and I snapped my attention up. His brows were drawn, his expression guarded but determined. Like he’d braced himself for something. “I’ll tell you everything I can.”

This was it. My heart pounded. My insides dipped and climbed like 747-sized butterflies were taking off. Despite the chill in the air, a bead of nervous sweat slid down my spine beneath the tank top and cardigan. I flexed my death grip on the phone.

I wasn’t even sure why I was holding it. Would the police even be able to help me if I called them and told them there was an alien in my living room? They’d probably write me off as crazy.

I was close to doing the same.

Meanwhile, Sky’s gaze had gone distant, his posture rigid, like he was fighting some internal war. The scent of leather and rain filled the room. Another shiver wracked my limbs, and a clap of thunder shook the walls. In its wake, the silence grew heavier until I couldn’t take it anymore, and I opened my mouth?—

Sky cut me off. “What I’m about to tell you can’t leave this room.”

Predictable, but still. I narrowed my eyes. “Can’t leave the room? So if I tell someone, what, you’re going to abduct me? Kill me? Or like those guards at the university?—”

“Will youstop?” His voice cracked like a whip, sharper than I’d ever heard him speak. It was so uncharacteristic, I actually jerked and snapped my mouth shut. As if he caught my flinch—and regretted it—he swore softly, looking away and muttering, “Nobody’s killing anybody.”

Barely daring to breathe, I stared at him. Somebody should’ve given the murderous robot that memo.

That heavy silence fell again. When he turned his head back toward me, his midnight-blue eyes churned with something that rivaled the storm outside. “I need you to listen to me carefully,” he said, a lot more softly this time.

Tilting my head to the side, I contemplated him with my lip between my teeth. This really was a different person, a shift from the laid-back, polite bartender. Voice lodged somewhere in the vicinity of my throat, I bobbed my head again in a nod. I still didn’t lower the mace, though.

His attention flicked to it, then back to my face, and he rolled his shoulders like he could shake off his tension. The anticipation was killing me. I tried hard to look like someone who didn’t have one foot in a full-blown panic spiral.

“Like I was saying.” Sky cleared his throat. “What I’m about to tell you has to stay here. Between us. Not because I’m going to kill you otherwise,” he added with faint sarcasm, one brow twitching. “But for your own safety.”

My own safety? If not from him, then from whom?

I started to ask just that, only to have him derail my train of thought.

“Raven,” he said, his voice low but vibrating with intensity, his dark gaze slicing right through me. “You are inseriousdanger.”

Chapter 23

EXPOSITION, BUT MAKE IT EXTRATERRESTRIAL

Thewords hung between us. My heart bucked in my chest like a startled horse.

In danger? Me, specifically? Not the whole human race? Was this because I’d seen him? He’d said he wasn’t here to hurt me, but?—

“Are you…” My voice cracked. “Are you threatening me?”

“Am I threatening— No!” Sky stared at me like I’d grown a second head, then scowled. Another crackle of thunder rattled the windowpanes.

When I shrank a little against the wall, clutching the mace tighter, Sky blew out a breath and looked at the ceiling like he was summoning divine patience. Likehewas the one dealing with life-altering reveals tonight.

It was enough to annoy me, and I straightened a little. “Then what did you mean by that? Why am I in danger? Because if it’s just because I saw you at Oasis, I promise I won’t tell anybody?—”

“You know,” Sky ran a hand through his soaked hair, mouth twisting, “I rehearsed this conversation in my head. It didn’t go anything like this.”

The idea of confident, calm Sky rehearsing any conversation was ridiculous enough, I huffed. “That’s kind of how my whole week’s been.” He sent me a wry look that said,oh really?A tremulous smile threatened to curve my mouth. A little of my trepidation faded, and I sighed. “Look, if you’re just here to make sure I’m not going to tell anyone, you don’t need to threaten me. Your secret’s safe. Trust me, I’d rather forgetallthis?—”

“I didn’t threaten you at all. God, Rae. You jumped to that conclusion. Can you give me a chance to explain things?”

“Iam!” I protested, throwing out my mace arm. “You’re really sucking at the whole explanation thing for someone who just said they were going to tell me everything!”

“I said I’d tell you everything Icould.” He moved toward me, and I immediately took a step back, lifting the canister and phone in warning. He stopped short, a faint scowl tugging his mouth down.